Great Britain -- History -- Mary I, 1553-1558; Mary I, Queen of England, 1516-1558
[Footnote 12: Edward Lord Courtenay was son of the
executed Marquis of Exeter and great grandson of
Edward IV. He was thrown into the Tower with his
father when a little boy, and in that confinement,
in fifteen years, he had grown to manhood. Of him
and his fortunes all that need be said will unfold
itself.]
[Footnote 13: Scheyfne to Charles V., July 10: _MS.
Rolls House_.]
The next day, Monday, the 10th of July, the royal barges came down the
Thames from Richmond; and at three o'clock in the afternoon Lady Jane
landed at the broad staircase at the Tower, as queen, in undesired
splendour. A few scattered groups of spectators stood to watch the
arrival; but it appeared, from their silence, that they had been
brought together chiefly by curiosity. As the gates closed, the
heralds-at-arms, with a company of the archers of the guard, rode into
the city, and at the cross in Cheapside, Paul's Cross, and Fleet
Street they proclaimed "that the Lady Mary was unlawfully begotten,
and that the Lady Jane Grey was queen." The ill-humour of London was
no secret, and some demonstration had been looked for in Mary's
favour;[14] but here, again, there was only silence. The heralds cried
"God save the queen!" The archers waved their caps and cheered, but
the crowd looked on impassively. One youth only, Gilbert Potter, whose
name for those few days passed into fame's trumpet, ventured to
exclaim, "The Lady Mary has the better title." Gilbert's master, one
"Ninian Sanders," denounced the boy to the guard, and he was seized.
Yet a misfortune, thought to be providential, in a few hours befell
Ninian Sanders. Going home to his house down the river, in the July
evening, he was overturned and drowned as he was shooting London
Bridge in his wherry; the boatmen, who were the instruments of
Providence, escaped.
[Footnote 14: Noailles.]
Nor did the party in the Tower rest their first night there with
perfect satisfaction. In the evening messengers came in from the
eastern counties with news of the Lady Mary, and with letters from
herself. She had written to Renard and Scheyfne to tell them that she
was in good hands, and for the moment was safe. She had proclaimed
herself queen. She had sent addresses to the peers, commanding them on
their allegiance to come to her; and she begged the ambassadors to
tell her instantly whether she might look for assistance from
Flanders; on the active support of the emperor, so far as she could
judge, the movements of her friends would depend.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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