The Wives of Henry the Eighth and the Parts They Played in History
David Hume · en
Through Kent, avoiding as they might the plague-stricken towns, the King
and his lady-love, with a great royal train, rode to Dover early in
October 1532. At Calais, Henry's own town, Anne was received almost with
regal honours; but when Henry went forth to greet Francis upon French soil
near Boulogne, and to be sumptuously entertained, it was seen that, though
the French armed men were threateningly numerous, there were no ladies to
keep in countenance the English "concubine" and the proud dames who did
her service. Blazing in gems, the two kings met with much courtly ceremony
and hollow professions of affection. Banqueting, speech-making, and
posturing in splendid raiment occupied five days at Boulogne, the while
the "Lady Marquis" ate her heart out at Calais in petulant disappointment;
though she made as brave a show as she could to the Frenchmen when they
came to return Henry's visit. The chronicler excels himself in the
description of the lavish magnificence of the welcome of Francis at
Calais,[88] and tells us that, after a bounteous supper on the night of
Sunday 27th October, at which the two kings and their retinues sat down,
"The Marchioness of Pembroke with seven other ladies in masking apparel of
strange fashion, made of cloth of gold compassed with crimson tinsel
satin, covered with cloth of silver, lying loose and knit with gold
laces," tripped in, and each masked lady chose a partner, Anne, of course,
taking the French king. In the course of the dance Henry plucked the masks
from the ladies' faces, and debonair Francis, in courtly fashion,
conversed with his fair partner. One of the worst storms in the memory of
man delayed the English king's return from Calais till the 13th November;
but when at length the _Te Deum_ for his safe home-coming was sung at St.
Paul's, Anne knew that the King of France had undertaken to frighten the
Pope into inactivity by talk of the danger of schism in England, and that
Cranmer was hurrying across Europe on his way from Italy to London, to
become Primate of the Church of England.