The Wives of Henry the Eighth and the Parts They Played in History
David Hume · en
[115] Many instances are given by Chapuys of Anne's bitter spite against
Mary about this time. In February 1534 he mentions that Northumberland
(Anne's old flame, who had more than once got into trouble about her) had
said that she was determined to poison Mary. Some one else had told him
that Anne had sent to her aunt, Lady Clare, who was Mary's governess,
telling her if the Princess used her title "to give her a good banging
like the cursed bastard that she was." Soon afterwards the girl is
reported to be nearly destitute of clothes and other necessaries. When
Anne visited her daughter at Hatfield in March, she sent for Mary to come
and pay her respects to her as Queen. "I know no Queen in England but my
mother," was Mary's proud answer: and a few days afterwards Norfolk took
away all the girl's jewels, and told her brutally that she was no princess
and it was time her pride was abated: and Lady Clare assured her that the
King did not care whether she renounced her title or not. Parliament by
statute had declared her a bastard, and if she (Lady Clare) were in the
King's place she would kick her out of the house. It was said also that
the King himself had threatened that Mary should lose her head. There was,
no doubt, some truth in all this, but it must not be forgotten that
Chapuys, who reports most of it, was Anne's deadly enemy.
[116] Lee's instructions are said to have been "not to press the Queen
very hard." It must have been evident that no pressure would suffice.
[117] The Queen wrote to Chapuys soon afterwards saying that the bishops
had threatened her with the gibbet. She asked which of them was going to
be the hangman, and said that she must ask them to hang her in public, not
secretly. Lee's and Tunstall's own account of their proceedings is in the
_Calendar of Henry VIII._, 29th May 1534.
[118] This lackey's name is given Bastian Hennyocke in the English State
Papers. To him Katharine left £20 in her will. The other Spanish servants
with Katharine at the time, besides Francisco Felipe, the Groom of the
Chambers, and the Bishop of Llandaff (Fray Jorge de Ateca), were Dr.
Miguel de la Sá, Juan Soto, Felipe de Granada, and Antonio Roca.
[119] This narrative is taken from the _Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII._,
edited by the present writer. The author of the Chronicle was a Spanish
merchant resident in London, and he was evidently indebted for this
description of the scene to his friend and countryman, Francisco Felipe,
Katharine's Groom of the Chambers. The account supplements but does not
materially contradict the official report of Lee and Tunstall, and
Chapuys' account to the Emperor gained from the Queen and her Spanish
attendants.
[120] Chapuys to the Emperor, 29th May 1534.