| 27 June. |
39. Bishop Quadra to the King.
On the 14th instant I wrote to your Majesty that Scotch affairs had
somewhat calmed down, and I now hear that they have again become
disturbed. An Englishman called Cuthbert Vaughan (fn. 1) (Coubertraham)
has arrived with this news and relates that the Queen Regent
after the first encounter between her people and the heretics, in which
some Frenchmen were killed, was pleased to pacify the country by
giving a general pardon, leaving religious questions to be dealt with
at the next meeting of Parliament. This divided people and
somewhat tranquillised affairs. The Queen Regent afterwards learnt
that the heretic preachers and some of the leaders were assembled
in a certain place in order to take council about their affairs, and as
she considered this a breach of the agreement she determined to
catch them when they were together. She had troops secretly
prepared for the purpose, but the others nevertheless got wind of it
and gathered so many men of their own that the Queen who had
sallied from Edinburgh to fall upon them was obliged to fly back
again for safety. It is said that when she arrived at Edinburgh she
found the castle closed against her, and she was then forced to retreat
towards the English frontier and throw herself into one of the
fortresses that were to be demolished. They say too that the heretics
were either coming against her or would remain before Stirling.
The gentleman says that affairs remained in this state and troops
were expected from France with the Duke D'Aumale. The news
has been received here with great pleasure by the Queen and her
friends and it is publicly said that the Scotch heretics are acting
with the favour and accord of this Queen who has instigated them
and allowed them to receive help. They say it is also with the
countenance of the duke of Chatelherault, who is a great heretic and a
comely young fellow of twenty-two, with whom this Queen might think
of marrying if by any means he were to become king of Scotland, which
they hope, not only because the Queen Dauphiness is suffering from
a certain incurable malady, but also by means of a rising of the people
who conspire against the French and make the question of religion
their pretext. This is quite current here, and the heretics and
adherents of the Queen affirm it publicly. They are making
extraordinary preparations besides ordering the harquebusses and
field pieces lately, as I advised your Majesty some time since, and
they assert that they are to raise 2,000 men as a body guard for the
Queen, but I am not sure of my authority for this. They are also
fitting out certain ships to go in search of the pirates called
Strangways and Wilford, who have made some important captures
from Portuguese merchants in Antwerp.
The news is that in the neighbourhood of Winchester they have
refused to receive the church service book, which is the office which
these heretics have made up, and the clergy of the diocese had
assembled to discuss what they should do. No mass was being said,
whereat the congregations were very disturbed.
Last week they summoned five bishops to the Council and proffered
them the oath with great promises and threats as well, but none of
them would swear and they were ordered yesterday to return to the
house of the sheriff of London whither they brought also the two
bishops from the Tower (fn. 2) and again tried to persuade them to swear,
but they would not. They were greatly insulted and mocked at,
and at last were ordered not to leave London until after September,
and to go no further away than Westminster under pain of 500l.
each, and they had to find bail for this amount. The two were
taken back to prison and both they and the others deprived of their
preferments de facto, since by law the doctors are still of opinion
that they cannot be deprived for refusing to swear to the laws of
the country. They themselves (i.e. the doctors) refuse to swear.
They summoned the bishop of Ely with the other five and afterwards
sent to say that he need not come until they sent for him again.
It is said that he is steadfast. Dr. Wotton was summoned by the
Queen the other day and was with her a long time. They say he
took the oath although it has not been made public, and I do not
know for certain. It has been suspected for some time that he
would do so. The displeasure of the people with the Queen is still
increasing, and the causes of it go on the same as ever, especially now
that they are demanding with great rigour the taxes which were to
be payable at the end of July.
On Wednesday she (the Queen) went to Greenwich, where she is
very solitary, as many of them have gone to their estates. She has
ordered Pickering, with whom she had long conversations lately,
to be given lodgings in the palace, and they say she has made him a
member of the Council.
They are as usual caressing the Emperor's ambassador, whereat the
French have been, and are, somewhat jealous, and the German
hearing of it, and that they invited and feasted him for the purpose of
getting something out of him, I advised him to speak to the Queen
about it to see what she would reply. He says that as soon as he
began to speak about it the Queen answered that she knew full
well that there were many reasons why the French should be
annoyed at this marriage being discussed, and they were right in
dreading it ; and she informed him that not only had they set spies
about him, and bribed the people of her own chamber to learn what
was being done, but they had actually discussed the matter with
the members of her Council in a most barefaced way, saying that
they were much surprised that the Queen had so soon forgotten the
signal services her subjects had recently rendered her, and that she
would not now condescend to marry one of them. The ambassador
says she was very vexed at this, and again said to him that she would
die a thousand deaths rather than marry one of her subjects, but for
all this he does not seem to have got any further than usual with
his master's affair.
Since then the Marquis de Nesle, who is one of the hostages, said
to the ambassador that if they thought this marriage of the archduke
would result in prejudice to their King they could not fail to oppose
it by every means in their power although the forces of the King of
France had little reason to fear those of any other nation, and other
things, with what foundation I know not. They, the hostages, are
doing their best here to make friends and take great care to find out
everything that is going on all over the country. The Queen knows
this well and dissembles with them although she and hers are vexed
enough at it and understand the object with which it is all done.—
London, 27th June 1559. |
| 28 June. |
40. The Bishop Of Aquila to the King.
Last night I despatched a courier with news of the tumults in
Scotland and afterwards the Emperor's ambassador returned from
audience with the Queen at Greenwich, and he tells me that certain
things passed between them which I think well to send your Majesty
an account of at once. He says that in his business she put him off
with the usual excuses and delays, and that he understood from her
that she was not really thinking of this marriage, and if she thinks
of any it is that with the duke of Chatelherault, with whom, she told
him, her father wished to betroth her when she was a child, but that
she never liked him, and other things about the business with which
the ambassador thinks she is pleased.
At last she told him that the duke was already out of the hands
of the king of France, and had escaped notwithstanding that the King
had sent his portrait to many of the ports that they might prevent
him from getting away. She said the King thought the Duke was
hidden in England, but she believed he was mistaken, or at least if
the Duke was here she did not know it, but she knew well that he
was lately in a certain kingdom, and thereupon, the ambassador says,
she smiled and looked archly. She afterwards appears to have
repented for saying so much, and begged him earnestly not to
repeat it to anybody, (fn. 3) as she knew the King of France was bursting
with rage at this and she did not wish to make him burst any more.
I would not dare to write such a thing as this if I had not received it
from this German, who is a worthy man, and seems to act straightforwardly.
The public talk is that she (the Queen) will marry this
Duke and will help him to get possession of the kingdom of Scotland,
and all this to subdue the Catholics and spread her sect. She has
heresy so implanted in her very bones that it is certainly to be
feared that the devil may make her his instrument for doing great
evil. If what she now says, that the Duke is in this island, be true
it would be well to devise some remedy and look well ahead. If it
be a joke nothing more can be said than that this woman has not
much sense. Your Majesty will be better able to judge what there
is in it, and I only send news of what occurs here and what can be
gathered from the public talk. The Queen's own manner of speaking,
as related by the ambassador, seems to confirm the vulgar rumour.—
London, 1st July 1559. |