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| 7 | <title>Tudor Relatives - Lady Catherine Grey</title>
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| 10 | <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#660000" vlink="#660000" alink="#000000">
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| 11 |
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| 12 | <center><b><font color="#660000"><font size=+3>Lady Catherine Grey</font></font></b>
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| 13 | <br>born 1540, died 27 January 1568</center>
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| 14 |
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| 15 | <p>' I have sent you, good sister Catherine, a book, which although it
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| 16 | be not outwardly trimmed with gold, yet inwardly it is more worthy than
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| 17 | precious stones. It is the book, dear sister, of the laws of the lord:
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| 18 | It is His Testament and Last Will, which He bequeathed unto us wretches,
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| 19 | which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy, and if you, with a good
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| 20 | mind read it, and with an earnest desire, follow it, it shall bring you
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| 21 | to an immortal and everlasting life. It will teach you to live and
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| 22 | learn you to die.... It shall win you more than you should have gained
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| 23 | by the possession of your woeful father's lands, for as if God prospered
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| 24 | him, you shall inherit his lands.... [it holds] such riches as neither
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| 25 | the covetous shall withdraw from you, neither the thief shall steal, neither
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| 26 | let the moth corrupt.... And as touching my death, rejoice as I do and
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| 27 | consider that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption,
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| 28 | for as I am assured that I shall for losing of a mortal life, find an immortal
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| 29 | felicity. Pray God grant you and send you his grace to live in the love...
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| 30 | <br> Farewell good sister, put only your trust in God,
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| 31 | who only must uphold you,
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| 32 | <br> Your loving sister, Jane Duddley'
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| 33 | <center><i><font size=-1>letter from Lady Jane Grey to her sister Catherine,
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| 34 | 1554</font></i></center>
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| 35 |
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| 36 | <p><br>
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| 37 | <br>
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| 38 | <p>'....when I call to mind what a husband I have of you, and my great
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| 39 | hard fate to miss the viewing of so good a one.... Thus most humbly
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| 40 | thanking you, my sweet lord, for your sending to see how I do.... I most
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| 41 | lovingly bid you farewell....'
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| 42 | <center><i><font size=-1>letter of Catherine Grey to Edward Seymour, 1562</font></i></center>
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| 43 |
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| 44 | <hr width="100%">
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| 45 | <blockquote>Lady Jane Grey, the unfortunate queen of England for just nine
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| 46 | days, wrote the above letter to her younger sister Catherine before her
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| 47 | execution. It was the last communication between the seventeen-year-old
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| 48 | Jane and fourteen-year-old Catherine. Married to men of their parents'
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| 49 | choosing in a double ceremony the year before, they both suffered when
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| 50 | Jane was deposed and Princess Mary Tudor (named for their grandmother)
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| 51 | became queen.
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| 52 | <p> (The tragedy of Jane's life, and the complexities
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| 53 | of the plot to make her queen of England, is discussed in much greater
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| 54 | detail in the following sections: <a href="janegrey.html">Lady
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| 55 | Jane Grey</a> and <a href="../monarchs/edward6.html">Edward
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| 56 | VI</a>.) Catherine's reaction to the sudden disgrace of her family,
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| 57 | the ruin of all their hopes and dreams, is not recorded. However,
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| 58 | it is safe to assume she was devastated. She was just fourteen and
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| 59 | watched her entire world turn upside down. The Greys had long been
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| 60 | the noblest family in the realm of England, united by ties of friendship
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| 61 | and blood to the Tudor monarchs. Catherine's grandmother was Henry
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| 62 | VIII's youngest sister, <a href="../citizens/brandon.html">Princess
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| 63 | Mary</a>; her grandfather was his best friend, Charles Brandon, duke of
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| 64 | Suffolk. The bonds of blood and friendship had allowed the Brandons
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| 65 | to rise to wealth and prominence. But they were dangerous bonds as
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| 66 | well; for after Edward VI's death, the Tudor succession was once more an
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| 67 | urgent question and anyone with royal blood was a target - for various
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| 68 | plots of dissatisfied citizens, for international speculation, for aristocratic
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| 69 | mobility, etc.
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| 70 | <br>(*note - The Brandons became the Greys when Frances Brandon (Charles
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| 71 | & Mary's eldest daughter) married Henry Grey.)
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| 72 | <p> Poor Catherine, despite Jane's fervent prayers, was
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| 73 | not to lead a life of 'grace.' She lacked Jane's intellect and religious
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| 74 | fervor; taken together, those qualities may have guided her impulsive nature
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| 75 | and provided solace in her troubled world. Instead, she was - and
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| 76 | always remained - an ordinary girl condemned to unhappiness because of
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| 77 | her Tudor blood. Her sister, brother-in-law, and father were executed
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| 78 | due to her father's stupidity and ingratitude. Mary I was often naive
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| 79 | and kind-hearted; she lacked the ruthlessness of her father (Henry VIII's
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| 80 | conscience rarely troubled him - despite the many executions he ordered.)
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| 81 | His daughter did not care to kill innocents - especially those she believed
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| 82 | to be the pawns of more greedy souls. Upon her accession, Jane Grey and
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| 83 | her husband Guildford Dudley were imprisoned in the Tower; but they were
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| 84 | not executed. It was only when Jane's father, Henry Grey, duke of Suffolk,
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| 85 | tried to raise a revolt - capitalizing on anger at the queen's impending
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| 86 | Spanish marriage - that Mary realized Jane must die. Henry Grey did
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| 87 | not try to restore his daughter to the throne
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| 88 | <br>(despite the assertion of many history books.) But that didn't
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| 89 | matter - Jane had been proclaimed queen once before and Mary recognized
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| 90 | the danger. Furthermore, Grey's actions followed upon the Wyatt rebellion,
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| 91 | one of the most serious rebellions of the Tudor era. Mary was conscientious
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| 92 | and attached to her legitimate family. But she ordered Jane, Guildford,
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| 93 | and Henry Grey executed.
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| 94 | <p> But the queen did not forget the remaining Grey family.
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| 95 | Henry's wife was Frances Brandon, the eldest daughter of Mary's aunt, Princess
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| 96 | Mary Tudor. Queen Mary remembered her aunt's kindness to the beleaguered
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| 97 | Katharine of Aragon; she also wanted to put the past behind her - she was
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| 98 | marrying Philip of Spain, thus fulfilling her heart's two great desires.
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| 99 | Mary I wanted a family and to restore the Catholic faith to England.
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| 100 | On her way to achieve both, she was inclined to be generous. She
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| 101 | allowed Frances and her two remaining children, Catherine and Mary (11
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| 102 | years old) to remain at court. They attended her wedding on 25 July
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| 103 | 1554 to Philip at Winchester Cathedral. Catherine and Mary were appointed
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| 104 | maids of honor; the queen was careful to show them special kindness, singling
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| 105 | them out for favor. Even when their mother's second marriage, they
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| 106 | were still afforded every privilege. Frances Grey had waited
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| 107 | just three weeks after her husband's execution to marry her steward, Adrian
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| 108 | Stokes, a young man fifteen years her junior. Queen Mary did not
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| 109 | protest; perhaps she was happy her cousin was putting the past to rest.
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| 110 | <p> At any rate, Frances Grey's second marriage fared
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| 111 | much better than Catherine's first one. She had been married on 21
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| 112 | or 25 Mary 1553 to the earl of Pembroke's heir; it had been a double ceremony
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| 113 | - her sister Jane was also wed to the dukke of Northumberland's son Guildford.
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| 114 | But when Mary I was proclaimed queen in July, Pembroke was eager to distance
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| 115 | himself from the Greys. He banished Catherine from his home and had
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| 116 | the marriage annulled. It was cruel of Pembroke but politically necessary.
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| 117 | After all, he had no idea how Mary would react to the Grey-Northumberland
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| 118 | treachery. Meanwhile, Catherine remained at court, openly favored
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| 119 | by the queen but despondent. There was occasional domestic and international
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| 120 | speculation about her future once it became clear Mary would provide no
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| 121 | heir. When discussing Princess Elizabeth's future, most stressed
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| 122 | the need to either support or destroy her two main rivals - Catherine Grey
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| 123 | and Mary queen of Scots. In other words, if Elizabeth's rule was
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| 124 | to be secure, she needed to deal with both Catherine and Mary. Mary
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| 125 | of Scotland was a problem that could be faced later (she was off in France
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| 126 | for now) but Catherine Grey was close and a dangerous rallying point for
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| 127 | dissatisfied Englishmen.
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| 128 | <p> Before Elizabeth became queen, however, Catherine
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| 129 | did achieve some measure of personal happiness. After a period of
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| 130 | depression, she became friends with Lady Jane Seymour, daughter of the
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| 131 | late Lord Protector Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford and duke of Somerset.
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| 132 | (She was named for her aunt, Henry VIII's third queen and mother of his
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| 133 | son.) Jane was also a maid of honor and suffered from poor health
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| 134 | (already battling the consumption which killed her.) Queen Mary encouraged
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| 135 | the two girls to become friends, allowing Catherine to accompany Jane on
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| 136 | her frequent visits home. The Seymour family's main home was currently
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| 137 | Hanworth, Catherine Parr's manor which had passed to her husband Thomas
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| 138 | Seymour, then to his brother, and then to his brother's wife. The
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| 139 | widowed duchess of Somerset lived there with her second husband (like Frances
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| 140 | Grey, she had married her steward) and her oldest son, Edward. Edward
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| 141 | was in his late teens, just a few years older than Catherine, and already
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| 142 | tall, dark-haired and good-looking. Naturally enough, the two young
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| 143 | people became attached to one another.
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| 144 | <p> Both Edward and Catherine had suffered public humiliation.
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| 145 | She had been repudiated by the Pembroke family and her sister and father
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| 146 | were executed as traitors; his father, too, had been executed as a traitor
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| 147 | and the Seymour wealth had yet to be restored. Also, their family
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| 148 | title remained in abeyance. Edward, who should have been titled earl
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| 149 | of Hertford, waited for his title to be officially reinstated. Beyond
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| 150 | these painful personal experiences, they were also lonely. Both were
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| 151 | past the age for betrothal but still unattached. And, equally important,
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| 152 | both were physically attractive. Catherine was the beauty of the
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| 153 | Grey family; small like Jane, she had the Tudor red-gold hair and a fair
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| 154 | complexion. Their attraction was physical and emotional; it was also
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| 155 | obvious. Before long, the duchess of Somerset was asking her son
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| 156 | about his intentions. He replied that he enjoyed visiting with Catherine;
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| 157 | his mother should not worry about the queen's feelings, he said, because
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| 158 | Catherine had been sent by Mary to live at Hanworth - so 'her majesty's
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| 159 | feelings in this matter cannot be doubted.' Whatever Mary's feelings,
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| 160 | they did not soon matter. In November 1558, she died and Elizabeth
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| 161 | Tudor, unlike her half-sister in so many ways, became queen of England.
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| 162 | <p> When it came time for the successor to be crowned,
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| 163 | there was no dispute. After all, Elizabeth was Henry VIII's daughter
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| 164 | and her only rivals were other women. The Archbishop of York announced
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| 165 | her succession as 'true, lawful and right.' But Elizabeth took no
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| 166 | chances. Upon Mary I's death, Mary queen of Scots's French father-in-law
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| 167 | had her proclaimed queen of England. Mary and her husband, the dauphin
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| 168 | Francois, quartered the English royal arms with those of France; in official
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| 169 | documents Mary was titled Queen of England and Scotland. In the eyes
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| 170 | of Catholic Europe, such action was completely legal. Mary was queen
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| 171 | of England, by right of legitimacy and primogeniture. No one expected
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| 172 | Henri II to actually invade England and place her on the throne - but he
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| 173 | continued the diplomatic snubs, angering and irritating the English.
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| 174 | For example, when the English pressed for the restoration of Calais, the
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| 175 | French answered - restore to whom? Wasn't the queen of Scots also
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| 176 | the queen of England? Naturally enough, a group of parliamentary
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| 177 | ministers met with Elizabeth to petition her to marry. This was the
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| 178 | only way to secure her throne. Once she provided England with an
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| 179 | heir, everything would be fine. It was the familiar refrain of Tudor
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| 180 | England. Perhaps no other government has been so dominated by one
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| 181 | biological occurrence.
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| 182 | <p> Elizabeth had no intention of marrying or providing
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| 183 | children; she was married to the nation, she told her ministers, and took
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| 184 | the seal of office from her finger. This, she said, was her wedding
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| 185 | ring, to be worn until death. The ministers had to be content but
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| 186 | they were not silenced. They would battle over this issue for years
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| 187 | to come. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's refusal to marry made Catherine Grey's
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| 188 | position all the more dangerous.
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| 189 | <p> Catherine did not like the new queen. This
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| 190 | had its root in their tangled family history. Princess Mary Tudor
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| 191 | and Katharine of Aragon had been friends, each despising the interloper
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| 192 | (and Elizabeth's mother), Anne Boleyn. Their children, Frances Grey
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| 193 | and Mary I, continued the friendship - and openly despised Anne's daughter
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| 194 | Elizabeth. Mary I had been kind to Catherine; furthermore, Catherine
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| 195 | was brought up to believe Elizabeth was the illegitimate daughter of an
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| 196 | executed adulterer and traitor. And whatever Henry Grey's activities,
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| 197 | his daughter Catherine was legitimate. Like Mary I, the Greys were
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| 198 | very conscious of their family history, and naturally proud. Under
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| 199 | Mary's reign, they had been encouraged to move beyond their 1553 disgrace.
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| 200 | Now, however, they were ruled by an equally proud and disdainful queen.
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| 201 | Elizabeth disliked her Grey cousins as much as they disliked - and feared
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| 202 | - her. They also resented having too bow and scrape for her favor.
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| 203 | <p> And it soon became clear they would have to bow and
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| 204 | scrape - and probably to no avail. Elizabeth allowed Catherine and
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| 205 | her sister to reside at court but no longer as maids of honor; they were
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| 206 | 'ladies of the presence'. Mary had allowed them access to the privy
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| 207 | chamber, that most private area; Elizabeth did not. Furthermore,
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| 208 | international ambassadors began to question Elizabeth about her cousin.
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| 209 | It was rumored that the Spanish wanted to marry Catherine to one of their
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| 210 | royal noblemen; after all, the king of France had a pawn in Mary queen
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| 211 | of Scots. The Spanish naturally wanted Catherine as their pawn.
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| 212 | It was known that Catherine was unhappy at court (so the Spanish ambassador,
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| 213 | Count Feria, reported to his master) and might be persuaded to leave England.
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| 214 | If not, they could always kidnap her. Elizabeth reacted by becoming
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| 215 | quite amiable with Catherine, calling her 'daughter' and restoring her
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| 216 | to the privy chamber. She even mentioned formally adopting Catherine.
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| 217 | Poor Catherine was probably more frightened by this sudden friendliness
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| 218 | than she was of Elizabeth's coldness.
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| 219 | <p> Catherine had made the mistake of speaking insolently
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| 220 | about Elizabeth in mid-1559. The duke of Saxony's envoy reported
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| 221 | that Catherine had said 'very arrogant and unseemly words in the hearing
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| 222 | of the Queen and others standing by.' Her exact words were not recorded.
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| 223 | Still, what mattered is that she had been rude to Elizabeth I, a proud
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| 224 | woman inclined to make others regret their pride. Since Elizabeth's
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| 225 | immediate reaction had been to begin favoring her, Catherine had good cause
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| 226 | to worry.
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| 227 | <p> During this period, Catherine had sought personal
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| 228 | solace with Edward Seymour. His title had been reinstated by the
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| 229 | queen and his optimism grew. As early as March 1559, he had asked
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| 230 | the duchess of Suffolk for Catherine's hand in marriage. Frances
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| 231 | Grey agreed but counseled the young couple to be careful. Edward
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| 232 | should seek out members of the Privy Council who would be sympathetic to
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| 233 | their suit; Frances herself would write to Elizabeth, asking for 'her majesty's
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| 234 | favor and good will.' (Of course, as all this was going on, Elizabeth was
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| 235 | receiving word of the Spanish plan to kidnap Catherine.) Frances
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| 236 | Grey became ill and died before the letter was sent off. Edward seemed
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| 237 | to get cold feet (he was also meeting another young woman and deciding
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| 238 | whether to risk his newly-gained title); he told Frances's widower that
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| 239 | he would let matters rest. So Catherine was left at court, serving
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| 240 | the unpredictable Elizabeth, and wondering when her betrothed would come
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| 241 | for her.
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| 242 | <p> The relationship may have died that natural death
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| 243 | had not Lady Jane Seymour become involved. She was now in the later
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| 244 | stages of tuberculosis and determined to secure her brother's future before
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| 245 | she died. She loved him and wanted him to make this royal marriage,
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| 246 | perhaps his path to wealth and greater prominence. She brought her
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| 247 | friend and brother together again, encouraging a reconciliation; perhaps
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| 248 | she first suggested a secret marriage. Whatever the case, sometime
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| 249 | in October 1560, Catherine and Edward solemnly declared their intention
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| 250 | to marry. They agreed the wedding should take place when the queen
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| 251 | was next absent; Jane would hire a clergyman and Edward would buy the ring.
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| 252 | He had one made specially for the occasion, a posy ring (a plain gold band
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| 253 | with a concealed spring opening five links); on those links, he had inscribed
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| 254 | a verse of his own making:
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| 255 | <p>
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| 256 | As circles five by art compact show but one ring
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| 257 | <br>
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| 258 | in sight,
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| 259 | <br>
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| 260 | So trust uniteth faithful minds with knot of
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| 261 | <br>
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| 262 | secret might,
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| 263 | <br>
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| 264 | Whose force to break (but greedy Death) no wight
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| 265 | <br>
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| 266 | possesseth power,
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| 267 | <br>
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| 268 | As time and sequels well shall prove; my ring can
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| 269 | <br>
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| 270 | say no more.
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| 271 | <p> This course of action doomed them both. In
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| 272 | 1515, Catherine's grandparents had been secretly wed, but they were able
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| 273 | to soothe their mercurial monarch. Catherine and Edward would be
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| 274 | far less successful. Sometime in early December, Elizabeth decided
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| 275 | to go to Eltham and hunt. Catherine had a toothache and Jane was
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| 276 | sick (as always), the queen was told. They would stay behind.
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| 277 | Elizabeth left in early morning and, by 8 o'clock, Catherine and Jane had
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| 278 | slipped out of Whitehall Palace and rushed to Edward's lodgings on Cannon
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| 279 | Row. The minister was late; Jane went to fetch him and, within the
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| 280 | hour, the couple were married. The groom was openly impatient so
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| 281 | his sister withdrew. Then the couple consummated their union; they
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| 282 | did so quickly since both Catherine and Jane needed to return to duties
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| 283 | at Whitehall. After about ninety minutes of togetherness, it was
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| 284 | time to hurry back into their complicated clothing. This alone took
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| 285 | a quarter of an hour. Edward then escorted Catherine and Jane as
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| 286 | far as he dared, kissed her and bade her farewell.
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| 287 | <p> Their immediate circumstances did not change.
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| 288 | They did not tell the queen or anyone of the marriage. Instead, they
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| 289 | continued their secret meetings, sleeping together several times in the
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| 290 | palaces of Westminster and Greenwich. They never spent an entire
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| 291 | night together. Jane helped when she could; Catherine's maids probably
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| 292 | suspected marriage for they left the young lovers alone often. But
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| 293 | neither Edward or Catherine seemed to have a plan. How long did they
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| 294 | expect to carry on furtively? One cannot say. But Jane Seymour
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| 295 | died in March 1561; she vould arrange no more meetings for them.
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| 296 | One of Catherine's maids, frightened of her involvement, went on vacation
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| 297 | and never returned. Catherine received warnings from many prominent
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| 298 | people, including Secretary of State William Cecil, to 'beware of too great
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| 299 | familiarity' with Edward. She denied any involvement with him.
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| 300 | Elizabeth I had decided to send Edward abroad with Cecil's son Thomas,
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| 301 | as part of a European tour to finish their education. Catherine was
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| 302 | understandably beleaguered - and then, when it would cause the greatest
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| 303 | harm, she became pregnant. She had first suspected in early March;
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| 304 | both Edward and his dying sister agreed there was nothing to do but tell
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| 305 | Elizabeth and beg forgiveness. But Jane died and Catherine stalled.
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| 306 | She was perhaps uncertain of her pregnancy or perhaps simply too frightened
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| 307 | to face its consequences. Whatever the case, when Edward questioned
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| 308 | her, she said she didn't know for certain. In mid-April, he left
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| 309 | on the European trip. He promised Catherine he would return immediately
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| 310 | if and when she could determine her condition. He also left a letter,
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| 311 | signed and officially sealed, which gave her all his lands and possessions
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| 312 | if he should die overseas.
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| 313 | <p> By mid-July, Catherine could no longer hide her condition.
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| 314 | She wrote to Edward, begging him to return home but the letters were delayed
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| 315 | and opened by a government informer who acted as courier. She was
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| 316 | forced to accompany Elizabeth on the annual summer progress. In Ipswich,
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| 317 | she finally broke down and confessed all. First, she spoke to the
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| 318 | Countess of Shrewsbury, who berated her and asked her to leave. Next,
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| 319 | the increasingly distraught Catherine went to Robert Dudley, son of the
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| 320 | executed duke of Northumberland and brother to Jane Grey's husband Guildford.
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| 321 | He had become Elizabeth I's favorite and Catherine hoped he would intercede
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| 322 | on her behalf with the queen. Dudley listened to her story, promised
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| 323 | nothing, and - the next morning - told everything to the queen.
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| 324 | <p> A few days later, Secretary Cecil wrote to the earl
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| 325 | of Sussex this summation of events:
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| 326 | <blockquote><font size=-1>'The Lady Catherine is certainly known to be
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| 327 | big with child, as she saith by the Earl of Hertford, who is in France.
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| 328 | She is committed to the Tower. He is sent for. She saith that
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| 329 | she was married to him secretly before Christmas last. Thus is God
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| 330 | displeased with us.'</font></blockquote>
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| 331 | What Cecil did not mention is that Elizabeth was in no mood to be sympathetic
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| 332 | to either Catherine or Edward. Barring her personal dislike of the
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| 333 | Greys, Elizabeth was in a furious tangle of emotions. She had recently
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| 334 | struggled with the idea of marrying Dudley, the greatest love of her life;
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| 335 | through the summer and autumn of 1560, she struggled to reconcile her royal
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| 336 | duties and her heart's desire. In the end, she decided not to marry.
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| 337 | But this personal struggle had affected her greatly - she was irritable
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| 338 | and would suffer no mention of marriage or children.
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| 339 | <p> Not unnaturally, Elizabeth asked why Catherine should
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| 340 | be allowed to sneak about and marry without the queen's permission, solely
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| 341 | because she was in love? Catherine possessed Tudor blood as well,
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| 342 | she must be made to reconcile duty and passion, even as Elizabeth had done.
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| 343 | Instead, she had been insolent and ungrateful; her marriage was the last
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| 344 | straw for Elizabeth. As heir presumptive, Catherine had gone too
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| 345 | far; she had not only married without permission but she had wed a Seymour.
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| 346 | They were notorious for their political ambitions; Elizabeth had personal
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| 347 | experience of this with Thomas Seymour. She ordered Edward, home
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| 348 | from the Continent, to the Tower on 5 September. He and Catherine,
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| 349 | plus his brother Henry and numerous servants, were subjected to a litany
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| 350 | of embarrassing questions: which of them had entered the bridal bed first;
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| 351 | which had left the bed first; who had laid on which side? The investigation
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| 352 | was still continuing when, on 21 September, Catherine went into labor.
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| 353 | She delivered a healthy son, christened Edward four days later within the
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| 354 | Tower. Catherine and Edward continued to assert that no one, save
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| 355 | Jane Seymour, had aided their deception. Elizabeth was not entirely
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| 356 | convinced but Cecil, so perceptive, urged leniency. He understood
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| 357 | Elizabeth's personal feelings in the matter.
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| 358 | <p> But soon it no longer mattered. Neither Catherine
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| 359 | or Edward could produce evidence of their marriage; they said it had happened,
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| 360 | but was it legal by constitutional and canonical standards? They
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| 361 | could not even produce the minister, summoned by Jane Seymour during that
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| 362 | early morning. It remained up to Elizabeth; would she believe them
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| 363 | or not? Elizabeth turned the entire matter over to the church and,
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| 364 | on 10 May 1562, the Archbishop of Canterbury ruled there had been no marriage
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| 365 | between Edward and Catherine. They were officially censured for having
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| 366 | committed fornication; there would be a fine and imprisonment, to be determined
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| 367 | by the Queen's mercy.
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| 368 | <p> In the autumn of 1562, Elizabeth became gravely ill
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| 369 | with smallpox, one of the scourges of that era. It was believed she
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| 370 | would die. The Council met to decide who would succeed to the throne
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| 371 | - not unnaturally, many (including Cecil)) supported Catherine Grey.
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| 372 | The crisis was averted when Elizabeth recovered but, once again, the English
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| 373 | people were up in arms over the succession. She was always suspicious
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| 374 | of such talk, remembering her days under Mary's rule, and once said, 'So
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| 375 | long as I live I shall be Queen of England, when I am dead they shall succeed
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| 376 | that have most right.' She never said more until she was on her deathbed
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| 377 | in 1603.
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| 378 | <p> Soon enough, Catherine managed to complicate the
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| 379 | issue further - she became pregnant once again. The Lieutenant of
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| 380 | the Tower, Edward Warner, was a kind man and had allowed the couple to
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| 381 | spend time together - he left certain doors unlocked and paid no attention
|
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| 382 | to who passed through them. So in February 1563, Catherine gave birth
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| 383 | to their second son, Thomas; two Tower warders acted as godfathers.
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| 384 | The queen, who had been content to let them languish in the Tower indefinitely,
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| 385 | was further enraged. Edward was fined 15000 pds (later reduced to
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| 386 | 3000); he was also charged with the following crimes: deflowering
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| 387 | a royal virgin in the Queen's household, flouting his imprisonment by meeting
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| 388 | with her in the Tower, and engaging in more carnal relations.
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| 389 | <p> One must sympathize with Elizabeth I. Not only
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| 390 | had Catherine and Edward disdained and insulted the Crown by their earlier
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| 391 | offenses; that was awful enough. But now they had done it again -
|
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| 392 | no contrition, no realization of the enormity of their crime - just the
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| 393 | same stupid, disrespectful behavior. Elizabeth's patience, never
|
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| 394 | great, was at an end. Elizabeth was very intelligent and conscious
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| 395 | of her own position. She assumed Catherine must, at the very least,
|
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| 396 | understand her position as well. She could not be so foolish and
|
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| 397 | thoughtless as everyone argued in her defense; everyone knew that actions
|
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| 398 | have consequences - so must Catherine Grey.
|
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| 399 | <p> Whether Catherine was a fool is a matter of speculation
|
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| 400 | - and personal sympathy. Certainly,, she had an awful sense of timing.
|
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| 401 | But she was soon to suffer worse than before. There was an outbreak
|
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| 402 | of plague in London and an exodus of everyone who could afford to leave.
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| 403 | Elizabeth seized the opportunity to teach her cousin a lesson. The
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| 404 | Seymour family was moved, Edward and little Edward sent under house arrest
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| 405 | to Hanworth (where his mother still lived); Catherine and baby Thomas went
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| 406 | to her uncle John Grey's home in Essex. Even though they were free
|
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| 407 | of the Tower, they were still to be treated as prisoners. Catherine
|
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| 408 | was perhaps finally repentant - she was, according to her uncle, 'a penitent
|
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| 409 | and sorrowful woman for the Queen's displeasure.'
|
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| 410 | <p> She was also increasingly ill. Her uncle, who
|
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| 411 | could not have been happy with his disgraced niece, wrote that 'I never
|
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| 412 | came to her, but I found her weeping or else saw by her face she had wept.'
|
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| 413 | 'She is so fraughted with phlegm by reason of thought, weeping and sitting
|
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| 414 | still that many times she is like to overcome therewith...' As for
|
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| 415 | Catherine, she wrote that she was in 'continual agony'; 'I never felt what
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| 416 | the want of my prince's favor was before now...' Elizabeth was unmoved.
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| 417 | When John Grey ventured to ask for financial assistance (he was, after
|
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| 418 | all, keeping a prisoner for the crown), Elizabeth simply ordered Edward
|
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| 419 | to pay. The young earl used to opportunity to plead his own case.
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| 420 | By now it was mid-1564; there had been pamphlets circulating attesting
|
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| 421 | to the legality of the Grey-Seymour union and the legitimacy of their sons.
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| 422 | The Protestant establishment was as eager to support this as the Catholics
|
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| 423 | were to support Mary of Scotland. Catherine, born and bred an Englishwoman
|
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| 424 | and already
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| 425 | <br>having born two healthy sons, was heir presumptive. So the same
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| 426 | talk continued.
|
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| 427 | <p> The commotion eventually died down. But John
|
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| 428 | Grey died in autumn 1564; his niece was transferred to Ingatestone under
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| 429 | the custody of Sir William Petre. Elizabeth had begun to imply she
|
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| 430 | favored her Stewart relations over the Greys. One can hardly blame
|
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| 431 | her; at least Mary of Scotland was troublesome only to herself. Meanwhile,
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| 432 | Catherine's sister Mary had made a secret marriage of her own. Once
|
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| 433 | again, the Greys angered the queen. Mary and her husband were imprisoned.
|
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| 434 | Catherine was moved from Petre's home in February 1567. She entered
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| 435 | the custody of Sir John Wentworth of Gosfield Hall in Essex; in September,
|
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| 436 | she was moved for the last time, to Cockfield Hall. It was in Suffolkshire,
|
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| 437 | and remote from the intrigues of London. Her keeper was Sir Owen
|
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| 438 | Hopton and his task was an awful one. By this time, Catherine was
|
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| 439 | gravely ill with tuberculosis. Royal physicians were sent for but
|
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| 440 | they could do nothing.
|
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| 441 | <p> By January 1568, Hopton wrote to Cecil that the end
|
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| 442 | was near. What did Catherine think, trapped in yet another prison,
|
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| 443 | knowing she would never see her husband again? She did not speak
|
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| 444 | of Edward; rather, she took comfort in prayer even as Jane had done fourteen
|
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| 445 | years before. On the 27th of January, Hopton's wife tried to raise
|
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| 446 | her spirits; Catherine replied, 'No, no, my lady, my time is come and it
|
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| 447 | is not God's will that I should live any longer, and his will be done,
|
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| 448 | not mine. As I am, so shall you be; behold the picture of yourselves.'
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| 449 | Around seven o'clock, she asked to see Hopton. She asked him to take
|
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| 450 | a message to the Queen; 'I must needs confess I have greatly offended her
|
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| 451 | in that I made my choice without her knowledge, otherwise I take God to
|
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| 452 | witness I had never the heart to think any evil against her majesty.'
|
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| 453 | She asked Elizabeth to be good to her sons, to not blame them for their
|
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| 454 | parents' crimes. She also asked her cousin to forgive Edward for
|
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| 455 | 'I know my death will be heavy news unto him.' She sent their wedding
|
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| 456 | ring back to him, as well as the few gifts she possessed. Among them
|
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| 457 | was a ring engraved with a death's head and a motto, 'While I live yours.'
|
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| 458 | This was 'the last token unto my lord that ever I shall send him; it is
|
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| 459 | the picture of myself.' And at nine o'clock, having made some small
|
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| 460 | peace with the world, Catherine Grey died.
|
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| 461 | <p> She had spent nearly seven years in various prisons
|
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| 462 | and was twenty-seven when she died. Edward, upon hearing the news,
|
|---|
| 463 | was heartbroken. But he also hoped for release. Perhaps Catherine's
|
|---|
| 464 | death would end the queen's anger. Two years later, he was rewarded;
|
|---|
| 465 | he was released and pardoned. In 1586, he married again to one Frances
|
|---|
| 466 | Howard. They had no children and Edward never stopped petitioning
|
|---|
| 467 | the courts to legitimize his sons with Catherine. In 1606, three
|
|---|
| 468 | years after Elizabeth's death, the clergyman was found - fifty years after
|
|---|
| 469 | the fact! - and a common law court legitimized the marriage and their sons.
|
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| 470 | <p> Edward eventually died in January 1621, both of his
|
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| 471 | sons already dead. But his grandson, William Seymour, had already
|
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| 472 | re-enacted Edward and Catherine's tragic love story by making a secret
|
|---|
| 473 | marriage of his own to Arbella Stewart, a member of the royal family.
|
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| 474 | And Edward apparently didn't gain sympathy for young lovers through his
|
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| 475 | own experience. His and Catherine's eldest son, Edward, married Honora
|
|---|
| 476 | Rogers, a girl far below his station; Edward did everything he could to
|
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| 477 | end the marriage and his son threatened to commit suicide rather than return
|
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| 478 | to Edward's home.
|
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| 479 | <br> </blockquote>
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| 480 |
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| 481 | <center><font size=-1><a href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor/relative.html">to
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| 482 | Tudor Relatives</a></font>
|
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| 483 | <br><font size=-1><a href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html">to Tudor
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| 484 | England</a></font>
|
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| 485 | <br><font size=-1><a href="janegrey.html">to
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| 486 | Lady Jane Grey page</a></font>
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| 487 | <br>
|
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| 488 | <p><font size=-1>written by <a href="mailto:[email protected]">Marilee</a></font></center>
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| 489 |
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| 490 | </body>
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| 491 | </html>
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