Brandon is taken aback by Anne’s austerity, lack of worldliness and all around ‘squareness.’Īnne of Cleves is doing her best to settle into her new role as Henry’s Queen. Brandon travels to Calais to met Anne of Cleves and her entourage and accompany them across the English Channel. With great speed and efficiency, Cromwell has begun the arrangements and preparations for the King’s fourth marriage.
Hans Holbein has traveled to the Duchy of Cleves (in modern-day Germany) to paint Anne, whom he finds to be a shy and unworldly young woman. Cardinal Pole has left Rome on a secret mission.
Ambassador Chapuys, representative of the Imperial Emperor, has been recalled from the English court. Preparations have already begun to defend England with fortification on the northern border against the Scots and forts built on the English Channel where the navy is on standby. Cromwell warns that war seems imminent following a treaty between Emperor Charles V and the King of France with the unspoken support of the Pope. The King’s oppression of the Catholic Church may be finally catching up with him. Although the King seems unperturbed by this, Cromwell is most certainly disturbed by this rollback on revolution. After consultation, the Bishops respond to his ‘six articles of faith’ in accordance with Catholic theology. As usual, they have failed to agree on anything and Henry, with growing impatience, has taken the matter into his own hands providing six doctrinal questions which will form the basis of his church. The King meets with Bishop Gardiner (Simon Ward) who has been charged with writing the doctrine of the Church of England in consultation with the rest of the Bishops. No expense will be spared in his education and comfort he is after all, a future King. A new household will be established for the royal heir at Hampton Court to be headed by Lady Bryan. The infant Edward is being looked after by his half-sister Lady Mary and several of Jane’s ladies-in-waiting. For the moment, he is more concerned with finding a new bride for his King who has shut himself away in sadness and grief following the death of his much-loved third wife Jane Seymour, mother to his only male heir. Cromwell suspects the assassination as a warning to him but refuses to speculate who might be behind it. Sir Robert Packington, English Parliamentarian and friend of Cromwell, is shot dead in a London street. November 1537, a gloom hangs over England. Her intuition is proven right: Henry is greatly moved by the sight of his first daughter and swears his undying protection to her. Queen Jane, demonstrating daring as well as tenderness, has arranged for Mary to visit her father at court. When the King proposes comforting of a more intimate nature, she is happy to please his Majesty. The young and beautiful Lady Ursula Misseldon attends to the King's wound, which has confined him to bed. Unsurprisingly, the King has little patience for the continuing insurgence and orders Cromwell to take more extreme action. A physician has removed a splinter of bone from his ulcerating leg and recommends further treatment. Henry’s pain is more immediate and more personal. The rising in Lincolnshire has just been defused by a combination of diplomacy and the threat of the Royal Army and yet, the rebellion is not yet suppressed. Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire in the north of England, 300 of the King's soldiers as well as local gentry and the Archbishop of York, are under siege from rebels calling themselves 'Pilgrims.'Thomas Cromwell is justifiably disturbed by the news.
0 kommentar(er)
