Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/352

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Mary I
346
Mary I


Winchester gave an elaborate entertainment. "Within a week they left Winchester for Windsor Castle, and a long series of wedding festivities followed. On Sunday, 5 Aug., Philip was formally admitted to the order of the Garter. The following fortnight was spent at Richmond. On 28 Aug. they proceeded in state through the city. In the procession figured twenty carts, containing ninety-seven chests of bullion which had been brought over by Philip as a gift, and were valued at 50,000/. (Chron. p. 83). The festivities, which were continued at Whitehall, were interrupted by the deaths of the old Duke of Norfolk, for whom the queen ordered court mourning, and of Don Juan of Portugal, Philip's brother-in-law. Mary and her husband thereupon retired to Hampton Court.

Signs of Philip's unpopularity were making themselves apparent. His followers complained of insults offered them in the streets, and affrays between them and the Londoners were frequent. But his own conduct, largely regulated by Renard's advice, was discreet. His strict attendance to his religious observances and an almost ridiculous formality of manner were alone urged against him by courtiers. On 27 July orders had been issued that the proceedings in council should be reported in Latin or Spanish for his convenience— a proof of his interest in the domestic government — and a stamp was l made in both their names for the stamping ' of state documents. At an early date, too, he directed coins to be struck for his kingdom of Naples bearing the shields both of himself and Mary and a description of himself as king of England (Hawkins, Medallic Illustrations ', 1885, i. 69). But beyond advising Mary to pardon Elizabeth, he is not known to have exerted any direct influence on English politics in the early days of his married life. Late in the autumn Elizabeth was summoned to Hampton Court. The queen invited her to confess her fault. Elizabeth flatly denied her guilt, but the interview terminated amicably, and the queen, placing a costly ring on Elizabeth's finger, formally forgave her. Their friendly relations were not again interrupted.

On 11 Nov. Mary and Philip proceeded on horseback from Whitehall to open parliament, to which the sheriffs had been admonished to return men of a wise, grave, and catholic sort' (Burnet). A sword of state was carried before each sovereign, and Mary, as was now habitual with her, was very richly attired. The session was to accomplish one of her dearest wishes. The first business was the reversal of Cardinal Pole's attainder. Two days later (14 Nov.) Pole, after his long absence abroad, arrived at Gravesend and was rowed to Westminster in a state barge, at the prow of which a large silver cross, the legatine emblem, was fixed, although he came, it was announced, not as legate bat as a special ambassador from the pope. Mary received him with almost childish delight. ' The day I ascended the throne,' she said, 'I did not feel such joy.' A grand tournament was held in his honour on 25 Nov. Philip was one of the successful combatants, and the queen distributed the prizes. On 27 Nov., owing to her illness, the two houses of parliament were summoned to her presence chamber at Whitehall. Philip sat at Mary's left hand, under the canopy of the throne ; Pole sat at some distance from her, on her right. The cardinal, after dwelling on Mary's early struggles and final victory, announced that he had come from the pope to grant England absolut ion for her past offences. But, in agreement with the recommendations of the queen's council, which she herself had reluctantly accepted, he added that the pope did not require the restitution of church lands. Next morning, after a conference of both houses, a petition from the parliament, {>raying for reconciliation with Rome, was landed to Mary, who delivered it to the cardinal in another public audience. Thereupon Pole's commission from the pope was read, and he formally granted the kingdom absolution and freedom from all religious censure. Subsequently the queen and the whole company proceeded to St. Stephen's Chapel. Pope Julius III had a medal struck in honour of the event, in which England was represented as a suppliant, with Philip and Mary stand- ing on one side and Charles V and Pole on the other (Hawkins, i. 70).

But other grounds of rejoicing were reported. On the day that Pole absolved the realm, Gardiner, the chancellor, and nine other lords of the council addressed a letter to Bonner, bishop of London, announcing that the queen was 4 conceaved and quicke of childe,' and directing the 'Te Deum to be sung in all the churches of the London diocese. The letter was printed and published by John Cawood, the royal printer. A solemn service of thanksgiving took place in St. Paul's Cathedral (15 Nov.) ; the lord mayor and eleven bishops attended. Dr. Weston, dean of Westminster, composed a prayer to be said daily for the queen's safe deliverance, and other prayers expressed the hope that the offspring might be 'a male child, well favoured and witty.' A ballad 'imprinted ... by Wyllyam Kyddaell' declared