The Queen's Devil: The History Behind the Story

 

I'm pleased to be a part of Paul Walker's blog tour for The Queen's Devil, the latest installment in his William Constable series. Set during the reign of Elizabeth I, this spy thriller is one you won't want to miss. The Tudor era is rich with history that makes it a perfect setting for Walker's story.

Join me in welcoming Paul Walker to the blog today!

~ Samantha

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The Queen's Devil: The History Behind the Story

A guest post by Paul Walker

The third book in the William Constable series, The Queen’s Devil, is set in London during the years 1583 and 1584. They’re not instantly memorable dates, but more than enough took place in that period to trigger my writing itch. Elizabeth I was 50 years old and had been on the throne for 25 years. All talk of marriage was gone, but Sir Francis Walsingham and Lord Burghley were occupied with conspiracies, war in the Low Countries and the threat of Spain coupled with the influence of the Catholic League in France.

History records John Somerville as a conspirator. In October 1583, he journeyed alone from his home in Warwickshire, uttering threats to kill the Queen. He was arrested and, under torture, implicated his father-in-law, Edward Arden, and Hugh Hall, a Catholic priest. They were also arrested. Arden, who protested his innocence, was in dispute with the Earl of Leicester for refusing to sell him property and reportedly had made comments about the Earl’s affair with Lettice Knollys and the suspicious death of her first husband, the Earl of Essex.

All were found guilty under a fast-track legal process. Hall was released, but Arden was executed at Smithfield. Somerville was moved from the Tower to Newgate prison and within two hours was found dead as the result of self-strangulation. Even by the standards of jails at that time, his death was suspicious. The historian William Camden in his Annales (published after the death of Elizabeth) wrote that he had heard gossip linking his strangling to the Earl of Leicester.

In hindsight the Somerville episode seems undeserving of the term ‘conspiracy’. The ravings of a lone madman were surely no more than a flea bite on the affairs of state, but his threat was taken seriously by Walsingham, and I found the possible link to Leicester intriguing.

The Throckmorton Conspiracy was on a different scale and presented real danger to Elizabeth. It led to the strict confinement of Mary Queen of Scots, the expulsion of the Spanish Ambassador and eventual war with Spain.

Francis Throckmorton was from a prominent Catholic family based in Warwickshire. In 1580 he travelled to Paris, Italy and Spain, where he met with exiled Catholics. In 1583 he returned to England and became involved in an elaborate plot to release Mary Queen of Scots and restore the authority of the Pope. An invasion of England was planned, backed by Spain and led by the French Duke of Guise.

Throckmorton carried messages from the Spanish Ambassador, Bernadino de Mendoza, to Mary and correspondence was routed through the French Embassy at Salisbury Court. Sir Francis Walsingham was alerted to the plot by an agent in the Embassy and Throckmorton was arrested at his house on St Paul’s Wharf in November 1583.

Throckmorton confessed under torture, naming other conspirators. He later retracted his confession, saying he was forced by pain and words put in his mouth. However, his confession agreed with details from other sources and documents seized from his properties confirmed his guilt. His trial took place in May 1584, and he was executed at Tyburn in July of that year.

It may be a coincidence that the conspiracies of Somerville and Throckmorton took place at the same time and there were links of kinship and geography between the two men, but it is known that both affairs shared space on Walsingham’s desk at Seething Lane in November 1583. Ample excuse to suggest a connection in my writing.

Leicester’s Commonwealth was a book first circulated in 1584 attacking Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester for numerous crimes including murder and immorality. The original title was The Copy of a Letter written by a Master of Arts of Cambridge, and begins with a plea for religious toleration of those Catholics loyal to the Queen. The book progresses to defend Mary Stuart’s succession rights, but its primary purpose was to vilify Dudley. The title Leicester’s Commonwealth was first used in the 1641 edition and the book had a significant influence on Dudley’s reputation.

The accusations are many and include the murder of his first wife, Amy Robsart, who broke her neck after falling downstairs. The book also claims he was assisted by his physician, Doctor Guilio Borgarucci, in several acts of poisoning. The victims of poisoning were said to include Walter Devereux, first Earl of Essex, and Baron Sheffield, husbands to his lovers Lettice Knollys and Lady Douglas Sheffield. The book also details Dudley’s amoral behaviour, his monstrous sexual appetite and the lewd conduct of his second wife, Lettice Knollys. Elizabeth was not amused at the trashing of her favourite’s name and published an official condemnation of the libel.

Authorship is uncertain, but likely to be the work of a group of Catholic exiles in France and linked to a factional struggle in the French court, favouring the Catholic League against those who wanted friendship with Elizabeth and England.

Two conspiracies and a scurrilous tract attacking Robert Dudley disturbed the peace of the Queen and her ministers. But there was more, including: the death of Duc d’Anjou, one-time suitor of Elizabeth; William of Orange was assassinated; the fourth edition of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs was published; and Giordano Bruno, the philosopher of an infinite universe arrived in London. The presence of Bruno brings added spice as he was probably Walsingham’s informer on the suspicious activities of Throckmorton.

Research had provided me with a juicy collection of events and characters. Now, all I had to do was weave these into a believable and compelling fiction. Simple. Or was it?

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Paul is married and lives in a village 30 miles north of London. Having worked in universities and run his own business, he is now a full-time writer of fiction and part-time director of an education trust. His writing in a garden shed is regularly disrupted by children and a growing number of grandchildren and dogs.

Paul writes historical fiction. He inherited his love of British history and historical fiction from his mother, who was an avid member of Richard III Society. The William Constable series of historical thrillers is based around real characters and events in the late sixteenth century. The first two books in the series - State of Treason and A Necessary Killing - were published in 2019. The third book, titled The Queen's Devil, was published in the summer of 2020.

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Tudor Marriage: Scandal - Edward Seymour and Katherine Grey

After the execution of Jane Grey, her sisters knew that they must tread carefully. Queen Mary had only reluctantly sent Jane to her death due to the continued scheming and rebellion of her father and pressure from the Spanish, but those who remained wished to be free of the stain of treason.

By the end of 1558, Queen Mary had died and was replaced with Queen Elizabeth. Their father had not expected either of his daughters to rule and their brother had attempted to revise his will to avoid it, but these Tudor sisters proved that they would not be denied. For the remaining Grey sisters, and anyone else with a bloodline that placed them close to the crown, Elizabeth’s accession was the end of marrying according to one’s own wishes.

Elizabeth is famous for remaining single during her four decades as queen, despite leading many men to believe that they might be lucky enough to win her hand. Although she made the decision not to bear her own heirs, she also did not want any of her extended family raising up sons who might threaten her. In a quest no less maniacal than her father’s obsession with bearing sons, Elizabeth tried to keep everyone around her from having them.

Katherine Grey was Elizabeth’s cousin, and her family had already made one grasp for the throne, but she was also a sensual young woman who desired a husband and family more than a crown. Her hopes for the future had already been crushed once. In a double wedding with her older sister, Jane, Katherine had been wed to the son of the Earl of Arundel. However, with Jane’s fall, he quickly decided that she was not as profitable of a match as originally thought. The marriage was annulled, and Katherine was left alone. She was also fatherless after Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, was executed for treason.

Before long, Katherine was in love again and begging her mother to write to the queen, with whom she was first cousins, to request her approval. Frances Grey died before she could finish the letter to Elizabeth, but her death proved to Katherine, as if she had not already had reason to learn it, that life was fleeting. She and her lover decided to marry in secret and hope that Elizabeth would be forgiving.

Queen Elizabeth I is known for many things. Being forgiving is not one of them, but her treatment of Katherine Grey is one of the darkest stains upon her character.

Katherine Grey and her son Lord Edward Beauchamp

Edward and Katherine were young and in love, but they were no match for their queen when it came to cleverness. Since the ceremony had been performed in secret, it was easy for Elizabeth to claim it had never happened. The only witness had been Edward’s sister, who had since died, and the priest who had performed the sacred act could no longer be located.

Katherine fell pregnant but was uncertain that she was with child until Edward was already far away in France, a plot to keep the young lovers apart that was enacted a bit too late. In her ninth month of pregnancy and alone, Katherine was tossed into the Tower by a very angry Queen Elizabeth. Edward was summoned home as those closest to them tried to distance themselves in the eyes of the queen.

When Edward landed in Dover, he was also arrested and taken to the prison that had been the final home of Katherine’s sister and both of the young people’s fathers. Remembering their fate could not have been an encouragement as they underwent numerous interrogations.

Elizabeth had two goals in questioning the couple. She sought to discover who had aided and abetted the young lovers behind her back, that they, too, might be punished. It was also vital to demonstrate that there was no valid marriage between Edward and Katherine, bastardizing their coming child. She was already battling with those who pressured her to name Mary Queen of Scots as her heir. The last thing Elizabeth needed was a male heir born to a branch of the royal family to further threaten her position.

In the Tower, Katherine gave birth to a son, further infuriating Elizabeth. A child with combined Tudor and Seymour blood was too much of a threat. Based upon the Act of Succession put in place by Henry VIII and still law, the child was Elizabeth’s heir. She took great pleasure in deeming him illegitimate. The queen further disgraced the names of the Grey sisters by claiming that they were unfit for consideration in the succession due to their father’s treason. Elizabeth, who continued to refuse to name or bear an heir, was obsessed with proving that there was no one worthy of inheriting her crown.

White Tower of the Tower of London

While Elizabeth raged against them, Edward and Katherine were as happy as inhabitants of the Tower could be. They had their little son and were housed in rooms just steps away from each other. Of course, they were only allowed to pass messages rather than spend time together, but it must have given each comfort to know that the other was near and that friends on the outside fought for their son’s rights as heir to the kingdom. Certainly, they hoped for a better outcome than their ancestors whose graves could be found nearby.

Even the young couple’s guards took pity on their situation, allowing them visits that were irrefutably prohibited by the queen’s orders. Before long, Katherine was pregnant again. She could not have made Elizabeth angrier had she attempted to physically swipe the crown from her golden-red head.

Since Edward and Katherine had declared their marriage to several interrogators by the time their second child was conceived, it was difficult for the queen to have this child illegitimatized. To make matters worse for Elizabeth, she fell ill with what was feared to be a fatal case of smallpox, and the council pressed for Katherine to be named her heir as set forth in King Henry’s will. They had no intentions of honoring Elizabeth’s wish that Robert Dudley be named Lord Protector.

Surprising everyone, herself included, Elizabeth recovered. However, the need for her to settle upon an heir had been placed under a spotlight. This did not open the queen’s heart to her cousin’s son. In fact, as more people pleaded the case of Edward and Katherine, Elizabeth fought harder to deny them. She had the Lieutenant of the Tower arrested for allowing Katherine to fall pregnant the second time.

On February 10, 1563, almost a year and a half after the birth of her first child, Katherine gave birth to another son. While Edward continued to fight for their rights, Katherine cared for the two boys in the Tower, likely trying not to think about the number of royal sons who had never left its precincts. When a plague hit London that summer, only the pleading of Katherine’s faithful supporters convinced the queen to allow the family to be removed from the Tower to house arrest in separate and more healthful parts of the country.

This may have initially been construed as a positive sign, but Elizabeth was not relenting. Edward and Katherine continued to fight for their right to be together, but the pressure from others to name Katherine or her son as Elizabeth’s heir made the queen unsympathetic toward them. When the youngest Grey sister, Mary, also secretly married in 1565, hope was lost.

Mary and her husband were quickly arrested and separated. Katherine, who had already suffered bouts of depression due to the separation from her husband and oldest son, would not recover. On January 26, 1568, she died at age twenty-seven, crushed by the jealous Queen Elizabeth. Katherine and Edward had broken the barriers to marriage but suffered severely in payment.


Don't miss the rest of the Tudor Marriage Blog Series!

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Additional Reading:

De Lisle, Leanda. The Sisters Who Would Be Queen. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009.

Tudor Reformation

When Henry VIII wrote his Defense of the Seven Sacraments in opposition to Martin Luther, he probably would have balked at the idea that the reformation would take root in England through his own actions. While Luther was a voice calling for an end of corruption in the Catholic Church, Henry split with Rome for reasons that were much more personal but no less far reaching. One wonders if Henry could possibly envision his quarrel with the pope resulting in England becoming a Protestant nation under his children.

Henry VIII took his place on both sides of Reformation history. His essay disputing Martin Luther earned him the title Defender of the Faith. However, his 1534 Act of Supremacy made the king's word the highest in the land on matters of religion, cutting the pope out of the picture. Henry's Church of England was Catholicism without the pope. It was his insatiable need for authority that drove Henry's move toward Protestantism. Little did he know that the movement would carry on further than he ever intended after his death.

Edward VI became king at the age of nine and became a staunch Protestant. During his reign, Catholic mass was banned and a new Book of Common Prayer was written for Church of England worship. Priests were allowed to marry, while their vestments and churches were stripped of their elaborate splendor. Masses for the dead were no longer said, and veneration of saints was discouraged. Although these were significant changes, some reformers said Edward did not take them far enough. They wanted to see full Lutheranism or Calvinism adopted, while others held tight to their ancestral Catholicism. Edward did not live long enough to see an end to these issues. When he died at age fifteen, his older - and very Catholic - sister became queen.

Queen Mary I quickly and decisively thwarted plans to make her Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, queen in her place. Mary had the support of the people and immediately began reverting the country to Catholic worship. Relations with Rome were reinstated, and Edward's reforms were reversed. While some of Mary's subjects welcomed this counter-reformation, others pushed back. In the 16th century, monarchs were still determining how to cope with competing religions, and the idea that Protestantism and Catholicism could reside side-by-side was unthinkable, so Mary pressed on with her 'true faith' through sermons designed to teach about Catholicism, a return to traditional mass, and, eventually, the burning of Protestant leaders for heresy. In 1558, Mary died, leaving her work undone and her crown to her Protestant sister.

Elizabeth I proved a better politician than either of her siblings. She returned the country to Protestantism while claiming that she would not make religious decisions for her subjects. Instead of burning for heresy, Catholic priests were hanged, drawn, and quartered for treason. Since Elizabeth's reign was much longer than Edward's or Mary's, she is better remembered for other historical events and aspects of her reign. The focus on religion that Edward and Mary are known for was purposely downplayed by Elizabeth. Although she is the one less identified by her religious beliefs, Queen Elizabeth secured England's place in history as a Protestant country.

The Tudors: What keeps us coming back for more?

The Tudor dynasty lasted 118 years and ended over four centuries ago. Many interesting people have lived and events have taken place both before and after this relatively short-lived dynasty, so what is it about those Tudors that keeps us coming back for more?

By my count, there are approximately a gazillion novels and biographies written featuring the Tudor monarchs and their contemporaries. Yet each time a new book is released, I count myself among the millions who line up to eagerly consume it. Why?

I obviously have an interest in the Tudor era, though I must admit to have accidentally ended up writing about it. My first love is the Plantagenets. That quick-tempered, flame-haired bunch has a vast cast of characters and a long history, far exceeding that of the Tudors. Before the Wars of the Roses doomed them to extinction, the Plantagenets had ruled England for more than 300 years. It was when I took a closer look at one of the quieter Plantagenets that I found myself entering the world of the Tudors.

Elizabeth of York had so little written about her despite an incredible life story that brought her close to all the major players in the close of one dynasty and birth of another. How could I resist? And once I had immersed myself in Elizabeth's story, it was easy to see that her cousin, Margaret Pole, also was deserving of more attention.

Then one of my beta readers asked me if Queen Mary's story was going to be next.

What? No. I don't write about Tudors.

Well, actually, it looks like I do.

I have a few theories about what keeps people intrigued by the Tudors and how this writer has even ended up writing a (soon to be) trilogy featuring them without even meaning to.

Strong men. Henry VII may not be remembered as a musclebound soldier, but you have to admit that it took some nerve to take on Richard III with outnumbered mercenaries in a country he was not well-known in. His strength was evinced in many ways as he made peace, put down challengers, and brought England to a better economic standing. No one would deny that the second Henry Tudor was a strong man who knew what he wanted and usually got it. I don't need to go into detail on this best known Tudor monarch who went through six wives and created an entirely new church to ensure that he would get his way. Less is known about Edward VI, but in his short life he demonstrated that he was his father's son, reforming the church drastically and attempting to subvert the law with his will regarding succession.

Strong women. Much of the drama of the Tudors arises because their women are just as strong in will and spirit as their men. The first two queens of England to rule in their own right were Tudor sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. Elizabeth receives all sorts of credit for refusing to share her rule with a man, but her older sister is often left in her shadow. The fact that Mary ruled at all is proof that she inherited strength from her parents. Those who put Jane Grey on the throne had not expected serious challenge from Edward's sisters, but they had underestimated Mary Tudor. She had been pushed around by her father all her life and was done being told she was unworthy. Her story has been less told than her sister's, so I plan on remedying that with my next book. Hopefully, many people will see that there is much more to poor Mary than false pregnancies and the burning of heretics.

Truth better than fiction. All of history is filled with stories that are better than anything that I could make up, but the Tudor dynasty is practically endless tragedy, betrayal, and scandal that would seem implausible in a novel . . . except that it's all true. A nobody taking the throne, pretenders claiming that same throne, the struggle to bear a son, SIX wives, murder, war, female rulers, conspiracies, adultery......there is almost no fictional plot that I can think of that doesn't actually occur sometime between 1485 and 1603.

What-ifs. It doesn't need to be alternative history, though there is plenty of that, to explore the what-ifs that plague the Tudor dynasty. What if Arthur had lived, or Katherine had a son, or Elizabeth married? With all the astounding circumstances of the Tudor century, there is much for novelists to work with and gaps to be imaginatively filled in. Was Perkin Warbeck really Richard of York? Did Elizabeth secretly have a baby with Thomas Seymour? Was Mary ever really pregnant? Were Mary Boleyn's children fathered by Henry VIII? So many questions that we probably have the answers to, but we're not completely sure.

It comes down to drama. The stuff that makes the best entertainment can all be found in the Tudor dynasty, wrapped up in cloth-of-gold and occurring in fairytale palaces. The riches, the art, the personalities, and the almost unbelievable drama will always keep us coming back for more.

The Unexpected Tudors

Allegory of the Tudor Succession, 1572

Though the dynasty is fabulously popular today, nobody before 1485 would have wagered too much on the chances of England hosting a Tudor dynasty. The roots of the Tudors can be traced back far earlier than that, but, for today, I would like to look at the individual Tudors and just how unexpected each of their reigns were.

Henry VII

Henry Tudor was a minor nobleman from a bastard royal line. On top of that, he had been in exile for years before the crown was unexpectedly found upon his head. Before the death of Edward IV, there was little thought of Tudor becoming the last red rose or final hope of the Lancastrians or any other such poetic title. He was simply one of many on the losing side. His father and grandfather, Edmund and Owen Tudor, had both been killed in the Wars of the Roses. Left with his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Henry had little reason to think he would return to England, let alone as it's king.

Even with the shocking death of Edward IV and rise of Richard III, Tudor counted on foreign mercenaries, betrayal, and a lot of luck to secure his victory. His marriage to Princess Elizabeth of York eased the minds of many Englishmen that York and Lancaster were finally united and paved the way for a relatively peaceful reign. This unity may have brought peace, but it also caused the end of a three century long dynasty. The Plantagenets had gone down in familial infighting. The Tudors arose.

Henry VIII

For the first decade of his life, little Henry Tudor, named for his illustrious father, had no inkling of becoming king. His older brother, Arthur, was loudly and widely proclaimed the future king that would bring England unprecedented glory. Sadly, Arthur's future was cut short, and England received the unexpected heir who became one of the most famous (infamous?) monarchs in English history.

Upon his father's death in 1509, Henry VIII welcomed his extended family in a way that Henry VII had never been quite comfortable doing. William Courtenay was released from the Tower and carried Henry's sword at his coronation. Margaret Pole was raised as Countess of Salisbury. Only the de la Poles originally bore Henry's wrath.

Then his first wife Catherine failed to have a son. Suddenly, Henry was suspicious of each person with a drop of royal blood, and his insecurity saw to the death of many whom he had formerly raised up. The birth of Prince Edward to his third wife, Jane Seymour, did little to ease his paranoia.

This unexpected Tudor caused England's break with Rome, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and tyranny that remains fertile ground for historians and fiction writers today.

Edward VI

Edward VI is the only Tudor who was expected from the moment of his birth to rule England. In fact, if there is anything unexpected about poor Edward, it is that his reign was unmercifully short. Only nine years old when he became king and not quite sixteen when he died, Edward's story is a tragic one. He was the most staunchly Protestant of the Tudors and made many reforms in the Church of England in his brief reign. The tragedy did not end with his own death. Due to his hope to disinherit his sisters and place a reformist cousin on his throne, Edward inadvertently caused a revived round of family battles and bloodshed.

Jane

Lady Jane Grey is not typically included in lists of England's Kings and Queens. I have seen discussions on why this is, most notably that she did not have a coronation (but neither did Edward V . . . . so that discussion is for another day). I have chosen to include her here because no Tudor ruler was quite as unexpected and controversial as she was.

Despite what you may have read in sensationalist fiction, Edward's decision to disinherit his sisters came long before his death was eminent. Not wishing to leave the future of his country and the reforms that he had made in the hands of sisters who were not only women but were bastards, Edward had begun work on naming a new heir months before his death. His cousin Jane was by all accounts intelligent, devout, and expected to marry a reputable Englishman to assist her in ruling until her future son could do so.

Nobody expected Mary, the middle-aged daughter of Henry VIII to put up much of a fight.

Mary I

Mary had so much working against her when she decided to boldly proclaim herself queen. Jane was in London, already proclaimed and signing documents as 'Jane the Queen.' She had the support of Edward's council and had been named successor in Edward's will. However, Mary was through cowering and accepting the events that had transformed her from princess to bastard. She would be queen, as her mother and governess had always taught her.

As a girl, Mary had been her father's heir and had been raised to be a queen, if not of England than as a consort of another country. Her reality had turned out quite differently. She was content for her brother to reign, despite the religious differences between them. She understood that he outranked her. The same could not be said for the future sons of Jane Grey.

Mary had a surprising amount of support from East Anglian gentry and had little trouble overpowering the sect led by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Jane's nine day queenship was at an end.

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth may be the next most famous Tudor after her father, but she had little reason to believe that she would ever become queen. Bastardized before she would have understood the term, Elizabeth was in line behind a brother and sister who would have each been expected to have sons. Not until the death of a childless Mary in 1558 would Elizabeth's way become clear.

The final Tudor made no plans for the continuation of her dynasty. Though she led many men on for several years, she never married any of them. She failed to name a successor and punished her extended family for daring to marry and have children themselves. While her father had obsessively strove for an heir, Elizabeth avoided them. In doing so, she gave England something even more unexpected than the Tudors: the Stuarts.