CHAPTER VI.

Henry Fitzroy.

1525.

I. JOHN CLERK was living near the Vatican; openly as a minister of peace; secretly as an agent for the secret affair. Wolsey was veering round towards Paris. If the Julian bull were void in law, he saw no obstacle, other than such as might be raised by Spain, to a divorce of Catharine, and a marriage of the King to Renée. Clerk was an able and a learned man. Henry was fond of him, and sometimes used his pen. A lawyer and divine, Clerk had his own opinion of the things so much disputed in the English Church. He held the view of Warham, that the Papal bull was void. But Wolsey had instructed him in what he was to say and do. The matters were so secret and so delicate that Wolsey dared not put them into words, for fear of the Imperial spies; but Clerk, it was supposed, being popular in the Papal court, would find some means of settling with the Pope before the ministers of Charles were on their guard.

2. Clerk was unable to achieve his object in the Papal court, in consequence of the course events were taking in the field. Though Bourbon's troops had driven the French into the heart of Provence, the battle seemed of dubious issue; since the Im

perialists, unable to assault Marseilles, were falling back, while François, gathering up new armies with amazing speed, was throwing his forces into the Milanese. Advancing quickly through the duchy, François sent the Duke of Albany forward with a separate force to occupy Naples, and appeared to threaten every part of Italy. Clement seemed free to act, and Henry was an object of his paternal care. But Bourbon's genius fettered him again. The battle of Pavia, where the chivalry of France was slain, and François taken prisoner on the field, threw Rome into the Emperor's power, and henceforth Clement was no other than the victor's chaplain.

3. Wolsey entreated Clement to decide the point submitted to his judgment. If the perils of the times were great, delay would make them worse. He dwelt on his anxiety to serve the Holy See, now menaced on so many sides. He was prepared to spend his substance and to give his blood for Rome, and in return he had a right, he said, to ask his Holiness to lend a patient ear to Clerk. But Clement was no longer master of himself. The Emperor's troops were at his gate; the Emperor's councillors were at his board. Clerk answered Wolsey it was useless to go deeper into "the secret matter,” since his Holiness was "hanging in the air." If Clerk should see a chance, he would renew his speech; but for the moment nothing could be done in Rome. Henry's reply was prompt and strange; so prompt that Catharine reeled beneath his blow; so strange that she could hardly comprehend his

drift. When she began to see his meaning, she exploded in a fit of passion so volcanic, that the King was forced to interfere, to drive away her Spanish women, to dismiss the servants of her household, and to put her highness under some restraint.

4. Seven years ago, with Wolsey's knowledge and approval, Henry had formed a brief connexion with a girl named Blount, a daughter of John Blount, one of the yeomen of his guard. Elizabeth Blount, a young and pretty lassie, having a humble place at court, was sometimes cast to play in mummeries and masques. At all times ready to amuse his master, Wolsey had put this girl in Henry's way, and, since the hussy smiled and the yeoman winked, every one appeared to be content. The amour lasted for about a year; and Henry had concealed it from the public sight.

5. Elizabeth bore the King a boy, who, in the absence of another son, had now become the darling of his father's heart. The child was christened Henry. Wolsey stood sponsor at the font. John Blount was dubbed a knight; and when the King grew weary of his mistress, Wolsey married her to his ward. At Goltho Manor, in Wolsey's old diocese of Lincoln, lived a poor demented knight, Sir George Talbois, who, in the opinion of his family, had been an idiot from his birth. A royal commission had been named to see him and report. The man had made a will in favour of the Church; leaving large sums of money to certain monks and priests; but Wolsey, as a member of that commission, had refused to say that he was mad, and that History of two Queens. V.

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his will in favour of the monks and priests was void. Wolsey and other priests had got the management of his estates. This idiot had a son, Gilbert, who was still a youth; and Wolsey, as his guardian, had been pleased to give this youth in marriage to Elizabeth Blount.

6. From either natural modesty or feeling for his consort, Henry had kept his son by Elizabeth Blount in decent privacy. The boy was called Harry Fitzroy, and page and abigail knew the secret of his birth, yet he had never been paraded in the public sight, nor had a great establishment been formed for him. But when the news came in from Rome that Clement could do nothing towards enabling Henry to get rid of Catharine and marry Renée, this lad was suddenly brought forward as a prince, invested with a dozen offices and titles, and surrounded by a brilliant court.

7. Harry Fitzroy was six years old when he was overtaken by this royal grace. On Sunday, after the feast of Corpus Domini, he was created Earl of Nottingham; the title, borne by Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. On the same day, he was created Duke of Somerset; the title borne by Edmund Tudor, the King's younger brother. By another act, he was created Duke of Richmond; the earldom of which had been borne by the King's father. On the same Sunday, he was made a Knight of the Garter, and assigned pre-eminence over every other peer in England. To connect him still more closely with the blood royal, he was made keeper of the city and castle of Carlisle; an office held by the

heir-apparent in the days of Richard the Second. A few days later, he was named Lord Admiral of England, Wales, and Ireland, of Normandie, Gascoigne, and Aquitaine. What next? Was Harry Fitzroy to be created Prince of Wales?

8. Sheriffs Hutton, a fine estate in Yorkshire, which had fallen to the crown by Norfolk's death, was given to Fitzroy as a residence, with a view to his appointment as Warden-General of the Scottish Marches. This appointment followed in due course. Castles, parks, and manors, in a dozen shires, were granted in support of these high dignities. To glorify the infant duke, Courtney was created Marquis of Exeter; Brandon was created Earl of Lincoln; Roos was created Earl of Rutland. But favour ran beyond the royal circle. Clifford became Earl of Cumberland, Fitzwater became Viscount Egremont, and Boleyn became Viscount Rochford.