By your loving sister, Mary."[431]

Francis on his accession had secured Mary's dower to her, and there was no trouble about her actual jointure, but on the question of movables the dispute arose. On October 13, 1514, Louis XII. had signed letters of acquittance on the delivery of his wife, with her jewels, furniture, etc., representing the 400,000 golden crowns promised as her dowry, provided that in case of restitution the King and his heirs should only be bound to restore what she brought with her into France, with the expenses of her passage. The Queen-dowager was, according to the marriage contract, to have the use of plate and furniture, presumably that belonging to the late King, but Francis said it was unreasonable to expect him to allow this if the Queen left the kingdom. However, Mary's chief contention was that all the jewels which Louis had laid in her lap from out those seven coffers at Abbeville and elsewhere, and the gold plate which she had used, were to be considered by her as her own, independent of her position as Queen, and that she could do with them as she liked.[432] This was distinctly contrary to the legal instrument, but both Mary and Henry were keen on that point, and the haggle, called negotiations, dragged on. Francis, on the other hand, contended that by law all the property of the late King should go to pay his debts, and said that if she kept the property she must take the debts too, and pay them, for she had no right to the movables. Suffolk was all desire to content his master, but the legalities of the matter were beyond his disentangling, "as touching whether she have right or no, I cannot tell, for it is past my learning."[433] He made the best friends he could about Francis, "to persuade him, if so it were that she had none right, that he on his honour might depart with her so that the King [Henry] might see that he dealt not to the extremity." And so, my lord," he wrote to Wolsey, "in conclusion I am assuredly advertised that he will be content to give her the one half of the plate of gold, the which is valued 50,000 crowns—for the whole is but 100,000 crowns—and also he will be content to give her in jewels to the sum of 50,000 crowns, the which, by as far as I can perceive, shall be the one half of the jewels. My lord, this he will do upon the condition that the King's Grace and all his Council shall see that she has no right, and that he does it of his own good will, and for the love of the King's Grace and for hers, for he will not that it should be thought and she had right but that she should have all." If division were to be made, then all the jewels would need to be shown, and Suffolk, as already seen, had to ask for the return of the jewel sent as a peace-offering to Henry.[434] But Henry would not send back the famous "Miroir de Naples" and it remained in England, grudged by the French King. Mary's acknowledgment of the jewels she received from Francis includes a large diamond called "le Miroir de Naples" with a large pearl attached; 20 diamonds "enchassez et mis en oeuvre en une bordeur d'or," to serve as a head-dress; 8 large pearls as buttons for the sleeves; 8 others for a carcanet; a large emerald; a large ruby and 2 large diamonds set in 4 "chatons d'or": all of which belonged to her late lord and husband, Louis XII.[435] The jewel and the promise of many more, and also of two-fifths of her jointure, seems to have pacified her brother, for he sent letters of recall almost at once, and wrote to Francis desiring him to allow the return of the Queen to England. As things were it would be just as well to get the pair home and let them be married openly in England, but before that, Suffolk's request that he might be married before leaving France was acceded to, and a semi-private ceremony took place on the last Saturday in March, the 30th, and in Lent. Louise de Savoie's diary is the authority for this date, though probably she was not present, for she had been ill. "Samedi dernier jour de mars le duc de Suffort, homme de basse condition lequel Henry VIII de ce nom avait envoyÉ ambassadeur devers le roi, Épousa Marie." On April 4 definite news of the marriage arrived at Ghent.[436] It seems fairly probable—but with mutilated and undated documents it is flying in the face of criticism to be dogmatic—that it was at this time that Suffolk's cousin, Sir William Sidney, arrived with letters and a "credence" which brought the duke "great ease and comfort." He caused Wingfield to write to Wolsey that the archbishop "had bound him and all his to be yours during their lives."[437] At this date, too, Henry did his best to silence gossip, and wrote to Margaret of Austria asking her to contradict all reports in the Prince's court of a secret marriage.

Henry's anger was short-lived after all. He was genuinely attached to Suffolk, who had done his business as well as could be expected, and the King knew what to expect from Francis in the matter of straight dealing, so the Duke was overjoyed to receive, as a mark of partially renewed confidence, orders to treat with Francis for the final clauses of the peace. Wolsey was truly a friend worth having, prodigal of tact and unwearying in effort. The Duke and the Queen were to come home as soon as the peace was concluded, and the hitch in the proceedings arose from Francis' refusal to prevent the departure of the Duke of Albany into Scotland, for the Scots were to be comprehended in the peace only on the distinct understanding that the old Franco-Scottish alliance was broken. Francis, however, said he had no mind to withdraw his protection and amity from Scotland. By the marriage treaty now concluded he had detached Flanders from England, and knew that Henry without its aid and with an hostile "friend" across the border would have small power against him, but he gave his word as a gentleman, with his hand on his heart, that his ambitions were entirely Italian. All the same there was talk of Guelders besieging Tournay, and Francis boasted that he could have it any day. However, stop Albany he would not, "though he swore he would jeopard his head and bind him by the censures of the Church that if the Duke did not bring peace to Scotland in four months he would bring him home again." And Albany set out to take ship at St Malo, "mawgre all the ships now in the sea" to stop him. The English had a great day with the King for his keeping. Francis suggested that if he stopped Albany for three months then Suffolk should remain the same time in France as hostage for Henry's behaviour towards the Scots.[438] The ambassadors promptly said No, they had no authority to do this and would not if they had, and if the Duke were to help the one party in Scotland, Henry would certainly send aid to his sister, Queen Margaret. Francis was too impatient to be off towards Italy to stand long on the order of his treating, and the same day, April 5, Holy Thursday, while the Queen and Suffolk were in the church of the Maturins, "adjoining fast to her Grace's lodging, the French King came in to take pardon and spake not past two or three words with [the] Queen, but came over to my lord and showed him [as far] as he could understand, as my lord showed unto us, that he had stopped the said Duke of Albany's going [into] Scotland, and that he would send another ambassador that should come through England and s[how the King and his] Council his instructions."[439] The upshot was that Francis gave the Scots three months to come into the amity, "so that it might [seem to] his friends there that he forsook them not," and peace was signed in London on Easter Monday, March 9. The only bit of public business now remaining was the Tournay question, but Suffolk had been bitten and would not again treat of the matter, and referred it for settlement to the meeting of the Kings.[440] So Tournay remained to the English.

Francis had promised that Mary should be allowed to depart as soon as "le tans se trouvera convenable,"[441] and now gave her liberty to depart the Saturday next after Quasimodo Geniti (Low Sunday, April 15).[442] The date being settled, Wingfield and West were more than ever anxious to get her affairs definitely settled. The costs of her "traduction" made the Chancellor hold up his hands in horror that all that money should have been spent in seven or eight days, but the King, he said, was willing to make a composition without asking for particulars. They replied that the hiring and manning of the ships had occupied a much longer time than that, and that it had been necessary to scour the seas both east and west beforehand that no enemy might impeach her passage. As to the question of composition, there could be none in truth, for the costs were included by an article in the treaty and they had no other basis for treating. However, if the King would tell them what sum he had decided on they would either take it or refer it to Henry. No sum had been decided on, and the answer was deferred till the next day. Francis told the Chancellor to make an end of the matter and offer 30,000 francs. Wingfield and West haggled for 20,000 crowns of the sun, equal to 39,000 francs, which, after consulting together, they agreed to take, "considering we could bring him to no greater sum, and in what necessity the Queen was, not having one penny towards her charges, seeing also the exclamation of the merchants and other victuallers, and her servants for their wages, especially by them that be now warned out of (service), we were by force driven to consent to the said offer, and could not otherwise make shift to furnish her charges, which be exceeding great as you shall know hereafter, to your no little marvel."[443] Thus far everything was adjusted but the question of the jewels and plate, the offer of half of which had been favourably entertained by Henry. Francis offered 30,000 crowns for the "Miroir de Naples,"[444] and was exceeding wroth when he found the jewel had passed the sea beyond recall, and no doubt his wrath accounts for his scant courtesy to Mary in church on Holy Thursday. Mary must have made "a good Pask," for England and home were in sight at last, but it needed another eight days to conclude matters. On Saturday, April 14, in the Clugny Abbey, Mary signed a receipt for 200,000 gold crowns, including 20,000 paid for her travelling expenses, returned as moiety of her dowry that had been already paid.[445] And on the same day Suffolk authorized his wife to receive and give receipt for jewels, etc., which formed part of her dowry.[446] This authorization may have been demanded by Francis to strengthen his point that Mary did not receive the jewels as right but as a gift from him. On the following Monday Mary gave the required receipt, and set out at once for home, glad to get out of her prison, where she had not known a day's health, and to leave Paris with its mud and smells and innumerable horses. The gold plate was left behind, with the marriage present which the prudent Venetian ambassador, who arrived after Louis XII.'s death, had thriftily suppressed, though Mary had asked for it.[447] Dean West was to try and extract the plate from the King at the signing of the treaty, and, failing that, Suffolk said he would give its value to Henry. The impulsive dispatch of the jewel had spoiled the negotiations, and Francis still was so incensed that he had "done nothing about the present which he had promised the Queen by the Grand-master and Bonnivet," and had only given her at her departing "four baagues of no great value."[448] With the present he sent the message that she could have the movables if she paid the debts. West did his best at Montargys, where the treaty of peace with England was signed, to get more out of the King. On the Dean breaking roundly with him on the subject, Francis "studied a little," and said he would give him an answer next day. West then said that the interview desired by the two Kings depended on Henry's side on the answer he got about the jewels and plate, and if "he dealt not well with the Queen's Grace, your sister, in that matter, your Grace would take it so unkindly that there would be great difficulty to bring it to pass." Next day, after the ceremony of subscribing the treaty at the high altar, "the King desired him to repeat in the presence of the Chancellor what he had said the day before touching the Queen's moveables," and when he had done so, the Chancellor requested West to withdraw. On being recalled, West was told by the Chancellor at the King's desire that "if the King under[stood] that the Queen had any right to the said m[oveables] he would have given her altogether. And [upon this] as I said she had received no part, the Chancellor replied that she had the jewel of Naples, for which the King offered 30,000 crowns, and 18 pearls valued at 10,000 crowns; but the King trusted to see Henry shortly and they would settle the matter together."[449] No other answer was to be had, and West sent Mary's useless seal after her by Suffolk's servant. Suffolk's commonsense spoke truth when he said they could not compel Francis to "gyf soo moche wyet howth (without) he lyst."

The Queen was now (April 16) on her way to Calais with Suffolk. Francis had gone with her almost to St Denis, and Monsieur and many of the personages kept her company to Boulogne. The day she left peace was proclaimed, fires were made at night, and on the morrow there was a holiday. On the 22nd they came to Montreuil, and there Suffolk's uneasiness at Wolsey's silence for the past fortnight ("one in his position was glad of tidings") found vent in a letter to Henry beseeching pardon and forgiveness.

"Most Gracious Sovereign Lord.—So it is that I am informed divers ways that all your whole Council, my lord of York excepted, with many others are clearly determined to tempt your Grace that I may either be put to death or be put in prison and so to be destroyed. Alas, Sir, I may say that I have a hard fortune, seeing that there was never none of them in trouble but I was glad to help them in my power, and that your Grace knows best. And now that I am in this none little trouble and sorrow now they are ready to help and destroy me. But, Sir, I can no more but God forgive them whatsoever comes to me, for I am determined. For, Sir, your Grace is he that is my sovereign lord and master, and he that has brought me up out of nought, and I am your subject and servant and he that has offended your Grace in breaking my promise that I made your Grace touching the Queen, your sister. For the which, with most humble heart, I will yield myself unto your Grace's hands to do with my poor body your gracious pleasure, not fearing the malice of them, for I know your Grace of such nature that it cannot lie in their powers to cause you to destroy me for their malice. But what punishment I have I shall thank God and your Grace of it, and think that I have well deserved it, both to God and your Grace. As knows our Lord, who send your Grace your most honorable heart's desire with long life, and me, most sorrowful wretch, your gracious favour, what sorrows soever I endure therefor.

At Mottryll, the 22nd day of April, by your most humble subject and servant, Charles Suffolk."

The letter Mary sent by the same messenger, Sir William Sidney, had been already submitted to Wolsey, for the draft of it in his secretary's hand altered in the archbishop's, is extant in the Public Record Office.[450]

"My most dear and entirely beloved brother. In most humble manner I recommend me to your Grace.

"Dearest brother, I doubt not that you have in your good remembrance that whereas, for the good of peace and for the furtherance of your affairs, you moved me to marry with my lord and late husband, King Louis of France, whose soul God pardon. Though I understood that he was very aged and sickly, yet for the advancement of the said peace and for the furtherance of your causes, I was contented to conform myself to your said motion, so that if I should fortune to survive the said late King I might with your good will marry myself at my liberty without your displeasure. Whereunto, good brother, you condescended and granted, as you well know, promising unto me that in such case you would never provoke nor move me but as mine own heart and mind should be best pleased, and that wheresoever I should dispose myself you would wholly be content with the same. And upon that your good comfort and faithful promise I assented to the said marriage, else I would never have granted to, as at the same time I showed unto you more at large. Now that God hath called my said late husband to his mercy, and I am at my liberty, dearest brother, remembering the great virtues which I have seen and perceived heretofore in my lord of Suffolk, to whom I have always been of good mind, as ye well know, I have affixed and clearly determined myself to marry him, and the same I assure you hath proceeded only of mine own mind, without any request or labour of my lord of Suffolk or of any other person. And to be plain with your Grace, I have so bound myself unto him that for no cause earthly I will or may vary or change from the same. Wherefore my good and most kind brother, I now beseech your Grace to take this matter in good part, and to give unto me and to my said lord of Suffolk your good will herein, ascertaining you that upon the trust and comfort which I have for that you have always honourably regarded your promise, I am comen out of the realm of France and have put myself within your jurisdiction in this your town of Calais, where I intend to remain till such time as I shall have answer from you of your good and loving mind herein, which I would not have done, but upon the faithful trust that I have in your said promise. Humbly beseeching your Grace for the great and tender love which ever hath been and shall be between you and me to bare your gracious mind and show yourself agreeable hereunto, and to certify me by your most loving letters of the same. Till which time I will make mine abode here and no further enter your realms.

"And to the intent it may please you, the rather to condescend to this my most hearty desire, I am contented and expressly promise, and bind me to you by these presents to give you all the whole dot which was delivered with me, and also all such plate of gold and jewels as I shall have of my said late husband's. Over and besides this I shall, rather than fail, give you as much yearly part of my dower to as great a sum as shall stand with your will and pleasure. And of all the premises I promise upon knowledge of your good mind to make unto you sufficient bonds. Trusting verily that in fulfilling your said promise to me made, you will show your brotherly love, affection and good mind to me in this behalf, which to hear of I abide with most desire, and not to be miscontented with my said lord of Suffolk, whom of mine inward good mind and affection to him I have in manner enforced to be agreeable to the same, without any request of him made. As knoweth our Lord, whom I beseech to have your Grace in his merciful governance."[451]

Both letters harped on a "promise," and Mary's argument was all the stronger that the King's anger was because of Suffolk's broken word, and Henry was just the man to feel that in these circumstances the royal word must remain intact. Besides, he was getting his full price. The argument was very likely Wolsey's, who no doubt was rather weary of hearing about Suffolk's default. In uncertainty, however, the Queen and Suffolk went on to Calais, only to find the town inflamed against the Duke, and it is said he had to keep within the King of England's house for fear of the people. For nearly a month, in expectation of the Queen's arrival, the deputation from the town to Henry on important local business had been put off by command of the Deputy, Sir Richard Wingfield, "for the town would have been left bare at the arrival of the Queen,"[452] and possibly this sharpened local exasperation. Stowe says that Mary crossed on May 2, and the official account says she did not stay long at Calais, "but within a few short days, the time being fine, good and suitable, took her passage and arrived at Dover, which is the place from whence she set sail when she went abroad. At which place she was met by many honourable personages, as well lords as ladies, and by them conducted and accompanied to a place called Saint Saulve (Sauveur?) de Grace (sic), and about two leagues from the said county of the said saint, she was met and received by my lord the Archbishop of York, and from thence also accompanied he conveyed her, taking the way to Barking, which is a fine manor, where was our said lord the King. And before she arrived at the said place of Barking, the King, accompanied by many great princes and lords of this kingdom, in good and great number met her a mile from the said place of Barking, and bid her welcome as cordially and affectionately as he possibly could, rejoicing greatly in her honourable return and great prosperity. And from the place of the said meeting his highness conveyed her to the said manor of Barking, at which place it was appointed that the King and she should stay all the day next ensuing."[453]

What was her real and private reception, and how Suffolk came into his master's presence, we have no means of knowing. The document given hereafter in full says that explanations took place in the evening of their arrival at Barking. By a deed dated May 11th, the day after their arrival, the final conditions of marriage and forgiveness were settled, and Mary and Suffolk bound themselves to pay to Henry for expenses over and above her dowry £24,000 in yearly instalments of £1000, and to resign to the King's use her dot of £200,000 and her plate and jewels. On Suffolk's part he resigned the wardship of Lady Lisle.[454] Two days after this the marriage was openly celebrated at Greenwich, on May 13,[455] in the presence of the whole Court, where the Norfolk faction gloomed in defeat, for while the Court bulletin sent abroad said that "all the estates and others of this realm be very glad and well pleased," Hall was nearer the mark when he wrote that "many men grudged."

Now that all was en rÈgle, the only thing that remained to be done was to cover up entirely the traces of the first and most irregular marriage, and to acknowledge and ask for the concealment of the one on March 31, to which Francis was privy. So Sir William Sidney was sent back to Francis with a document containing a neat set of events, arranged to hide improprieties and to guard against future questions. It is really a safeguard of the legitimacy of the children of the then heir to the throne. There are two documents, one in Paris and one in London. Sir William Sidney is told therein (by Wolsey and Suffolk) to represent to Francis that[456] "the same evening that the said Queen arrived at the said place of Barking, after many communications and devices had between the King and her touching her affairs, she among other things made overture and declaration to the King, our said lord, that the marriage, for which the King, her son-in-law, had before written very earnestly by letters of his own hand to the King, our said lord, for the marriage between her and the Duke of Suffolk, was not only concluded and determined but was secretly perfected, finished and solemnized in the Kingdom of France in Lent last past, to the doing of which the King, her son-in-law, was alone privy, desiring, therefore, with the greatest possible humility the King, our said lord, to take and accept it in good part, and to be well content at it and not to object nor lay any blame on the said Duke of Suffolk, since this proceeded entirely on her own wish and the singular love that she bore him, and that it proceeded not all from his procuration or pursuit.

"Which overture and declaration was at first strange and very displeasing to the King, nevertheless, recalling the very urgent prayer and request that the King, his said good brother and cousin, had heretofore made him upon this by his said letters written with his hand for the accomplishing of the said marriage, with the very humble mediation and good aid of my lord of York, the anger of the King was appeased and somewhat modified. And considering that the said marriage had been contracted in the prohibited time and season, and without banns asked, and celebrated by a priest not having authority from the ordinary therefor, also to avoid the danger which might ensue from the illegitimation of such children as might be procreated between them two, and in part guard the King's honour and hers, and also accomplish and comply with the desire of his said good brother and cousin, the King—although the King might well have shown more displeasure, which might have been for his own dignity and that of his kingdom—nevertheless, for the causes and considerations above declared and that his said good brother, the King, might assuredly know and understand that the King would incline and be conformable to all his reasonable desires, his highness not only consented, but it seemed to him to be good and expedient—to avoid all danger and to establish the thing more perfectly—that the said marriage should be openly solemnized in England and performed in due form and manner with the publication of banns and all other ceremonies herein requisite and expedient, according to what has been and is accustomed to be done in such case.

[English draft begins here.][457] "Wherefore after all preparations made for that purpose and the banns openly asked, the said marriage between the said Queen and Duke was solemnized at Greenwich in presence of the King, the Queen, and such other nobles and estates of this realm as then were attending in the Court, on Sunday the 13th day of this instant month of May, and with the same all the said estates and others of this realm be very glad and well pleased. And considering that there be no mo privy to the said secret marriage made between them in France, but only the said French King and none privy here unto but the King, to whom the said French King and Duke disclosed the same, the said Sir William Sidney shall say that the King's Grace desireth and perfectly trusteth that for the honour of the said French Queen and for avoiding of all evil bruits which may ensue thereof, he will reserve and keep the same at all times hereafter secret to himself without making any creature privy thereunto, like as the King shall do for his part. And at this point the said Sir William Sidney shall pause, noting and marking substantially what answer the said French King shall make hereunto to the intent he may certify the said Archbishop of York and the Duke of Suffolk thereof accordingly."

Thus Suffolk and Wolsey laboured to repair the damage, but with little effect; secrecy had become impossible, the news was over Europe.

Here ends the via dolorosa to their open marriage, and now, after this hour in a fierce light which revealed the very beating of her heart, Mary sinks back into the cloud of obscurity which covers the lives of people neither politically nor criminally important. Occasionally, as will be seen hereafter, the cloud lifts, only to close down again almost immediately. Of her married life little can be found, and if the well-known stanza written on their portrait indicates anything, it is a certain loving tolerance on the part of Suffolk for his capricious, warm-hearted wife.