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| 6 March. |
153. Bishop Quadra to Cardinal De Granvelle.
I wrote on the 28th ultimo and sent copies of what the cardinal
of Ferrara and Morette had written to me. I have not spoken to
the Queen on the matter as the signs up to the present are not to be
feared. I have convinced myself this week that these people who
are fitting out some ships to send, as they say, to Berwick with
munitions and money are really going to send them to help the
risings and tumults which this Queen has encouraged in Scotland.
She cannot endure that religion should be upheld in that country or
that their Queen should send representatives to the Concilio. They
are also full of suspicion of the news that many of the gentlemen
of this country, both because they are Catholics and because they
are tired of what is going on here, have offered their services to the
queen of Scotland and are in communication with her. Lady
Margaret's affair also enters into this question. They have not done
much against her yet, but perhaps when they have despatched these
ships and placed them between England and Scotland and occupied
the land passes they may lay hands on her and on some others with
whom they are now temporising.
I also hear that this week there was to be a meeting in Lancaster
(under pretext of a hare hunt) of some of these gentlemen, who are not
favourable to the Catholics, the duke of Norfolk amongst others, and
it is suspected that this meeting may be to fall unawares on some of
the Catholics who are most feared but whom they dare not arrest
without some such precaution for fear of a disaster. Those who are
to meet with the duke of Norfolk are the marquis of Northampton,
the earl of Huntingdon, the earl of Rutland, Lord Hunsdon, cousin
of the Queen, and others. There is not a head amongst them worth
anything except that of the Duke, and I should be astounded at his
entering into such an enterprise as he is not at all attached to the
present state of things in religion or otherwise. Quite the contrary.
However this may be, it is quite certain that five or six ships are
being fitted out which are to be despatched next week in the
direction of Scotland, and which will very soon cause trouble there.
I have thought well to advise you thereof by this special messenger.
The sum total of it is that these people neither want a Concilio nor
anything else that leads to harmony, but only to disturb everything
and take advantage of the inquietude of neighbouring countries to
hold their own.—London, 6th March 1562. |
13 March.
Simancas,
B.M. MS.
Add. 26,056a. |
154. Bishop Quadra to the King.
On the 31st January and 9th November I wrote your Majesty an
account of affairs here and since then the news is that on intelligence
being received here that an envoy of the King of Sweden (a
Frenchman named Varennes) had arrived in Scotland to propose
to the Queen that ambassadors from Sweden should be received to
negotiate her marriage with the King, so much excitement was
caused in England that orders were at once given to fit out five or
six ships to sail for Berwick with arms and munitions. At the
same time money was sent thither to pay the troops, and as Grey is
somewhat discredited they talked about sending Peter Carew in his
place. These ships were to stay on the coast of Scotland to obtain
news of events in that country. All these preparations were commenced,
but when the Marquis d'Elbœuf passed here on his way to
France, it became known that this Varennes had not been well
received or favourably despatched, and that the queen of Scots
would not entertain the idea of such a marriage, the people here
became calmer and the ships will not go until after Easter, if at all.
They have only provided three or four small vessels at Dover to
coast up and down and watch the ships that pass. The Queen
received the Marquis (Elbœuf) with extraordinary warmth, and Lord
Robert sent him a present of 3,000 nobles which he would not
accept. The design is to win over these uncles of the queen of
Scots in order that they may persuade her to marry the earl of
Arran who being poor, a heretic and a subject, would make a good
precedent for this Queen to marry Robert. But the principal object
is to prevent the queen of Scots from marrying anyone powerful
enough to cause them alarm. This Queen is trying to get the
queen of Scots to come and see her in Newcastle or some other
place on the frontier, but she will be very badly advised if she
come. The visit of this envoy of the king of Sweden to Scotland
has caused his ambassador here to be treated so scurvily that he
has made it an excuse for his departure, and he will leave in a week.
They say that in his last audience with the Queen very hard words
passed between them, and he spoke out so plainly that she burst into
tears ; but he has had to pay dearly for it since in the disagreeable
and discourteous way in which they have treated him.
They have recently examined here the earl of Lennox and four
gentlemen neighbours of his in York who had been summoned by
the Council. I do not think there is much against him, but,
although they gave him hope of speedy liberation, they sent him to
the Tower the day before yesterday ; he having been previously
under arrest in the house of the Master of the Rolls. They have
sent for Lady Margaret and her sons and will treat them in the
same way as the Earl, and will then declare Lady Margaret a
bastard, on the ground that her father, the earl of Douglas, was
already secretly married when he wedded Queen Margaret. It
appears that this evidence was obtained two years ago, at the time
the last war began between this Queen and the king of France in
Scotland. These heretics both here and in Scotland are much
afraid that if this Queen and the queen of Scots were to die Lady
Margaret would succeed, and in view of the illness of the queen of
Scots at the time they ordered certain proceedings to be taken to
prove the illegitimacy. However this may be, the inclination of the
people of this country is strongly in favour of Lady Margaret's son
both amongst catholics and others of the highest standing. Two of
them recently asked me if your Majesty would be willing for this
lad to take refuge in Flanders or in some place in this country where
help could be given to him. I could only say that your Majesty was
not yet aware of what was going on here, and I did not know what
your answer would be in such case, but I was convinced of the
goodwill your Majesty bore to Lady Margaret on account of her
virtue and goodness. I think one of these men called Cobham
must have gone very far in this business, as he is very uneasy, and
has sought an excuse for going to the baths of Liege (?). This week
public announcement has been made that the intended depreciation
of the coinage will not take place, and people are forbidden to discuss
the matter under heavy penalties. It is certain that if the measure
had been carried out it would have caused a disturbance. There is
no improvement in religious matters, although Cardinal Ferrara has
again ineffectually tried to open negotiations with the Queen by
means of a Florentine called Guido Cavalcanti, but it has only made
these people less alarmed than before, as they see themselves
besought in such a way. What makes them the more pertinacious
is that they hear that, Vendôme's pretended catholicism and zeal
notwithstanding, none of the enactments against the heretics will be
enforced, and that everyone (in France) will be allowed to follow
his own religion. This is not quite what these people wished, as
they expected religion there would have changed altogether, but
still it is a great deal to be assured that no harm will come to them
from France, their party there being so strong, and that no great
progress can be made in the Concilio or its decisions respected in
France. I hear this from Foix the new French ambassador here who
hears mass and calls himself a Catholic, but whose acts are doubtful.
I have been suffering great need here for a long time past, both
because the expenses I am obliged to incur are beyond my means,
and because a large portion of what your Majesty has ordered to be
paid is lost in exchange. As I have no private means to fall back
upon I am thus obliged to be always importuning your Majesty on
this matter, to my own terrible shame and confusion, as my wish is
only to serve your Majesty. Pray do not let me suffer more as my
office is degraded thereby, and your Majesty's interests suffer.—
London, 13th March 1562. |
| 14 March. |
155. Bishop Quadra to Cardinal De Granvelle.
By my letter to his Majesty your eminence will be advised of all
that is happening, and there is therefore no necessity for repeating it
here. I write to Madame as usual.
This business of Lady Margaret will doubtless do harm to some
and is not harmless to me, as the heretics have spread amongst the
common people that I had a hand in it, although to me personally
they dissemble. In truth, unless it be in my wishes about religion I
have not offended them even venially, although I have tried to
understand the feelings which moved them. The imprisonment of
this good lady cannot fail to trouble many Catholics and others, and
in my opinion things here cannot avoid disturbance shortly for the
disorder and bad government are beyond belief. With all this
the Queen is still persistent, and as I am told threatened with
dropsy, which she barely escaped last September. There is no doubt
of this as I have it from a doctor and two ladies who are in a
position to know.
The last post from Spain brought me no letter even from my
servant which seems very extraordinary, and I think I shall be
obliged to go over there (in Brussels) after Easter. Pray favour me
by speaking to Madame about it, and, if there be no objection, give
me leave as otherwise I am at a loss to know how I shall be able
to manage and pay what I owe, which at present is quite impossible,
and moreover to wait so long for mails which bring me nothing.
If I asked his Majesty what others ask of him it would not be
strange if he answered that he could not send it, but asking, as I do,
only for payment of what is owing to me so as to be able to serve
him in this prison where I have been four years, and to get no
answer at all either yes or no, and no instructions as to what I
am to do or undo in affairs here appears to go beyond indifference
and to be a declaration of the small account in which his Majesty
holds my residence here. I beseech your Eminence to aid me to
get out of this place without offence, even though it be without
reward. This will content me as I am not ambitious, and care little
about being rich. I am in such grief that perhaps I write what
I ought not. Pardon it all for the love of the Lord.—London, 14th
March 1562. |
| 20 March. |
156. Bishop Quadra to the King.
I have received a letter from your Majesty dated 9th February,
and see that all mine to that date had been received. I have now
to say that yesterday Mason and Petre came to see me from the
Queen and told me that she had sent an ambassador to your
Majesty's court to maintain the friendship between your Majesty
and her which had existed from the time of your forbears, but
that the said ambassador and his servants had received such harsh
treatment in Spain, their trunks being broken open and everything
examined, even their papers, and some of the people imprisoned,
that she thinks her honour will not permit her to suffer it, and therefore
desires to complain of it to your Majesty through me, and to
beg your Majesty to have the matter remedied, as otherwise she will
be obliged to recall the ambassador and hopes your Majesty will not
take it in evil part. I said I would do all the Queen desired, but
wished to know in detail where this harsh treatment had been
suffered, and by whom, and also whether Challoner had brought it
to your Majesty's notice, and what answer had been given. In view
of these facts it will be easy, I said, to discover whether these acts
had been casual or had proceeded from your Majesty's wishes, so as
to appreciate them at their proper importance.
They said they knew no more than that the Queen had told them
to say what they had said, with her own lips, but they believed that
the affair had arisen through some of Challoner's servants who were
landing in Biscay being treated in this manner. Although I fancy
that they themselves (Mason and Petre) thought the occasion was
hardly one to take so much to heart, they delivered their message
and repeated several times the words about your Majesty not taking
it in evil part if the Queen recalled her ambassador. This would
not be much for them to do as I have conveyed to your Majesty in
former letters that what they really aim at is to make people think
that any dissension between your Majesty and the Queen must arise
through the bad treatment of her and her subjects in Spain, and that
she has no intention of offending the people in the Netherlands. I
did not care to bandy words with them nor to discuss the indecorous
treatment they have extended to me and of which I have not complained
to your Majesty as I did not think necessary, but it would,
I think, be advisable to revert to it to Challoner to show him that if
he complains in Spain of these casual matters I have much greater
reason to complain of the suspicion with which I am treated. Not
a man dares to enter my house because of the distrust that is
publicly shown of all those who associate with me, and not a person
is arrested for State reasons without his being asked whether he has
any conversation with me. They have done this in Lady Margaret
Douglas's affair, but have never found what they seek.—London,
20th March 1562. |
