Behind the Palace Doors Read Online Free PDF

highness, who by your and our enticement is rather of force placed therein [upon the throne] than by her own seeking and request.” The duke then concluded by praying that the council “wish me no worse speed in this journey than ye would have to yourselves.”
    As Northumberland’s force prepared to leave London to “fetch in the Lady Mary … to destroy her grace,” ‡ the rightful queen of England was rallying her supporters at Framlingham Castle, a stronghold she possessed near the Suffolk coast. It was a vivid display of royal might as Mary rode among the thousands gathered in her name, stirring them into battle. “Long live our good Queen Mary!” they shouted. “Death to traitors!”
    It was far from the reception Northumberland received. “The people press to see us, but not one sayeth God speed us,”the duke noted to a companion as they rode through the village of Shoreditch. In addition to the lack of popular support for his mission, Northumberland was faced not only with dissension among his own ranks but with desertion as well. Then came the crowning blow to his cause: A fleet of seven warships he had sent up the coast to prevent Mary from escaping now switched to her side. “After once the submission of the ships was known in the Tower,” wrote an eyewitness, “each man then began to pluck in his horns.”
    The betrayal Northumberland had feared became real as he received “but a slender answer” from the council on his request for reinforcements. As town after town came out for Mary, the men who had sworn allegiance to Jane less than two weeks earlier abruptly switched sides. On the afternoon of July 19 they publicly proclaimed Mary queen, prompting a spontaneous eruption of joy in the city.
    “As not a soul imagined the possibility of such a thing,” one eyewitness reported, “when the proclamation was first cried out the people started off, running in all directions and crying out: ‘The Lady Mary is proclaimed Queen!’ ”
    While people celebrated wildly in the streets, Lady Jane was all but abandoned in the Tower. Even her father walked away, but not before ripping down the royal cloth of estate that had hung over her chair. Meanwhile, Northumberland surrendered in Cambridge without a struggle. He was arrested by one of his own confederates, the Earl of Arundel, who only a week before had sworn to die for him.
    “I beseech you, my lord of Arundel, use mercy towards me, knowing the case as it is,” Northumberland said.
    “My Lord,” answered Arundel, “ye should have sought for mercy sooner; I must do according to my commandment.”
    The once mighty duke was pelted with stones and insults by the outraged populace as he was led to the Tower in chains. “A dreadful sight it was,” wrote the imperial envoy Simon Renard,“and a strange mutation for those who, a few days before, had seen the Duke enter London Tower with great pomp and magnificence when the Lady Jane went there to take possession, and now saw him led like a criminal and dubbed traitor.”
    With her mortal enemy now locked away, Queen Mary rode triumphantly into London among cheering crowds. She was dressed to dazzle in purple velvet, adorned with pearls and precious stones. And though she bore the marks of bitterness and deprivation that had stolen her youth, she was prepared to be merciful to her enemies.
    Northumberland would, of course, have to die for his high crimes, which he did after making a dramatic repudiation of the Protestant faith he had espoused, but Lady Jane would be spared. The so-called Nine Days Queen swore to Mary in a long letter that she had never willingly participated in Northumberland’s plans: “For whereas I might have taken upon me that of which I was not worthy, yet no one can ever say either that I sought it … or that I was pleased with it.”
    Though Jane remained in the Tower, it was expected that she would be released before long. After all, her father was free after having been