Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 2.djvu/544

 as many merchants of the staple and as many merchant adventurers," accordingly repaired thither, when the late monarch's decease was made known to them, and the letters patent, whereby he had devised the Succession to the House of Suffolk, were laid before them. These they were called upon to sign, and also to take an oath of allegiance to Queen Jane. They were, however, charged to divulge nothing, but quietly to take whatever measures they might deem requisite for the preservation of order in the City, and to procure the acquiescence of the citizens in the succession of their new sovereign; and, at three o'clock in the afternoon of Monday (the 10th), Jane was conveyed by water to the Tower, where she was formally received as Queen.- At five o'clock, public proclamation was made both of Edward's death and of the fact that by his decree " the Lady Jane and her heirs male " were to be his recognised successors. Printed copies of the document which the late King had executed were at the same time circulated among the people, in order to make clear the grounds on which the claim of the new Queen rested.

In the meantime, two days before her brother's death, Mary, apprised of the hopeless nature of his illness, had effected her escape by night from Hunsdon to her palace at Kenninghall, an ancient structure, formerly belonging to the Dukes of Norfolk, which had been bestowed on her by Henry on the attainder of the actual Duke. The Princess had formerly been accustomed to hold her Court there; but the buildings were ill adapted for defence, and on the llth she quitted Kenninghall for Framlingham in Suffolk. Framlingham, another of the seats of the Howards, was situated in the district where Northumberland's ruthless suppression of the rebellion of 1549 was still fresh in the memories of the population; and the strength and position of the castle, surmounted by lofty towers and on the margin of a wide expanse of water, made it an excellent rallying-point for Mary's supporters. Moreover, being distant but a few miles from the coast, it offered facilities for escape-to the Continent, should such a necessity arise. Within less than forty-eight hours it had become known to Northumberland in London, that the Earl of Bath, Sir Thomas Wharton, Sir John Mordaunt, Sir William Drury, Sir Henry Bedingfield (formerly the custodian of Mary's mother at Kimbolton), along with other noblemen and gentlemen, some of them at the head of a considerable body of retainers, were gathering at Framlingham. The Council, on assembling at the Tower on the 12th, had already decided that it was expedient for the security of the realm, that Mary should forthwith be brought to London; and Suffolk was, in the first instance, designated for the task of giving effect to their decision. Jane, however, overcome by a sense of responsibility and by nervous apprehension, entreated that her father might be permitted " to tarry at home to keep her company"; and Northumberland was accordingly called upon to proceed on the perilous errand. The terror which his