Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/349

Mary I Mary's advisers regarded the matrimonial scheme chiefly as a detail of foreign policy, and urged, like their predecessors under Henry VIII, that it was only abroad that a suitor of adequate political importance could be found. There a large choice offered itself. Philip, son of Charles V, the king of Denmark, the infant of Portugal, were all available. Once more Mary appealed for advice to her cousin Charles V. After some hesitation he told her that he was too advanced in years to renew his ancient pretensions to her hand, but his son Philip was ready to become her husband. The proposal flattered Mary. She had never seen Philip, who, born at Valladolid on 21 May 1527, was eleven years her junior, and she knew little of his character. His .first wife, Mary of Portugal, whom he had married in 1543, had died in 1546, leaving him one child, Don Carlos, and it was rumoured that he desired a youthful bride. But his reputation as a catholic of almost fanatical piety powerfully recommended him to Mary (cf. Cal. State Papers, Venetian, 1534-54, p. 489). The reestablishment of Catholicism needed, she saw, a strong hand, while every counsel of the emperor she had long viewed as law. When the negotiation reached the ears of Gardiner, he remonstrated with Mary on the impolicy of uniting herself with one -whose haughty demeanour had excited discontent among his father's subjects in the Low Countries, and had given him a bad name in England. Even Pole at first deemed the scheme dangerous, and openly declared that it would be wiser for Mary to remain single (Charles V consequently contrived to detain Pole in the Low Countries when on his way to England) ; while Friar Peto prophesied that she would be the slave of a young husband, and could only bring heirs to the crown at the risk of her life (Tytler, ii. 304). But a minority in the council, headed by the Duke of Norfolk, encouraged Mary to accept Philip's offer.

While the question was still in suspense Mary met her first parliament (5 Oct.) To allay apprehension a modest programme was submitted to it. The new treasons, praemunires, and felonies created in the two preceding reigns were abolished. The queen was declared to have been born 'in a most just and lawfull matrimony;' the laws concerning religion passed under Edward VI were repealed, and the form of worship used in the last year of Henry VIII restored from the following 20 Dec. After a brief adjournment in November, the two houses set about preparing an address to Mary praying her to marry, and to choose her husband from the English nobility. The last suggestion Mary resented. It impelled her to a decision. The same night as she heard of the intention of her parliament, she sent for Renard, and invited him into her private oratory. She knelt before the altar, and after reciting the hymn 'Veni Creator Spiritus,' declared that, under divine guidance, she pledged her faith to Philip, and would marry no one else. This interview was for the time kept secret. When the commons offered to present their address at the close of the session (6 Dec), she summoned them to Whitehall, and, denying their right to limit her choice of a husband, with much dignity declared her wish to secure by her marriage her people's happiness as well as her own. But immediately afterwards she directed her council to open the final negotiations with the imperial court for her union to Philip.

Early in January 1554 Counts Egmont and de Laing, with two others, landed in Kent, as special ambassadors from the emperor. Reports of the queen's scheme were already abroad, and popular feeling was strongly aroused. The people of Kent, mistaking Egmont for the bridegroom, nearly tore him to pieces on landing, and Courtenay, now created Earl of Devonshire, as he passed through London to meet him at Westminster, was pelted with snowballs (Chron. p. 34). The envoys on their arrival at Westminster were received in public audience by Mary (14 Jan.) She warned them that the realm was her first husband, and she would always be faithful to her coronation pledges. Gardiner had withdrawn his opposition in view of the queen's firmness, and the negotiations proceeded rapidly. The articles were communicated to the lord mayor and the city of London on 15 Jan. 1553-4. Mary and Philip were to bestow on each other the titular dignities of their several kingdoms. The dominions of each were to be governed separately, according to their ancient laws and privileges. None but natives of England were to hold office in the queen's court or government. But Philip was to aid Mary in the government of her kingdom. If the queen had a child, it was to succeed to her dominions, and to the whole inheritance which Philip derived from the dukes of Burgundy, namely, Holland and the rich Flemish provinces. Philip was not to engage England in his father's French wars, and the peace between English and French was to remain inviolate. If the queen died without children, her husband was to make no claim to the succession (Parl. Hist. iii. 304-5).

No sooner were the marriage articles published than three insurrections broke out, and gave practical warning to Mary of the error