Elizabeth I when a Princess, c1546. Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017
The year is 1554 of the Tudor era where the first Queen regnant, Mary Tudor, has ascended to the throne following the death of her younger half-brother Edward VI and the execution of Lady Jane Grey (known as ‘The Nine Days’ Queen) on Mary’s orders. At the time of her coronation, Queen Mary was thirty-seven and, although this meant increased difficulty in producing children by Tudor standards, she was determined to be a great ruler like her mother and father before her by not only restoring Catholicism to England but by producing a male heir to continue her grandfather’s dynasty.
Despite England having been transformed into a Protestant kingdom by the reigns of both Mary’s father, Henry VIII, and brother Edward, the huge amount of support for Mary’s ascension to the throne, with her being a devout Catholic, was quite astonishing. Many of her subjects, who still remembered her fierce Spanish mother Queen Catalina de Aragon, wanted to follow the line of succession as was declared by Henry VIII before his death. However, despite Mary’s popularity and clear love from the people of England, many Protestants within her kingdom did not wish for her to remain seated on the throne and restore Catholicism, and this included Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (not to be confused with his father Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, the famous poet).
In fact, Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger was so enraged by the fact that Queen Mary I wanted to marry her first cousin, Philip of Spain, son of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V—something that both her advisers and many of her subjects were very against—he, along with many other like-minded men, devised a plot to remove the Catholic, Spanish-sympathising Queen off the throne and replace her with someone they much better preferred—her younger Protestant half-sister, Lady Elizabeth Tudor, the future Elizabeth I.
And it is this plot, known as the Wyatt’s Rebellion, that led to the imprisonment of Elizabeth Tudor at the Tower of London—the very place her mother met her tragic end just eighteen years earlier.
Before we explore Elizabeth Tudor’s traumatic imprisonment at the frightening, nightmare-inducing Tower of London, let us explore exactly what led to her being involved in Wyatt’s Rebellion and what thoughts might have been running through both Mary and Elizabeth’s minds during this uncertain time.
Wyatt’s Rebellion and the implication of Lady Elizabeth Tudor
Surprisingly, Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger was originally a supporter of Queen Mary I’s ascension to the throne as many people in England wished for Mary to succeed her younger brother as declared in the Act of Succession. However, when Queen Mary made clear her intention to marry her Spanish, catholic cousin against the advice of her closest advisors, quite a few within England became enraged with the idea of a foreigner, never mind a Catholic, becoming their new King. In fact, Sir Thomas Wyatt declared it would be the “most miserable servitude, and establish popish religion” [1].
Queen Mary feared deeply that there may be an uprising against her if she followed through with the marriage, and she was quite right to do so.
Although Wyatt’s Rebellion is named after its leader, Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger, historians believe that its original leader was William Thomas, an admitted Protestant. The rebellion was planned sometime during late 1553 in Kent which, despite the majority of England being Catholic, was a Protestant county. The rebellion involved Sir James Croft, Sir Peter Carew, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, William Thomas, and Edward Courtenay. The goal behind the rebellion was to depose Queen Mary I, although William Thomas’ supposed original plan involved assassinating the Tudor Queen, and replace her either with the former Queen Lady Jane Grey, who had been imprisoned in the Tower of London since July 1553 by the order of Queen Mary, or her half-sister Lady Elizabeth as both ladies were devout Protestants like most the rebellion’s key participants.
The main causes of the rebellion were as follows; Queen Mary’s decision to marry King Philip II of Spain, her firm decision to reinstate Catholicism as the state’s religion and it has been suggested that lower class were able to express social and economic frustrations through the rebellion. It is even said that as the rebellion progressed from Kent to England, they sang proudly of how they were ‘true English’ men who did not want a foreigner like the Spanish Philip to govern over them.
However, upon the start of Wyatt’s Rebellion in January 1554 caught the attention of Queen Mary who was fearful of her young cousin being placed back on the throne, she sorrowfully ordered the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Guildford Dudley, meaning that the plan had now changed to put Lady Elizabeth Tudor on the throne instead. There is also a suggestion that part of the plan included that upon Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne, she would marry Edward Courtenay and make him her King since his marriage proposal had been rejected by Queen Mary I, however this suggestion has been argued against by historians over the years.
After the plan was formed, the key participants wasted no time in encouraging their peers to join their cause and create an army. Just a month later on February 3rd 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt entered the outskirts of London with around 3,000 men. Despite what Sir Thomas believed about his ‘just’ cause, the general populace did not share his thoughts and did not join his cause, causing his troops to become disheartened and shortly after, Queen Mary’s royal forces engaged with Wyatt’s army very briefly before he inevitably surrendered after being outnumbered.
Wyatt’s Rebellion had failed due to the lack of support from the general populace who, as mentioned beforehand, showed a massive amount of support and love for their new Queen. Sir Thomas Wyatt was imprisoned in the Tower where he lived until his execution, upon which he was hung, drawn, and quartered for being a traitor on 11th April 1554. As for the other members of the rebellion, Sir James Croft and Sir Peter Carew were initially found guilty of treason although both received pardons later. Henry Grey, the Duke of Suffolk, and the father of Lady Jane Grey, was imprisoned in the Tower for his part in the rebellion and would be beheaded in February 1554. Sadly, William Thomas’ mistake of writing down his intentions to murder Queen Mary left him imprisoned in the Tower where he attempted to take his own life by stabbing himself in the stomach with a bread knife. Although it would prove not fatal, he would meet his end on the 18th May 1554 where he was also hung, drawn, and quartered like Sir Thomas Wyatt. As for the final key member, Edward Courtenay, he was lucky enough to escape execution due to the lack of evidence for him having committed treason and he instead was exiled to Italy where he lived until his death just two years later.
One of the fascinating aspects of the Wyatt’s Rebellion was Queen Mary I’s glorious speech to the crowd awaiting her at Guildhall where she resided safely away from London where Sir Thomas Wyatt’s army slowly approached. Her speech was on 1st February 1554, as recorded in Holinshed’s Chronicles, and her words were:
“I am (quoth she) come unto you in mine own person, to tell you that which already you do see and know, that is how traitorously & seditiously a number of Kentish rebels have assembled themselves together against both us and you. Their pretense (as they said at the first) was only to resist a marriage determined between us and the prince of Spain. To which pretended quarrel, and to all the rest of their evil contrived articles ye have been made privy. Since which time, we have caused diverse of our privy council to resort [unclear] to the said rebels, and to demand of them the cause of their continuance in their seditious enterprise. By whose answers made again to our said council, it appeared that the marriage is found to be the least of their quarrel. For they now swearing from their former articles, have betrayed the inward treason of their hearts, as most arrogantly demanding the possession of our person, the keeping of our tower, and not only the placing and displacing of our councillors; but also to use them and us at their pleasures.
Now loving subjects, what I am, you right well know. I am your queen, to whom at my coronation when I was wedded to the realm and to the laws of the same (the spousall ring wereof I have on my finger, which never hither to was, nor hereafter shall be left off) ye promised your allegiance and obedience unto me. And that I am the right and true inheritor to the crown of this realm of England; I not only take all Christendom to witness, but also your acts of parliament confirming the same. My father (as ye all know) possessed the regal estate by right of inheritance, which now by the same right descended unto me. And to him always ye shewed your selves most faithful and loving subjects, and him obeyed and served as your liege lord and king: and therefore I doubt not but you will shew your selves likewise to me his daughter. Which if you do, then may you not suffer any rebel to usurp the governance of our person, or to occupy our estate, especially being so presumptuous a traitor as this Wyatt hath shewed himself to be; who must certainly, as he hath abused my ignorant subjects to be adherents to his traitorous quarrel; so doth he intend by colour of the law, to subdue the laws to his evil, and to give scope to the rascally and forlorn persons, to make general havoc and spoilation of your goods.
And this further I say unto you in the word of a prince, I cannot tell how naturally a mother loveth her children, for I was never the mother of any, but certainly a prince and governor may as naturally and as earnestly love subjects, as the mother doth her child. Then assure yourselves, that I being sovereign lady and queen, do as earnestly and as tenderly love and favour you. And I thus loving you, cannot but think that ye as heartily and faithfully love me again: and so loving together in this know of love and concord, I doubt not, but we together shall be able to give these rebels a short and speedy overthrow.
And as concerning the case of my intended marriage, against which they pretend their quarrel, ye shall understand that I entered not into the treaty thereof without advise of all our privy council; yea, and by assent of those to whom the king my father committed his trust, who so considered and weighted the great commodities that might inuse thereof, that they not only thought it very honourable, but expedient, both for the wealth of our realm, and also of all our loving subiects. And as touching my self (I assure you) I am not so desirous of wedding, neither so precise or wedded to my will, that either for mine own pleasure I will choose where I lust; or rise so amorous as needs I must have one. For God I thank him (to whom be the praise thereof) I have hitherto lived a virgin, and doubting nothing but with Gods grace shall as well be able so to live still. But if as my progenitors have done before, it might please God that I might leave some fruit of my body behind me to be your governor, I trust you would not only rejoice there at, but also I know it would be to your great comfort. And certainly if I either did know or think, that this marriage should either turn to the danger or loss of any of you my loving subjects, or to the detriment of impairing of any part or parcel of the royal estate of this realm of England, I would never consent there unto, neither would I ever marry while I lived. And in the word of a queen I promise and assure you, that if it shall not probably appear before the nobility and commons in the high court of parliament, that this marriage shall be for the singular benefit and commodity of all the whole realm; that then I will abstain, not only from this marriage, but also from any other, whereof peril may ensue to this most noble realm.
Wherefore now as good and faithful subjects pluck up your harts, and like true men stand fast with your lawful prince against these rebels, both our enemies and yours, and fear them not: for assure you that I fear them nothing at all, and I will leave with you my lord Howard and my lord Treasurer to be your assistants, with my lord Mayor, for the defense and safeguard of this city from spoil and sacking, which is only the scope of this rebellious company.” [2].
What is most interesting about all this is that—considering how the plan was to put Elizabeth Tudor on the throne of England—there is no evidence that she was actually involved with the plot. Although Sir Thomas Wyatt, before he was beheaded, himself admitted that neither Elizabeth or Courtenay were involved, he had most certainly implicated Elizabeth nonetheless. You see, Sir Thomas Wyatt had informed Elizabeth of the plot in a letter found intercepted by Mary’s council and that was enough to arouse suspicion in Queen Mary’s mind and it is why she decided to frighten her younger sister by subjecting her to interrogation and imprisonment in the Tower of London—the very place her mother Queen Anne Boleyn had died when she was just two years old.
Elizabeth Tudor’s Journey to the Tower of London
During the time of the rebellion, Lady Elizabeth resided within her home at Whitehall palace—a palace that she would continue to reside in and love throughout her own reign as Queen of England until its fiery destruction in 1698—and it was in March 1554 that Lady Elizabeth would be visited by members of her half-sister’s council, summoning her to the Tower of London where she would be kept for questioning in relation to her involvement in Wyatt’s Rebellion.
Quite understandably, the twenty-year-old Lady Elizabeth was terrified by the thought of first being implicated in a plot that could lead to her execution like her mother before her and, second, that she was to be imprisoned in the same place her mother was beheaded for treason and adultery. Whether it was the psychological affects of knowing this or a conveniently timed illness, Lady Elizabeth sent word that she was too ill to travel. As a precaution, Queen Mary had two of her personal physicians leave to evaluate Elizabeth’s condition. Their diagnosis was that whilst she had “watery humours” or possibly a kidney inflammation, she was well enough to make the thirty-mile journey to London.
Luckily, if such a thing can be said, Lady Elizabeth travelled with three of the Queen’s councillors who were friendly and sympathetic to the frightened lady and they travelled slowly, covering only six miles a day, to allow her to rest from her sickness without causing too much delay.
Upon arriving in London, Lady Elizabeth allowed her frightened face to be seen by passersby and what she would have seen as she travelled through the city would have further increased the fear in anyone—the decaying heads and corpses of Sir Thomas Wyatt and his accomplices were spread throughout the city on spikes and gibbets. Perhaps it was this spike, pun intended, in her fear that prompted Lady Elizabeth to request permission to write her sister the Queen a letter proclaiming her innocence.
Although the councillors would later be reprimanded by Queen Mary, Lady Elizabeth was permitted to write a letter on 17th March which, as we can see below, she drew lines on to prevent a forgery. Her letter reads;
If any ever did try this old saying, ‘that a king’s word was more than another man’s oath’, I most humbly beseech your majesty to verify it to me, and to remember your last promise and my last demand, that I be not condemned without answer and due proof, which it seems that I now am; for without cause proved, I am by your Council from you commanded to go to the Tower, a place more wanted for a false traitor than a true subject, which though I know I desire it not, yet in the face of all this realm it appears proved.
I pray to God I may die the shamefullest death that any ever died, if I may mean any such thing; and to this present hour I protest before God (Who shall judge my truth, whatsoever malice shall devise), that I never practised, counselled, nor consented to anything that might be prejudicial to your person any way, or dangerous to the state by any means. And therefore I humbly beseech your majesty to let me answer afore yourself, and not suffer me to trust to your councillors, yea, and that afore I go to the Tower, if it be possible; if not, before I be further condemned. Howbeit, I trust assuredly your highness will give me leave to do it afore I go, that thus shamefully I may not be cried out on, as I now shall be; yea, and that without cause.
Let conscience move your highness to pardon this my boldness, which innocency procures me to do, together with hope of your natural kindness, which I trust will not see me cast away without desert, which what it is I would desire no more of God but that you truly knew. Which thing I think and believe you shall never by report know, unless by yourself you hear. I have heard in my time of many cast away for want of coming to the presence of their prince; and in late days I heard my Lord of Somerset say that if his brother had been suffered to speak with him he had never suffered; but persuasions were made to him so great that he was brought in belief that he could not live safely if the Admiral lived, and that made him give consent to his death. Though these persons are not to be compared to your majesty, yet I pray God the like evil persuasions persuade not one sister against the other, and all for that they have heard false report, and the truth not known.
Therefore, once again, kneeling with humbleness of heart, because I am not suffered to blow the knees of my body, I humbly crave to speak with your highness, which I would not be so bold as to desire if I knew not myself most clear, as I know myself most true. And as for the traitor Wyatt, he might peradventure write me a letter, but on my faith I never received any from him. And as for the copy of the letter sent to the French king, I pray God confound me eternally if ever I sent him word, message, token, or letter, by any means, and to this truth I will stand in till my death. Your highness’s most faithful subject, that hath been from the beginning, and will be to my end, Elizabeth I humbly crave but only one word of answer from yourself. [3].
As you can probably guess, it took so long for Lady Elizabeth to write this, arguably pretty repetitive, letter that they missed the tide they needed to cross the River Thames by barge to reach the Tower of London. Rather than risk possibly injuring themselves or allowing supporters of Elizabeth to rescue her by traveling at night, Elizabeth’s escorts decided it would be much safer to travel the next morning.
And the following day, 18th March, Palm Sunday, Lady Elizabeth travelled by barge to arrive at the Tower of London. It is commonly believed that Elizabeth entered the Tower via the Traitor’s Gate (which would have been very ironic for her since her mother had been a convicted traitor, though we all know her trial and execution were on false grounds). However, she in fact did not travel through the Traitor’s Gate but she travelled over a drawbridge where it is said that sympathetic guards at the Tower knelt before her as a sign of respect. Whether Queen Mary liked it or not, Elizabeth was still a Princess in the eyes of many of her subjects, even if she was the daughter of “Anne the Whore”.
Upon crossing the drawbridge, Elizabeth is said to have initially refused to enter the Tower and sat on a nearby rock until one of her female attendants’ tears prompted her to enter. She is reported to have said “Oh Lord, I never thought to have come in here as a prisoner, and I pray you all best me witness that I come in as no traitor but as a true woman to the Queen Majesty as any is now living” [3]. Lady Elizabeth clearly possessed her late mother’s gracefulness and determination to proclaim her innocence until the very end.
If the news of being suspected by the Queen of treason was not shocking enough for Lady Elizabeth, then her home for the next two months surely would as she was to reside within the very same apartments (the Queen’s apartments) that her beloved mother had eighteen years ago. Many inhabitants of the Tower spent their time there in misery, dirt, and deplorable conditions, but Elizabeth was not one of them due to her high status and the possibility of her being an heir to her sister’s throne. In her book Young Elizabeth, Dr Nicola Tallis states that, whilst the sources are silent when it comes to this matter, she feels strongly that Elizabeth was probably lodged in the now destroyed Queen’s apartments due to her high status. Therefore, being placed in her mother’s former apartments was considered a luxury but, in all honesty, it must have caused so much psychological stress, damage and pain for the young lady who was now to spend the foreseeable future in the place her mother died—and possibly might share the same fate.
It is honestly no wonder why Elizabeth chose not to marry or have children; she probably did not want to suffer the same fate as her mother nor subject her children to any abuse by the potential father.
Elizabeth shares her mother’s apartments
Queen Anne Boleyn had first arrived at the Tower of London in May 1533 to prepare for her coronation in the luxurious Queen’s apartments. This visit would be one of tremendous joy and excitement for what was hoped to be the start of a long and successful reign as Queen of England—sadly she would return as a suspected traitor and prisoner on 2nd May 1536 and be housed in those same apartments.
Whilst awaiting the verdict of the absolutely outrageous trials forced upon her, the innocent Queen Anne was housed in luxury with numerous chambers within her apartments including a watching chamber, a bedchamber and possibly a dining chamber. She would have been fed extremely well and permitted to pray with a priest whenever she wished. Despite living almost like the Queen she was, Queen Anne understood she was a prisoner all the same. Her ladies in waiting were chosen by Sir Thomas Cromwell to be ladies who disliked Anne and owed no loyalty to her but to him. She would have felt watched at all times and perhaps that she was alone.
Yet this did not stop the Queen from purchasing a “orange velvet gown and black muffler” for her infant daughter whilst awaiting her execution—perhaps it was Anne’s way of making sure her daughter was provided for but could remember her after her death.
Her daughter Elizabeth was two and a half years old when her mother was executed on 19th May 1536 on Tower Green by a skilled French swordsman specifically picked by Henry VIII way before her guilty verdict was announced.
It is sad to think that eighteen years after her death, Anne Boleyn’s beloved daughter entered the Queen’s apartments on suspicion of plotting against the Queen.
Whilst Elizabeth’s stay would thankfully be a short one ending in her release, it was just as frightening for Elizabeth as it had been for her mother. Despite Lady Elizabeth being permitted to exercise by walking around the walls of the Tower (although she was always guarded) where she often spent time talking with children imprisoned in the Tower, most likely able to sympathize with them after everything she had been through.
Elizabeth also gained something that her mother never had—the support, love, and sympathy of her people as many on Queen Mary’s council urged her not to execute her half-sister because of her popularity with the people. And the last thing the Queen needed was another rebellion so early into her reign. One of these men would be Sir John Brydes, the Lieutenant of the Tower, who, when he received a warrant for Elizabeth’s execution, refused to act on it because it did not bear the Queen’s signature. Although many others would have honoured the warrant, Sir John Brydes did not and this saved Elizabeth’s life.
Whether this warrant was real or not, it is still a mystery but it most likely was Mary’s staunch Catholic advisers wanting rid of another obstacle in their path.
Lady Elizabeth was also painfully aware of the fact that she had almost no allies within the Tower of London and the chances of her being poisoned, a longtime fear of hers, were much higher now that she was under the control of loyal servants of Queen Mary.
Elizabeth worried everyday that she would not survive and that she would die in the Tower like her mother. What made it even worse was that Mary refused both to read the letter that Elizabeth had sent her and to allow her to speak to her directly. This meant that Elizabeth could not plead before her sister of her innocence and that her fate was at much greater risk of ending in disaster.
What is surprising was that Elizabeth, unbeknownst to her, had an extremely powerful ally who was determined to ensure her survival— King Philip II of Spain, her brother-in-law. It is King Phillip, who understand that his influence on Queen Mary would have been blamed for Elizabeth’s death had he allowed it to happen, that encouraged his wife to release Elizabeth. Clearly besotted with her husband and with no actual evidence of Elizabeth being a traitor, she basically obeyed her husband’s will, ordering Elizabeth’s release immediately.
As mentioned before, Elizabeth was lucky enough to escape the tower and possibly suffering the same fate as her mother since there was no evidence to support that Elizabeth was a traitor to the Queen. On 19th May 1554 after just two months in the tower, Lady Elizabeth emerged as a free woman, declared innocent of any involvement in the Wyatt’s Rebellion—this would be an important day for Elizabeth as she had been released on the very day her mother had been executed eighteen years beforehand.
Whilst Elizabeth could now breathe a sigh of relief at being free, the psychological effects of a stay in the Tower would most likely haunt for the rest of her life.
Thankfully, Elizabeth would not always have such horrific memories of the Tower of London as she would later spend more time there as preparation for her own coronation in November 1558 to become one of England’s greatest monarchs.
I would like to think that Anne’s ghost, if ghosts truly exist, watched over Elizabeth during her dark time at the Tower, giving her the strength to fight on, and also during her preparing for her coronation, watching her daughter proudly and with all the love a mother can bear her daughter.
Until next time!
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
References:
Foxe, John (1838). Cattley, Rev. Stephen Reed (ed.). The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe. Vol. VI. R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside.
https://kimberlyevemusings.blogspot.com/2011/03/imprisonment-of-princess-elizabeth.html
Queen Elizabeth I: Her mother’s daughter? | ahpurse's Blog: Tudor and Victorian Historian (wordpress.com)
https://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/imprisonment-of-princess-elizabeth.htm
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