The Man in the Tower Suite ~ Henry Percy, the Ninth Earl of Northumberland

by Linda Root

Henry Percy, Ninth Earl of Northumberland, {{PD-Art}}

For seventeen years (1605-1622)  the Martin Tower Suite in the Tower of London complex housed a most illustrious guest. He was a gentleman of high fashion,  undisputed good looks, and a keen intellect, loyal to his friends and congenial to his hosts. We can hardly call his keepers jailers since they went to considerable lengths to assure his comfort and entertainment.

There are 21 towers in the complex known as the Tower of London and vague records as to which prisoners were housed in which ones. However, the Ninth Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy's occupancy of the Martin Tower was well known. Apparently, his rooms occupied most if not all of it.  He entertained often and lavishly and used it as the center of operations for his widespread business enterprises. Among his frequent guests were his son and heir, his pet fox and Sir Walter Raleigh. From his arrival at his lodgings on the 27th of November, 1605, the man his contemporaries called The Wizard Earl made himself very much at home. November 1605 was the month of the Gunpowder Treason, which brought Northumberland to the Tower. If rumors circulating in 1622 held a modicum of truth, when he was released, he was loathed to leave.

At one point the Northumberland apartment housed much of his celebrated library. His was one of the largest collections of books in Britain. They covered a broad range of topics, many related to his strong interest in alchemy.  His interest in natural philosophy, what we call science, earned him the moniker The Wizard Earl.

By the time of his arrest in 1605, Percy had adopted an urban lifestyle and made Sion House in Isleworth, a London suburb, his principal residence.  The magnificent mansion was inherited through his wife Dorothy Devereux, daughter of the Earl of Essex.  It remains in the family to this day.

Wikimedia-{{PD-Art}}

Earlier, as a young man living in Paris, he had been captured by a young man's traditional fancies--the riding, the hunt, the gaming, and the many mistresses, he confessed.  But he professed to having returned to  England with only one mistress claiming him, and that was Knowledge.

Northumberland was drawn into the Gunpowder Treason investigation due to his association with his second cousin Thomas Percy, indisputably one of the principals in the plot.  1605 was not the first time the earl's conduct regarding Cousin Tom got him into trouble.  He had made him Constable of Alnwyck, the Percy ancestral home in Northumberland, with it many acres of adjoining farm land. Alnwyck was but one of many of his real estate holdings in Northumberland, an income producing enterprise for the Earl.

Wikimedia Commons

No one is quite certain as to why Northumberland chose Thomas Percy as its overseer. In addition to making him his Constable, he gave Thomas Percy control over his accounts and the responsibility for collecting revenues and land rents.  Accusations from the tenants of misappropriation of rents and other acts of overreaching abounded, but the earl did not investigate. Charges were actually brought against Thomas by his benefactor's tenants, and they, too, were overlooked.

J.M.W. Turner -Wikimedia Commons -{{PD-=Art}}

Tom Percy was also involved with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex in a failed murder plot targeting the warden of the Scottish Middle Marches, none other than the firebrand reiver laird Robert Kerr of Cessford, who later became Baron Roxburghe, one of King James I's favorites. Sir Robert Kerr of Cessford was both anti-Catholic and anti-Marian, which put him at odds with Percy and Essex.

In spite of his controversial conduct, in 1601 Thomas accompanied Northumberland on a military expedition to the Low Countries where he is said to have comported himself well. Northumberland received some criticism, possibly from Lord Robert Cecil, for having given Percy positions for which he should have been vetted without requiring him to attest to his religion or sign a Declaration of Faith. Thus, even before the Gunpowder Treason was uncovered, Northumberland's lenient treatment of his cousin had placed him at odds with Cecil, an avid anti-papist like his father Lord Burghley had been.

Northumberland had been raised in his aunt's house as a Protestant but was believed by many to be sympathetic to the Catholic cause. There were also rumors that Cousin Thomas was more than a cousin, perhaps an illegitimate brother. Thomas Percy, like the other principals in the Gunpowder Treason, was a militant Papist to a degree his powerful cousin either did not admit or truly did not realize.

For those unfamiliar with the scheme, the purpose behind the Gunpowder Plot was to replace King James I with a sovereign sympathetic to the Catholic cause but palatable enough to English Protestants to avoid civil war. That pointed to another Stuart. There is no direct evidence that Northumberland was personally involved in the conspiracy, but there is a strong suspicion the plotters had reserved a role for him in their pro-Catholic post-Jacobean government.

The Gunpowder plotters had settled on the king's daughter Elisabeth, who was nine as a replacement for her father.  Her older brother Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, was eleven, a student at Oxford, and already an outspoken Protestant with a priggish moral sense, critical of his father's religious tolerance and his mother's thinly veiled Catholicism. The conspirators expected him to be in the royal entourage at the opening of Parliament and would die along with his father. The nine-year-old princess lived in the country and was not expected to attend. Her younger brother Charles, Duke of York was a slow-developing child who failed to thrive at birth and at age five had only recently begun to walk and talk, albeit with a shuffle and a stutter,  living in relative seclusion in the home of Robert Carey. He was sufficiently lackluster to earn no consideration from anyone, including the plotters.  Elisabeth, being female, could be made a puppet of the Catholic faction and eventually married off to an appropriate Catholic European prince.  While she was herself a Protestant, so young a female would be malleable and easily controlled by an appropriate Regent. Northumberland was the logical nominee.

The question perplexing modern scholars is the same one that kept him in the Tower Suite instead of laying headless on the Tower Green. No one could prove he was in on it.

Without revisiting the failure of the plot, what confined Northumberland to the Tower of London was not so much what happened on the infamous November 5, but what happened on the day before, November 4, 1605. On that day, Thomas Percy visited the earl at Sion House, ostensibly on business.  He had all of those cumbersome accounts from Northumberlandshire to review.  Whether he was really there to warn his kinsman from attending the opening of Parliament is open to conjecture. It is difficult to believe that he was spending the day before the big event reviewing ledgers with his kinsman, but there is no proof to the contrary.

When Percy arrived,  Northumberland was entertaining another guest, Thomas Hariot, a noted scholar, mathematician and astronomer who lived at Sion House and enjoyed Northumberland's patronage.  The three gentlemen had a pleasant late lunch together and thereafter, Percy left.  He next met with Catesby, the mastermind behind the plot, and thereafter left for the country to kidnap Princess Elisabeth. That evening Guy Fawkes, the plotter with the most military experience and knowledge of explosives, was discovered with the gunpowder in a search of the underpinnings of the Houses of Parliament, and the jig was up. When news reached the countryside, Tom Percy found himself running for his life, which did not last long.
When the law caught up with Thomas Percy and a cluster of the others who escaped the city, he soon was dead of a sniper's shot and unavailable to confirm or deny his cousin's complicity. Astute Northumberland was admitting nothing.

Engraving of Henry Percy-{{PD-Art}}

Fortunately for the earl,  his friend Thomas Hariot confirmed Northumberland's averments concerning the subject matter discussed at lunch on November 4th. There had been no talk of explosions or plots to kill the king. It may well be Hariot's presence thwarted Thomas's plan to warn his cousin off. Whatever the truth may have been, by the end of the week Thomas Percy's tongue was silenced. Thus, what ultimately saved Northumberland from the headsman was a lack of evidence. No one could dispute his planned attendance at the opening of Parliament on the following day.

The Earl remained out of custody until November 27th while he and others, including his personal secretary, his wife, and his friends, were interrogated. By December, Robert Cecil's focus had shifted to blaming the plot on Jesuits. When Northumberland was finally charged it was not with treason, but contempt. And there he languished.
Or did he?

Richard Lomas in A Power In The Land (Tuckwell Press, 1999) and other sources on the fate of the Gunpowder plotters speaks of the Earl's suite in the Martin Tower as having multiple dining rooms, a drawing room, gardens with access to a  tennis court, and enough space to accommodate twenty servants. And of course, there was the essential addition of a bowling alley.  His scholarly friends including Thomas Hariot maintained apartments at Sion House so they could appropriately tutor Northumberland's children.  Servants ran from Sion House to the Martin Tower with the latest imported delicacies.

While the Earl of Northumberland perfected his games of Ten Pins and read his beloved books, poured fine wine and smoked tobacco with Walter Raleigh and later dined and gambled with his fellow prisoners Lord Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset and his murderous countess Lady Frances Howard, Jesuit priests were convicted on scant evidence often gleaned from torture and treated to grisly deaths. Cecil had his scapegoats, the plotters got their just deserts, and the Earl had spare time to devote to the pursuit of knowledge and the management of his vast estates, and when he needed a distraction, he played tennis.

This article is an Editor's Choice and was originally published on August 19, 2014.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linda Root is the author of The First Marie and the Queen of Scots, a tale of the life and love of Lady Marie Flemyng, The Last Knight and the Queen of Scots,  the fictionalized adventures of the colorful Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange to whom the queen surrendered at Carberry, and the books in The Legacy of the Queen of  Scots Series, The Midwife's Secret: the Mystery of the Hidden Princess,  The Other Daughter, and 1603: The Queen's Revenge. 
She recently has written a paranormal historical fantasy The Green Woman under the name J.D. Root.
Root lives in the high desert community of Yucca Valley, above Palm Springs, with her husband Chris and her two mixed giant woolly Alaskan Malamutes. The Legacy of the Queen of Scots, and is presently working on the fourth book in the legacy series, In the Shadow of the Gallows.

The Incorrigible Tom Percy ~ Martyr or Murderer?

by Linda Root

Thomas Percy

Lord Henry Percy
Earl of
Northumberland

In A History of the House of Percy from the earliest times to the present century(1902) author Gerald Brenan attributes the fall of Henry Percy, Ninth Earl of Northumberland to his cousin Tom.  Even Brenan’s sympathetic  account cannot avoid noting the Wizard Earl should have seen it coming.

If there was a black sheep in the Percy family, it definitely was Thomas.  In his youth he got away with murder, but in his middle years, he nearly got away with regicide. To add to the irony, popular history blames it all on a man named  Guy Fawkes.

Described in Brenan's tome as a tall, handsome man with large, clear eyes who had a propensity to sweat and who was regarded as 'half fanatic—half ruffian', Thomas was often in trouble with the law.  He was a most unlikely person to have attained the high position in the service of his mighty cousin which provided him the opportunity and wherewithal to engage in a plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament. If there were such a thing as poetic justice, The Fifth of November would be called Percy-Catesby Day, for Tom and his best friend Robert Catesby were the true instigators of The Gunpowder Treason. Fawkes was just their foot soldier.

Prior to the events that lead to Northumberland’s downfall, the Earl appointed Tom Constable of Alnwyck Castle, which charged him with  the management and collection of rents gleaned from the Earl’s estates in Northumberland and along the English East and Middle Marches. To appreciate the importance of such an assignment requires an understanding  of how incredibly wealthy Lord Henry Percy had become and how vast his holdings.  His primary residence in Northumberland, Alnwyck Castle, best known to modern readers as Hogworts, was a scant nine miles away from his equally elegant coastal fortress at Warkworth,  a mile inland on the River Coquet. The game parks and farms between and beyond were Percy holdings.

Alnwyk, Wikimedea commons, PD

Warkworth Castle, Wm.Turner{{PD-Art}}

Nevertheless, the Percy fortune was not as vast as it might have been had the Percys of the sixteenth century behaved themselves to the satisfaction of Elizabeth Tudor. After the death of the 'Magnificent Earl' Henry Percy, the 5th Earl of Northumberland who had distinguished himself in the service of both of England's Henrys-- the 7th and the 8th-- the subsequent holders of the title seemed to have a penchant for getting themselves in trouble.

The 6th Earl, another Henry, is best known for his unsanctioned betrothal to a girl named Anne Boleyn. The 7th Earl cut the widest historical swatch of the group by leading the Northern Uprising of 1569 and getting himself beheaded and beatified.  The always fiscally driven Elizabeth did not mind restoring some of the Percy lands and the title to the dead Earl's brother as long as the exorbitant fines were paid.

The 8th Earl of Northumberland had supported the Queen in her struggles against his errant older brother and was high in Elizabeth's favor until he embraced the cause of the imprisoned Queen of Scots.  He was murdered during one of his stays in the Tower.

Thus, the Henry Percy of our story,  Ninth Earl of Northumberland, inherited estates  reduced by forfeitures, levies and fines incurred due to antics of his family  during Elizabeth’s reign.

The Earl’s employment of his controversial cousin as his agent had to have been a  business decision based on nepotism, since there was nothing in Tom Percy's past performance to recommend him to the task. The upkeep of the Northern properties required skilled administration,  not the  heavy handed and corrupt  management style of Thomas Percy.

Garter plate of the 5th Earl of Northumberland, Wikimedia

Thomas Percy may have been a grandson of the Fifth Earl of Northumberland,  'the Magnificent Earl' who served both Henry Tudors,  but he was not a close kinsman of his contemporary, the Ninth Earl.  He went to London at the urging of his brother Jocelyn, ostensibly to study law, but the academic  regimen failed to entice him, and he ended up living in Alsatia, a London suburb known for its violence. In the vernacular of his day, he was known as a ‘free companion,’ making his way by the use of his sword.

Before he became the manager of the Earl’s extensive estates in Northumberland, Tom Percy had walked in the shadow of the gallows more than once. Yet, whether by virtue of his charm or by reason of his bloodline, trouble seemed to roll right off his back. Even today anyone who pursues a career in criminal prosecution has at some point received a phone call or a personal visits from the representative of a well known  family of means requesting clemency for a child who has managed to get his or her  name on the police blotter. Political arm-twisting is not a new thing.  Recent studies have shown it to have run rampant in the last decade of Elizabeth Tudor's reign. In the twilight of the sixteenth century when young Tom  transgressed, the political pressure came from his kinsmen  the Earls of Northumberland and Essex, two of Elizabethan England's highest ranking peers.

In 1596 the most notorious of his exploits brought him perilously close to the gallows. While Brenan’s history does not divulge the details, other sources suggest he murdered a Scotsman named Burns in a street fight, the first of several events in which he escaped punishment through the intervention of people in high places. Before his trial, one of his older brothers appealed to the Earls of Northumberland and Essex on  his behalf. Essex penned a note to Lord Beaumont,  Chief Justice of the Court of Sessions, flaunting Tom's ties to himself and Northumberland, stressing Tom's background and predicting he would be of great service to his country in the future. Upon Essex’s intervention, Thomas was sprung.  Essex later defined service to his county by leading a failed rebellion against his Queen, an act  which got him killed. His protege was to follow in his footsteps.

 2nd earl of  Essex
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If Thomas Percy learned anything from the escapade it was to exploit his ties to those in high favor with the crown.

Upon a promise to behave himself, he was paroled to Northumberland’s London establishment,  Sion House at Isleswich, a wealthy  suburb.  During this time he also served as one of Essex’s henchmen in a failed plot against Sir Robert Ker, Baron Roxburghe,  who was Warden of the Scottish Middle Marches. During the years 1601 and 1602,  he accompanied Northumberland on an adventure in the Low Countries. Within a few months of his return, he was sent to Alnwyck as the Earl's personal agent. He likely stayed clear of the Essex fiasco because he was  in Europe at the time.

Regarding Percy's  appointment as his cousin’s agent, he had nothing to commend him to the post but good looks, charm, and some limited service to the Earl during their stay in Flanders.  Insofar as the tenants on Northumberland’s lands were concerned, he  was nothing but a hooligan who was overreaching in his efforts to collect from those he chose to bully, and lenient with those who  did him homage as if he were the titular earl rather than his agent.

Englishmen in the rural north shared many of the characteristics of Border reivers and were not about to succumb to abuse from Northumberland’s new dandy. Some openly resisted his demands with threats of violence. Others among the disgruntled resorted to the courts and presented strong cases against their self-appointed overlord. The court did not look kindly upon the collection methods of the Constable of Alnwyck, and eventually Northumberland was required to intercede. Tom wrote obsequious, apologetic  letters and was predictably forgiven.

He continued in his post as Constable, but to appease his many enemies, he acted through a deputy and with the Earl’s approval moved south to London. He only returned to Alnwyck when it was time to collect the Earl’s substantial revenues.  At about this time, he had developed a new reason d'etre and probably planned to divert a portion of his cousin's revenues to his new enterprise. Although raised a protestant like his cousin, Percy had married a Catholic woman,  Martha Wright, and adopted her religion with the same belligerence and zeal he exhibited in his other endeavors.  Some of his apologists propose his new-found faith  cured him of his hooliganism, but if that were so, the lessons did not last long. He was regarded as a rabble rousing fanatic by Catholic moderates and most recusants found his beliefs dangerous. He even made his friend and fellow activist Robert Catesby nervous.

Residing near London after misadventures with his cousin’s tenants placed him closer to the center of political action in Elizabeth Tudor’s waning years. When the Earl became enchanted with a religious settlement of tolerance such as Henry IV had brought to France, Percy became the Earl’s  emissary to the Catholic houses both in England and abroad.  Not long after his marriage he was fingered as a possible recusant and jailed after attending a meeting of known Catholic activists. True to form, he exploited his personal connections  to the fullest; by the following morning due to Northumberland’s intervention, he was freed to watch others hang.

JamesVI of Scotland

Percy's activities should have put him high on Elizabeth's Watcher’s List, but time was in Thomas's favor.  Fortunately, his high profile exploits occurred at a point when powerful men on both sides of the Border were waiting for Elizabeth Tudor to draw her final breath. Many Englishmen were openly courting her likely heir, James Charles Stuart, King of Scots, son of Christendom’s most celebrated Catholic martyr. Because of his eloquence, good looks, and confident manner, when the northern Catholic powers sought a secret emissary to plead the Catholic cause to the King of Scots, the mission was given to wily Tom.

What transpired between him and James VI of Scotland  is a topic of controversy. Tom came back from Scotland with good news for English Catholics: the King of Scots had  adopted an attitude of tolerance.  If he became Elizabeth’s heir, Catholics would be free to worship without reprisal.

There are three explanations to how such a report originated: first, Tom reported his discourse with the Scottish king accurately, but the king was deliberately misleading him; second, the parties struggled with a language barrier and each party to the conversation heard what he wished to hear; and three, Percy sugar-coated  the king’s comments to enhance the likelihood of a Stuart succession in which he believed he would find favor. It may well  have been a combination of all three. In any case, in the months before the death of Elizabeth Stuart, Thomas Percy was brokering to his Catholic friends a succession by a sympathetic James VI who did not exist.  If James harbored any doubt as to his attitudes toward Catholicism, two minor uprisings in the early days of his reign resolved them.

By 1603 at his friend Robert Catesby's home at Ashby St. Legers, Percy was already claiming a willingness to avenge the new King’s deceit by killing the new King with his own bare hands. Catesby urged him to exercise restraint until he could arrive at a better alternative.

After the meeting of the  King’s first parliament in the spring of 1604, English Catholics were disappointed by the message sent by their new sovereign.  Through  representations of men like Percy, most of them had expected a relaxation of restrictions on Catholic practices, and some anticipated a reinstatement of the mass. At his premier parliament James I made the union of the kingdoms his first priority. His attitude toward both Catholics and Puritans was becoming less tolerant with time.  Instead of relaxing restrictions against non-Anglicans, he intensified them.

By May 1604, Catesby had a plan to present to Percy and his friends.  Percy , Catesby and three other men of like disposition met at the Duck & Drake Inn near the Strand. Percy’s alleged opening words to the others were "Shall we always, gentlemen, talk, and never do anything?"

At the close of the meeting, the five conspirators retired to a back room at the inn where they took an oath of secrecy on a prayer book and celebrated a mass performed by the celebrated Jesuit Father Gerard. The Gunpowder Treason was born.

Engraving of the  Gunpowder Conspirators, Wikimedia Commons

A survey of the literature concerning the  evolution of the plot shows Percy as one of the principals from start to finish.  He brought his brother-in-law John Wright and Wright’s brother Christopher  into the  group in the initial stages. He is alleged to have recruited some of the later members in writing. At first blush his method sounds incredibly capricious, but  Catholic activists in the English north were often linked by blood or marriage, a close knit group. They shared a network with many recusants and priests. Tom Percy and Robert Catesby were drawing from a familiar well.

While many of Thomas Percy’s co-conspirators were of the country gentry, Percy was the most urbane. He knew his way about London and its suburbs.  He also enjoyed the status afforded one who was Northumberland’s personal agent and kinsman.  In that capacity he sublet a residence adjoining the Houses of Parliament, and installed Guido (Guy) Fawkes in it as his caretaker under the pseudonym ‘John Johnston, Mr. Percy’s servant.’  Under cover of darkness Fawkes, who had experience as a soldier dealing with ordnance and explosives, hauled sacks of  gunpowder from a barge on the nearby Thames to the residence. At first they attempted to tunnel their way from their leased headquarters into the Houses of Parliament until they realized doing so was unnecessary. The cellar of the house  was more extensive than the upper floors and ran under the House of Lords.

For those of us who may have experienced  the degree of vetting which precedes a presidential visit, it is hard to imagine the ease with which a man of Percy's history was able to lease premises adjoining Parliament. His explanation to the owner was a need to be close to the center of activity in his capacity as Northumberland’s personal agent.

Miniature of the 9th Earl of Northumberland, Wikimedia Commons
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Northumberland himself planned to move to his rooms in Essex House for the opening session of Parliament.  According to numerous witnesses, insofar as Northumberland knew, his cousin was still in the North Country collecting rents. He was soon to learn he had been misinformed. Thomas Percy may have been clever,but  he was hardly discreet. One of his and the Earl's  common relatives ran into Percy  when he was out in town and inadvertently mentioned the incident to the Earl. When Northumberland began to make inquiries as to his cousin’s presence in the capital, Tom heard of it and arrived at his cousin’s residence on the pretext of accounting for the money which he conveniently failed to bring along.  He was graciously invited to stay for lunch.

The date was November 4, 1605.

The luncheon meeting was used by Cecil and his prosecutor Coke to imply Northumberland was knowledgeable of  the plot.  Some sympathetic historians believe Tom Percy went to Sion House to warn him to stay home the following morning, but skeptics believe that once his presence in London had been disclosed, Percy hastily moved to cover his tracks. If the purpose of his visit was to warn the Earl, he failed in his endeavor. After Percy left Sion House, the Earl moved from the suburb to  Essex House and  retired early to be fully rested for the pageantry of the following day.

Percy’s assignment did not place him anywhere near Westminster at the opening of Parliament. His initial role had been to position himself outside of London so he could kidnap Princess Elisabeth  Stewart, who Catesby had selected as their  choice of puppet sovereign. Later the assignment changed to seizing the Prince of Wales from  Oxford where he was a student and security was lax.

Until 1605, no one expected Prince Charles, the sickly Duke of Albany to live long enoough to be a contender for the crown. However, the parliament planned for the spring of 1605 was called off because of plague in the city, and concurrently, the much improved Charles Stuart arrived from Scotland and was placed in the care of  Sir Robert and Lady Carey. As the eve of the misadventure approached, Wales announced an intent to accompany his royal parents to the parliamentary gala. Charles, who would soon be five,  had begun to walk and talk. In the first days of November, Percy had been reassigned to stalking young Charles.

While in Scotland Charles Stuart  had been raised in a Catholic environment, and in spite of the nostalgia surrounding Good Queen Bess, the English still favored placing the English crown on the head of a male. Charles’s fragile health suggested he would be easy to manipulate. He  seemed a perfect puppet. Percy was to snatch him from the Carey house and haul him out of London to a safe house until he could be proclaimed king. Because of his status, he would have been acceptable to most English and would be sympathetic to a pro- Catholic hierarchy. England would be governed during Charles’s  minority by a pro-Catholic Regent. Northumberland's name had been mentioned. This does not mean he was aware of it, but it was enough to whet Cecil's palate, who considered Northumberland an enemy.  At any rate, Charles became the new candidate to replace his father on the throne.

That, of course, is not how it all ended, but it might have.

The initial five conspirators well may have carried it off. But letting too many people into the group doomed the plan. The popular theory is one of them, likely Sir Francis Tresham, sent a letter to an M.P. named William Parker, Lord Monteagle on October 26, warning him to stay away from Parliament.  Parker, whose Catholic leaning had previously placed him at risk immediately ran to Robert Cecil and tattled. Catesby and Percy learned of the revealing letter  from a man named Ward who was one of Monteagle’s servants and had seen the letter.  Tresham vehemently denied all knowledge of it, and when no steps were taken to curtail the conspiracy, the plotters decided Cecil had regarded it as a prank, and they went forward with their plans.

According to the prevailing theory, Cecil decided to wait to act until he had the goods on all of the culprits and if possible, a link implicating the  Jesuits. Up to that point, no one had warned  King James of a plot to blow him, Queen Anne, his heir the Prince of Wales, and half of the government to smithereens.

Then events grow 'curiouser and curiouser'.

The Monteagle letter, PD-Wikimedia commons.

Another nine days went by without any action on behalf of the Crown. No alarm bells rang: no whistles were blown. Percy and the others met and voted to go forward.  It is at this point that Tom Percy discovered his presence in London had been revealed, forcing him to deliver his accounting to Northumberland at Sion House at midday, an act that allowed Cecil to later act against the Earl.  Percy apparently went from Sion House to Whitehall to  reconnoiter the Carey House as a prelude to snatching Charles. True to form, he approached a woman on Carey’s household staff and asked  questions about the security of the little Duke of Albany.

Late that night, while passing by Clements Inn near Essex House Percy learned from the tavern crowd that a man named John Johnston had just been arrested in possession of enough gunpowder to blow up Parliament. There was a plan in place to cover such a disaster. Tom hurried to an appointed rendezvous where one of the conspirators had fresh horses waiting.

They fled the city and proceeded to a safe house and met up with several of the others on the way. Later when they reached their destination and alerted the others, Guy 'Guido' Fawkes was in the Tower under torture. It was only a matter of time before the entire plan came undone. According to the statement of witnesses, they attempted to stoke an uprising and were turned away by even their most ardent Catholic friends. A leading Jesuit despaired of their actions as dooming the fate of England’s many moderate Catholics. There was no alternative left but to run.

In what Antonia Fraser portrays as a brave last stand in her entertaining book, a group of the conspirators including the Wrights, Catesby and Percy were too fatigued by their flight to ride forward into Wales and after stopping at Ashby St. Legers, they holed up at a house in Holbeach just over the Staffordshire county line.  When their pursuers began to close in, some of their number fled into the woods and were later caught, but not the original principals, who elected to stand and fight.

By the morning of November 8, they were surrounded by Sheriff Richard Walsh of  Worchester and a posse comitatas.  Both Wright brothers fought bravely but in vain.

Catesby’s last recorded words as reported in Brennan’s account were to his friend: "Stand by me, Tom!...Stand by me and we will die togetlier [sic]."

Percy and Catesby stood back to back with swords in play until they were felled by a single shot fired by a man named Hall who received a pension until he died in 1640.

Northumberland did not hear of his cousin’s fate until November 10^th  just before he was placed under house arrest. Earlier he had requested  to be permitted to join the pursuit, citing a need to recover the rather large sum of his money in the possession of his cousin. Cecil refused, stating his departure from the city would seem suspicious to the inflamed populace. Later that day he was informed the King was excusing his presence at all further meetings of the privy council while 'matters were being investigated.'

After learning of the injury to his cousin, the Earl demanded a foreign surgeon be imported to tend to his cousin’s wounds, since English physicians were notoriously clumsy.  He wished the man kept alive long enough to exonerate him, he declared. Predictably, Sheriff Walsh made no effort to treat the fallen traitor who died before he could be interrogated. When the King learned of  Percy’s death, he could not hide his joy. Anti-Jacobean historians speculate Percy had more to share about his visits to Scotland than King James wished Cecil and his subjects to discover.

The mystery in all of this is two-fold: first of all, why would a man as  astute as the Wizard Earl of Northumberland put his fortune and his reputation in the hands of a man like Thomas Percy?; and secondly, why did Cecil wait so long to make his move?  Historians  have addressed those issues from different viewpoints and arrived at differing conclusions, leaving an irresistible lure for writers of historical fiction who can spot a good story in need of telling, hopefully without doing an injustice to the past.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linda Root

Author’s Note:

In the spirit expressed in the ultimate paragraph of this post, I have spent the last few months writing In the Shadow of the Gallows, the fourth novel in my Legacy of the Queen of Scots series, due in January 2015.  For the first three novels in the series, visit  my author page on Amazon.

Principal Sources Include:

1. Brenan, G. & Lindsay,W.A.. (1602) A History of the House of Percy: From the earliest times down to the present century, London, Fremantle & Co.

2.  Haynes, Alan (2005) [1994], The Gunpowder Plot: Faith in Rebellion, Sparkford, England: Hayes and Sutton, ISBN 0-7509-4215-0

3. Gerard, Fr. John, John Morris Ed. The Condition of Catholics Under James I: Father Gerard’s narrative of the Gunpowder Plot, John Morris, 1871.

4. Fraser, Antonia (2010). The Gunpowder plot: Terror and Faith in 1605, Hachette, Retreived  5 August 2014. 
5. The Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth edited by C.H.Powell, Alexander Moring Limited, London 1905.

Lady Jane Grey: Royal Tragedy - Royal Pawn Part I

Lady Jane Grey was a young lass of fifteen who had the honor of being the Queen of England for a period of nine days, and was beheaded for it.

Jane was a cousin to young King Edward VI, crowned successor to Henry VIII, at the tender age of nine years. Within a very few years of his crowning,it became obvious that young Edward would soon pass from this earth due to a infirmity. Edward reigned at a time of political unrest as Henry the VIII's newly established Protestant religion sought to wrest all power and prominence from the followers of the Roman Catholic religion.

In seeking a successor for young Edward, the Protestants sought to ensure that the throne did not pass to his elder sister, Mary, a staunch Romanc Catholic, who would, it was feared, restore ascendency to the Roman Catholic church--not to mention, perhaps even going so far as to persecute and excecute the Protestants. A more acceptable heir--at least to the Protestants--was to be found in Mary's younger sister Elizabeth, a girl of only twenty, who just happened to be a Protestant.  Unfortunately, setting aside an older sister for a younger one would have been impossible, and so the Protestant nobles settled on young Jane Grey, thereby setting the stage for a tragedy.

Jane was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, and as such was a titled lady in her own right. Through her mother, she was also a cousin to young Edward and his sisters, and had Mary and Elizabeth not existed, Jane would have been next in line for young Edward's throne. It had been initially proposed that Jane and Edward be married, but this scheme was dropped due to Edward's ill health and imminent death. Again, unfortunately for Jane, young Edward was still able to be manipulated by his guardian, the Duke of Northumberland. He persuaded Edward that Lady Jane must reign after him, for if she did not England would suffer; and Edward, who loved the Protestant religion, consented. He made a will stating that Lady Jane was to be Queen instead of his sisters Mary and Elizabeth. Of course, he had no right to do this, for a king cannot say who is to reign after him; the throne must go to the next heir. But Northumberland thought if he and all the Protestant nobles declared Lady Jane Queen, they could force the people of England to acknowledge her. To ensure that he retained power, Northumberland further persuaded Edward to consent to the marriage of Lady Jane to Northumberland's only son, young Lord Guildford Dudley.

According to legend, Lady Jane had lived very quietly up to this time; she was a gentle little girl who loved her books, and never thought of thrones and kings and queens. When she was quite young she could speak French and Italian, wrote Latin, and understood Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic. This was all the more wonderful because in those days ladies were not supposed to know very much; if they could do beautiful tapestry work and ride and sing a little, it was considered quite enough. When asked one time, why she read instead of joining her sisters at play, Jane is said to have replied that she loved books, and they gave her much more pleasure than the things in which people usually tried to find pleasure. When further asked, how she had managed to learn so much, she answered:

'Sir, God hath blessed me with sharp and severe parents and a gentle schoolmaster; for when I am in the presence of either father or mother, whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand, or go, eat, drink, be merry or sad, be sewing, dancing, or doing anything else, I must do it, as it were, in such weight, measure, and number, even as perfectly as the world was made, or else I am so sharply taunted and cruelly threatened—yea, presently sometimes with pinches, nips, and bobs, and so cruelly disordered, that I think myself in hell until the time come that I go to Mr. Aylmer, who teacheth me so gently, so pleasantly, with such fair allurements to learning, that I think all the time as nothing that I am with him; and thus my book hath been so much my pleasure, and bringeth daily to me more pleasure and more, that in respect of it all other pleasures in very deed be but trifles and very troubles to me.'

Lady Jane knew that her cousin Edward was ill, and it must have grieved her very much; for she was fond of him, and being just the same age, they had learnt the same lessons together.She was however, probably quite surprised to be suddenly told that she must hurriedly marry the son of his guardian, young Guildford Dudley. When Edward died, shortly thereafter, Jane was not told of it until she received a message from her father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland, ordering her to go to his great house, not far from London. Jane obeyed, most probably, never once guessing the truth of what was going to happen or why she was wanted.  Thus, she was probably quite surprised to arrive and have Northumberland, her own father, and a group of Protestant lords kneeling before her, as they informed her her that her young cousin Edward was dead, and that she must succeed him as Queen of England. Legend tells us that poor Lady Jane was so shocked and startled that she fainted away. When she came round again they told her she must be obedient and do as they told her. She is said to have pleaded with them,claiming that Mary must be Queen, and that for herself she was so young—only sixteen; and she did not care to be Queen, but only wanted to live a quiet life with her husband, Lord Dudley. But they argued with her, and told her she was a coward; that it was for the good of England, and that if she refused she would be wicked; and so she consented.

From that moment forward, her life was changed. A beautiful barge was waiting for Lady Jane in front of Sion House, and she stepped into it, and was rowed down the river through London to the Tower. When Lady Jane entered the Tower the man who was then Lord Treasurer of England came to her, and, kneeling down, offered her the crown of England. Afterwards, Northumberland and his party lost no time in sending men all about London to cry out that Lady Jane Grey was now Queen of England.

Nine days later, young Jane was dethroned, and within a few months, both she and her handsome young husband were beheaded.

I'll share the story of Jane's imprisonment and execution on March 2, 2012.

 Compiled From Sources In The Public Domain.


Teresa Thomas Bohannon,
MyLadyWeb, Women's History, Women Authors
Regency Romance A Very Merry Chase
Historical Fantasy Shadows In A Timeless Myth.

Castles, Fortified Houses and Family Homes ~ a Distinction Without a Difference

By Linda Root

When is a Castle not a Palace?

Recently I circulated a photograph taken by my colleague Ron Morrison showing his wife Maryanne, our mutual friend Ian Lumsdaine, and me approaching Ferniehirst Caste, located on the east bank of the Jed Water near Jedburgh. My friends from the MarieStuartSociety gifted me with a visit there, knowing it was the number one destination on my Bucket List. One of my friends who saw the picture in an email replied, ‘You must have been sorely disappointed. It is so plain.’

I could not disagree with my friend’s assessment. Ferniehirst was designed not to attract visitors but to repel them. [1] In those days, Ferniehirst was strategically placed at the top of a steep ravine, on land so heavily forested that invading English forces often did not see it until pikes tossed from the battlements pierced their armor. Its defenders were known for their ruthlessness-- a trait celebrated in Laidlaw's poem, the Reprisal. The invaders were not always English. From time to time, the Kers of Ferniehirst squared off against their Cessford cousins. In spite of their service to the Scottish crown and relative success in policing the Borders, at heart, the Kers were among the most feared surnames among the Reivers. They had their share of enemies.

The castle is arguably the best preserved of the Border fortresses along the Middle Marches, and presently owned and occupied by indirect descendants of the Kers of Ferniehirst, who built it on what may have been a Roman ruin. It exists much as it appeared after its reconstruction by Sir Andrew Ker of Ferniehirst in 1598, five years before James VI of Scotland became James I of England and declared the Borders ‘pacified.' It was James who had leveled it a few years prior when Sir Andrew Ker of Feriehirst aligned himself with the king’s rebellious cousin Lord Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell. In the transpiring four hundred years, the woodlands above the Jed have been deforested, and a modern visitor sees Ferniehirst as a castle built on fertile farmland, not as the 16th Century fortress from whence a mighty band of reivers rode.

'Queen Mary's House - Jedburgh

The Kers were known for a statistically improbable degree of left-handedness. The stairways at Ferniehirst were counterclockwise, to give the advantage to the Kers in a close-quarters fight. At least a segment of one of them survives. Other examples of the counterclockwise stairs exist at the residence the Laird of Ferniehirst maintained in Jedburgh known as Queen Mary's House. Marie Stuart stayed there when she visited Jedburgh for the Assizes held in the fall of 1566. She fell ill during her stay there and nearly died. In spite of its name, Marie Stuart never owned the house but leased it when the Spread Eagle Inn where she had been lodged suffered a suspicious fire. There is speculation Marie Stuart may have stayed at Ferniehirst, but no evidence to support it other than the strong ties she had to Sir Thomas Ker and his son Andrew, who remained her loyal supporters long after she was forced to abdicate.

As it stands, Ferniehirst remains much as it was at the time of the Union of the Crowns in 1603. And yes, it lacks the elaborate façade and mullion windows of a northern palace like Linlithgow or Sterling. It was a formidable Border Tower, not a palace. One of the beauties of Ferniehirst is the castle’s integrity with its past. Thus, my answer to my friend is, ‘No. I am not the least disappointed in Ferniehirst, and I thank the later generations of Kers for resisting any urge to embellish it with the trapping of a palace. [2]

Hogwarts/Alnwick?

Unlike Ferniehirst, Alnwick Castle (pronounced ah-nick) in Northumberland is very much a tourist destination. For an armchair historian to enjoy it, one must squint and imagine it as it was. For tourists unaccustomed to turnabouts and vehicles with right-hand steering and the roads to match, the easiest way to access the ancestral seat of the mighty Northern Earls of Northumberland is by tour bus. My point of embarkation was a coffee house in Old Town Edinburgh, and the tour was ideal. For the price of a ticket to the gardens and the castle, one could wander about at will for three hours. For someone already familiar with the castle’s history, this is indeed ideal.

The difficulty with Alnwick is navigating the hordes who come to visit Hogwarts or the rooms at Downtown Abbey. But, like Ferniehirst, the Alnwick of Marie Stuart’s reign and that of the early Stuart kings of England was also a fortress. In my novel In the Shadow of the Gallows, my protagonists approach it from the direction depicted in this photograph, which shows how strategically it was placed.

It was a mere 25 miles from Flodden, and 32 miles from the Tweed at Coldstream. Unlike the Alnwick in my novel, the actual castle was largely uninhabited from 1572 until the 18th century. Except for the more than one-hundred-year hiatus, it has been a residence for the Percys from 1309 to the present. Its basic structure has not changed significantly since the12th Century, but the castle has been embellished and renovated many times. It retained a significant military flavor until the Borders were actually pacified. During the Civil War, Cromwell used it to stable horses and as a Prisoner-of-War camp. The Earl of Northumberland, Algernon Percy, served as guardian of ill-fated Charles I’s children, who lived with the Percys at Warkworth and later, at Syon House in Metropolitan London. The present castle’s interior has largely been redesigned in a palatial style credited to Anthony Salvin, who in 1852 began a large-scale restoration of Alnwick, removing the Strawberry Hill Gothic interior created a hundred years earlier by Robert Adam, replacing one of the towers, and creating the present exquisite interior.

During Victoria’s reign, interior rooms opened to the public were given an Italianate flair by architect Luigi Canina. Thus, unlike Ferniehirst, the present Alnwick may structurally resemble the original border castle to one who has studied it, but it lacks the austerity of a military structure such as Ferniehirst.

There is a seductive link between Ferniehirst and Alnwick tempting to any historical novelist captivated by the Border Lore that evolved during the days when steel-bonneted Reivers ruled the Marches, and later romanticized by Sir Walter Scott. ‘Every valley has its battle, and every stream its song,’ he wrote in a letter to a friend. Students of Border politics during the latter Sixteenth Century will recall the existence of a body of law unique to the Borders, and not especially centered on such concepts and nationalism and sovereignty. Thus, it is not surprising that the leaders of the ill-fated Northern Rebellion of 1569, the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland and their ladies, fled to the Borders just ahead of Elizabeth Tudor’s army. When the powerful Armstrong Border family considered betraying the fugitives to the English if the price was right, Sir Thomas Ker of Ferniehirst rescued both of the countesses and the Earl of Westmoreland. The entire affair went against the Reiver’s Creed, in which political fugitives entering the Borders were given sanctuary. Lord and Lady Ferniehirst gave them safe haven at Ferniehirst Castle, and eventually orchestrated their escape to the Low Countries.

The Earl of Northumberland, who was not as canny as the others and had more derring-do than his situation warranted, fell into the clutches of the Scottish Earl of Morton, an act which enraged most Borderers and ultimately contributed to Morton's fall. In 1572 when Morton was the Scottish Regent, he traded Northumberland to Elizabeth as part of a deal in which she sent her siege guns to dislodge forces loyal to the Queen of Scots from Edinburgh Castle. Tommy Ker of Ferniehirst was among the great castle’s defenders whose life was spared, but to punish him for aiding and abetting men whom Elizabeth considered traitors, he was forfeited and sent into exile, and Ferniehirst was leveled. After Sir Thomas died, his son Andrew Ker had barely restored it when it was reduced to ruin again in 1593, the third time in a century when Ferniehirst was reduced to a rock pile. And yet, the castle stands, a sentinel on the east bank of the Jed.

Across the Border to the South, the Percy stronghold of Alnwick ranks among the top English historical homes open to tourists. The 12th Duke of Northumberland, Lord Ralph Percy and his family live in a portion of the castle not open to the public.

Neither Ferniehirst nor Alnwick is a fairytale castle the likes of Mont San Michel on the French Coast or Neuschwanstein in Germany, but they have the unique distinction of not only remaining habitable but pridefully occupied by descendants of those who defended them nearly five hundred years ago. 

Notes:

[1] Ferniehirst is not a tourist destination in the wider sense. It is a private residence of Lord Ralph Kerr,(the modern spelling of the name), heir presumptive to the Marquisate of Lothian, (a title held by the Ancrum Kerrs)  whom I had the pleasure of meeting.  Its cultural significance is in the able hands of its curator, Bob Lawson. The site is open for tours Tuesday through Sunday during the month of July, and are hosted by the curator.  His stage presence and knowledge of the topic make it well worth the price of the 5GBP ticket.

[2]  Two excellent sources on Ferniehirst and Kers include 1) Lawson, Bob, The Kerrs of Ferniehirst 1205-1692, a limited edition publication available from the author, and 2) Kerr, Anthony, Ferniehirst Castle, Scotlands Frontier Stronghold, Kelso, 1985, currently out of print.  Thankfully, I have two copies

For a deeper understanding of the evolution of the early keeps to the versatile British fortified houses and beyond, 

see: Emery, Anthony (1996), Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500, Volume I: Northern England, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-49723-7

This is an Editor's Choice from the #EHFA Archives, originally published August 10, 2016.
~~~~~~~~~~

Linda Root is an author of historical novels set in Marie Stuart's Scotland or during the reign of her son James VI and I. She is a retired major crimes prosecutor living in the hi-desert above Palm Springs. She also writes fantasy fiction under the name of J.D. Root, of which The Green Woman, set at Ferniehirst, is her debut. Her historical novels can be found on Amazon.

Lady Jane Grey: Royal Tragedy - Royal Pawn Part II

Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England for nine days, and paid for the privilege with her life.  Continued from Lady Jane Grey:Royal Tragedy-Royal Pawn begun on February 7, 2012.

Princess Mary was in the country when she received news of her brother's death and Northumberland's treasonous coup. The Princess was many years older than her cousin Jane, and of a much sterner disposition--not at all the type to sit quietly by and allow her throne to be snatched from beneath her very nose! In a masterstroke of political maneuvering, she sent representatives all over the countryside, rallying people to her rightful cause--building an army of outraged constituents. As the story of the two Queens was trumpeted about, nearly everyone in England felt that Mary's cause was just under English law, and that Northumberland had circumvented English justice.  Soon, even the people in London began to riot, loudly and joyfully proclaiming Mary as the rightful Queen, and abandoning any romantic notions about Lady Jane's tenuous claim.

Northumberland, realizing--if not regretting--his foolishness, hastened to abandon poor little Jane, removing her from her position of State in the Tower, and sending her back to exile at Sion House while remaining in London himself, to proclaim Mary as the true Queen.

Mary triumphantly entered London, and went straight to the Tower, where her first official act was to hold her brother's funeral. Once that little detail was taken care of, she began to address her enemies. Northumberland was quickly imprisoned, and shortly thereafter beheaded along with several of his co-conspirators since Mary knew exactly who lay behind her young cousin's preemptive claim to the crown.  Although, Lady Jane and her husband were quickly returned to the Tower as prisoners; they were allowed to walk in the gardens, and were well treated for Mary, at this time, seemed to believe them innocent--a mere boy and girl forced to play their roles by conniving fathers.

Perhaps they would have stayed in captivity for many years but for Mary herself. Queen Mary--quite stern of both face and manner--quickly became hated. Shortly after she was crowned--people rose up in rebellion, proclaiming that Lady Jane should have been Queen instead. Lady Jane's fate was sealed by those who sought to elevate her. News reached Queen Mary that Sir Thomas Wyatt had collected a large army with the intention of attacking Whitehall Palace and abducting Mary, forcing her to abdicate in favor of Lady Jane.

Wyatt's army arrived, securing St. James's Park and surrounding Whitehall Palace. Fighting commenced between the Queen's troops and Wyatt's rebels, and Queen Marry watched from the Holbein Gate. With all her faults she was very brave, and was said to show no sign of fear even when she saw her own guards driven in and dispersed. When a gentleman rushed up to her, and, falling on his knees, said, 'All is lost,' and begged her to get into a barge on the river and fly to the Tower, where she would be safer, Mary refused to go, and said all was not lost, and by her bravery and her words she so inspired the men that they fought again, and succeeded in beating off the rebel forces who proceeded to fight their way toward the city.  The battle ended when Wyatt was taken prisoner on Ludgate Hill, not far from St. Paul's Cathedral.

Mary knew that she was safe, but she also feared that the danger might again rear its ugly head, and so to prevent this, she ordered Lady Jane Grey and her husband to be beheaded, for so long as they lived there would always be the fear that other men would rise as Wyatt had done, and try to make Jane Queen. On the following morning, Mary rode down to the city to thank her nobles and knights for fighting so bravely and defending her, knowing that before the day was ended she would have signed the death-warrant of Lady Jane.

Lady Jane was in the Tower when the news was brought to her. She had been a prisoner six months. It is said that when the priest came to tell Jane the news, she received it quite calmly and without a shudder. But when he tried to make her turn Roman Catholic, she told him she could never do that. The priest hurried back to Queen Mary, and said if the execution could be put off three days he might make Lady Jane a Roman Catholic, so Queen Mary consented to a short delay. During those three days she was asked if she would see her husband--who was to die first--to say good-bye; but she said it was better not, for the parting might be too heartrending, and make them both break down.

When the morning of the executions came, the guards led Guildford past Lady Jane's window. The execution of Guildford did not take long. Presently a low rumble of cart-wheels over the stones told Lady Jane that they were bringing back his dead body, and then she knew her turn must come.

One can only imagine the young woman's horror that morning; but she was very brave, and when they came for her, she is said to have neither fainted nor screamed, but rose up, and, calmly walked to her death. When she arrived at the place of execution she made a little speech, saying that she ought never to have allowed anyone to persuade her to be queen; but that she was young—she had not known what was right. And then, without any show of fear, she laid her head on the block, and was beheaded with a single blow.

And so ended the tragic tale of Lady Jane Grey—a young girl who loved her books, and would have lived a quiet life had she not been made a pawn in her father and father-in-law's ambitious games.

To read the beginning of  Lady Jane Grey: Royal Tragedy - Royal Pawn Part see the February 7, 2012 post.

Compiled From Sources In The Public Domain.

Teresa Thomas Bohannon,
MyLadyWeb, Women's History, Women Authors
Regency Romance A Very Merry Chase
Historical Fantasy Shadows In A Timeless Myth.

The Lady Jane Grey

by Michael Bayus

It was on this day, 465 years ago, at approximately 11 hours UTC: that Jane, the rightful queen of England, France and Ireland, was judicially murdered.

As there are countless re-tellings of the events of Lady Jane Grey's execution on that day, I won't make you read another.

Rather, I would like to take a few moments to reflect on Lady Jane's life.

Lady Jane Grey, was born in June of 1536 to Henry and Frances Grey, later Duke and Duchess of Suffolk. Lady Jane was the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary. Under the terms of Henry the eighth's will, the Suffolk family stood fourth in the line of succession to the throne. Consequently, Lady Jane received a princess's education. She was precociously intelligent, reading Greek, Latin and Hebrew by the time she was 9 years old, and was a staunch advocate of the newly established Protestant faith. With the accession of the nine-year-old Edward VI in 1547, the English court became embroiled in a sequence of complex power struggles in which Lady Jane, Edward's cousin, became a pawn. As Edward's health deteriorated in 1553, the powerful nobleman John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, persuaded the young king to exclude his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth and decree that the crown should instead pass to his cousin Jane. She was then hastily married to the Duke of Northumberland's son, Lord Guildford. Northumberland's hold on power seemed secure when Jane was proclaimed queen on Edward's death in July 1553. However, Mary's Catholic supporters staged a rising, Northumberland's army melted away and just thirteen days later the reign of Queen Jane was over. Although her innocence was never doubted, Jane's existence as a possible figurehead of Protestant revolt made her an unacceptable danger to the new regime. She was executed on February 12th 1554, aged 17.

Lady Jane Grey, who was almost eighteen in February of 1554, had matured into a remarkable young woman, only averagely attractive, but with far better than average brains. She spoke Latin, Greek, French, Italian and some Hebrew. She was a patron of London’s Strangers Church for European Protestant exiles, and was admired amongst a circle of clever Protestant women that included William Cecil’s intellectual wife, Mildred. There is no evidence to support the later romanticized gossip amongst Italians that Jane married at the insistence of her mother and the threats of her father. It was usual for the daughters of the nobility to have an arranged marriage made around their sixteenth birthday, and even if Edward lived, Jane’s marriage had great promise. When her father died his title, Duke of Suffolk, was likely to pass to Jane's husband Guildford, who was close to her age and remembered by contemporaries as a comely, virtuous and goodly gentleman.”

Jane was informed that she was named Queen on the 9th of July 1553, three days after her cousin, King Edward VI, died. Once she realized how big the coup was and that it wasn’t going away,
Jane accepted her new role and signed many letters as "Jane the Quene". This came after Mary had declared herself Queen of England and denounced the coup. But while it was expected of Jane to give her signature to important documents and urge others to come to her aide, “The only action which Jane is known to have taken as queen was to deny her husband, Guildford Dudley, the Crown Matrimonial.”

 Jane had alleged that she had been forced into marriage by her parents and that “relations with her spouse were not good.” Yet I contend that it was common of noblemen’s sons and daughters to go into arranged marriages without question, and aware of her position and her lineage, Jane would have known that she had little choice in matters such as these. And being the religious woman she was, marriage was viewed as one of the most important things in a woman’s life. It is possible that Jane might have not liked being married to someone she barely knew, but due to her religious fervor, had come to accept it. But given how kings and queens saw themselves, it is not outside the realm of possibility that Jane might have said this in order to get her way. Jane would die on the 12th of February 1554, after her husband.

 Jane was made into a passive figure later on, a Protestant martyr who refused to accept the crown, who was the victim of her parents' abuse. Think of this distortion as a Snow White washing of Jane. The Victorians wanted to think of Jane as the poor royal trapped in the tower, at the mercy of her evil cousin, and older woman, envious of her beauty, and a dangerous mother who is lusting for power and sees her daughter as nothing more than a tool. And while everyone fights one another, poor Jane stays true to herself, unwavering in her faith, choosing death instead of being a sell-out. While this is partly true (Jane was a fervent believer who never wavered in her faith), it is largely made up. Jane had to be seen as the epitome of the good, Christian woman who was submissive, yet defiant when it came to her faith. During the Victorian age, this myth became bigger and it is one that has endured.

Jane was a strong woman, no doubt. One of the most educated women of her time, who was also independent and although she did not covet the crown, once she was in that position, she did her duty to the best of her ability, urging her father, her father in law, and many others to rally to her cause and stop Mary. When everyone abandoned her, she had no choice but to admit defeat. Jane accepted Mary's reign, so long as Mary would not bring back Catholicism. When Mary did this, Jane became angry and asked the people to "return to Christ's war!" Although her outburst might seem inconsequential to us, it didn't seem so to Mary and her councilors. Several urged her to deal with her right away and Mary often hesitated to do so, but after the Wyatt Rebellion, Mary signed her death warrant.

The Lady Jane, while she was a prisoner in the Tower of London during the last 8 months or so of her short life, took the time to write. Because she knew that what she wrote would be published posthumously, she wrote very carefully worded letters that she, I believe, conceived as performance pieces. She was careful to express her thoughts in a very special way. It was important to her that she be remembered, not just remembered but in a very particular way.

She was so good at it, that people who have read what she wrote, conscripted her for their own use.

I contend that she never expected that. When she knew her death was imminent, she wrote three epitaphs. One in Latin, one in Greek, and one in English.

If Justice is done with my body, my soul will find mercy in God. [Latin]
Death will give pain to my body for its sins, but the soul will be justified before God. [Greek]
If my faults deserve punishment, my youth at least, and my imprudence were worthy of excuse; God and posterity will show me favour. [English]

I believe that %98 of what you read about the Lady Jane Grey is wrong, and it is my life's work to tell her true story.

~~~~~

Michael Anthony Bayus was born in Union town, Pennsylvania and became blind shortly after birth. At three years of age, he was given a small organ on which he began creating tunes and improvising chord progressions. Michael began formal lessons at age eight and began playing in church at fourteen. He has played numerous recitals throughout the United States.

Mr. Bayus earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and a Master of Music degree from The Catholic University of America, where he served as an assistant to Dr. Robert Grogan at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He has been fortunate to study under Virgil Fox, Gunter Kaunzinger, Marilyn Mason, Marie-Claire Alain, and Jean Langlais.

At the age of eight years, Mr. Bayus was given his first Tape Recorder ostensibly to record, and track his progress as an Organist. Instead, Michael used his Tape Recorder to create and produce Sound
Plays for his own amusement and amazement.

Along the way, while in High School and College, Mr. Bayus participated in various Workshops and courses in Broadcasting and while in College, produced a Radio Drama about the Lady Jane Grey as a final exam for one of those courses. Michael first knew about Lady Jane after hearing a BBC produced radio drama about her at age 12, and became passionate about her from age 14. Mr. Bayus has made the study of Lady Jane Grey's life his life's work ever since.

To that end, Mr. Bayus has published Project GreyNoise, an Audio Book about the Lady Jane Grey.

In Project GreyNoise, Lady Jane Grey is trapped in the 21st century, but willingly. Because she knows that in order to affect change and to accomplish her goal, she must act. It’s hard for her because she knows that if she were to tell people that she really is Lady Jane Grey from 1554, people would think she is crazy. So she plays Miss Jane Dudley, and she oversees an exhibit about herself and dresses up in Tudor costume, and enjoys being herself twice a day, (morning and afternoon,) for her show. As the story goes on, Mike suggests that she put on shows about events in her life as short plays or vignettes in the evening. She does it all so well that she gains a reputation around town. She is very entertaining, and she talks Tudor History as though she really lived it, because she has.

We also get to know Jane, as she assumes the role of Miss Jane Dudley, a hard working modern-day young woman, as she interacts with those she meets when she is not working her exhibit. Only Mike, and Jess know for sure just who she really is. Mike is her best friend, and Jess is the caring Mother that she never had. Her goal is to debunk all of the myths, and misinformation that has grown up around her since her death in 1554. The Victorians really did a number on her, and she has a big job on.’

For further information or to purchase, visit http://ProjectGreyNoise.com

Castles of Northumberland's Coast

by Debra Brown

I requested my friend Sophie Keates-Gazey to write a post about the area in which she lives for another blog some years ago. She had told me that the northern English coast is littered with castles, and I thought it only fair that she share them! Besides Sophie's having delighted me with her writing (a favorite poem is on her blog), she is married to an amazing photographer. I appreciate his willingness to share some of the incredible work he has done with us all. Though I have been out of touch with Sophie for some time, I see that the photography site is being updated. I know that you will want to visit there to see more. A link follows the post.

And now, Sophie's words:

I was delighted when Debbie invited me to write a guest post for her lovely blog. Apart from being a huge compliment, it also gave me an opportunity to reflect on my immediate environment, and to appreciate it anew.

Northumberland is the northernmost county in England, having a border with Scotland and a beautiful, spacious, sandy stretch of North Sea coastline. It is one of the largest counties in England, but one of the most sparsely populated, due mainly to much of its landscape being composed of rugged moorland, more suited to our hardy breeds of sheep than to human habitation!

This is a county rich in history, vulnerable over the centuries to attacks by Viking raiders from Scandinavia, and, closer to home, by clans of brutal livestock rustlers along the Scottish border, known as 'reivers'. One testament to this turbulent history is the concentration of castles on and near its coast. They are in varying states of repair, but each has a unique story to tell.

The craggy remains of Dunstanburgh Castle, on its cliff-top

Of all the castles in the area, Dunstanburgh Castle is the least well-preserved, and arguably the most atmospheric. See it on the horizon and you can understand why it is often described as looking like a mouthful of ravaged teeth.

Dunstanburgh Castle was built as a response to regular and punishing raids from the Scots in the 14th century. Its thick walls, and its position - much of the castle sits on top of cliffs with a sheer drop to the sea - provided excellent protection from attack.

The castle actually fell into ruin centuries ago. As early as 1538, it was described as being a 'very reuynus howsse and of smalle strength'. As its decline continued, its stones were plundered for new building projects.

Ruined it may be, but JMW Turner celebrated Dunstanburgh in watercolour, and today it stands noble and romantic on a beautiful coastal walk between Craster and Embleton Bay.

Another of Northumberland's castles which withstood raids by the Scots was Bamburgh, further up the coast from Dunstanburgh. The first fortress was actually built on this site in the 6th century, though nothing now remains of it, and the existing red sandstone structure, which sits on top of a volcanic outcrop, was begun in the 11th century.

Bamburgh Castle, basking in afternoon sunlight

Bamburgh holds the dubious honour of being the first castle in England to have been breached by gunfire (during the Wars of the Roses - 1455-85), and this was the beginning of its decline. However, thanks to a series of forward-thinking owners in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was restored. It was eventually purchased by the industrialist William (later Lord) Armstrong, who completed the restoration.

The castle still belongs to the Armstrong family, and makes for an interesting visit. Unlike Dunstanburgh, this building is intact, and the visitor can explore finely-decorated state rooms with their ornate furniture, tapestries and paintings, as well as humbler (and perhaps more interesting) domestic rooms such as the kitchen and laundry.

Further inland, the magnificent 11th century Alnwick Castle has been the principal seat of the Dukes of Northumberland since 1309. Familiar to many as Hogwarts School in the Harry Potter films, it is still very much a family home. Walk into the beautiful library, for instance, and there are family photographs on the occasional tables, along with much of the paraphernalia you would expect in a room which is regularly used and enjoyed.

The majestic Alnwick Castle, from across the River Aln

Alnwick Castle is warm and inviting, and it really is possible to imagine living here, in contrast with many other castles and stately homes, which can feel big, remote, intimidating and far from homely.

But for situation, romance and cosiness, the prize must surely go to Lindisfarne Castle, the most northerly of those featured here, and not far from the Scottish border at Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Lindisfarne Castle, perched on its rocky outcrop

Lindisfarne (also known as Holy Island) is connected to the mainland by a causeway which is only accessible twice a day, at low tide. And disaster awaits anyone silly enough to ignore the (large, graphic, unmissable...) warning signs at its entrance: every year lots of people do, and their cars are usually engulfed, and written off, when the North Sea suddenly sweeps in. (Drivers have become stranded 15 times so far in 2011, and a staggering 180 times since 2000, at massive expense to the rescue services.)

Lindisfarne Causeway, complete with rescue hut!

Anyway, to the Castle. It was built in 1542, on a massive rocky outcrop, giving it the perfect position for defending the surrounding harbour. In 1902, the Castle was acquired by Edward Hudson, a former editor of Country Life magazine, who employed Sir Edwin Lutyens to undertake a programme of restoration and improvement.

And what improvements! Hefty wooden roof-beams and solid stone archways support the ceilings of herring-bone patterned, brick-floored corridors; and the beautiful windows, many of them containing pieces of stained glass in their neo-gothic tracery, look out over the North Sea, or down over the charming walled garden, planned by legendary plantswoman Gertrude Jekyll.

This is a fairy tale castle if ever there was one, and it is even possible to get married here. The small rooms, many of them with vaulted ceilings, are full of intimate decoration and design in the Arts and Crafts style, and seem to summon the ghosts of ancient knights on white chargers, and the damsels awaiting their arrival.

Here, as at all the castles along this coast, a sense of individuals' lives and changing fortunes is as tangible as the very fabric of the buildings themselves.

For the visitor, the castles along Northumberland's coast offer varied and atmospheric architecture, and stunning surroundings. And if you listen carefully, the very stones will whisper to you of centuries of history, violent destruction and beautiful, imaginative revival...

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Many thanks to both Sofie and her husband, the photographer, David Taylor.
Sophie Keates-Gazey's Blog
David Taylor's Website

Images copyrighted David Taylor.

See also the Country Life Magazine Website.