The Crown A Novel

39


It was too early in the year to snow. Whether I lived at Stafford Castle in the midlands or Dartford Priory in the South of England, I’d rarely seen flakes fall before Christmas. But on the road to Wiltshire, on the sixth day, when we drew close to our destination, the air chilled and the sky swelled and turned darkest gray. The flakes slanted down on us, just a whisper of snow at first, then thicker. Last winter had been the coldest one in living memory; the Thames froze solid, and the wealthy took to the ice in enormous sleighs. This winter threatened to be just as frigid.

Ahead of me, Brother Edmund turned in his saddle, concerned, as the snowflakes rested on his hat. I smiled at him, trying to reassure. Did he think, after all we had endured, both separately and together, that snow would trouble me? He did not smile back but pulled on the reins and kicked his horse, to ride farther ahead.

Brother Edmund had not wanted me to come. Nor had Brother Richard. They’d argued against it, furiously. It would be much harder to explain my needing to leave Dartford Priory than it would be to explain Brother Edmund’s. There was the danger of a long journey on the open road. And, of course, the impropriety of a friar traveling with a novice.

“You’ll endanger the entire venture,” said Brother Richard in his most forbidding voice. “Sister Joanna, I must insist that you remain here, and let Brother Edmund travel to Malmesbury Abbey alone.”

“Then I will leave Dartford by myself and travel there separately,” I said. “I’ve gone without permission before. I’m perfectly capable of doing it again.”

The friars stared at me, too shocked to speak.

“I realize that I may be disciplined or even turned out when I return to the priory,” I said. “But what does that matter? We shall be doomed by spring, one way or another. With my ‘connections,’ as you put it, Brother Richard, we should be able to gain admittance to Wardour Castle and see the Howard tapestry for ourselves. Then we can ride to the abbey, which is also in Wiltshire, and learn everything there is to know of King Athelstan. I was sent here to find the crown, to do everything in my power to find it, and I will do so.”

Having been given no choice, the friars made arrangements. Brother Richard produced a document supposedly written by Bishop Stephen Gardiner, bearing his seal, requesting the presence of Brother Edmund and myself in London.

Prioress Joan agreed without asking any questions at all. She produced the necessary licenses for us to be gone for longer than a few hours.

I should have seen it as a blessing, but her new complaisance worried me. Standing in front of the priory, giving us her blessing as we mounted the priory’s best horses, Prioress Joan stared past me, over my shoulder, at the grounds. I realized that since Cromwell’s commissioners left she had rarely looked me in the eye.

Would she write her own letter to Bishop Gardiner and thus learn he had no knowledge of this trip? I speculated. But there was nothing I could do about it, no way to stop her. Brother Richard said he intended to observe her; I could only hope he was up to the challenge of outwitting the formidable prioress of Dartford.

My fellow novices came out to say good-bye. Sister Winifred’s health had improved dramatically. The day before, she’d returned to the novice dormitory and resumed her duties. Now I feared more for Sister Christina, so grim and silent, and so lacking in color. I told myself that she and Sister Winifred would be all right in my absence, that they had each other, after all.

Brother Edmund and I waved good-bye and headed up the lane, toward the road. As soon as we were out of sight of the priory building, we both hurriedly removed our habits. Underneath I wore the plain dress I’d had when I came from the Tower to Dartford; Brother Edmund wore the clothes of a country gentleman. It was my idea to do this. After seeing what a fuss Sister Agatha and I raised when we rode through the village in our habits, I doubted we would even reach the gates of London if dressed in the garb of our order. We were not Brother Edmund and Sister Joanna any longer. We were siblings, traveling the country on urgent family business.

The shedding of clothes alarmed John, our stable hand. He’d eagerly agreed to accompany us to London because he of his devotion to Brother Edmund. But the poor man came close to panic when we told him we were setting out on an incognito mission—not to London, but to Wiltshire.

“We need you to care for the horses, John, to see they’re fed and watered and kept safe,” said Brother Edmund. Left unspoken was that we also required the appearance of a servant, or else we would look too odd—and be too vulnerable to thievery.

“And we’ll still be back at Dartford in a fortnight?” asked John. “My wife is with child, Brother.”

“Yes, John, I know that,” he said gently. “It may be longer than a fortnight, but not more than three weeks, I promise you.”

John’s eyes widened at that. For a moment I feared he would break away from us and gallop back to the priory. He’d tell the prioress everything and our mission would be over before we’d reached the main road.

But John did not break away. He fell into line. And on the journey he proved invaluable, not only caring for the horses but provisioning food when our supplies of bread and salted fish ran out, and riding ahead to secure lodgings at the inns along the way.

After we left the outskirts of London we took the wide road that cut west through the whole of England, all the way to Wales. We rode by low-lying woods, interspersed with vast open fields stripped of harvest and fenced-in sheep farms. Small knots of men and women cut wheat stubble to mix with hay for the winter fodder. Every so often we’d pass through a market town; many had small churches, and whenever time allowed, we stopped for a quick prayer. The largest towns boasted inns for travelers. I’d never been inside an inn before. When I’d journeyed in the past, with my family, we’d always stayed overnight with our relations, in their manor houses or castles. Some of the inns were comfortable; others were mean, loud, and dirty. It never mattered to me. I was always exhausted after a day of riding on the sporadically maintained road, and would fall onto my bed, asleep in seconds.

It troubled me that Brother Edmund spoke so little. Sometimes I feared it was because he was still angry with me for insisting on joining him. But at other times I wondered if all of his strength—of body and mind—must go toward his battle with his demon. I remembered that when he first confessed to his weakness, he said the nightmares were agony. One glance at his face each morning—ashen and damp with sweat—proved that was still the case. The hours of hard riding through the cold countryside always seemed to brace and revive him. He was most like his old self at the end of the day.

One evening, while we shared supper, I learned of the complexity of his feelings for Bishop Gardiner.

“When I heard that the bishop was personally coming to Cambridge, on the eve of our dissolution, I was most excited,” Brother Edmund admitted.

“But why?”

“His is the most brilliant mind to emerge from Cambridge in the last fifty years.”

I was taken aback. “But Brother Edmund, he was the one who supplied the legal framework for the king’s divorce from Katherine of Aragon.”

“Yes, he did, no doubt to ingratiate himself with King Henry. And he succeeded. But no one knew in the late 1520s how far the king was prepared to go, his real intentions toward overturning the true religion. The king, the nobility, the commons, many were desperate for a male heir for the kingdom—or else we’d become nothing more than a dowry land of Princess Mary’s when she married a foreign king.”

I shook my head, frustrated. “Why does no one think Mary could rule this country in her own right?”

Brother Edmund thought for a moment. “A queen who rules alone? But could a woman be strong enough to rule this fractious, violent kingdom?” He saw my expression. “Forgive me, Sister Joanna. I did not mean to offend you.”

“I do forgive you—you speak as an Englishman, and that is, of course, no surprise, since you are one.”

He laughed. “And you speak as someone who is half Spanish.” He thought for a moment. “Yes, Katherine of Aragon believed absolutely in her daughter’s right to be heir to the throne, as did her Spanish nephew, Charles. And Emperor Charles controls the pope. So our king could not get his divorce from the Holy Father. He had to break free from Rome and grant himself a divorce as the head of the Church in England.”

“Which Gardiner assisted in,” I reminded Brother Edmund.

“The bishop tried to prevent this, the dissolution of the monasteries.”

“So he has told me,” I said bitterly.

“But Sister Joanna, he did make a brave effort; he published a paper in 1532, an argument in defense of the religious structure of England. It was called ‘The Answer of the Ordinaries.’ It nearly cost him everything.”

I stared at Brother Edmund. “What do you mean?”

“Gardiner was considered by everyone to be next in line, when Warham died, to be named Archbishop of Canterbury. But because of that paper, he angered the king and lost his position as chief secretary. Thomas Cranmer was made archbishop instead; he is Cromwell’s trusted ally. They are now both closer to the king, who once called Gardiner ‘my right hand.’ ”

It took me a moment to absorb everything said. “So Gardiner is undoubtedly a supporter of the true faith,” I said.

I saw a shadow cross Brother Edmund’s face.

“There is something else?” I asked.

He nodded. “Cardinal Wolsey handpicked Gardiner to serve him, as he did Thomas Cromwell. But when the cardinal fell, Gardiner abandoned him utterly, refused to help him. Cromwell, it is said, shed tears for his master. Not Gardiner, though he owed him just as much.”

I remembered the strange tone of Gardiner’s voice when he spoke of Cardinal Wolsey in the Tower of London. “We are enmeshed with a most treacherous man,” I said, looking down at the scratched wooden table. I had a thought and looked up. “You haven’t told me. When Gardiner arrived at Cambridge, how did he treat you?” I asked.

Brother Edmund’s face darkened. “I hoped I was going to receive a position in the bishop’s employ, that he’d perhaps recognized my own scholarly efforts. But Gardiner only wanted me to assist Brother Richard, and then to assist you. He has little respect for me, because of my weakness.”

I reached out, timidly, and patted his arm. It was rigid to the touch.

“Brother Edmund, you must persevere. It has been more than a fortnight since you returned to Dartford, correct? Your suffering may end soon.”

He nodded without speaking. I hoped the next morning, when we met by the horses, he would not look so ravaged by nightmares and discomfort. But my prayers were not answered. Brother Edmund’s face was ashen again. We set out on our journey, and the dusting of snowflakes did little to ease his misery.

John appeared at the top of the road and trotted toward us. “I’ve found the road to Wardour Castle,” he shouted.

Brother Edmund and I nudged our horses to follow John. Soon we would be at the home of my second cousin, Mary Howard Fitzroy.

Although I had not seen her since she was thirteen, I’d heard much report of her. Mary’s beauty and wit made her the pride of her father, the Duke of Norfolk. He cherished her almost as much as his heir, the Earl of Surrey. A brilliant marriage had been expected for Mary, and indeed, she was just fifteen when she wed Henry Fitzroy, also fifteen and a royal bastard. The Duke of Richmond was the son of King Henry and Bessie Blount, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine. There had been rumors for years that the king sought a legal means to make the Duke of Richmond his successor. It proved moot, for the young duke died, last year, of lung rot, and left my cousin a young widow.

The road to her property, Wardour Castle, was not much more than a trail. The snow had stopped, but the ground was still wet, and we rode slowly, careful of our horses.

The sun had poked through the clouds when we first glimpsed the castle, in the center of a clearing, a lake glittering far behind. It was a white stone structure with turrets and towers, small triangular windows, and prominent battlements. As we rode closer, I saw it was not of square design, like Dartford Priory, but a massive hexagon.

A wide, dry ditch surrounded the castle. To reach the front doors, we’d have to cross a drawbridge, which, thankfully, was down today. But the portcullis, the metal grate with sharp points that barricaded the doors, was also down, barring entry.

We found a man asleep in the gatehouse, and Brother Edmund roused him.

“I am Joanna Stafford, kin to the dowager duchess, and will be presented to her today,” I informed him.

The man looked at me with the same sullen expression I’d seen on many people’s faces along the way, whether they were farmers or innkeepers. I waited for him to tell me the dowager duchess was not at home. Wardour did not look occupied. In which case, I would still insist on leaving a letter for the lady of the castle. The rules of hospitality meant one would be received by someone—a steward or a housemaid—and given something to drink. That would be our chance to tour the main rooms and look for the Dartford tapestry.

Without a word, the man led us to the drawbridge. A towheaded boy appeared to take the horses. John fell back, to remain with them.

We walked across the drawbridge. It was very old; the wood crumbled a bit under my feet. Brother Edmund winced when he too stepped on a weakened strip of wood. In the harsh sunlight he looked unquestionably ill: brown eyes burning in a gaunt face.

Someone inside must have seen us approach, for the portcullis in front of the doors rose. The rusty old chains creaked as they hauled up the heavy metal grate.

The double doors swung open and a sharp-faced woman appeared.

“She is kin to the dowager duchess,” the man growled and retreated.

The woman looked us over, suspicious; after all, we weren’t dressed like noble folk. She wore a finer gown than I did.

I gave her my name as I pushed my way inside. It was important not to ask permission. Brother Edmund followed me over the threshold, and as she got a closer look at him, the woman’s caution edged into trepidation. In another second, she’d call for some menservants.

I snapped, “I’m surprised my cousin employs such a rude servant.”

Her head swiveled back toward me. She sank into a grudging curtsy, and then led us into the heart of the castle. I wasn’t sure where she was taking us but tried to appear assured.

We passed through galleries and a large courtyard, then up the stone staircase. It opened into an enormous hall, built for feasts and dances, for occasions of state. At the other end of the hall a fire roared in a fireplace tall enough for the tallest man to stand in. In front of the fire were chairs and a table. A lone figure, a woman dressed in black, sat in a chair. The servant hurried over to say something to her, then retreated to the corner.

The room was so large, it took some time to cross. Our shoes clacked on the smooth floor. As we neared the fireplace, my heart began to jerk in a quick, painful rhythm. The woman by the fire looked very familiar.

As impossible as it was, the woman looked like my cousin Margaret. I had seen her burn at Smithfield, six months ago. But the bright red-gold hair peeking under her French hood, the long oval face, the slim figure, were exactly like her.

She watched us cross the hall, turning a goblet in her hand. Once we’d reached her, I reminded myself that this woman was too young to be Margaret. It was Mary Howard Fitzroy, grown into the image of her beautiful aunt.

I pulled down the hood of my cloak, to better show myself, and sank into the curtsy a dowager duchess was due. “Your Grace,” I said.

“Cousin Joanna?” she said wonderingly. “What are you doing here?”

“We are journeying through Wiltshire, and I wanted to stop and visit you,” I said smoothly, using the explanation we’d worked out ahead of time. “This is Edmund Sommerville, who assists me.”

He bowed before her.

She was still confused. “But aren’t you a nun, Joanna? What happened? Was your priory dissolved?”

“No, Dartford still stands. We are traveling to another abbey, on business of the Dominican Order.”

“Are you? That seems to me very odd.” Her eyes went back and forth between the two of us, and then lingered on me. “I heard about you, actually. My mother wrote to me that you were in some sort of trouble.”

I tried to deflect. “Just a bit, cousin.”

But Mary would not let it drop. “She’d heard you were confined in the Tower of London, and you gave my father a difficult time.”

Brother Edmund tensed beside me. The fire popped; a log sizzled madly.

I took a chance and said, simply, “Well, cousin, that is true.”

To my surprise, she smiled. It was not Margaret’s smile; it was knowing, almost wicked. With a shiver, I was reminded of no other but the Duke of Norfolk.

“Huzzah, Joanna,” she giggled. She gestured toward a bottle of wine on the table. “Let me call for more goblets. We will drink a toast to you. I so rarely have anyone to drink with. I despise my neighbors, and I haven’t sunk so far down I’d drink with servants.”

She beckoned, and the sharp-faced woman reappeared from the shadows with two goblets. I had no desire for wine, but it would be rude to refuse. We three raised our goblets to each other and drank. The wine was rich tasting and potent.

“So you do not like it here?” I asked, curious. “Why then do you stay?”

“This is my only property; it was my jointure according to the marriage contract,” she answered. “All of my husband’s lands and homes and monies returned to the king.”

Brother Edmund said, “But that is unfair and not even legal.”

My cousin Mary threw back her head and laughed. “How entertaining you are, Master Sommerville.” It took her a long time to stop laughing. I wondered how much wine she’d had to drink so far that day. “My loving father-in-law, the king, said the marriage was not entirely valid because it was not consummated. Of course it was not consummated at his command. His son’s health was too delicate for any ‘marital excess,’ as the king phrased it, until he turned eighteen. Which he never did.” She raised a goblet. “And so here I am, a virgin widow with one crumbling castle in the middle of Wiltshire.”

“But what of your parents?” I asked quickly. I was uncomfortable with the topic of women’s virginity being discussed in front of Brother Edmund.

“My mother spends all her time dictating letters, primarily to Cromwell, listing her grievances against my father and describing his cruelties. I’m told the Lord Privy Seal finds the correspondence of the Duchess of Norfolk a terrible burden. As for the duke, I stay out of his reach, since he talks of arranging for me a second grand marriage.” She rested her head against the back of her chair. “I’d rather stay here.”

I did not know what to say. I took another sip of wine; my head swam from it. I put the goblet down. Brother Edmund shifted in his chair.

“Cousin Mary,” I said, “I’ve heard that you were given one of the tapestries of Dartford, as a wedding gift, to be displayed here at Wardour. We’d be most interested in seeing it.”

She frowned at me for a few seconds and then shook her head. “We had it in this room at first, but then moved it to my husband’s bedchamber. That room is locked to me.” She rolled her eyes. “Even when he was alive, it was locked to me.”

Brother Edmund and I exchanged a quick look.

“Cousin, it would mean a great deal to us to see it,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Joanna. It can’t be done. More wine?”

How obedient she was, how she conformed to their wishes, her father, the Duke of Norfolk, and her father-in-law, the king.

I held up a hand. “No, Cousin Mary. I don’t want any more wine. There has been enough wine here for today. I say it’s time you call for your servants to find the key to the door. This is your house, is it not? And you are half Stafford. Staffords have spirit.”

Her cheeks reddened. I could see that I’d pushed her quite far. But with a practiced little shrug, she rose to her feet, called for her lady-in-waiting, and gave the order.

Indeed, there was little of the resistance from servants that she’d feared. Soon enough we were upstairs, pushing past her sour-faced lady-in-waiting and into the bedchamber of the dead Duke of Richmond. It was large and lavishly furnished. I’d never seen such an elaborately carved headboard. Gleefully, Mary jumped onto the bed. “At last!” she laughed. Her French hood came off and her long, thick red-gold hair tumbled down her back.

Brother Edmund veered away from the bed. He strode over to the long far wall, where three tapestries hung.

Dartford’s tapestry was in the middle. It had all the features of our workmanship: the wide variety of color, the fine detail, and the group of mythic figures.

This tapestry featured two women and a man. A woman stood among an explosion of grain fields and fruits and fine vegetables. She held the hand of a younger woman, a beauty, who pointed down, toward the far end of the tapestry, where a handsome bearded man surged up from a dark cavern. None of the three looked like anyone I had ever seen at Dartford Priory.

“Do you know this story?” I asked.

Brother Edmund nodded. “It’s Persephone.”

My cousin Mary spoke up from behind us. “Yes, the bride of the underworld,” she said. “A fitting companion for me now, don’t you think?” She laughed as she struggled to sit up. “My brother of Surrey adored this tapestry, as did my husband. They were educated together, you know. Yes, my brother loves this tapestry more than the other Dartford one, at Norfolk House.”

“The Howards own another Dartford tapestry?” I asked.

“Yes, the Lambeth one is older than this and larger, too.” Mary had finally slipped off the bed.

Brother Edmund asked eagerly, “Do you remember what story it tells?”

She squinted into the distance as if she were trying to conjure the tapestry in her thoughts. “I know that it shows a group of sisters, dancing sisters.”

“Are they nuns?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

“No, I’m sure they aren’t. “She moved forward and ran her fingers along the edge of the tapestry. “I prefer this one, my own. One day, Persephone”—she pointed at the beautiful girl in the tapestry’s center—“was out gathering flowers, and the god of the underworld, Hades, saw her and was smitten and opened up a chasm in the ground to pull her down. We won’t linger on what happened then, for I am still a maid.” Mary giggled. “Her mother, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, searched the earth for her, and went to Zeus, the leader of all the gods, to demand to know what happened to her daughter.”

Brother Edmund picked up the story. “Zeus knew the truth, of course. But Hades was his younger brother, so he could not take Persephone away from him entirely. Zeus worked out an arrangement, that for six months of the year, Persephone would live with her mother and the other six with Hades, her husband. When mother and daughter were reunited, the sun was warm and the plants grew tall. When she was pulled down again, the plants all died and the cold came, for Demeter always grieved her daughter’s absence, and her defilement by Hades. That is how the ancient Greeks explained the rise and fall of the seasons.”

My cousin Mary clapped her hands, as delighted as a child. “You tell it almost as well as my brother, Surrey, and he’s a poet. You are most erudite. Please stay with me for a few days at least—I’d so enjoy your company.”

Brother Edmund flushed. Perhaps he’d never been praised by a beautiful young woman before. I felt a strange twinge.

Mary’s eyes were on me, and she smiled mischievously.

“What will happen to you, Joanna, if the priories are all dissolved?” she asked. “Will you cease being a nun altogether?”

“I haven’t given it any thought,” I said.

She said, “I suppose I should tell you that both my brother and I follow the teachings of religious reform. The king wished it.”

Stricken with disappointment, I said, “You know why I was sent to the Tower, don’t you, Cousin? In May I went to Smithfield.”

She bowed her head. “Poor Aunt Margaret. Yes, you were the only one brave enough to do that, you and your father.” She raised her head, curious. “Where is your father now?”

“He pays the price of someone who acts according to conscience, not according to ambition,” I snapped at her.

Mary’s eyes flashed. “It’s easy for you to pronounce judgment, Joanna. You don’t attend court, you hide away at Stafford Castle or in your priory; you don’t know what it is like to be in the presence of the king. How angry he becomes, just like that”—she snapped her fingers—“when he is defied. No, you don’t have any idea how fearsome he can be.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I cried. “I know better than anyone how fearsome it is in the presence of King Henry.”

As both Mary and Brother Edmund turned to look at me, shocked, I bit my lip, furious with myself. I couldn’t believe I had revealed so much.

I swung toward the door. “We will leave now,” I said.

“But you’ve just arrived,” she protested, looking at Brother Edmund.

“I’m sorry,” I said firmly.

“Where are you going?” she pouted.

“Malmesbury Abbey,” I said. Brother Edmund winced. Again, I’d said too much.

“That’s far from here, and the roads are not good,” she said. “You can’t possibly reach it before sundown.”

“We will find an inn halfway between.”

“An inn?” she exclaimed, shocked. “What an idea.” She looked Brother Edmund up and down, and another of those mischievous smiles lit up her face. “But then, who am I to interfere in your plans, Cousin Joanna?”

Now I was as embarrassed as Brother Edmund.

She walked us through the castle, her lady-in-waiting shadowing us. At the front entrance she called to another servant, “Send for Luke, at once.” She said to us: “You must have a guide to Malmesbury; this boy of mine knows the roads very well.”

“But we may not return this way,” said Brother Edmund.

“He can find his way back from anywhere,” she said.

When the boy appeared, I recognized him as the towheaded lad who’d taken our horses. “Luke, do you know the way to Malmesbury Abbey?” she called out.

“Aye, Your Grace,” he said, fingering a lock of his hair as if he were a serf of the manor.

“Then be of service to these people,” she ordered. “Take a swift horse.”

We said our good-byes. Mary watched us from her doorway as we mounted the horses, now followed by both John and Luke. I waved to her one last time, and we started off. I could hear the creaking noise of the chains of the descending portcullis as it crashed back down on the drawbridge.

I pulled up my horse close to Brother Edmund’s.

“So what did you make of the tapestry?” I asked.

“There are similarities to the other one, from the requiem feast. A young woman falls prey to a man and is saved, at least in part, by an older person, a family figure.”

“What could that have to do with the Athelstan crown?” I was careful to keep my voice low.

“I’m not sure,” he said.

“Do you think the other Dartford tapestry, at Lambeth, would tell us more? The one with all of the sisters? Perhaps that is the one Sister Helen intended for me to see. It would seem much more relevant to the priory. Stopping here, to view this one, seems not to have borne fruit.”

Brother Edmund thought for a moment. “Do not be certain of that. I think that in choosing these stories, Sister Helen was trying to say something about an ongoing struggle she knew of at the priory, between earthly desires and salvation, perhaps between good and evil itself.”

I shivered, but it was not because of the cold.