The Constable of the Tower by W. Harrison Ainsworth

Butts explained to Cranmer and the others that his Majesty had had just sufficient strength to direct the stamping of his will, but that immediately after this was done, and the attestation completed, he was struck speechless.

“It is marvellous that he lasted so long,” continued the wily physician. “He spoke so feebly, that I alone could catch his words. I fear he will scarcely know your Grace,” he added, preceding Cranmer to the bed, and drawing back the curtain so as to expose the woeful figure of the king, who was now evidently in extremis; “he hath but little life left.”

“I will try,” replied the archbishop. Taking the king’s hand in his own, he drew close to him, and in tones of the utmost earnestness exhorted him to place his trust in Christ, and to call upon His Mercy, beseeching him, if he had any consciousness left, to give him some token that he trusted in the Lord.

Henry seemed to understand what was said to him, for he slightly strained the primate’s hand.

After a while, the archbishop turned to the assemblage, now gathered round the bed, and, in a voice of the deepest solemnity, said, “It has pleased Heaven to call to its mercy our great king. Pray ye all for the repose of his soul!”

Upon this they all knelt down, and, while they were doing so, the bell tolled forth the hour of midnight.

Then Hertford called to mind what the king had said to him concerning the summons by the spirit, and he trembled exceedingly.

THUS FAR THE PROLOGUE

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Book I

The Lord Protector

Chapter I

HOW THE EARL OF HERTFORD AND SIR ANTHONY BROWN ANNOUNCED HIS FATHER’S DEATH TO PRINCE EDWARD

For two days Henry’s demise was kept profoundly secret. On Monday, the last day of January, 1547, the Commons were sent for to the Lords, and the important intelligence was communicated to them by the Lord Chancellor Wriothesley, who, at that same time, acquainted them with such portions of the late king’s will as it was deemed expedient to make public. The interval between the monarch’s death and this public announcement of it had been employed by Hertford and his partisans in organizing their plans, and debating the measures to be adopted during the new reign. Most of the upper council, in whom the administrative authority was lodged, had been won over by Hertford’s promises, and it was not thought that any serious opposition would be offered by such as could not be corrupted—amongst whom were Cranmer and Tunstal. The only real obstacle in the way of the aspiring earl appeared to be the Lord Chancellor; but even he might be brought over, or, if troublesome, could be put out. Thus Hertford felt secure, and determined upon the immediate realization of his schemes of aggrandizement.

As regarded the Duke of Norfolk, Henry’s death, occurring when it did, at a moment of such extraordinary peril to that illustrious nobleman, was a piece of great good fortune, and was regarded by many who adhered to the old belief as nothing less than providential. Had Hertford, however, been allowed his own way, the duke would infallibly have been executed in accordance with Henry’s warrant; but Sir John Gage resolutely refused to obey it, threatening, if the matter were persisted in, to publish abroad the king’s death. By these means Norfolk was saved, though he was still detained a prisoner in the Tower.

The young Prince Edward himself was kept in ignorance of the loss he had sustained until the Sunday, when it was announced to him by his elder uncle in person, attended by Sir Anthony Brown, master of the horse, and devoted to the earl. The young prince was staying at Hertford with the Princess Elizabeth, whither they had been sent after their last interview with their royal father. The earl and his companions found the prince engaged in reading Ludovicus Vives’s “Instruction of a Christian Woman” to his sister. Closing the book, and quitting the reading-desk near which he was stationed, Edward immediately advanced to meet them. He was greatly affected by the intelligence which they brought him, though not unprepared for it, and though it was conveyed in terms and in a manner calculated to rob it of much of its distressing effect.