Jean Plaidy - The Murder in the Tower: The Story of Frances, Countess of Essex

James had recognized the man’s integrity—a quality found all too rarely at Court—and had decided on his advancement. Opportunity had come to Digby a few years previously when James had sent him to Madrid as his ambassador to arrange a marriage between the Infanta Anne and Prince Henry. Digby had quickly discovered that the Infanta was already betrothed to Louis XIII of France; and when Philip III had suggested a match between the Prince and his younger daughter Maria, Digby had sensed a lack of seriousness on the part of the Spanish monarch and advised against the marriage. But although that matter had come to nothing Digby had proved himself a worthy ambassador in other ways.

Now his manner was very grave as he bowed before the King.

“Well, Johnnie,” said James, “I can see ye’ve brought me news which you’re hesitating to deliver. Is it so bad then?”

“I fear, Your Majesty, that this is going to be a shock to you.”

“Well, lad, I’ve suffered many a shock in my life and mayhap I’ll see a few more before I die. So let me hear this one.”

Digby took a scroll from his pocket and said slowly: “I have prepared this and think it my duty to lay it before Your Majesty. It is to give this to you—and to do it with my own hands—that I am here in London.”

James took the scroll, unrolled it and frowned at it. It was a list of names—all well-known people of his Court.

“I believed, Your Majesty, that certain information was leaking to Spain and I set my spies to watch how this could be. I have now completed my investigation. That list, Your Majesty, contains the names of your ministers and courtiers who are accepting pensions from the King of Spain for the service they do him.”

“Traitors?” murmured James.

“That is so, Your Majesty. I fear that when you read those names you will be deeply shocked.”

James was hastily scanning the list. He knew he could trust Digby, but he could scarcely believe what he read. Yet there it was in detail. The names and the amounts of the pensions.

He would not bear to study the list too closely because he was afraid of finding one name there and if he found it he knew he would never trust any man again.

“Thank you, Johnnie,” he said. “You’re a good servant. Leave the list with me. I wish to examine it closely. You will be hearing more of this, but leave me now, and tell my servants that I wish to be alone.”

When Digby retired James returned to the scroll.

Northampton! The rogue! And Northampton had been a close friend of Robbie’s … and was now related to him!

The Countess of Suffolk—his mother-in-law! He had never trusted her, knowing her for a rapacious woman.

Thank God! His name was not there.

Of what had he been thinking? Robbie, a traitor! Never. Thank God he could rely on Robbie.

The scroll had ceased to be so very important. After all, was he surprised that he was surrounded by rogues?

But he was glad to have seen the scroll because it had proved to him that he had not been mistaken in Robbie.

James decided to say nothing of the discovery. He had been warned that he was surrounded by men who took bribes from Spain, but he could see no good in making the matter public. He would be cautious in dealing with those people concerned, but it would be very unsettling to have a scandal now. The Essex divorce was still talked about. It was known that recently he had suggested offering baronetcies to any who could pay six thousand pounds for them; the matter had come to nothing, largely because there were so few who would have been ready to pay the price for the title. But somehow these matters leaked out and were talked of.

No, he wanted no more scandal.

So James gave no sign to those who were in the pay of Spain that he was aware of this, but he watched them very closely.

Northampton, meanwhile, was having many a secret meeting with the Spanish ambassador.

Count Gondomar had quickly realized the importance of this wily statesman, who was now related by marriage to the King’s favorite young man; and as that young man was the sort to be easily led, Count Gondomar was very hopeful for the future.

“It would be an excellent thing,” he told Northampton, “if a marriage could be arranged between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta Maria. I believe that if this marriage could take place, in a few years we should see the Catholic Faith back in England.”

Northampton agreed with this; he was ready to earn the pension he drew from Spain and he was against that French marriage for the Prince of Wales which was now being suggested.

“How does the Earl of Somerset feel about the Spanish match?”

Northampton smiled. “I doubt not,” he said, “that when I have had a word with him he will feel it to be an excellent proposition.”

“Then, my good friend, we shall have the King on our side. For I have heard it said that what Somerset desires today, His Majesty desires tomorrow.”

“Your Majesty is in urgent need of money,” said Robert. “Why should you not fill your coffers with Spanish gold?”

“By agreeing to the Spanish match for Charles, Robbie?”

“Yes, Sire. Philip would give the Infanta a magnificent dowry.”

“The people are against a Spanish marriage, lad.”

“Because they fear the Catholic religion would be brought back to England.”

“Which it never will be. I know this of the people of England. They remember Bloody Mary and the threat of the Armada. This country made itself the natural enemy of Spain in the days of Drake and Elizabeth. Legends die hard. The English would never have the Inquisition on these shores; and that means they are suspicious of Catholics, and particularly Spaniards.”

“Then Your Majesty does not wish to benefit from the Spanish gold?”

“I wouldna say that, Robbie. There’s no harm in your doing a little negotiation with Gondomar. Sound the man. See what they’ll offer. Whether we decide there should be a French or Spanish marriage ‘tis as well to know all that’s entailed. And Robbie, we’ve been long enough without a Secretary of State. I’ve decided on Winwood.”

Robert was astonished. Winwood was not the man Northampton had chosen, and therefore Robert had supported. Northampton had thought Sir Thomas Lake would be the man for the job because he was what the old Earl called a Howard man. Robert wondered what Northampton would say when he heard that the King’s choice had fallen on Winwood.

Had he chosen Winwood because, as a staunch Protestant and Puritan, he was fiercely against the Spanish marriage?

James waited for Robert to express his disappointment at the choice; but Robert did no such thing. Winwood was the King’s choice and although the man would not have been his, as soon as James mentioned it, it became acceptable to him.

How I love this man! thought James. Never shall any other come between our friendship; always the first place in my heart will be for Robert Carr.

Sir Ralph Winwood was overjoyed when he heard of his appointment. It was what he had wanted for a long time. Now he would be in a position to use his voice against all idolaters; and this was particularly important because he knew Northampton was working for the Spanish marriage and had persuaded Somerset to do the same.

In Sir Ralph Winwood’s opinion it was his duty therefore to work against the favorite.

He knew that the Queen was a secret Catholic, and this shocked him deeply. It was time a good Protestant had some control of affairs.

He deplored the King’s preoccupation with handsome young men. How much better a ruler he would be if he surrounded himself with serious men—men of experience rather than beauty.

Still, it might be that Somerset would not always hold his present position; and the fact that Sir Ralph Winwood had become Secretary of State was a step in the right direction.

Within the Court there was growing friction. The proposed Spanish marriage of the heir to the throne must necessarily be a cause of contention; and now that Somerset was joined by marriage to the Howards, theirs was by far the most powerful party in the country. Northampton, at its head, was a secret Catholic; as for the King, he had known that Northampton took bribes from Spain and yet had done nothing to deprive him of his power. The rulers of England seemed to be Somerset, Northampton and Somerset’s father-in-law, the Earl of Suffolk.

The fact that the Queen had become a Catholic made further confusion, for she had always felt a deep resentment toward Somerset and often referred to the death of her son Henry and the suspicions which had been rife at the time concerning Somerset and Overbury.

Somerset’s and Howard’s party; the Queen’s party; the Protestants such as Sir Ralph Winwood; those in favor of a Spanish match for Prince Charles; those in favor of a French one; they were all warring together; and this dissension resulted in insults which led to duels.

James was distracted and turned more and more to Robert for solace; never had Robert been so powerful and never had so many longed to see him fall.

It was at this time that the King and certain members of the Court made a journey to Cambridge; and because the Earl of Suffolk was the Chancellor of the University there, the arrangements for the entertainment of the royal party were left in his hands. It was an indication of how bold the Howards had become that Suffolk declined to invite the Queen.

Anne was angry, apart from the fact that she loved pageantry of any kind, for she saw in this an insult; and as usual she blamed Robert Carr, although he had had no hand in it.

“Let him wait,” she said. “I will have my revenge for this.”

There were, in fact, very few ladies present in Cambridge during the King’s stay there, apart from those belonging to the Howard family.

Frances was a member of the party, and as she rode out from London her spirits were lifted; she was putting a distance between herself and such places as Lambeth and Hammersmith; Robert was beside her, the devoted husband, who was always solicitous for her health and comfort; she was determined to be gay and enjoy that position for which she had so long fought.

Her father, Suffolk, being the host, was lodged in St. John’s College, but Lady Suffolk, with Frances and other female members of the family, were to stay at Magdalen, while James and Charles—with Robert—were at Trinity.

The men of the University were determined to provide entertainments for the royal party; the whole town was en fête , eager to do homage to the visitors, and banquets were given in St. John’s College and Trinity; but because this was a University town, there was an endeavor to keep the entertainment on an intellectual level.

One day the company assembled to see a play called Ignoramus which was being presented for the pleasure of the King and his friends.