The holy city was captured.
The Holy father was taken prisoner.
They say the mercenaries pillaged the Holy city and raped the nuns, slaughtering everyone in their way. They say they burned the holy buildings, and tore down holy icons and crucifixes.
I shivered at this brutal defilement of God's holy city, Rome.
And the man behind it was Charles of Spain, Queen Catherine's nephew. He and his mercenary army had taken Rome, and taken the Holy Father prisoner.
Anne Boleyn always had a quick temper, but after she heard the news she was beyond furious. The Pope could not give the King a divorce from his wife if he was the Prisoner of the Queen's nephew.
Anne Boleyn snapped at us, her ladies in waiting, more frequently than often and I had to keep my eyes down respectfully and nod and say "Yes, My lady, " every time she shouted at me, as though she, the daughter of a simple knight from Hever, made a Viscount by her sister's work in the King's bed, was much better than me, a good and pious woman.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The King and the Queen were summoned to the ecclesiastical court at Westminster to testify on the validity of their marriage. Queen Catherine attended dressed in her finest, grand as a queen, a god-appointed Queen of England. People threw flowers at her carriage and declared their love and support for her as she was driven to Westminster.
I went with Anne Boleyn; she chose me to escort her, alongside Jane Parker and her sister Mary, as though she wanted to ensure a Seymour watched her rise to power and greatness. I kept silent as Jane and Mary made jabs at my unmarried state, and Anne laughed with them. We sat at the very far back of the court, surrounded by guards as Anne Boleyn was very unpopular and the mob would kill her if they could get their hands on her.
The King sent word that he could not come and sent proxies instead. He could not face his lawfully wedded wife and tell her that he doubted their marriage, that he believed that their marriage was never valid.
Queen Catherine sat before the court, her face impassive as the proxies sent by King Henry stood before the court, stating that the king had always had doubts as to the validity of his marriage, which the Queen interrupted and said, quite reasonably, that he had waited very long before voicing these doubts.
Anne Boleyn tutted. "The old hag," she spat. "Why did she refuse to simply go to a nunnery and be done with it? Why drag us all through this mess?"
I thought the Boleyn girl must have thought herself grand indeed, if she thought she could insult Queen Catherine, the infanta of Spain, a Princess of the Blood. I kept silent, and kept my thoughts to myself, as I always did.
Cardinal Campeggio adjourned the proceedings despite there being no progress made. People booed at the proxies sent by the King and cheered the Queen, who smiled and waved at them.
I saw how the people cheered for the Queen and shout that though the King might take a thousand upstart whores she would remain their true Queen forever, and I knew that even if Anne Boleyn succeeded in pushing Queen Catherine off the throne, she would never be a beloved Queen.
* * * * * * * * * *
Queen Catherine was a saint.
There can be no other explanation for her civility to her husband's upstart braggart whore.
On the other hand Queen Mary, who was the Dowager Queen of France and the King's sister now married to Charles Brandon, could not bear it. She simply would not.
She had been raised by her grandmother Margaret Beaufort to think of royalty as semi-divine, that no one must ever oust a royal from their place.
So she defended the Queen not out of love for her, for they had never been great friends, but because she hated to see a commoner like Anne Boleyn rise so high.
