Descent and Fall
Sharon Turner, the famous Anglo Saxon Historian wrote “The throne of Jane would have stood unsubverted, if the feelings of the people had corresponded with those of the leading aristocracy, but on no occasion has public opinion more signally manifested its overwhelming power, than on this experiment. Law, government, army, magistracy, nobility, the clergy, the metropolis, every fortress and actual possession were on the side of Jane. Mary was a fugitive and alone…But the feelings of the gentry of England were almost unanimous for the daughter of their undiminished favorite Henry VIII. Her attachment to the popery they had rejected would have determined them to oppose her, but the remembrance and popularity of her father led them to resolve that she should be their queen and Protestants as well as Catholics armed zealously for her.”
“Sir Edward Hastings, altho the brother of one of the lords most active for Jane and who had been sent by Northumberland to raise four thousand foot for her support, obeyed her appeal to him and was among the first to raise the standard of loyalty to Mary by marching instantaneously to her retreat in Norfolk, the forces he had rapidly collected. This decided conduct removed all fear from those who desired to imitate…She proceeded to Framlingham Castle, the chief seat of the Norfolk family, to be near the sea coast in case of disaster, but all apprehensions of the issue became dissipated when from the thronging numbers she soon beheld thirty thousand unexpected defenders, with their glittering arms and banners near her walls, resolved to place her on her father's throne. No one had summoned them; no one had anticipated such an enthusiasm. It was the impulse of their own sensibilities which had collected them and many who had been embodied and commissioned to act against her, catching the general sympathy marched only to join her cordial supporters…”
“The lords had expected that their combination of their own power, with that of government, would have peaceably established their new sovereign or have immediately overwhelmed all resistance and tho they had missed the seizure of Mary's person, the tranquil acquiescence of the metropolis fortified them in their conclusion. Hence on the same day in which they had received Mary's letter demanding their allegiance, they had unanimously returned to her their own requisition, that she should submit as a subject to the new dynasty they had erected. But the tidings which came of Sir Edward Hastings's defection and of the hurrying of others to set up Mary's standard, alarmed them into a perception that a vigorous battle must now be fought, to maintain their regal project and to secure their own safety.”
“They did not shrink from the necessity when it first became visible; they prepared immediately for the deadly contest and believed their united forces would have commanded a victorious issue. Hence, in their council held on 12 July, immediately after the news arrived of the desertions to Mary, they resolved that the duke of Suffolk with others of the nobles, should go towards the lady Mary to fetch her up to the Tower. Jane here interfered. She felt uneasy and desolate to be left without her father in the hands of the chief of the Northumberland family at that crisis and with weeping tears made request to the whole council that he might tarry at home in her company…The eyes of all were then turned on Northumberland whose capacity and martial endowments were universally acknowleged.”
“They requested him to undertake the enterprise. He assented on the assurance of their fidelity and the same night sent for the peers and knights, whom he wished to accompany him and caused every necessary preparation to be instantly made. He then took leave of Jane, who thanking him for taking her father's place, beseeched him to use his diligence. Whereto he answered that he would do what in him lay. So that the young queen was then both determined and desirous to maintain her usurped royalty by the sword…On the following day, having put his battalions on the march he moved from the metropolis with a personal train of six hundred men. Yet, as he passed thro Shorediteh, the unapplauding apathy of the multitude was so visible that he remarked to lord Gray, “The people press to see us, but not one saith God speed us.”
“This was natural; it was not their cause, but the cause of the great aristocracy that he was going to contend for. When he quitted London, the noble confederation was faithful and complete. Whatever afterwards occurred, they meant at this time to perform their bond and sent for their feudal forces from their individual estates to unite with him as they had planned for the overpowering blow…The duke advanced to Cambridge expecting their junction.”
“Mary becoming more confident of the result issued a proclamation, offering one thousand pounds in lands to any nobleman who would apprehend him. The duke finding her numbers formidable, sent urgently to the council for his promised reinforcement, but it had become impossible for them to fulfil their pledge or to prosecute their plans, for their own tenants refused to serve their lords against queen Mary. The forces which they sent from London were also so affected by the general sympathy for Mary, that it became obvious to the observer that they would join her when the armies approached…This debilitating disaffection inevitably broke up the aristocratical confederacy and left its composers at Mary's mercy…All the lords had continued to cooperate harmoniously together for a vigorous execution of their purpose, till the power to effect it thus shivered in their hands…”
“The council met again at Baynard's Castle and called to them such of the nobility as were not hostile to Mary. Here lord Arundel took the lead in recommending them to admit her to be the queen. There was no appearance that she meant to alter their religion. She had given a contrary intimation. Why then risk such certain destruction as would attend a further opposition. Lord Pembroke immediately expressed his warm concurrence with Arundel and grasped his sword to shew that he had now determined to support Mary's right against all who should contest it. Becoming hopeless of all further success, they determined after some angry discussions among themselves to take the only path where a chance of safety lay by agreeing to depose Jane and to acknowlege and proclaim Mary as the rightful queen.”
“They made the ceremonial annunciation accordingly with the applauding enthusiasm of the gratified public and wrote to their new sovereign their apologetic letter stating as the best excuse they could devise that ever since her brother's death, they had remained her true and humble subjects in their hearts, but had seen no possibility to utter their determination without great bloodshed, but had that day proclaimed her and would serve her truly in all their powers and forces to the effusion of their blood…”
“The unsuccessful Jane, the Twelfth Day Queen as she was called was detained with her husband within its walls. When her father announced to her his melancholy information that she could reign no longer, the immediate answer of her still un-perverted heart did credit to the returning rectitude of her judgment.”
“This news pleases me better than that which told me that I was to have the throne, for I do not deserve it and am not competent to fill it” (The History of the Reigns of Edward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth, Volume 1, By Sharon Turner, 1835, Pg 359 – 369)
And “Sir, I better brook this message than my former advancement to royalty out of obedience to you and my mother, I have egregiously sinned and offered violence to myself. Now I do willingly and obeying the motion of my soul, relinquish the crown and endeavour to salve those faults committed by others, if at least so great a fault can be salved by a willing relinquishment and an ingenuous acknowledgment of them” (The Lady's Monitor: Selected from the Writings of Lady Jane Gray…; 1828, Pg. 8)
“This brief vision of royalty which had begun on the tenth, thus ended on the twentieth of July, furnishing a splendid interval of eleven days which made life resemble a dramatic romance both to the fairy queen and to the marvelling nation...Within a month after his mortifying discomfiture, Northumberland was tried for high treason and on 22d August beheaded at Tower Hill…” (The History of the Reigns of Edward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth, Volume 1, By Sharon Turner, 1835, Pg. 370 – 371)
“Sir Edward Hastings, altho the brother of one of the lords most active for Jane and who had been sent by Northumberland to raise four thousand foot for her support, obeyed her appeal to him and was among the first to raise the standard of loyalty to Mary by marching instantaneously to her retreat in Norfolk, the forces he had rapidly collected. This decided conduct removed all fear from those who desired to imitate…She proceeded to Framlingham Castle, the chief seat of the Norfolk family, to be near the sea coast in case of disaster, but all apprehensions of the issue became dissipated when from the thronging numbers she soon beheld thirty thousand unexpected defenders, with their glittering arms and banners near her walls, resolved to place her on her father's throne. No one had summoned them; no one had anticipated such an enthusiasm. It was the impulse of their own sensibilities which had collected them and many who had been embodied and commissioned to act against her, catching the general sympathy marched only to join her cordial supporters…”
“The lords had expected that their combination of their own power, with that of government, would have peaceably established their new sovereign or have immediately overwhelmed all resistance and tho they had missed the seizure of Mary's person, the tranquil acquiescence of the metropolis fortified them in their conclusion. Hence on the same day in which they had received Mary's letter demanding their allegiance, they had unanimously returned to her their own requisition, that she should submit as a subject to the new dynasty they had erected. But the tidings which came of Sir Edward Hastings's defection and of the hurrying of others to set up Mary's standard, alarmed them into a perception that a vigorous battle must now be fought, to maintain their regal project and to secure their own safety.”
“They did not shrink from the necessity when it first became visible; they prepared immediately for the deadly contest and believed their united forces would have commanded a victorious issue. Hence, in their council held on 12 July, immediately after the news arrived of the desertions to Mary, they resolved that the duke of Suffolk with others of the nobles, should go towards the lady Mary to fetch her up to the Tower. Jane here interfered. She felt uneasy and desolate to be left without her father in the hands of the chief of the Northumberland family at that crisis and with weeping tears made request to the whole council that he might tarry at home in her company…The eyes of all were then turned on Northumberland whose capacity and martial endowments were universally acknowleged.”
“They requested him to undertake the enterprise. He assented on the assurance of their fidelity and the same night sent for the peers and knights, whom he wished to accompany him and caused every necessary preparation to be instantly made. He then took leave of Jane, who thanking him for taking her father's place, beseeched him to use his diligence. Whereto he answered that he would do what in him lay. So that the young queen was then both determined and desirous to maintain her usurped royalty by the sword…On the following day, having put his battalions on the march he moved from the metropolis with a personal train of six hundred men. Yet, as he passed thro Shorediteh, the unapplauding apathy of the multitude was so visible that he remarked to lord Gray, “The people press to see us, but not one saith God speed us.”
“This was natural; it was not their cause, but the cause of the great aristocracy that he was going to contend for. When he quitted London, the noble confederation was faithful and complete. Whatever afterwards occurred, they meant at this time to perform their bond and sent for their feudal forces from their individual estates to unite with him as they had planned for the overpowering blow…The duke advanced to Cambridge expecting their junction.”
“Mary becoming more confident of the result issued a proclamation, offering one thousand pounds in lands to any nobleman who would apprehend him. The duke finding her numbers formidable, sent urgently to the council for his promised reinforcement, but it had become impossible for them to fulfil their pledge or to prosecute their plans, for their own tenants refused to serve their lords against queen Mary. The forces which they sent from London were also so affected by the general sympathy for Mary, that it became obvious to the observer that they would join her when the armies approached…This debilitating disaffection inevitably broke up the aristocratical confederacy and left its composers at Mary's mercy…All the lords had continued to cooperate harmoniously together for a vigorous execution of their purpose, till the power to effect it thus shivered in their hands…”
“The council met again at Baynard's Castle and called to them such of the nobility as were not hostile to Mary. Here lord Arundel took the lead in recommending them to admit her to be the queen. There was no appearance that she meant to alter their religion. She had given a contrary intimation. Why then risk such certain destruction as would attend a further opposition. Lord Pembroke immediately expressed his warm concurrence with Arundel and grasped his sword to shew that he had now determined to support Mary's right against all who should contest it. Becoming hopeless of all further success, they determined after some angry discussions among themselves to take the only path where a chance of safety lay by agreeing to depose Jane and to acknowlege and proclaim Mary as the rightful queen.”
“They made the ceremonial annunciation accordingly with the applauding enthusiasm of the gratified public and wrote to their new sovereign their apologetic letter stating as the best excuse they could devise that ever since her brother's death, they had remained her true and humble subjects in their hearts, but had seen no possibility to utter their determination without great bloodshed, but had that day proclaimed her and would serve her truly in all their powers and forces to the effusion of their blood…”
“The unsuccessful Jane, the Twelfth Day Queen as she was called was detained with her husband within its walls. When her father announced to her his melancholy information that she could reign no longer, the immediate answer of her still un-perverted heart did credit to the returning rectitude of her judgment.”
“This news pleases me better than that which told me that I was to have the throne, for I do not deserve it and am not competent to fill it” (The History of the Reigns of Edward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth, Volume 1, By Sharon Turner, 1835, Pg 359 – 369)
And “Sir, I better brook this message than my former advancement to royalty out of obedience to you and my mother, I have egregiously sinned and offered violence to myself. Now I do willingly and obeying the motion of my soul, relinquish the crown and endeavour to salve those faults committed by others, if at least so great a fault can be salved by a willing relinquishment and an ingenuous acknowledgment of them” (The Lady's Monitor: Selected from the Writings of Lady Jane Gray…; 1828, Pg. 8)
“This brief vision of royalty which had begun on the tenth, thus ended on the twentieth of July, furnishing a splendid interval of eleven days which made life resemble a dramatic romance both to the fairy queen and to the marvelling nation...Within a month after his mortifying discomfiture, Northumberland was tried for high treason and on 22d August beheaded at Tower Hill…” (The History of the Reigns of Edward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth, Volume 1, By Sharon Turner, 1835, Pg. 370 – 371)