[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Renard, observing them, wrote that it was 'a great pleasure to see them together.His Highness is altogether changed from what he was when he last left the Low Countries.'On 11 August, the royal couple moved on to Richmond Palace, preparatory to making a state entry into London.Whilst they were here news came that the French had laid siege to the Imperial town of Renty, thus prompting eighty noblemen of Philip's entourage to leave for the Low Countries to go to its defence.The Emperor, however, had expressly ordered his son to stay where he was for the present.On 17 August, the King and Queen were informed that preparations for Philip's official welcome, which had been going on since May, were complete, and on that day they came by barge to Southwark, where Gardiner entertained them at Winchester House.After hunting in the adjoining park, they spent the night at Suffolk Place, formerly the London home of Lady Jane Grey's parents.At two the following afternoon Mary and Philip rode across London Bridge and were welcomed by bursts of cannonfire and six lavish pageants set up at intervals along the city streets, some on sites where gibbets had recently stood.The civic authorities had spared no expense and, Spaniards or no Spaniards, the people loved a holiday and were out in vast numbers to see the procession.There were few incidents to mar the occasion, but in one pageant Gardiner spotted a figure of Henry VIII holding a book inscribed 'Verbum Dei' (the Word of God), and hastily commanded that it be covered with a pair of gloves.Renard reported that the Londoners had been impressed with Philip and thought him a prince 'of benign and human countenance, likely to turn out a good ruler'.The King himself was delighted with his welcome, and wrote later that he had been received 'with universal signs of love and joy', prompted no doubt by his generous distribution of largesse to the poor and the free wine that ran from the city's conduits.At the end of the day the royal couple came to Whitehall, where they expressed delight at two wedding presents that awaited them there: tapestries embroidered with gold and silver from the Emperor, and a gold and silver portable organ, encrusted with jewels, from the Queen of Poland.Philip now set out to establish his authority as king.His first priority was to reduce his unwieldy household.'We are all hanging about here with nothing to do,' complained the Duke of Alba.Gomez blamed Renard for the fact that his master had too many servants, but Renard had had no idea that Philip would be bringing such a vast retinue, nor had the Council consulted him when they made their arrangements.It was not long before Renard came to resent having been ousted by Philip from Mary's confidence, and when it became clear that the King did not like him, he begged to be recalled, though the Emperor would not agree to being deprived of the services of one who understood English affairs so well.Philip seems to have detailed personal duties to his Spanish courtiers and formal ones to his English attendants.This caused resentment on both sides, sparking bitter complaints and rivalries, which were not resolved by the King's largely unfulfilled promises to devolve greater responsibility upon his English gentlemen.Another of Philip's chief concerns was that his coronation take place as soon as possible in the interests of underlining his regal authority.However, the marriage treaty did not provide for it and the Privy Council showed little enthusiasm for the idea.As far as they were concerned, Mary was the sovereign and he the consort; in their view he had no real authority, and the Queen herself made no concerted effort to remedy this.Nevertheless, the King did everything he could to win the affection and respect of his new subjects, deferring to English customs and traditions and being lavish with gifts and rewards to those who served him well.Recognising in the fallen Paget a good statesman and a loyal supporter, he worked to restore him to favour, but never succeeded in establishing a King's faction at court, for all his popularity with some nobles there.Gomez wrote, 'His way with the lords is so winning that they themselves say they have never had a king to whom they so quickly grew attached.The King is certainly a master hand at it when he cares to try.'The people, however, who had no chance to experience Philip's affability at first hand, were soon complaining that he rarely appeared in public and, when he did, he could not be seen for the hordes of lords who surrounded him.Philip's influence should not, however, be underestimated.It was accepted that in marriage, as in Nature and Divine Law, a woman was subordinate to a man, and it was as natural for Mary to defer to her husband's opinion in all matters as it was natural for her councillors - and indeed all her contemporaries - to expect her to.So although the King had no formal authority conferred by the marriage treaty or by Parliament, in reality he was perceived as being the real power in government, and respected as such.In September, an ambassador from Savoy reported, 'The King hears and dispatches all state affairs, as it befits his dignity and authority that he should.He already has the same authority as his predecessors on the throne of England.'Charles V himself had declared that the object of the marriage was for Philip to rule England in Mary's name, but he did insist that the Queen, being an anointed sovereign, retain at least the semblance of power.Yet Mary, as we have seen, was not always willing to play a subordinate role, and this, more than sexual incompatibility, was at the root of Philip's dissatisfaction with his marriage, for it was not honourable, in his opinion, for a man to take second place to his wife, and insupportable that their reversed roles should be a matter of public knowledge.Marriage suited Mary.Within weeks she was reported to be 'fatter and of a better colour than ever before'.Her rather staid court had also become livelier, with more entertainments than hitherto.On 12 October, Mr Francis Yaxley informed Sir William Cecil, 'The King and Queen's Majesties be in health and merry.They danced together on Sunday night at the court.There was a brave masquery of cloth of gold and silver, wherein the masquers were all dressed as mariners.' Other favoured pastimes included cards and dice, and the occasional play, a novelty at that date.One particularly favoured by Mary was Respublica by Nicholas Udall, a celebration of her accession.Apart from the singing in the Chapel Royal, which had been revived on the Queen's orders, there was little music at court, although Philip did bring a consort of musicians from Spain.The amount of food consumed by the courtiers was staggering.In 1554 an anonymous Spaniard reported,The Queen spends over 300,00 ducats a year on her table, for all the councillors eat in the palace as well as the household officers and the wives of all these gentlemen.The Queen's ladies also eat by themselves in the palace, and their servants.There are usually eighteen kitchens at full blast and they seem veritable hells, such is the stir and bustle in them.The usual daily consumption is eighty to a hundred sheep, a dozen fat beefs, a dozen and a half calves, without mentioning poultry, game, deer, boars and great numbers of rabbits, and they drink more than would fill the Valladolid River [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]