Happy Easter guys! Hope you're all enjoying yourselves on your day off today, I know I am (but I get Monday's off anyway so it's not that out of the ordinary) Brand new chapter's up today, this ends with a fair amount of death and has Mary calling Anne a 'harlot'. Enjoy :D
It came to pass a few months later that the Princess Elizabeth was christened. She was presented to the country as the Princess of England and the true and rightful heir to the throne. Henry had also commissioned Cromwell to pass a law in parliament that would state that Elizabeth was the only legitimate heir of Henry's. This law would also state that any child of Henry and Anne's would be in line for the throne above any other children that Henry may have had before – placing them above Mary in his lineage. Hearing this was a terrible blow for both Catherine and Mary as there was still a small part of both of them that hopped Henry would relent and recant his marriage to Anne but to no avail.
Not long after her christening the Princess Elizabeth was to be moved to her new home in Hatfield. While she was there she would have a great many ladies maids that was appropriate for a Princess of the realm. Two of those ladies were Isabella and Mary (both by order of His Majesty the King and neither of which Anne was particularly happy about). It was a heavy blow for Mary as it felt as if her father was favouring her younger sister over her (which in effect he was) but she had Isabella with her and this gave her a great deal of comfort.
Shortly after their moving there Anne went to visit her daughter and asked for a short audience with the Lady Mary. During which she asked the former princess to recognise her as the Queen, even blackmailing her with the promise of getting her father to accept her back at court. Mary once again refused stating that the only Queen she would recognise was Catherine. This angered Anne greatly especially as there was nothing that she could do to Mary, she may have been below both her and Elizabeth in stature but she still had the protection of her father the King.
It came to pass that the law Cromwell was enforcing on the people of England also required people to swear an oath that stated that they accepted Anne as the new and true Queen of England and that any child her and Henry had would be the legitimate heirs to the throne. The consequence of not taking this oath was to commit high treason, meaning that anyone who did not sweat the oath would be put in prison and would be condemned to death. The vast majority of the Kingdom accepted the oath and swore to it but Sir Thomas More (among others) would not. He was then placed in the tower under house arrest to await his trial. Imprisoned with his was one Bishop Fisher – who also refused to accept the oath and had fallen out of favour with the King long before the oath and was surely to be condemned to death very soon.
A very large number of the Kingdom agreed to the oath but there was nothing that anyone could do (not even More's family) to persuade More otherwise. Henry was particularly angry because when More had retired as chancellor he said that he would retire from the world but in Henry's eyes he had not. More had published pamphlets about Henry's matter, had visited Catherine on many occasions and had convinced others to support her cause. This, in Henry's eyes, was not More keeping his promise and retiring from the world.
Shortly after this Anne found herself becoming pregnant yet again. Henry was overjoyed as this was the chance he had been waiting for: - finally the prospect of a son! It was what he had always dreamed off. Unfortunately Anne miscarried the child early one afternoon. She was devastated, as was Henry but he did not make it known to her how painful it was for him. They made no public announcement of the fact but Henry wrote to Isabella telling her everything – he wished more than ever for her comfort and friendly counsel.
Catharine's health was also decreasing; she was getting weaker and sicker by the day and as word of this reached Mary (even though she had no contact with Catherine or her ambassador Isabella and Lord Suffolk both had their ways of getting information). This desperately and deeply upset Mary because not only was she not allowed to see her mother she was also not able to beseech her father to appeal for Catharine's life.
"I cannot believe the nerve of that Harlot, parading around using the title of Queen of England, while my mother suffers." Mary told Isabella one day when they were in the privacy of Mary's chambers. Anne had been to see Elizabeth again and had also petitioned Mary to take the oath. "How can my father be allowing this?"
"You father is blinded by his love for her." Isabella said soothingly. "I personally cannot see why but he is, and you should at least make it seem as if you have accepted her. It will be much worse for you if you do not."
"I don't understand." Mary said, shaking her head slightly. "How can you just accept this?" Isabella sighed, this was going to be a difficult conversation but it would be better for Mary to hear it.
"Well I have sworn the oath as has His Grace the Duke of Suffolk and all of Sir Thomas More's family and we do not hold any love for the Lady Anne." Isabella stated.
"I will not swear the oath, I refuse to acknowledge that whore as the Queen of England and I will not swear against His Holiness – there can only be one advocate to God on Earth and it is certainly not my father." Mary said angrily standing up and turning away from Isabella.
Isabella watched her for a moment, she saw her shoulders shaking slightly and it looked as if Mary was crying. Isabella felt sorry for her, it could not be easy for Mary :- she had been stripped of her title as Princess, her religion (her entire faith) was under attack by those who were heretics in her eyes, her mother was slowly dying and there was nothing she could do about it – she could not even go to visit her, she was waiting on her younger half-sister – a sister that she was being made to acknowledge as above her even though they were both daughters of the King – and it had seemed as if her father had abandoned her. She stood up and went over to her, rubbing her arms comfortingly to soothe her.
"You know the changeable nature of the King, he may still take away everything that he has given Anne." she told her.
"We can only hope." Mary replied softly. "That harlot will get what's coming to her either in this life or in the next."
"I would advise you not to say that too loudly my dear Mary." Isabella implored. "You have heard what has been done to Cardinal Fisher and Sir Thomas More – they have been imprisoned and Fisher is soon to be executed. I do not want the same fate to befall you and it would kill your mother to find out that you suffered a similar fate." Mary sighed.
"You are right Isabella." she stated. "Thank you for your council, it is greatly appreciated and no matter what happens to me I will always think of you as a second sister to me."
"Thank you, my Lady," Isabella said curtseying slightly. "and I hope for your sake and your mother's that this madness of His Majesty's will stop soon."
"That is my wish too." she replied sadly.
Shortly after this exchange between Mary and Isabella, word made it too the two of them that Cardinal Fisher had been executed. It was apparently a wonderful and painful sight to behold – the Cardinal was exulted by the public and encouraged to go gladly to death. Isabella was sad for the Cardinal and knew that shortly Sir Thomas More would follow, along with anyone else who opposed the King's supremacy of the church and the marriage of Henry and Anne Boleyn.
More very quickly found himself in court facing trial for treason. The verdict was that Sir Thomas was found guilty of treason, on the day of his trial More made a great many enemies that day. In an attempt to make a defence for himself More found himself angering the court and making the judges bring forward the judgement (which they would usually discuss after the trial). He was condemned of speaking maliciously against the King by the judges and was given the worst possible sentence. He was sentenced to be drawn on a hurdle through the City of London to Tyburn there to be hanged until he was half dead. After that he would be cut down, alive, his bowels to be taken out of his body and burned before him, his privy parts cut off, his head cut off and his body to be divided in found parts. But being hung, drawn and quartered was the penalty for treason and More had known that.
Henry found it in his mercy to commit the sentence to beheading, not wanting someone he still loved so dearly to suffer the humiliation of being hung, drawn and quartered. Sir Thomas was still drawn through London but a new ultimate sentence was to be carried out. Sir Thomas More was determined to suffer death for the Holy Catholic Church and told the public to prey for the King. He was His Majesty's Holy servant but he was God's first. More died a hero that day and took his punishment willingly. He went to God as a Martyr and everyone respected him for his bravery and courage.
As soon as the sentence was carried out Henry regretted it instantly. He wished that he had never sent such a good friend to his death but it was too late to take it back now.