Read Online Bloody Mary by Carolly Erickson - Free Book Online Page B

appeared, in a costume which perfectly evoked his magical and sacramental character as king. He wore a long, close-fitting white satin gown made in the shape of a cross like the white robe of Jesus in a religious painting. His youth and dark hair and beard heightened his resemblance to the familiar image of the savior, and his handsome face and solemn bearing created a profound and disturbing effect. Fastened to the white gown were “compasses and dials”—occult symbols—whose meaning eluded the onlookers and added to his air of mystery. The appearance of a group of girls dressed in low-cut bodices in “the Italian fashion” handing around wine and sugared confections broke the spell, and the evening ended with dancing and drinking. Fortunately, the ambassadors wrote, the canvas ceiling had been well waxed so that only a few drops of the heavy rain falling on the pavilion dropped on the heads of the guests. Francis’ immense investment in the banquet, which they estimated at 450,000 crowns, was protected.
    Midway in these ambassadorial exchanges occurred the last of Kath-erine’s great disappointments. Her child had been much hoped for. “God grant she may give birth to a son,” Giustinian wrote home to Venice in the last month of her pregnancy, “so that having an heir male, the king if necessary may not be hindered embarking on any great undertaking soever.” A son would make certain that the crown would not pass to Mary and, through her, to her future husband the dauphin. A son would anchor the dynasty, reassure the king and satisfy his subjects.
    In her eighth month Katherine gave birth to a stillborn daughter. Giustinian pronounced the misfortune “vexatious.” “Never had this entire kingdom ever so anxiously desired anything as it did a prince,” he declared, “it appearing to everyone that the state would be safe should his Majesty leave an heir male, whereas, without a prince, they are of a contraryopinion.” 7 Katherine was heartbroken, Henry temporarily glum. The betrothal of the princess was a calculated risk. Henry was gambling that long before the dauphin reached marriageable age his claim on the English throne in right of his wife would be invalidated by Henry’s son or sons. For the time being, he had lost his wager. Giustinian expressed his private belief that if the outcome of Katherine’s pregnancy had been known before the treaty was signed and the marriage promises exchanged, the entire diplomatic venture would have been abandoned. It is “the sole fear of this kingdom,” he observed, “that it may pass through this marriage into the power of the French.”

V
    O heresy, thou walkest a-wrye,
    Abrode to gadde or raunge;
    Like false brethren, deceave children,
    This Churche nowe for to chaunge:
    Her praier by night to banish quight,
    With new inventions straunge.
    On April 17, 1521, a thickset young monk with the coarse features of a peasant stood before the German Diet at Worms. The emperor, Charles V, was present, along with the leading figures in the German church and state. The young monk, Martin Luther, was confident yet overawed by the assembly. For he had been summoned to Worms in hopes that he might take back the heresies he taught—that the pope was only a fallible man, and that salvation did not come through the seven sacraments of the church.
    The pope, who saw Luther as just another heretic, had excommunicated him, but in the empire he was already a popular hero. His writings were eagerly received by Germans of all classes who resented the political and economic stranglehold of Rome and saw in his teachings a rallying point for rebellion. North of the Alps, Luther was a dangerous man. Rather than force him into open revolt by publishing the papal bull of excommunication the emperor summoned him to Worms. Here he was shown a pile of his books. Would he stand by everything he had written, he was asked, even where it went against the age-old teachings of the church? How