Tudor Queen, Tudor Crown by Jennifer Peter Woods

Author:Jennifer Peter Woods [Woods, Jennifer Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

ELIZABETH AGED TWENTY

July

The king had expired.

She paced the halls of Hatfield House, her hands fisted. The sun was shining but England was in mourning. They had lost their king. Good King Henry’s son was dead and now great change was afoot.

With a strike of his pen, Edward had barred both Mary and Elizabeth from the succession, naming Lady Jane Grey and her line instead as his successors.

Elizabeth’s lips thinned, Jane Grey brother? For the love of God, you would choose Jane Grey over your sisters?

Her brother Edward was faithless.

He had been faithless to his sisters. The proof was in his last great act. Some said he had been making changes to the succession since the early days of May. Others said he had been pondering the matter and making amendments ever since the beginning of his reign.

Elizabeth scoffed. He was barely nine years of age when he began his reign.

But she had read the accounts from the ambassadors and the missives from those upon whom she relied and they had all reported the same sorry tale. The king had been adamant. He would not see his good work undone.

They said that he had feared his father’s bastards. They said the young king had predicted that his sisters would bring England nothing but ruin.

They must never take the throne, the king was purported to have said. No good shall come to England if they do.

Thus, her brother entrusted Northumberland and Cranmer with the task of enforcing his final act of succession. And Northumberland, like the most honest and deserving of servants, vowed to see the final order of his king carried through.

Elizabeth paced the long gallery, her mind turning, calculating.

The whispers said the king directed the final copying of his last testimony in May, whereupon, he urged his ministers, Cranmer and Northumberland, to direct his edicts, urging them to issue his will as patents.

They said some one hundred and twenty peers, bishops and noted persons laid their name upon the papers, bearing witness to the king’s last great design. Not only that, the king announced his new devise for the succession to his most trusted servants, bidding them to defend it with their life.

Northumberland, Elizabeth quirked a brow, had challenged any man there that day refusing to do the king’s will to combat. They say he demanded satisfaction from each and every one of those gathered for the ceremony, one after another, until every last minister and peer took the oath.

To further affirm Lady Jane Grey’s claim to the throne, Edward had his sisters declared bastards.

Bastards. Elizabeth wanted to laugh. It was my mother who paved the way for Jane Seymour and her son. Without my mother, Mary would have been our father’s one and only heir!

She shook her head. Bastards. Her brother had thought them no better than the Grey girl who was scarce seventeen. Folly! What follies have you concocted brother? Now England must go to war! Good English blood will be spilt. You have spat upon our father’s will! Elizabeth fumed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.