Spanish Chronicle Chapter 28. How Cromwell wrote to the King, and how the Queen and her gentlemen-in-waiting were arrested.

The Secretary at once wrote to the King, and sent Mark's confession to him by a nephew of his called Richard Cromwell, the letter being conceived as follows: "Your Majesty will understand that, jealous of your honour, and geeing certain things passing in your palace, I determined to investigate and discover the truth. Your Majesty will recollect that Mark has hardly been in your service four months and only has £100 salary, and yet all the Court notices his splendour, and that he has spent a large sum for these jousts, all of which has aroused suspicions in the minds of certain gentlemen, and I have examined Mark, who has made the confession which I enclose to your Majesty in this letter."

When the King read this confession his meal did not at all agree with him; but, like a valiant prince, he dissembled, and presently ordered his boat to be got ready, and went to Westminster. He ordered that the jousts should not be stopped, but when the festivities were over that Master Norris and Brereton, and Master Wyatt, should be secretly arrested and taken to the Tower. The Queen did not know the King had gone, and went to the balconies where the jousts were to be held, and asked where he was, and was told that he was busy.¹

Presently came all the gentlemen who were to ride, and Master Norris and Brereton came, looking very smart, and their servants in gay liveries; but the Queen looked, and not seeing Mark, asked why he had not come out. She was told that he was not there, but had gone to London, and had not come back. So the jousts began, and Master Wyatt did better than anybody. This Master Wyatt² was a very gallant gentleman, and there was no prettier man at Court than he was.

When the jousts were finished and they were disarming, the captain of the guard came and called Master Norris and Master Brereton, and said to them, "The King calls for you." So they went with him, and a boat being in waiting, they were carried off to the Tower without anyone hearing anything about it. Then Cromwell's nephew said to Master Wyatt, "Sir, the Secretary, my master, sends to beg you to favour him by going to speak with him, as he is rather unwell, and is in London." So Wyatt went with him.

It seems that the King sent to Cromwell to tell him to have Wyatt fetched in order to examine him. When they arrived in London Cromwell took Master Wyatt apart, and said to him, "Master Wyatt, you well know the great love have always borne you, and I must tell you that it would cut me to the heart if you were guilty in the matter of which I wish to speak." Then he told him all that had passed; and Master Wyatt was astounded, and replied with great spirit, "Sir Secretary, by the faith I owe to God and my King and lord, I have no reason to distrust, for I have not wronged him even in thought. The King well knows what I told him before he was married." Then Cromwell told him he would have to go to the Tower, but that he would promise to stand his friend, to which Wyatt answered, "I will go willingly, for as I am stainless I have nothing to fear." He went out with Richard Cromwell, and nobody suspected that he was prisoner; and when he arrived at the Tower Richard said to the captain of the Tower, "Sir Captain, Secretary Cromwell sends to beg you to do all honour to Master Wyatt." So the captain put him into a chamber over the door, where we will leave him, to say how the Queen and the Duke her brother were arrested.

Note 1. The King's sudden departure from the jousts has always been a mystery, and explanations have been sought in the picking up of Anne's handkerchief by Norris; but the writer of the Chronicle is evidently well informed on the subject, and probably gives the real reason.

Note 2. Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet. He died whilst proceeding to embark on an embassy in 1541. He was a famous Spanish scholar, as also was his unhappy son, the revolutionary leader, who was beheaded at the beginning of Mary's reign; and having regard to the friendly and flattering terms in which he is intentioned in the Chronicle, it would seem probable that the poet Wyatt, or his son, may have been the writer's informant.