Old Times in the Colonies & The Story of Liberty. Charles Carleton Coffin
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Queen of Scotland, of France, yet meeting with a sad and mournful fate — having her head chopped off by the daughter of this boy who objects to being married to Katherine. It will not be Katherine's daughter, however, who will do the bloody act; but we shall see Katherine's daughter kindling fires all over England, burning heretics, just as Isabella, Katherine's mother, with the aid of Thomas de Torquemada, is roasting them in Spain; all of which are events inseparably connected with the Story of Liberty.
Six years pass. The king, who compelled the merchants of Bristol to promise to give him one-fifth of the money they might make, the man who did so much to beautify and adorn Westminster, is dead, and his body, encased in a stone coffin, is laid away beneath the pavement of the abbey; and his son, Henry VIII., is crowned king in the magnificent edifice, seated in the coronation chair. He is eighteen years of age, tall and stout. He has a round face, a fresh countenance. Although he objected to being betrothed to Katherine, he is ready to fulfil his obligations; for Katherine, a true-hearted and loving lady, has been waiting for him through all the years. The marriage ceremony is performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, six years ago, said that such a marriage would be contrary to the Bible, hut who now eats his own words, because the Pope has granted permission. In the next chapter we shall make the acquaintance of the man who gave permission for the marriage to take place.
Although Katherine is twenty-six years old, she is a beautiful bride, and does not seem to be much older than Henry as she stands before the archbishop in Westminster, her dark hair hanging loose and flowing upon her shoulders. She looks lovingly upon the round-faced young man who stands by her side.
Henry has a sister Mary who is only fourteen, and she is in love with her cousin, Charles Brandon; but Henry will not have any such love-match, when the King of France wants her for a wife. The King of France is the same Louis XII. who was divorced from his first wife that he might marry Anne of Bretagne, who is now dead; he is old enough to be Mary's grandfather — weak and feeble, and afflicted with dropsy — and yet the poor girl must give up her true-love and marry him, because Henry wants to make an alliance with France to strengthen his kingdom.
Girls who are born princesses are not often permitted to many those whom they love. Mary never has seen Louis. She goes on board a ship in the Thames. Henry and Katherine and the noblemen come to bid her farewell. There is a great display of rich dresses and costly jewels. It is a gala-day in London. The shops ore closed; the king gives a feast ; and everybody is happy, except the young girl who is bidding good-bye to England, good-bye to her lover, to go to France and be the wife of a man just ready to drop into the grave. But she does not bid farewell to her lover, for Charles Brandon goes with her to France, an officer of the court; and, though in love with Mary, he conducts himself discreetly.
Mary does not go alone. It would be cruel to send her away with no one to keep her company. Twelve English maidens accompany her. One is a pretty, sprightly girl, seven years old, Anne Boleyn, who can speak French. Her father is of French descent.
Little does the young king mistrust, as he sees the beautiful girl Anne on the deck of the ship, as to what lies before them both in the unseen future. Little does the light-hearted girl dream of what time will bring to them. If she could but lift the veil that hides the coming years, instead of being so joyful on this gala-day, she would stand pale and wan as a ghost amidst the happy throng. What would she discover t We will wait and see what time will unfold.
The ships sail down the Thames and out upon the sea. The waves are contrary. They dash over the vessels, which dance like cockle-shells
before the tempest. Mary and Anne and all the other girls are drenched by the waves. They fear that the ship will go to the bottom, and have a narrow escape from shipwreck. Their trunks are on another ship, which is lost; and though they reach the shore in safety, they have no dry clothes, and are forced to put on such garments as the peasants can lend them. It is a sorry journey for Mary, this going to be the wife of an old man whom she has never seen. What all this had to do with the Story of Liberty we shall see before long.
CHAPTER IX
THE MAN WHO CAN DO NO WRONG
THE Pope who granted permission for Katherine and Henry to marry is in his palace in Borne. His papal name is Alexander VI. His father's name was Langolo. He lived in Valencia, Spain, where the Pope was born, and where he was christened Roderick. During his boyhood, his father moves to Venice — the city in the midst of the sea — where he changes his name to Borgia.
He educated Roderick to be a lawyer; but the boy's uncle is a bishop, and can help him on in the Church, and so Roderick, at the age of nineteen, becomes a priest Being in the priesthood, he ought to be a good man; but he leads a very wicked life.
In the course of time the uncle is elected Pope. He does not forget the nephew, whom he appoints a cardinal, with a large income — not less than twenty-eight thousand ducats per annum. From whence does the money come? From the people, who must pay their money into the Church, or be regarded as heretics.
The young cardinal lays his plans for the future. His uncle is an old man, and Roderick is determined, at his death, to step into his shoes as Pope. With so much wealth he can give grand dinners, and win the favor of the cardinals, who elect a new Pope whenever there is a vacancy.
It is only three years that he has to wait for his uncle to die. He has little difficulty in persuading a majority of the cardinals to vote for him. Does he not make great promises as to what he will do for them ? Twenty-two vote for him, while only five oppose him.
On August 11th, 1492, at the time Christopher Columbus is sailing westward over an unknown sea, Roderick Langolo Borgia is carried into the papal palace on the shoulders of the people, followed by the cardinals who have elected him.
"He is a bad man, as yon will find out," say the cardinals to those who have given Cardinal Borgia their votes.
"He will hand over all Christendom to the devil," remarks Ferdinand of Spain, who knows the family.
the new Pope loves display. He puts on costly robes, adorned with precious jewels, and is borne into St. Peter's in great state, seated in a golden chair, on a litter resting on the shoulders of his obedient subjects.
Now that Roderick is Pope, having all power on earth, incapable of doing anything wrong, be brings his children and their mother into the papal palace. He is a priest, and it is not lawful for a priest to marry; but though no marriage ceremony has been performed, the woman lives with him as if she were his wife.
The cardinals whom he promised to reward come to receive their gifts, but the Pope laughs in their faces; he does not remember of ever having promised them anything. Some of them are pertinacious in their demands, and he imprisons them in St Angelo. Two of the prisoners are especially obnoxious to the Pope; they are suddenly seized with a terrible sickness that results in death, and the physicians who attend them, when questioned in regard to their sickness, whisper an ominous word — poison! People say that the Pope knows who put poison in the cardinals food.
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