Sir Francis Walsingham by Derek Wilson Read Free Book Online Page A

itself to the service of the powerful. And . . . he identified ‘flatterers of princes’ as one of the main threats to the
sinceritas fidei
in his time. 7
    Henry VIII had been invested by parliament with the supreme headship of the English church. His fiat ran in all aspects of the nation’s life – spiritual as well as temporal. Under Edward VI and Mary, the authority of the Crown in matters spiritual had been wielded to swing official policy violently in different directions. Walsingham was astute enough to realize that under a new Protestant regime, which would presumably be led by Elizabeth, Henry VIII’s only remaining reformers would have to rely on the unassailable power of the monarch to carry their policies but, at the same time, that monarch would have to be persuaded to yield to devout, theologically educated spiritual advisers. At best, movement towards a truly ‘purified’ state church might be achieved but only by the skilful application of tact and subtlety.
    There was nothing remotely tactful or subtle about a book published in Geneva by John Knox in the spring of 1558.
The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women
attacked the female rulers of England, Scotland and France (Mary Tudor, Mary of Guise and Catherine de Medici) but it went much further than the indictment of individuals: ‘To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion or empire above any realm, nation or city is repugnant to nature, contumely to God, a thing most contrarious to his revealed will and approved ordinance and finally it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice.’ 8
    The timing of this diatribe could scarcely have been worse. Itenraged Princess Elizabeth months before her accession and reinforced her dislike of Protestant radicals. Calvin and other leaders hastened to dissociate themselves from Knox’s language. Their problem – and it was one Walsingham shared – was that they agreed with his premise. In the biblical hierarchy of creation women
were
inferior to men, and the sorry state of England seemed to support the scriptural principle. Mary Tudor’s regime was fragile specifically because she was a woman in a man’s world. In matters of policy she deferred to her husband and to forthright councillors like Stephen Gardiner and her own archbishop, Reginald Pole. In dynastic affairs her sole responsibility was to give birth to a healthy heir. Her failure in this regard was a personal and, in Catholic eyes, a national and religious tragedy. How the fact of female dependence on men could be squared with the
fait accompli
of a Protestant queen became the subject of much, sometimes sophistical, debate and, in terms of practical everyday government, the problem would colour the relationship between Elizabeth and her Council.
    This, of course, was all in the future as Walsingham continued his continental peregrinations – a mixture of educational programme, cultural grand tour and evangelical pilgrimage. He spent a considerable part of these years not in one or other of the Protestant shrines but in Catholic Padua, pursuing his legal studies. Padua was a dependency of Venice and it was said of citizens of the Serene Republic that they considered themselves Venetians first and Christians second. The Queen of the Adriatic was intensely independent, particularly in its relationship with Rome. In Venetian territory papal authority was kept at arm’s length, senior ecclesiastics were barred from the Great Council, the powers of the Inquisition were circumscribed and clergy enjoyed few special privileges. Venice welcomed strangers of all religious persuasions who could contribute to the commercial or cultural life of the state. If Protestant visitors congregated together for their own type of worship, the authorities did not pry too closely into their activities. Scores of prominent Englishmen enjoyed liberal Venetian hospitality, including Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford, the