Blair Worden - A Book of Friendship

SUSAN BRIGDEN

father and brothers in the conspiracy against Mary, may have known her at court. But how and when she, and Pickering, might have acquired the book is mysterious. Pickering was in Elizabeth’s secret counsels, before and after she was queen. What they discussed remains hidden, but their private matters were inescapably of public interest. As Mary’s reign began and Pickering returned from France, Princess Elizabeth confided in him. In October 1553 they talked together for over two hours. This was just as a party of Mary’s counsellors attempted to persuade her to marry Edward Courtenay, earl of Devon. The Spanish ambassador thought that their conversation concerned his French counterpart, and it was true that Pickering had been in close touch with Antoine de Noailles. 42 A shadowy plot was underway to set Elizabeth on the throne, married to Courtenay. Pickering, who may have known something of the counsels of the French king, may also have known Courtenay’s, for he was said to have great influence over him. 43 How and where they met each other is unknown. Courtenay had been in the Tower from 1538 until Mary pardoned him and allowed his release. 44 Pickering and Elizabeth spoke together again, privately, secretly, in May and June 1559 after Elizabeth became queen and as the people speculated upon their romance. Of course, they might have spoken of German mercenaries, of French court politics, of reform of the coinage. 45 Perhaps they did. But it is hard to forget Philip Sidney’s wise aperçu about ‘Basileus (that was old enough to know that women are not wont to appoint secret night meetings for the purchasing of land)’. 46 Communing with this famed heart throb, who was a former conspirator, however rehabilitated, threatened to compromise the queen, and to arouse jealousy against Pickering. What they talked about remains hidden. Did they speak of religion? The preamble to Pickering’s will attests to his devout Calvinism, but works of theology and scripture – save for the Greek New Testament – are notably absent from his library. 47 Perhaps this is an accident of survival. 42 CSPSp , XI, p. 314. E. Harris Harbison, ‘French Intrigue at the court of Queen Mary’, American Historical Review , XLV (April 1940), pp. 533-51, at pp. 539, 548. 43 M.J. Rodríguez-Salgado and Simon Adams (ed. and trans.), ‘The Count of Feria’s Despatch to Philip II of 14 November 1558’, Camden Miscellany , 28, Camden Fourth Series, 29 (1984), p. 343. For Courtenay, see Anne Overell, ‘A Nicodemite in England and Italy: Edward Courtenay, 1548-1556’ in D. M. Loades (ed.), John Foxe at Home and Abroad (Aldershot & Burlington, VT, 2004), pp. 117-136. 44 Calendar of Patent Rolls, Philip and Mary, I, A.D. 1553-1554 (London, 1937), p. 425. 45 Pickering wrote a ‘treatise concerning the exchange’ in Edward’s reign: TNA, SP 16/528, fo. 177 ( Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of Charles I: Addenda , 23, n. 84). 46 Sir Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia (The Old Arcadia) , ed. Katherine Duncan-Jones (Oxford & New York, 1985), p. 194. 47 TNA, PCC/PROB 11/57, fo. 2r.

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