Catherine of Aragon Read Online Free Page B

line I know so well, and nothing will move her. The English must keep their side of the bargain, she says. She came here out of duty to marry Prince Arthur, on the promise that she would receive one third of the income from Wales, Chester and Cornwall. “They will not shuffle me off so easily,” she says. And means it.
    24th June 1502
    One battle, at least, has been won. We are to move to London next week.
    25th July 1502
    We are at Durham House in the Strand, a road which runs by the River Thames in London. It’s a grand house, built for the bishops of Durham but used mostly by visiting ambassadors. There’s a garden laid out in the Italian style, with low hedges of clipped yew and rosemary, and high walls on either side with peach and plum trees trained against them. Stairs lead down to the river, where one may step into a boat to be rowed up to Westminster – far pleasanter than being jolted over the cobbles in a carriage.
    Inside, there’s a great hall, as there has been in all the other mansion houses I’ve seen, with a gallery at one end where musicians can play. This is summer, so it’s not so cold, but smoke drifts past the carved screen from the kitchen and its fires, all part of the same room.
    I’d hoped London streets would be cleaner than the muddy lanes of Wales, but there seems to be little difference. The paving hardly exists, and to make things worse, great troupes of oxen go through with barrels of water on their backs, churning up the mud and adding to it with their droppings. In the heavy warmth of the English summer the stink is dreadful.
    Uncle Rod was here yesterday on official business. He brought the new envoy from Spain, a tall man called Hernan, the Duke of Estrada. They went to a long meeting from which Doña Elvira emerged looking flushed and angry, and I was longing to know what had happened. I caught my uncle in the garden for a few moments, and he told me there is a huge argument going on about Catherine’s dowry. King Ferdinand paid the first half of it – 100,000 crowns – at the time of the wedding, but he now refuses to pay the second half. His daughter no longer has a husband, he says, so the English cannot claim that their side of the bargain has been kept. What’s more, he wants the first half returned.
    King Henry is furious, of course. He was counting on the money from Spain, and if he doesn’t get it, he will not give Catherine her promised income. Indeed, he has not done so up until now, which is why none of her Spanish attendants has yet been paid. I told Uncle Rod how discontented we all feel, and asked if he could persuade the King to release just a little of the money, but he pursed his lips and shook his head. It would be indelicate to speak of money just now, he said, when the King and Queen are still in mourning for their son. I suppose diplomats have to learn to be patient.
    26th July 1502
    A letter has come from my mother. She has written only once before, in answer to my letter, and then she was full of concern for my welfare, but this time she mentions larger things. King Louis of France has invaded Italy, and there is a danger that Spain will be surrounded by hostile French forces. The English must stand by us, Mama says. Can’t Uncle Rod start negotiating for a new marriage between Catherine and the King’s younger son, Harry?
    She doesn’t realize that young Harry is still only eleven years old. A boy is not of legal age to marry until he is fourteen, so there are three years to wait. I think Catherine wishes it were otherwise, for there is something about Harry’s broad-shouldered stance and direct, ruthless stare that disturbs every female heart, young though he is.
    1st August 1502
    The Spanish retainers here are growing louder in their complaints. They had hoped that Estrada was going to persuade the King to release some money so they would be paid, but nothing has happened and we are all