The Girl Who Saved England

By Rochelle Forrester

This is the story of a transgendered spy in Elizabethan England. Friend of Shakespeare, lover of Christopher Marlowe, Marianne becomes the mistress of the king of France in a world torn apart by religious conflict between Catholic and Protestant. The Spanish Armada is ready to sail and Marianne helps protect England from invasion by ensuring France does not ally with Spain against England. She foils plots to overthrow the King of France, survives assassination attempts and battles enemies in the French court. When the king of France is assassinated Marianne, now a fabulously wealthy duchess, returns to England to receiver the thanks of Queen Elizabeth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rochelle Forrester
• Release date: Sep 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9780473233204

Rochelle Forrester

I was born in Wellington New Zealand in 1957 and have lived there all my life. I have law and philosophy degrees and my main intellectual interests are the course of human history and the nature of reality. Hence my two books How Change Happens and Sense Perception and Reality.

Book preview

The Girl who saved England

Rochelle Forrester

Copyright 2013 Rochelle Forrester

Published by Best Publications Limited at Smashwords

Front page- Painting by Francois Dubois depicting the St Bartholomew’s Eve Massacre

ISBN 978-0-473-23320-4

Table of Contents

Prologue Saint Bartholomew’s Eve 1572

Chapter 1 Family

Chapter 2 The Theatre

Chapter 3 Book keeping

Chapter 4 Marlowe

Chapter 5 Rheims

Chapter 6 Henri of Valois

Chapter 7 Henri’s Court

Chapter 8 Tamburlaine

Chapter 9 The Plot of Foire de St. Germain

Chapter 10 Propaganda and the Carnival

Chapter 11 Satanism, Aumale and Vincennes

Chapter 12 Day of the Barricades

Chapter 13 Blois

Chapter 14 Henry of Navarre

Epilogue England

List of Characters

Author’s Notes and Acknowledgements

Prologue Saint Bartholomew’s Eve 1572

The marriage of King Henry of Navarre, one of the leaders of the Protestants in France, to Marguerite of Valois, sister of the King of France was attended by all the leading Protestant and Catholic nobility in France. Paris was alive with the excitement of great entertainments, marque balls, lavish feasts and outrageous extravagance, all to celebrate the marriage. The marriage was to cement an alliance between the French crown and its Protestant subjects and to end a series of wars of religion that had torn France apart for decades. The alliance was also to involve a war of France against Spain and had been strengthened by the growing influence of Admiral Coligny, the principal Protestant leader, over the King of France, Charles IX.

While the festivities raged those opposed to the alliance plotted. Catherine de Medici, the Queen Mother, her twenty year old son, Henri, Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Guise had a series of meetings that culminated in Catherine visiting the king at the Chateau of Montpipeau. There Catherine remonstrated with the king forcibly asserting the alliance with the Protestants would destroy the catholic faith and monarchy in France. She wept and cried accusing the king of ingratitude to his mother and all those who wished to protect him, her words carefully chosen to arouse the fears and exploit the weaknesses, which she understood so well, of her son, the king.

Catherine wept Never could I believe that, after working so hard to preserve your crown and after the perils I have incurred on your behalf; that you could make me so miserable. You hid me from your counsels, I, your mother, to heed the perfidious advice of your enemies. You tear yourself from the arms which so long have shielded you, to throw yourself into those of traitors whose design is to assassinate you. I am well informed of the secret conferences you have with the Admiral and his Protestants, that you have been induced to make war against Spain for the purpose that they may obtain possession of your realm and royal person. Concede to me the privilege of retiring to my hereditary lands and allow your brother Henri to retire from your service to protect himself from the enemies he has made while in your service.

Catherine’s harangue upset the king and he began to imagine all sorts of threats emerging from his alliance with the Protestants and he feared being separated from his mother’s advice. Bewilded and alarmed, Charles begged his mother not to abandon him. He promised to heed her future counsels but Catherine reproached him for his disloyalty and lack of gratitude. She then left the king and journeyed to her Chateau of Monceaux to which Charles followed her. There Catherine again reproached Charles rousing his apprehension even further and causing him to fear his alliance with the Protestants.

The king, Catherine and Henri, Duke of Anjou then returned to Paris for the royal wedding, Charles, in a state of great apprehension over his alliance with the Protestants. Catherine and Anjou then resolved to assassinate Admiral Coligny to remove what they considered to be a pernicious influence over the king. The Duke of Guise was informed of the planned assassination; the Guise family being well known enemies of the Admiral due to Coligny’s suspected involvement in the assassination of the Duke of Guise’s father, many years before. The Guise family had a well-earned reputation as the most ferocious enemies of the Protestants in France. The French Protestants became known as Huguenots due to a plot organised by Protestants meeting near the port of Hugues to kidnap leading members of the Guise family.

The marriage of Henry of Navarre and Marguerite of Valois took place on 16 August 1572. It was followed by a great banquet and a ballet, and a masque ball. Entertainments, festivities and revelry continued for days after the wedding, while Catherine, Henri and the Duke of Guise plotted the assassination of Admiral Coligny. An experienced assassin, Maurevel, was to hide in a house and shoot Coligny as he walked by. The attempted assassination occurred on the morning of 22 August but the shot just wounded Coligny who was then carried to his house. A message was sent to the King concerning the assassination attempt and Charles who knew nothing about the plotting by Catherine, Henri and Guise flew into a rage. He grew even more emotional when four hundred armed Protestants marched on the royal palace, the Louvre, demanding vengeance for the attempted assassination of Coligny. The king and the Protestants, all blamed Guise for the assassination due to the well-known hatred between Coligny and the family of Guise. Catherine and Henri expressed shock at the assassination attempt and the king swore that the admiral’s blood would be avenged. Charles, Catherine and Henri visited Coligny and Charles promised Coligny that the perpetrators of the outrage would be brought to justice.

Later that night in the Louvre, Catherine, fearing an investigation of the attempted assassination, sent Marechal de Retz to tell the king that those involved in the assassination attempt included not only Guise, but also the kings mother and brother. De Retz emphasised the kings life was in danger from the Catholics if he moved against Guise and the Protestants if he failed to take action. Charles reacted with horror and astonishment to the news his own mother and brother were involved in the assassination attempt. Charles later saw Catherine, Henri and Guise in his rooms. Catherine with great skill defended her actions, accusing the Protestants of trying to overthrow the king and the Catholic faith and plotting war against a state friendly to France. She claimed the Catholics would elect a Captain-General to fight the Protestants leaving Charles isolated and powerless. The only way to prevent this was by securing the death of Coligny. A furious Charles leapt from his chair if it be thought good to kill the Admiral, so it should be done; every Protestant in France should share the same fate, so none might live to reproach me. He then commanded Catherine and Henri to carry out his will.

Catherine, Henri and Guise left the king and began to arrange for troops to be brought to the Louvre and positioned along the banks of the Seine. Guise was placed in charge and summoned the heads of the Catholic Swiss mercenaries and the commanders of some French companies and told them the king had ordered that in accordance with God’s will they should take revenge on the Protestant rebels. Victory would be easy and great booty would be obtained. They would recognise each other by a white scarf tied around the left arm or a white cross on a hat. The Protestants who usually wore black would be easily recognised. The keys to the city gates were secured and chains stretched across the river to prevent Protestants escaping. Troops were placed outside Coligny’s house, for his own protection, he was told. The ringing of the tocsin, a loud bell, was to be the signal for the massacre to begin.

When the bell was heard, the troops stationed outside the admiral’s house burst in and charged up the stairs to the admiral’s room. Are you Coligny? asked one of the soldiers and upon receiving an affirmative reply, the soldier thrust his sword into the admiral’s body. Further blows rained down on Coligny until he fell at the feet of the assassins. The Duke of Guise from downstairs called Has the deed been done? and upon being told it had been, he called upstairs throw the body out the window and upon the instruction being carried out, Guise approached the body lying in the courtyard and examined it.

Yes it is he, I recognise him well. Long live the King. Courage soldiers, we have made a good beginning, forward, the King commands it.

The duke then mounted his horse and rode into the streets where Protestants attempting to escape from Coligny’s lodgings were being slaughtered.

Coligny’s head was cut off and taken to the Louvre and given to Catherine who had it embalmed and sent to Rome as a gift for the Pope. The rest of the body was dragged through the streets of Paris for three days. The hands and genitals were cut off and it was thrown in the Seine and then pulled out and hung upside down from a gibbet.

While the slaughter was beginning Charles, Catherine and Henri were in a room in the Louvre overlooking the streets of Paris. They could hear pistol shoots, screaming and the clash of weapons. Occasionally they could see people running in the streets pursued by a howling mob.

The Protestant nobles in the Louvre were dragged from their beds and slaughtered in their rooms. Screams echoed through the corridors of the palace as terrified Protestants tried to flee the killers, but there was nowhere to hide. Many ran out into the courtyard of the palace where they were butchered on the pikes of the Swiss Guard.

The scenes on the streets of Paris were described by contemporary writers. The city was nothing but a spectacle of horror and carnage; every street, every spot resounded with the noise that the killers made, running here and there and everywhere to kill and loot; you could hear nothing but lamentation and howling of men stabbed, or about to be stabbed; you saw nothing but dead bodies flung from windows. Corpses lay everywhere, filling houses and courtyards, and some were dragged through the muddy streets, which flowed with blood. An innumerable number of people, men, women, even those great with child, and children were massacred.

Another contemporary wrote Thousands of men in Paris, armed with pistols, cutlasses, pikes, poniards, knives and other weapons, stalked the streets, blaspheming and sacking houses, in which they massacred all whom they meet, without respect to sex, age or condition. The streets were strewn with the fragments of corpses and the doors and thresholds of the houses, palaces and public edifices were stained with gore. A horrible tempest raged of yells and shouts, mingled with the report of pistols, arquebuses, and the pitiable shrieks of the victims. The bodies of the dead were hurled from the windows of their abodes and dragged along the gutters amid strange hissings and shrieks. The windows were smashed in with hatchets and stones; the houses rifled. Carts traversed the streets, sometimes filled with rich booty, at others laden with mutilated bodies. Bodies were piled up, stripped naked and then dumped in the Seine causing the river to run red with blood. Blood inundated the streets of Paris, and flowed even within the royal palace.

A few managed to escape, some by hiding under piles of bodies and crawling out after the killers had moved on. Some others escaped by hiding in roof cavities or through attic windows and over roof tops while those on the streets below used them for target practice. Still others found refuge in the houses of friendly Catholics or the house of the English ambassador Sir Francis Walsingham. The massacre went on for three days before gradually subsiding.

The only Huguenots deliberately spared were Henry of Navarre and the Prince of Conde as they were of royal blood. Navarre and Conde were arrested and brought before the King who commanded them to change their religion. Navarre reproached the king for breaking his word concerning the safety of the Protestants and said it was impossible for him to abjure the religion in which he had been nurtured. Conde also refused to renounce his faith and criticised the king for breaking his word. Charles called Conde a rebel and swore that if Conde did not change his religion within three days he would be beheaded. Navarre refused to participate in a procession through Paris on the day after the massacre while Conde refused to speak other than to talk of the vengeance Protestants and God would take on those responsible for the massacre.

The total number slain in the massacre is uncertain, estimates range from 10,000 to 100,000 throughout France. In Paris probably 3,000 were killed and in France as a whole 30,000 as there were significant massacres in provincial areas throughout France.

Conde’s wife, who he had only recently married, survived the massacre and as she had never been a very committed Protestant converted to Catholicism. Conde’s brothers, also survivors of the massacre, choose to convert to Catholicism. Conde himself hearing of the conversion of his wife and brothers eventually succumbed and converted to Catholicism. The King of Navarre, obstinately refused to convert until a month after the massacre. He was kept prisoner in the Louvre and eventually due to his frustration with his imprisonment also converted to Catholicism.

Reactions to the massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve varied across Europe. The Pope considered the massacre to be a great victory for the church over its French enemies. The Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin was chosen for the public thanksgiving which involved a procession of the Pope and the College of Cardinals to the Church of St Louis where a mass was performed. The Cardinal of Lorraine caused a placard to be fixed to the church door which stated:

Charles IX, the most Christian King of France, fired with zeal for the cause of the Lord God of hosts, like an avenging angel divinely commissioned, has taken swift and sudden vengeance on the heretics of his realm, his enemies and those of the holy church, and of his state.

The Pope also commissioned the artist Giorgio Vasari to paint murals depicting the wounding of Coligny, his death and Charles IX before the Parlament of Paris. The King of Spain, Phillip II, was so delighted with the massacre he did a little dance and then rushed to a monastery to thank God for killing so many Protestants. The Holy Roman Emperor refused to support the massacre in public and in private he condemned it. The leaders of the Protestant countries roundly condemned it, Elizabeth I of England receiving the French ambassador in mourning dress.

Charles IX died, in mysterious circumstances, two years after the massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve. His younger brother, Henri, who had become King of Poland, travelled back to France and was crowned King Henri III of France in 1574.

Navarre and Conde were kept at court by the orders of kings Charles IX and Henri III. Conde escaped in 1574 and once he reached safety he reconverted to Protestantism. Navarre also planned to escape. He obtained King Henri’s permission, in 1576, to spend time at Senlis for the purposes of recreational hunting. Accompanied by four noblemen, Navarre then rode at speed across France to reach his own realm in south west France. There he renounced the Catholic faith, which he said was forced upon him, and resumed the Protestant faith of his family and people.

Chapter 1 Family

The English couple were in Oostende to further their trading business with Dutch merchants and shopkeepers. They were staying with a Dutch family when Spanish soldiers arrived outside the city and Spanish ships blockaded the port completely surrounding the city. Nothing could get in or out of Oostende and the Spanish commander, the Duke of Parma, called on the city to surrender. Oostende was under the control of Protestant zealots and the governor of the city scornfully rejected the Spanish general’s demands for the city’s surrender.

The English couple, Thomas and Anne Redford, were staying in one of the finer houses in Oostende, with a Dutch family who were old friends and trading partners. They were neutrals in the war between Spain and the Dutch rebels, and Thomas Redford told his wife that their status as neutrals and civilian’s, would protect them whatever happened to the other people of the city. He did not completely believe this, but he hoped it would reassure his wife.

Anne Redford had other matters on her mind. Her son Michael confused her. So good in some ways, but so puzzling in others. His studies had gone wonderfully well. He had learnt Greek and Latin to the highest level and could read classical authors with ease. He devoured every book put in front of him and seemed to remember everything he read. He could speak and read French and Dutch perfectly due to his many trips to France and the Netherlands on family business. He had acquired a complete knowledge of the accounts used in the business using the new Italian double entry system. He was expected to inherit the family business and showed every sign of being able to run it already while only fourteen years old.

However he showed little interest in playing with the other boys and no interest at all in their rough and tumble games and play fights. He preferred playing with the girls and often swapped clothes with them. When she asked him about this, just before the trip to Oostende, he said he wanted to be a girl. She told him to put such ridiculous ideas away fearing they would lead to nothing but trouble.

There was only one time Anne Redford had heard of Michael behaving violently. A group of boys began teasing him, saying he was a sissy. Michael ignored it at first, but it became persistent and then the largest of the boys began pushing him and then tripped him over. The boy was considerably bigger than Michael, but Michael slowly got up and then suddenly hit the boy right between the eyes. The boy collapsed in a heap and Michael hissed Anyone else want to call me a sissy? The other boys moved off leaving their friend unconscious on the ground. When the boy finally came to Michael whispered in his ear Don’t cause me anymore trouble or next time I will kill you. He never had any more trouble with any of the boys.

The refusal of the Dutch to surrender caused the Duke of Parma to line up his artillery at certain weak points in the city walls. After a week the Spanish had knocked three holes in the walls and again the Spanish commander called on the city to surrender. The city was short of both artillery and soldiers but again the governor refused to surrender. He built temporary fortifications at the places the Spanish artillery had battered holes in the walls. The temporary fortifications were then destroyed by Spanish artillery and the Spanish then launched their infantry at the holes in the walls. They took terrible loses from the fire of Dutch artillery and arquebuses but eventually broke into the city. They forced their way through the narrow streets, killing everyone they saw, so the streets were littered with corpses and ran with blood. Oostende was prosperous containing many fine houses and shops and the soldiers realised there were rich pickings to be had in this city. They began invading the houses and shops looking for women, wine and anything of value.

The Redfords and the Dutch family had gathered in the dining room of the house and there was much shouting and screaming outside. The door burst open and men in steel helmets and breast plates surged into the room. Their swords drawn they stabbed and hacked through all those in the room leaving blood all over the walls and bodies all over the floor. No one survived the slaughter.

The large two storey house in London appeared peaceful. But inside, it contained its own turmoil. The family’s business accounts lay on the table before Michael, unfinished. Distractedly he reached for a piece of paper and then put it down. Alone with his thoughts he wondered what was he to do. He knew he had the body of a boy, but felt in some vague unspecific way he was or ought to be a girl. The thoughts had been with him as far back as he could remember. He had tried as hard as possible to get rid of them, but they just would not go away. The feelings were causing him great distress as he well realised no one would treat them seriously and they could get him into serious trouble. Such wicked and sinful thoughts would send him to hell in the next life and could cause him all sorts of problems in this life. No one would accept him and there was no place he could be at peace. There seemed to be no place for him in this world. Or was there?

Puritan preachers had talked of the wickedness of the theatre where boys played women’s parts in plays and all sorts of depravity took place. This sounded like a place where he could be his real self, or should he do what everyone wanted, take over the family business on the death or retirement of his father, get married and have children to carry on the family name. Follow one’s dreams or be respectable. Being respectable seemed to involve nothing but pain and agony. Michael noticed other people did not cry in public, so he kept the tears to himself, crying only in private. He would lie on his bed crying an ocean of tears, crying there was no place in this world for me. I am wicked and evil; they say I am going to hell, what is to become of me, what will I do? Frightened and distressed Michael had confided in his mother that he wanted to be a girl and his mother had said that this was not possible and he should forget such ridiculous ideas.

Michael’s mind kept going back to the wicked and evil theatre, in Shoreditch, surely an appropriate destination for such a wicked boy. He shook his head as if to free himself of such distressing and difficult thoughts. He needed to get back to the accounts; they would take his mind of such ideas. He smiled slightly and thought, I have been burying myself in my studies to get away from such thoughts for years. One day I will have to face up to them. Not today, he thought as he turned back to the accounts.

Michael was only fourteen, but he had already worked out that when a decision was not immediately necessary, and the correct decision was not clear, the smart thing to do was to keep ones options open and to find or await additional information that would make the decision, easier. Decisions made upon poor or inadequate information could lead to disaster, and this was a very big decision indeed.

Michael heard a commotion outside and went to the door. A rider covered in dust was dismounting and when he turned towards Michael, the grim look on his face could be seen. The rider was Michael’s Uncle John and as he came towards the door he said Michael, a terrible thing has happened.

Michael felt a cold shiver. He knew there was some danger in his parent’s trip to Oostende due to the war between the Spanish and the Dutch rebels. Michael and his uncle sat down at the table and his uncle said The captain of the Dutch vessel Alkmaar said the Spanish had killed everyone in Oostende. We don’t have any news about your parents but he was sure no one escaped.

Michael went white and felt weak in the legs. Surely the Spanish wouldn’t kill them. England is not at war with Spain.

The Spanish don’t care who is English or Dutch, Catholic or Protestant. I was told they killed everyone in the town.

Michael felt sick. It couldn’t be true; life without his parents was unimaginable.

If it is true, Agnes and I will look after you.

Thank you said Michael still not really comprehending the situation. How can you be sure, they might have escaped Michael said.

Possibly said Uncle John We all hope so, time will tell. In the meantime you should come and stay with Agnes and me.

Michael thought for a moment. He did not entirely trust his uncle who his parents had said wants to take over the family business. I had better stay here and look after the house. I am sure Mother and Father will turn up soon and everything will be alright.

Well maybe said Uncle John. If they don’t turn up within a week it will be necessary to face the fact they are dead.

Uncle John left and Michael sat there shaking. Oh God what will I do he thought. Maybe it is just a mistake, I’ll wait and see; maybe they will still come home.

A week later Michael’s parents had not returned and Michael learnt more and more of the massacre at Oostende from merchants arriving in London. Michael got more and more concerned and when Uncle John turned up with a lawyer Michael was prepared to admit it looked very bad and possibly his parents were dead.

Uncle John introduced the lawyer as Silas Jones and said Silas will apply to the court to have Master and Mistress Redford declared dead. Then we will need to sort out the will, which I have here.

He produced a document with the words Last Will and Testament written across the top. Michael nearly gasped, as his parents will was upstairs, hidden in a cavity, behind a wall in their bedchamber. Uncle John continued This will give the house and business to me and 50 pounds a year for you.

Michael didn’t know what to say. The will in his parent’s bedroom left the house and business to him. Finally he said Where did you get this will he asked examining it more closely. He looked at the signature at the end of the document. He had seen his father’s signature many times and that signature did not look much like his fathers.

Uncle John said This is your father’s will left with Master Jones, before he went to Oostende.

Michael was unsure whether he should get the will from his parent’s bedroom, but feeling that if he produced it Uncle John and Master Jones would take it from him, he decided to leave it where it was.

That signature doesn’t look right to me Michael said.

The signature is fine said Silas Jones I witnessed it myself as shown here indicating his signature just below the signature he and Uncle John claimed was Thomas Redford’s.

I will put the will before the Court on Monday and the property and business will be transferred to Master John Redford. You will of course be well cared for and can continue your studies which I hear you are very good at.

Oh that’s very good said Michael attempting to mask his real thoughts. He felt as though he was being treated as a fool and everything was being stolen from under him.

That’s settled then said Uncle John as he and Master Jones stood up and headed for the door. When they had gone Michael regathered his thoughts. He could passively accept what was happening or he could fight it. He was damned if he was going to passively sit back and let his uncle steal everything.

Next day Michael went to a lawyer Master James Cartwright who his father had occasional dealings with. He brought the will, from his parents bedchamber, and a number of documents with his father’s signature on. He explained to Master Cartwright about the meeting with Uncle John and Silas Jones and the will with the fake signature that Jones claimed to have witnessed. Michael asked if the fake will could be opposed to stop the transfer of the house and business to Uncle John. Master Cartwright said the will could be opposed and he would take the appropriate measures. Michael left Master Cartwright’s office mighty relieved that something was being done to stop the obvious