The Choir Entertains
Saturday 11th September,
More details on here soon.
More details on here soon.
St Mary’s and Queen Mary I
It is not only saints with which St Mary’s has an association. An event relating to royalty took place in the churchyard, which changed the course of English History.
Following the death of Mary Tudor’s father, Henry VIII in 1547, Mary often feared for her life. Her brother, the boy king Edward VI, had been heavily influenced by his protector, Somerset, and had begun not just to introduce severe protestant reforms to the English church but to persecute Catholics. Mary herself felt severely threatened by the constant pressure to follow the new English services and to renounce her Catholicism, something which she steadfastly refused to do.
Throughout 1549 (incidentally, the year of Edward’s Prayer Book), she repeatedly begged asylum from the emperor, Charles V. Finally, in 1550, his regent of the Netherlands, Mary of Hungary, sent a warship to take her to safety. Mary was lodged in Maldon at this time and when the ship anchored in the port here, she was expected to make a hasty escape. When Mary’s court neglected to make contact, as the plan demanded, the Flemish emissaries started to panic. Mary of Hungary’s envoy, Jean Dubois finally made contact with Mary’s comptroller, Sir Robert Rochester, who informed Dubois that the princess had changed her mind! Although it is likely that Dubois actually had a meeting with Mary in person in her lodgings, local tradition has it that this meeting between Dubois and Rochester took place in St Mary’s churchyard. The Flemish ship was moored just below and a quick escape could be made, if and when necessary.
Rochester conveyed the message to Dubois that the princess had decided that, since her brother was sickly, she was likely to inherit the throne at some point in the near future. She had decided to risk the very real threats to her safety at the time by staying in England in order to pursue her claim when Edward died.
Interestingly, there is another local link to this story just three years later. When Edward VI did eventually die in 1553, the protestant Northumberland, desperate to avoid the Catholic Mary becoming queen, placed his niece Lady Jane Grey on the throne (The Queen for Nine Days). As we know, even protestants were outraged by this illegal act and Mary Tudor was able to claim her throne relatively easily. Just up river from St Mary’s, is the beautiful abbey of Beeleigh which had been given to Sir John Gate by Henry VIII at the dissolution of the monasteries. Somewhat unwisely as it turned out, he supported the cause of Lady Jane Grey. As a result he lost his head, along with all her other supporters once Mary had been recognised queen. Apparently, Sir John still haunts the Abbey. Perhaps he’s trying to find his head.