Original subtitles

-Jane. -Your Majesty.

We are come here together, before God and these witnesses...

...to join in holy matrimony Henry VIII...

...king of England and France, Defender of the Faith...

...supreme head of the Church of England...

...and the Lady Jane Seymour.

And if there be any among you who may imagine some impediment...

...as to why they should not be married...

...let them now speak out or forever hold their tongue.

Thank you for my gift. It's so very beautiful.

I soon trust to thank you for mine.

Shall we join the dance?

Music.

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it.

-I feel guilty. -Why?

Because sometimes I forget to tell you how beautiful you are.

I think she will make him happy.

With God's help, we'll all be happy now.

I don't recognise you, my lady.

Are you new at court?

Yes, sir. I am to be a maid to Her Majesty.

-What's your name? -Lady Ursula Misseldon.

Do you know who I am?

You're Sir Francis Bryan. I've heard about you.

What have you heard?

You like to board other men's boats.

I trust I shall be seeing a lot more of you, Lady Misseldon.

Since both the king's daughters...

...have been declared illegitimate and unfit to rule...

...we must trust the queen conceives a child quickly.

I still fear, with Anne's death, we have lost a great friend...

...and a powerful supporter.

If the new queen favours the Catholic religion...

...as she's rumoured to do...

...then our whole reformation is surely in jeopardy.

I'm surprised you've such little faith in the king.

We must press ahead with the dissolution of those brothels...

-...and slaughterhouses of conscience. -What?

The monasteries.

Almighty and everlasting God...

...give unto us the increase of faith, hope and charity.

And that we may obtain that which thou dost promise...

...make us to love that which thou dost command...

...through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Madam, if I may, I have a wedding gift for Your Majesty.

It once belonged to Queen Catherine.

Thank you.

His Majesty, the king.

Wife.

Husband.

I don't think we need to proceed in public.

Not this time.

-Your Majesty. -Your Majesty.

Make way.

Make way for the king's commissioners.

-Be sure everything's accounted for. -Yes, Dr. Frankish.

Dr. Frankish, here's a wealthy Madonna.

Here's a fine one.

A coat of silk, sewn with jewels.

Worth a bob or two.

Well, lady, are you stripped now?

Get out! Get out of there!

Mr. Aske.

Look what they've done, John. Just look.

It's all Cromwell's doing.

Cromwell and that sect of heretics in London.

They're bastards.

I'll tell you, Mr. Aske, people are no longer willing to stand by...

...and watch their faith, and everything that they care for being stripped away.

I heard that two of Cromwell's commissioners...

...were attacked in Lincolnshire.

And here in Yorkshire...

...a man of the commons stood up in his own church and said:

"Go we to follow the crosses...

...for when they're taken from us, we can follow them no more."

What am I supposed to do, John?

The commons, here, in Lincolnshire, everywhere...

...they are prepared to fight to save what they love.

But they need captains.

They need clever, educated men to lead them.

-I'm no leader, John. -Look, don't decide now.

We'll call a meeting, then decide.

For the love of God.

Take a look at that.

Our commissioners found it at Sawley Abbey.

How's it done?

See for yourself.

People thought the saint's bones were alive...

...and could work benedictions.

If they paid what little money they had to the Church...

...and to Rome. How do our reforms progress?

As you know, my lord, Parliament has now voted...

...for the suppression of all monastic houses.

Our commissioners are up and about their business...

...in nearly every county in England.

Much opposition?

Not as much as we might have expected.

Why should we have expected it?

People can see for themselves that all these houses...

...should be condemned for their manifest sin...

...and carnal and abominable living.

I was told-- And it's one anecdote among many.

--When commissioners entered the London House of the Crossed Friars...

...they found the prior himself in bed with his whore, both stark naked.

He offered them bribes to go away.

It's true that ordinary people...

...are so greedy upon these houses when they're suppressed...

...that they scavenge in them until nothing is left.

They even take the books to use for paper in their houses of easement.

What about the gains to the king's treasury?

Well, so far, by my reckoning, we have doubled the king's income...

...and taken possession of monastic lands worth many millions of pounds.

Millions?

Yes, Mr. Secretary.

Sir Edward Seymour.

Sir Edward, as the brother of His Majesty's beloved wife, Jane...

...it is His Majesty's pleasure today to create you...

...Viscount Beauchamp of Hache in Somerset.

Also to appoint you Governor of Jersey and Chancellor of North Wales.

Your Majesty, I am deeply honoured.

And I assure Your Majesty...

...that I will labour unremittingly in Your Majesty's interests...

...in the hope of repaying the great trust you have shown in me.

My lord...

...here are your letters patent.

-I congratulate you on your elevation. -Mr. Secretary.

Thomas.

What other business is there?

Your Majesty has received a letter from the emperor...

...congratulating you on your marriage.

Since he sees no further impediment, he is very anxious...

-...to come to a new accommodation. -Good. What else?

The Lady Mary has also written to Your Majesty.

What does she want?

She writes that it is time now to forget the unhappy past.

Begs to be taken back into Your Majesty's forgiveness...

...and humbly beseeches you to remember:

"That I am but a woman and your child."

I will never take her back.

Not until she first submits herself to me...

...on the subject of her mother's marriage and the supremacy.

You will send a delegation.

If she wants to forget the unhappy past...

...then she can start by disowning it.

-Your Majesty. -Groom.

Sir Francis. I have some good news for you.

His Majesty has agreed to your appointment...

...as a gentleman of the privy chamber.

I'm sure I know who to thank for that.

I may have a small job for you soon.

-Excellency. -Your Majesty.

Come with me.

There's someone I wish to present you to.

Queen Jane.

Allow me to introduce His Excellency Eustace Chapuys...

...ambassador to the Emperor Charles V of Spain.

Excellency.

I'll leave you to talk in private.

Your Majesty, may I congratulate you on your marriage...

...and wish you good health and prosperity.

Although the device of the lady...

...who preceded you on the throne was "the most happy"...

...I have no doubt that it is you yourself who will realise that motto.

Thank you, Excellency.

I know that the emperor will rejoice...

...to have such a virtuous and amiable queen on the throne.

And I must tell you it would be impossible for me to overstate...

...the joy and happiness which each Englishman that I have met...

...has expressed to me on hearing of your marriage.

Especially, as it is said, that you are a peacemaker...

...continuously trying to persuade His Majesty...

...to restore his daughter, Mary, to favour.

I promise you, Excellency...

...that I will continue to show favour to the Lady Mary...

...and do my best to deserve the title of peacemaker...

...you so gallantly have given me.

If you do so, I think you will find, madam...

...that without the pain of labour and childbirth...

...you will gain a treasured daughter...

...who may please you even more than your own children by the king.

I can only say again, Excellency, that I will do my best...

...to restore the peace between the king and his eldest daughter.

-Ambassador. -Madam.

Madam.

You are the first ambassador she has received.

She's not yet used to such audiences.

But it is true what they say.

She is kind and amiable.

And much inclined towards peace. I swear.

For example...

...she would strive to prevent me taking part in a foreign war...

...if only to avoid the fear and pain of separation.

A foreign war, Your Majesty?

Against whom?

I was talking hypothetically.

Surely, you do that yourself, Excellency.

Thanks for coming.

Thank you.

Friends, friends.

We've come here so you can listen to and talk to this good man...

-...Mr. Robert Aske. -Aye.

Some of you already know him as the Duke of Northumberland's legal man.

Hey, hey. Now, he's always been honest and fair-minded...

...in his dealings with the commons, so Mr. Aske can speak for himself.

Good evening.

-Evening, gentlemen. -Evening.

Now, tell me what is it you all want.

Mr. Aske, all our feast days are abolished and gone.

Aye.

Should it please the king's grace that we might have our holidays back?

We want the abbeys restored...

...and demand that this advance of heresy be halted.

We want these new heretic bishops like Cranmer to be cast out.

Aye.

And him and Cromwell to be supplanted by men of noble birth.

Aye.

We hear rumours, Mr. Aske...

...that new taxes are to be levied against us.

On our cattle and our christenings, on our marriages and our births.

Mr. Aske, they even will destroy our parish churches...

...and steal all their treasures.

All right, gentlemen, all right.

What do you reckon you can do to stop them?

Mr. Aske.

Before our lands, our goods and our houses...

...are taken from us by the church commissioners...

-...we will fight. -Aye!

-And we will die. -Aye!

That is our full answer, Mr. Aske.

I know you're angry.

The destruction of the abbeys is a terrible-- A criminal thing.

Since they represent, by their very presence...

...an exalted ideal to all of us.

But, gentlemen, this call to arms, to rebellion against the king's grace...

...is something which I cannot agree to.

Nonsense.

Since the king is our body and soul...

...an attack upon him is an attack upon the commonwealth...

...and upon God himself.

Did you hear that, men? The gentry don't care for us.

Christ died for the poor. You remember that, Mr. Aske?

Lady Ursula Misseldon, Your Majesty.

Lady Misseldon.

Your Majesty.

Do your duties honourably and virtuously.

And remember, we are all bound to serve and obey.

Lady Rochford?

Your Majesty.

Please.

I asked to see you.

I know things have not gone well for you...

...since your husband was executed.

I have been utterly abandoned.

I feel I was condemned because of what George did.

Even Mr. Cromwell has refused to answer my letters.

Nothing was your fault.

George Boleyn was his own keeper.

I want you to come back to court.

And I'd like to appoint you my principal lady-in-waiting.

I hope you'll accept this position.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

There, there, Lady Rochford.

All is well again.

All is mended.

Sir Francis Bryan, my lady.

-Lady Mary. -My lord.

I am very glad you have come to see me.

I have written a letter congratulating the king on his marriage...

...and begging leave to wait upon Queen Jane.

Or do Her Grace such service as would please her to command me.

I'm afraid, Lady Mary...

...I have not come here to discuss pleasantries.

His Majesty urges you to sign this.

What is it?

A list of articles recognising the king as head of the church...

...and your mother's marriage as incestuous and unlawful.

You must also renounce Rome...

...and freely acknowledge your illegitimacy.

If you'll not sign...

...I'm afraid Mr. Secretary Cromwell cannot guarantee your safety.

However much I love my father, Your Grace...

...and would do anything to please and satisfy him...

...I still cannot risk my immortal soul for the favour of an earthly king.

You are an unfilial daughter.

Since you will not submit to your father...

...he may yet proceed against you for treason.

No. No, he would not.

I cannot believe it.

Listen to me.

I tell you, if you were my daughter, I'd smash your head against the wall...

...until it was as soft as a boiled apple.

You understand?

Lady Mary.

I have been discussing plans for your coronation with Mr. Holbein.

Have you heard of the Bucentaur of Venice?

No, Your Majesty.

It's a ship in which the doge travels out into the lagoon every year...

...to renew his marriage vows with the sea.

It's a magnificent thing...

...adorned with gold and bronze statues...

...of Neptune, sea lions and other fantastical sea-creatures.

And I'm going to build it.

And you're going to travel in it from Greenwich to the city...

...where you will be crowned Queen Jane of England.

Your Majesty, I don't know what to say.

You don't have to say anything.

It will be the most fabulous coronation any English queen has ever had.

That I promise you.

Your Majesty, forgive me.

I've heard that Your Majesty may proceed against the Lady Mary.

With all my heart, I beg thee not to.

Are you out of your senses?

Don't talk of such matters again.

Jane.

I have another wedding gift for you.

I hope you like him.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

Oh, I love him. He's so pretty.

-Lady Misseldon. -Sir Francis.

-I hope I didn't alarm you. -No, sir.

You left me a note that you wanted to see me?

Yes, I did.

About what?

I was wondering if you would like to become my mistress.

Sir, I am already engaged to be married.

To whom?

Sir Robert Tavistock.

Can he afford to buy you gifts like this?

I didn't think so.

If it's more important to you to keep your virtue, keep it for what it's worth.

And I swear I will not bother you or your conscience ever again.

I haven't decided yet.

How can I renounce Rome...

...or my mother's marriage, after all of my mother's sufferings?

I understand.

But may I suggest that you could sign the document...

...and then make what is called a protestation apart?

That is, secretly forswear your submission before witnesses.

Is that not hypocrisy?

Surely, the emperor is against my signing such a document.

And the Holy Father.

Her Lady Mary...

...I must tell you in all honesty...

...that the emperor is no longer inclined...

...to interfere any further in this matter.

After all, you are not his subject.

And since he is seeking a new alliance with the king...

...he would, in truth, be most reluctant to offend him in any way.

Then...

...I'm on my own?

What if I do not sign it?

It is very possible that the king will put you to death.

Very well.

-Do you not want to read it first? -No.

Only I ask if you can procure papal absolution for what I have done.

So long as I live, I will never forgive myself.

-Father Pole? -Yes, Your Eminence.

I am Cardinal Von Waldburg.

How long have you been at the seminary...

-...here in Rome, Father Pole? -Almost a year, Eminence.

I left England when it became clear...

...that the king meant to break his obedience...

...to the See of Rome and the Holy Father.

The death of the whore, Anne Boleyn, is perhaps providential.

And His Holiness prays that King Henry will grasp...

...this divine opportunity for reconciliation.

Just one gesture of obeisance to the see of Rome, however small...

...will allow him to lift the threat of excommunication.

Eminence, believe me...

...that is something that the faithful of England are praying for.

My mother, Lady Salisbury, has written to me...

...expressing her hope that the new queen...

...is, in her heart, a true Catholic.

Perhaps your mother could do more than hope.

And perhaps you yourself, Father Pole...

...might consider returning to England in order to influence events there.

You see, Father Pole, I know who you really are.

Here is the real Danaë

She would kindle your lust Even higher

One touch

One mere touch of her body

And your limbs Would melt in the fire

The necklace suits you.

I knew it would.

Your Majesty has received a letter from Lady Bryan...

...governess to the Lady Elizabeth.

Apparently, the child has outgrown her clothes...

...and Lady Bryan asks if Your Majesty will permit her...

...to purchase some new ones.

Why should I? I don't believe she's even my child.

The world knows her father was Henry Norris...

...and that her mother was a whore. What else?

There is this.

The submission of the Lady Mary.

Make arrangements for myself and the queen to meet with her.

Not here, and not publicly.

We will go to her residence.

There are rumours of plague in the city.

The coronation will have to be postponed.

Majesty.

Thomas.

Mr. Rich showed me the figures.

I'm very pleased with you, Tom, and will shortly prove it.

Lady Rochford?

Yes, Your Majesty?

Take this to Lady Bryan.

Tell her to buy clothes for the Lady Elizabeth.

Yes, Madam.

And we must think of a gift for the Lady Mary.

I'm looking so forward to meeting her.

Your Majesty is very kind.

Lady Rochford, it was not your fault that your husband betrayed you.

Nor is it Mary's fault or Elizabeth's fault...

...to be born of a king.

Women are much put upon in this world.

It is my desire as much as I can to promote their interests.

I must do it quietly, but I will do it all the same.

And I trust you will help me.

Yes, Your Majesty.

-What's your name, lad? -Charlie, sir.

Charlie Raw.

-Trade? -Shepherd.

Mr. Secretary Cromwell.

Kneel.

Do you know what we're about, Charlie?

Yes, Captain Aske.

We're not rebels.

We're pilgrims, and we have a pilgrimage to go on.

If you want to join us...

...then you shall swear to be true to almighty God...

...to Christ's Catholic Church, to our sovereign lord, the king...

...and to the commons of this realm, so help you God.

I do swear.

Wear this badge.

It shows the Five Wounds of Christ...

...to prove that the commons will fight in Christ's cause.

Yes, captain.

-God bless you, Charlie. -Sir.

That's you, lads. Where you from?

Arise, Sir Thomas Cromwell, also Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon...

...and from this day forth...

...Lord Privy Seal.

Majesty.

Your Grace.

Your arm, son.

God be with you, lad.

Your Majesty is too kind.

Mary, gifts like these are easy compared...

...with the gifts of the heart, it gives me more pleasure than I can say...

...to see you reconciled with your father.

-Mary. -Your Majesty.

Here's a note for a thousand crowns.

If you need anything else, you need only ask.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

Father.

Yes, Father.

Mary was so sweet and affectionate.

She was everything I hoped she would be.

It seems to me no wonder she's so marvellously beloved...

...for her virtue and goodness in the hearts of the people.

Your Majesty must invite her to court. Show her off.

Your Majesty.

Why will you not speak to me?

Because I am disappointed.

Why?

I'm disappointed, because you are not yet with child.

My lord. My lord.

My lord, we have come here in great haste...

...to tell you part of the North, as well as Lincolnshire...

...have risen in rebellion against His Majesty.

There are musters of the commons everywhere...

...and beacons of rebellion burning all night across the hills.

Just four days ago...

...while we were collecting taxes in Hexham...

...we were set upon by an angry mob.

They captured commissioner Nicholas Bellow...

...pulled him down from his horse and beat him to death with their staves.

Among the mob, my lords, we saw armed priests...

...urging on these knaves with cries of "Kill them."

Then another man, William Leach, who was known to be in your service...

...had been hanged from a tree.

And what do these rebels say that they want?

So far as I can tell, they want to keep their holy days.

They want the monasteries restored and their churches unmolested...

...and no more taxes.

I heard it declared that if they prospered with their journey...

...they intended to kill you, my lord...

...four or five bishops, and Chancellor Rich...

...as devisers of taking church goods and tearing down churches.

Why do the local gentry not intervene, suppress these traitorous assemblies?

Surely, they want to protect their lands and holdings.

They try, but the rebels come back even greater.

Some say, my Lord Cromwell...

...that not hundreds, but thousands are risen in rebellion...

...against the king's church reforms.

Why didn't you know?

You are supposed to know everything that goes on here.

You told me there was little opposition.

On the contrary, you told me...

...that most people were glad to see such places dissolved.

You were wrong.

You didn't know anything.

Knave.

Sit down. Write this.

We take it as a great unkindness...

...that our common and inferior subjects...

...should rise against us without any grounds.

As for the taking of the goods of the parish church, it was never intended.

Yet, even if it had been intended, true subjects would not have dealt...

...with me, their prince, in such violence...

...but would have petitioned me for their purpose.

Now, I command you rebels to go home and sin no more.

And remember your allegiance.

You are duty-bound to obey me, your king...

...both by God's commandments and by the law of nature.

All commons, stick together.

Now is the time to arise, or else, never.

So forward.

Forward to York.

Forward in pain of death.

Forward in God's name.

Forward.

I'm writing to the gentry of Yorkshire...

...reminding them of their duty to suppress these traitors...

...and the penalties of not doing so.

Is there any case for suspending the work...

...of the church commissioners until the rebels--?

No.

The only way to beat the king's authority...

...into the heads of the rude people of the North...

...is to show them the king intends to continue the reformation...

...and correction in religion whatever they say.

And whatever they do.

Yes?

My lord, the rebels have taken Lincoln.

Their rebel flags fly over the city gate.

And more of them are now marching on York.

May God help us.

When I was 5...

...my mother and I were taken across London into the Tower.

There was a rebellion against my father.

The Cornish rebels were actually at the city walls.

And inside everything was panic, fear.

We had no news of the royal army or my father.

My mother tried to remain calm.

But she was terrified.

So was I.

I was sure we were both going to be killed.

I'm appointing you commander of the royal forces.

You will ride north as soon as possible.

You will find guns and ordinance at Hungerford, but don't tarry there.

No, Your Majesty.

I will do all Your Majesty commands and more.

These rebels are traitors, Charles, full of wretched and devilish intents.

They must be punished...

...for their detestable and unnatural sin of rebellion against their sovereign.

Just as my father punished the Cornishmen.

Charles, what's going on?

-Leave us. -Yes, Your Grace.

His Majesty has charged me...

...with leading his army against the Northern rebels.

You are not to worry.

I will have at my back enough men and arms to subdue them, easily.

I have His Majesty's promise.

I hope to God he keeps it.

I am happy to accept this charge.

Cromwell is being blamed for everything.

The rebels are demanding his head.

With God's help, I may well be able to deliver it.

The Lord Privy Seal.

I've dispatched Suffolk with a royal army.

If needs be, I shall send a second army to destroy the rebels.

Yes, Majesty.

Unless they disperse and send 100 of their ringleaders...

...to the Duke of Suffolk with halters around their necks...

...then he has our permission to burn and destroy all their goods...

...and make a fearful example of them to all our subjects.

Yes, Majesty.

If still they do not submit, Mr. Cromwell...

...then I promise the utter destruction of them...

...their wives and their children.

Do you understand me?

I will destroy them all.

And then I'll destroy you, Cromwell.