Original subtitles

Majesty-

I will have no married priests.

Your Majesty, my Lord Hertford desires an audience.

Hertford.

Your Majesty, we have received news from France.

The Earl of Surrey, while rashly attacking a French supply force...

at St. Étienne, just beyond Boulogne...

has lost over 600 men as well as all the captains and gentlemen...

who for some reason, he had placed in the front line.

My Lords, I have heard from several sources...

of the calamitous events in Boulogne.

It seems my Lord Surrey gave battle to a large convoy of French...

and was soundly defeated...

with the death of his captains...

and most of his gentlemen.

And all of this despite my warnings not to be bold...

and place Boulogne at risk.

Therefore, I have commanded my Lord Surrey to return here...

to be examined as to his conduct by your Lordships.

In the meantime, I will appoint you...

my Lord Hertford, as his replacement.

You will leave at once for Boulogne.

I have also decided, for his many great works and talents...

to appoint my secretary, Mr. Risley, Lord Chancellor...

and to create him Baron Risley.

I am touched and deeply honoured by Your Majesty's trust.

My Lord Suffolk?

Majesty, there are rumours of a large French fleet...

being assembled and fitted out for war.

Also, the emperor has ordered all English ships and properties...

in the Low Countries to be seized.

How shall we respond?

The emperor.

My God.

When I think of my fidelity to my friends...

and all of their betrayals.

Fleet being amassed...

My Lord. - My Lord Hertford.

My Lord Hertford.

Excellency.

May we speak a moment privately?

Well?

It seems, alas, that many things are amiss in His Majesty's kingdom.

What things?

The bad harvests and the burden of His Majesty's debts.

The plague among the sailors of His Majesty's fleet...

with their swollen heads and decayed ships.

Pray, Excellency, what is your point?

The poisoning and the poverty of the king's realm...

is in every way due to his rash...

and unsustainable occupation of Boulogne.

As your Lordship had warned.

It is true that I argued against the war.

But I lost the argument.

You lost the argument for war, my lord.

You can win it for peace.

Persuade the king of his folly in hanging onto Boulogne...

against all reason...

and you and I may come to some agreement.

My lord.

Mr. Risley. - Your Grace.

You are to be congratulated.

Thank you, Your Grace...

though I confess I find this sudden elevation beyond my imagining.

No, but you must imagine it.

And take great pleasure in it, as we do.

For surely this must mean that our cause is in the ascendancy...

and that His Majesty tends ever for firmly towards...

the orthodox and Catholic persuasion, and against reform.

Well, I trust Your Grace is right.

For my own part...

I still find the king so changeable...

I wonder if he knows his own mind.

Henry.

Father. - Come here.

It's good to see you back at court. I've missed you.

You remember Brigitte? - Yes, of course.

Bonjour, Henry. I am very happy to see you again.

Mademoiselle Rousselot is now my official mistress.

I'm sorry to hear that her presence at court makes your mother...

the duchess, unhappy. But there is no help for it.

For your mother has made me unhappy for a long time.

Poor Henry.

No. He is old enough to know the truth...

and guess other things about love.

Mademoiselle, if you make my father happy...

then you have also made me happy.

See? He is older and wiser than he looks.

So are you.

Right, drinks.

How is Your Majesty?

I tell you this, Cate: I felt 10 times better in France...

than I have these past years since.

What I hate above everything are the interpretations.

It doesn't seem to matter who I talk to at court...

ambassadors, clerics, courtiers...

they all interpret the facts to suit themselves.

For myself, God knows, I've always spoken...

with candour and honesty.

But all about me now is guile, hypocrisy, and dishonesty.

Your Majesty, I have written a book.

May I show it to you?

A book? What kind of book?

It's called Lamentations of a Sinner.

Majesty-

Do read the dedication.

'In praise of my most sovereign lord and husband, King Henry VIII...

who is not only godly and learned...

but who is also our Moses, since he has delivered us out...

of the captivity and bondage of the Pharaoh.'

You mean Rome?

You call the pope's clergy 'riffraff' which he planted in his tyranny.

'And in eternal gratitude to my lord and husband...

who has shown me by his works a holier path...

and delivered me from the ignorance of my blind faith.'

Cate, do you mean this?

I do, Your Majesty.

And not just for myself.

I mean it for all your subjects.

My Lady.

Lady Herbert.

Your Majesty, Bishop Gardiner is here.

Majesty...

I ask permission to arrest and interrogate...

a known heretic and Protestant called Anne Askew...

for fear that she has friends here at court.

You have my permission, Your Grace.

Good English people.

They tell us that some of us are not fit...

to read the words of our saviour and Lord.

I say to you: I would rather read five lines in the Bible...

than hear five masses in the temple.

The priest claims to turn the wine into God's blood...

and the bread into God's body.

But where is the proof?

Go and find the proof yourself.

Let the bread lie in the box for three months and it will be mouldy...

and so turn to nothing that is good.

Make way.

Wherefore I am persuaded that it cannot be God.

Arrest that woman!

Faith is my shield.

I now rejoice at heart...

and hope bid me do so...

for thou shall take my part...

and ease me of my woe.

For thou art my delight.

Those say ought, those who knock, to them thy will...

My Lord Surrey, it has been put to us...

that your defeat at St. Étienne was not, as you claimed...

due to the unwillingness of your soldiers...

but to your own folly and an empty confidence...

in your own unreasoning bravery.

How do you answer such a charge?

I would answer it was not such a defeat.

There was loss and victory on both sides...

and as a matter of fact, the enemy took more losses than we.

Even so, my lord, our loss was the more grievous...

since we lost all our captains who you, regardless of the danger...

sent into the front line.

Your Grace, I think you were never in battle.

Those officers wanted to be in the front line.

They charged with a cry of as great a courage and in as good an order...

as anyone would wish for.

They were outnumbered but broke through the enemy lines.

They destroyed four-fifths of the convoy.

At that moment, the French were in disarray...

and if the few men that this council had sent me...

had not panicked and bolted...

then His Majesty would now be celebrating a great victory.

But alas, my lord, he is not.

You took a risk in attacking an enemy far superior in numbers...

and you lost.

You were personally forced to fly the battlefield, which is reprehensible...

and one of only three ways by which a knight companion...

can be degraded from the Order of the Garter.

My Lord Surrey.

My brother, Lord Hertford, has already announced allegations...

against you for corrupt misuse of office...

while you were lieutenant general of Boulogne.

He has announced an immediate purge...

of many of those that you appointed to positions of authority.

Sir, believe me...

there are just too many witnesses that will tell you that Henry Howard...

was never corrupted by personal considerations.

Nor did his hand ever close upon a bribe.

This council must confirm your removal...

as lieutenant general...

as well as revoke your former title of captain of Boulogne.

You are ordered not to return to France.

I am sure His Majesty will see fit to countermand these orders...

after I have talked with him.

My Lord, His Majesty has refused to grant you an audience.

Has he?

My lady, Sir Richard Rich.

Sir Richard.

Lady Mary.

You have some news?

I regret to inform you that Eustace Chapuys...

once imperial ambassador here, has died...

soon after returning to Spain.

He was a remarkable man...

and a true friend.

And now I have nobody.

Lady Mary...

let me assure you that you still have many true friends...

here at court.

Not least Bishop Gardiner...

and Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London...

as well as many others, who share the Catholic faith...

and continue to believe as you believe.

And you?

Yes.

My poor brother is being brought up a Protestant and a heretic...

and the king does nothing to stop it.

Be assured, there is work afoot to stop it.

But my Lord Gardiner needs to know that in these works...

he has your support...

even though they may touch people close to you.

Send my love to His Grace.

Tell him I will pray fervently for his success.

Anne Askew?

Yes, sir.

We hear that you still, openly and in public, preach heresy.

I preach the word of God, sir...

to all who will listen.

It seems you have friends here at court.

But then, your brother once served in the king's household, I think?

Yes, sir.

We think these friends may include some ladies-in-waiting...

to Her Majesty.

The Duchess of Suffolk, for example.

Or Lady Herbert, the queen's sister.

We know that you received monies...

whilst you have been in prison for your relief.

And we believe that diverse important ladies...

sent you that money.

There was a man in a blue coat who delivered me 10 shillings.

And what did he say?

He said my Lady Hertford sent it to me.

With the support and permission of the queen.

Come, come, Mistress Askew.

We can make you speak.

I want her moved down one level...

Your Grace, I cannot allow... - You will do as we say.

Sir Edmund.

No! No, no, no! No!

No! No! No!

Please. Please. Please!

Please.

Mistress Askew.

Your Grace has been badly misinformed...

as to the events in Boulogne.

I am prepared to believe it, my lord.

Again and again, the council refused...

to send reinforcements that I asked for.

Even the garrison at Calais refused to help...

except to send some flatfooted...

squint-eyed, unshapely men unfit to carry arms.

And now my command is revoked.

Now I am a man of no service, no activity.

And I must sit at home within the walls.

Do not think of this as the end of your life, my lord.

God has given you grace, courage, liberality...

and up to St. Étienne...

he also gave you good luck.

Luck deserted you for a moment...

but if the rest go on...

then you will soon serve the King's Majesty again...

and have every chance to regain your honour and reputation.

I thank Your Grace for your words.

But the truth of it is I was undermined and attacked...

from the start of my command in Boulogne...

and now, I swear to you...

Hertford will smart for usurping my place.

I would counsel your Lordship not to raise arms against Hertford.

I have no choice.

Your Grace, it's sure the king will die...

before the prince reaches his maturity...

so who will then govern the prince...

and the realm?

Just pinch her, for God's sake. Just pinch her. That's all.

Nothing more.

We ask you again...

which other ladies of Her Majesty's chambers...

sent you monies or promises of relief?

We want to know which of the queen's ladies...

share your beliefs.

Or if the queen herself does.

We must stretch her further.

My lords!

It is absolutely against the king's law to rack a woman.

And I will do it no further on my conscience.

Come, come, Sir Edmund: you know perfectly well...

we have the authority of the king himself to examine her.

I do not know at all that you have His Majesty's permission for this.

Come.

You foolish woman.

Let me ask you something.

Do you say that priests cannot make the body of Christ?

I say so, my lord...

for I have read that God made man...

but that man can make God, I have never yet read.

And after the consecration, is it not the body of Christ?

No.

It is but consecrated bread.

What if a mouse eats it...

after the consecration?

What shall become of that mouse?

What say you, stupid woman?

I say that mouse is damned.

Poor mouse.

What is it?

Your Majesty, I must tell you that the woman, Anne Askew...

has been put to torture in absolute violation of Your Majesty's laws.

You were right to come and see me.

So I may explain to you, and ease your conscience.

In cases of extreme heresy...

the law makes no distinction...

between a man and a woman.

For as you know, Sir Edmund...

the devil takes many forms, and yet, it is always the devil.

Wake up.

Wake up.

We desire to ask you again about the queen.

Come now.

Sweet lady.

His Majesty, the king.

My well-beloved Commons...

I come here today to speak with you...

to set forth my mind...

and the secrets of my heart.

There should be perfect love and concord in this realm...

but instead, there is discord and dissension in every place.

What love and charity is there amongst the clergy...

when one calls the other heretic and Anabaptist...

and the other calls him papist and hypocrite?

Are these tokens of charity amongst you?

Are these the signs of fraternal love?

The people look for light and you bring them darkness.

And as for the laity...

you are not clean of malice and envy...

for you slander and rebuke priests and bishops.

You take it upon yourselves to judge the clergy...

by the sole light of your fantastical opinions...

and vain expositions.

Although you are permitted to read holy scripture...

you must understand that it is under licence...

and only to inform your conscience...

not to dispute and make scripture.

I give you the Bible in your own tongue...

but I am sorry to see that that most precious jewel, the word of God...

has been disputed, rimed, sung, and jangled...

in every alehouse and every tavern in this realm.

I, whom God has appointed his vicar here...

will see these divisions extinct...

and those enormities corrected...

or God shall account me an unprofitable servant.

Therefore...

be of charity with one another...

like brother and brother.

Love, dread, and serve God...

the which I, as your supreme head and sovereign lord...

exhort and require you...

and I doubt not...

but that love and affinity which I spoke of at the beginning...

shall never be dissolved or broken between us.

Your Majesty!

Aye!

What did the king say, Sir Thomas?

He was angry with the religious divisions in his realm.

He said that he gave people the Bible to read...

but not so that they could dispute its meanings.

It seems to me like His Majesty is like one who would throw a man...

headlong off the top of a high tower...

and ask him to stop when he is halfway down.

For surely our delivery from the tyranny of Rome and blind faith...

is not the end of the reform and renewal of our Christian life...

but it is only the beginning.

The king does suppose that only he knows the will of God...

and so whatever he thinks should therefore be the new orthodoxy...

however fantastical.

It is like his own private religion...

and yet he asks for an end to division, for charity and love.

Sir Thomas, he is still the king.

And if he asks for charity and love...

then he is doing no more than Christ did.

Madam, the king has opened a Pandora's box.

And whether he will or not...

he simply cannot close it now whatever his complaints.

You look troubled. What is it?

I fear now more than ever the machinations of men.

How their plots and plans swirl about the court and the king.

I can sense it, but I have no knowledge anymore.

No one it seems, least of all the king, confides in me.

But is it not better so?

In some ways, since it leaves me free to love you at my leisure.

But in other ways, it condemns my high station...

to neglect affairs of the realm.

Especially now.

When men conspire to secure its future...

and their own profits.

But I don't understand.

How can they secure the future?

By controlling the prince.

It is widely supposed that the king's infirmities grow worse...

and he will not live to see the prince come to maturity.

Do you still love the king?

My Lord Hertford.

Majesty-

So there is peace with France.

Only if Your Majesty accepts the terms.

What are the terms?

In eight years time...

Your Majesty will hand back Boulogne...

in return for a payment...

of two million crowns.

Two million?

Yes, Your Majesty.

The admiral of France, Claude D'Annebault...

will come here to Your Majesty's court to sign the peace treaty...

if Your Majesty so desires.

Your Majesty.

You have done well, my Lord Hertford.

Majesty-

My lord.

Majesty, His Grace Bishop Gardiner...

having examined the heretic Anne Askew...

requests Your Majesty's permission to order the arrest...

of three of Her Majesty's ladies...

including Her Majesty's sister, Lady Herbert.

His Grace would like to question them...

as to their knowledge and keeping of forbidden material.

Martin...

stay at the door.

Yes, my lord.

Extraordinary.

Gentlemen.

My lord. - My lord.

Here is a very great undertaking...

upon which our lives will depend.

What we must first decide...

is how best to approach Windsor...

and in what manner to overcome the guards that surround the prince...

and so remove him.

For be in no doubt, gentlemen...

that he who possesses the heir to the throne...

will very soon possess the throne itself.

Her Majesty, the queen.

My Lord Risley.

Your Majesty.

Your Grace.

Your Majesty.

May I dance?

Of course you may, my lady.

Your Majesty. - Your Majesty.

Your Majesty.

My Lord Hertford, I am most glad to see you returned from France.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

Bishop Gardiner has arrested my sister and two of my ladies...

on suspicion of heresy.

Your Grace.

Lady Mary.

How go your investigations?

They go well, for we have discovered certain books...

in the closets of the queen's ladies...

about which they will be questioned further.

And the heretic, Anne Askew?

Well, I am happy to tell, good Lady, that, on His Majesty's orders...

she is condemned to be burned at Smithfield.

Seize him!

My Lord Surrey, you are under arrest for treason.

Come on gentlemen, lovely...

Come on, everyone.

Sir. Sir.

What is it you want, my lady?

Come and get it.

Here, tie this around her neck.

It will end her suffering quickly.

Fresh cut meat. - Take it.

Not just for the money...

but also for the love of God.

My Lady Hertford.

What do you want?

Just to let you know that Bishop Gardiner would like to see you.

Very soon.

What's this?

Gunpowder.

A gift from a friend.

My Lord Surrey.

If the king should die...

leaving the lord prince at his tender age...

have you either devised or suggested who should govern him...

and this realm?

Whether, that is, you have ever said that in such a case...

you would have the rule and governance of him...

or words to that effect?

Yes, yes, cousin Knyvet, I understood the question.

Also, is it true that you wilfully bear the royal arms...

of King Edward the Confessor...

and claim to be the next heir or kin to him?

I only put in my coat of arms what I am entitled to put there...

Sir Richard.

I tell you this, my Lord Surrey...

if ever you got power here, in this realm...

I would go abroad and stay there...

because I would be so afraid of your malice.

Cousin Knyvet.

I malice not so low as you.

My malice goes much higher.

He said his malice went even higher?

Yes, Your Majesty.

My informants tell me that it was the intention of Surrey...

and his associates to usurp authority...

by means of the murder of all members of the council...

and the control of the prince by them alone.

God forbid they should've succeeded in their abominable enterprise.

Yes, Your Majesty.

Thank God the earl was found out.

I used to love him.

Yes, I've always known he was proud and foolish...

but I loved him for all that.

Now he has forfeited my love.

Martin. - My lord.

Did you get the dagger?

Yes, my lord.

Good man.

Come over here.

That's the river.

It comes right up at high tide...

and I can just about fit down the shaft, I'm certain.

Go now to St. Katharine's dock, get a boat, and wait for me there.

I should be with you by midnight.

For the love of God, Martin...

do as I ask. For if I do not escape from this place...

Yes, my lord.

Sister, there, there. Weep no more.

You were released.

Nothing has been found.

Everything is going to be all right, believe me.

Everything is going to be all right.

Darling one, you're safe.

You're safe.

Close the door.

He's escaping! Help me!

My lords, members of the jury...

for either of the offences the earl has committed...

he deserves death.

First, for usurping the royal arms...

which gives rise to the suspicion that he hoped to become king.

The other, for escaping from prison...

whereby he proved his guilt.

You are false...

and to earn a piece of gold, would condemn your own father.

I never sought to usurp the king's arms...

for everyone knows my ancestors bore them.

Go to the church in Norfolk, you will see them there...

for they have been ours for 500 years.

Hold your peace, my lord!

Your idea was to commit treason and become king.

And you.

You catch pole.

What have you to do with it?

You had better hold your tongue...

for this kingdom has never been well since the king...

put mean creatures like you into this government.

Silence.

Silence in court.

Silence!

If, as you say, the accusations are false...

can you explain to us why you tried to escape the tower?

I tried to escape to prevent myself...

from coming to the pass in which I am now.

And you, my lord, well know...

that no matter how right a man may be...

they always find the fallen one guilty.

Aye.

You have only yourself to blame, my lord, for the pass you are in.

No.

It was a friendly foe by shadow of goodwill...

my old companion and dear friend, that trapped me.

Henry Howard, how do you plead?

Not guilty.

How will you be tried'?

By God and the country.

I knew that I hated the earl.

But I am surprised, Sir Richard, that you share my antipathy.

My Lord Hertford, you shouldn't be so surprised...

since the earl hates us both the same.

So I am sure, all of us will prosper better without him.

I agree.

My lords, forgive me...

but as foreman of the jury, I have to tell your Lordships...

that we are not impressed with the evidence against my Lord Surrey.

It is very clear to us that my Lord Surrey has the right...

to bear the arms of Edward the Confessor...

and as to the plot against His Majesty...

we can find no credible evidence to support it.

Sirs, we do not think it right and proper that the earl...

should be condemned for such trifles.

Sir Christopher, whenever has innocence...

been cause to save a man's life...

when the king deems him unfit to live in the commonwealth?

My lord, this is a trial under law.

Master Haydon, if you did not know it before, then you know it now...

the law is whatever His Majesty says it is.

And if you provoke His Majesty, then you too will feel the full force of it.

What is wrong, Lady Mary?

Are you unwell?

No, madam.

Then?

I have heard some rumours.

Rumours about what, Lady Mary?

The new imperial ambassador has told me...

that in Antwerp and other foreign places...

that they are saying the king is looking for a new wife.

Why should they say so?

Despite the length of your marriage...

you have still not presented His Majesty with a child.

Lady Mary...

we were such good friends. You remember that, don't you?

Well, for me, nothing has changed...

and I love you as I did before.

But something has happened...

and you no longer love me as you did before.

Why?

Gentlemen of the jury...

how do you find the defendant?

Guilty.

And he should die for it!

Of what have you found me guilty?

Surely there is no law...

that justifies you...

but I know the king...

wants to get rid of all the noble blood around him...

and employ none but low people.

Not guilty! - This trial is a sham!

All trumped up!

Henry Howard. - Release him!

You will be taken to the place from whence you came...

from there, to be dragged through the city of London...

unto the place of execution called Tyburn.

No!

There to be hanged, cut down while still alive...

your privy parts cut off, and your bowels...

taken out of your body and burnt before you...

your head cut off, and your body divided into four parts...

the head and the quarters to be set at such places...

as the king shall assign.

Where's the king?

This is a travesty!

The happy life be these...

the quiet mind...

the equal friend...

no grudge nor strife.

Wisdom joined with simplicity.

The night discharged of all care.

Where's the king?

The king was saved from conspirators.

And Anne Askew as well.

Sweetheart, I hear you have been busying yourself with your books.

Yes, Your Majesty.

I have translated works by Erasmus and Savonarola.

As well as buying a beautiful book of Psalms by Thomas Berthelet.

I wonder, Cate, at your diligence.

Well, I regard it as much my duty as my pleasure...

to place such wonderful books before the good English people...

who have been a long time thirsting and hungering...

for the sincere and plain knowledge of God's word.

Just be cautious.

Not every English person can read or understand the Gospels...

and be careful of the consequences of encouraging them to try.

Majesty, I am not afraid of the Gospels.

Nor should anyone be afraid.

Your Majesty has begun a great work...

in banishing the monstrous idol of Rome.

And now, with God's help...

you can finish that work...

by purging the Church of England of its dregs.

Majesty? - Forgive me. I'm tired.

Of course.

Majesty-

Cate.

Majesty-

Your Majesty.

Majesty. - Majesty.

Majesty. - Your Majesty.

Majesty-

Your Majesty.

What a thing it is, when women become such clerks.

And what a comfort it will be to me in my old age...

to be lectured to by my wife.

Your Majesty has no need to be taught by anyone.

Your knowledge of divinity excels that of the princes...

and divines throughout the ages.

Forgive me...

but I think it unseemly...

for any of your subjects to argue with you...

as the queen has just done.

Majesty, many of the greatest subjects in the land...

defending those same arguments that she does...

have, by law, deserved death.

I cannot believe that you would accuse the queen of heresy...

without proof.

I have the proof.

But what I need is Your Majesty's consent to draw up...

certain articles against the queen, so that she may be put on trial.

She could be put on trial.

And yet, I am fully resolved to spare her life.

Certainly.

Whatever Your Majesty desires.