The Actor, the Rebel and the Wrinkled Queen Read online

  The queen snorted. “You would lie to save your precious Master Shakespeare,” she said.

  “But…”

  “Don’t argue with me,” she went on fiercely. “There is only one way to make sure you are telling the truth.” She turned to her little minister. “Take him to the Tower. Let the torturers work on him. Screw his thumbs till they bleed and stretch him on the rack till he’s six feet tall!”

  Lord Cecil bowed low and turned to one of the guards.

  “Wait!” I said. “There was someone else there. A girl. The inn-keeper’s daughter. She’s not a friend of Master Shakespeare. She’ll tell the truth!”

  Lord Cecil looked at the queen. After a minute she said, “Send for her.”

  It took two hours for the queen’s guard to find Miranda and bring her to the palace. Two hours in which I had a hideous thought. I had saved myself from torture for a little while, but maybe they would torture Miranda instead…

  Chapter Seven

  The Willing Witness

  Miranda came into the queen’s great hall, dropped a curtsey and looked down at me with a frown. I didn’t dare meet her stare.

  Suddenly Queen Elizabeth rose from the throne and hobbled towards Miranda. “Don’t be afraid, girl,” she said and her voice was suddenly sweet.

  “I’m not afraid, Your Majesty. Just curious,” Miranda said pertly.

  “Ah! A brave-hearted lass. I like that.”

  The queen did something I didn’t expect. She smiled.

  Lord Cecil put questions to Miranda and she answered them quickly.

  “And do you think Master Shakespeare knew this was part of the plot?”

  “Oh no!” Miranda smiled. “He only did it for the money – forty shillings.”

  Lord Cecil looked at the queen. “Shall I have the girl tortured now, Your Majesty?” he asked.

  Miranda gasped. “Tortured?” She glared at me and I knew she’d never forgive me now she saw the danger I had led her into. “Why?”

  But Queen Elizabeth snapped, “Don’t be foolish, Dwarf! The girl is clearly a truthful child.”

  Lord Cecil shrugged his shoulders. “I thought the boy was truthful, but you wanted him tortured. How can you tell the girl is not a liar?” he asked.

  The queen placed a wrinkled hand on Miranda’s head. “Because she is just like I was when I was her age.” The queen patted her frizzy, orange wig, then patted Miranda’s head. “The girl has red hair, just like me! We red-haired girls are the bravest and the best people in the whole world. Isn’t that so, Miranda?”

  Miranda grinned. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  I think my mouth must have fallen open with surprise.

  The queen ordered Miranda, “Take this boy back to your tavern and look after him, child. Keep him out of trouble – keep him out of my torture rooms!” she cackled.

  “I’ll try, Your Majesty,” Miranda promised as I blushed as red as Elizabeth’s wig.

  “After all,” the queen sighed. “He is just a young man, and we know what men are like.”

  “Hopeless,” Miranda said with a shake of her head. She tossed her head at me. “Well, boy? I’d better get you back to The Black Bull and start looking after you!”

  I followed her to the door. I stopped a moment. I looked back. The queen and Lord Cecil were laughing.

  “What is it, young man?” Queen Elizabeth asked.

  “Couldn’t I … wouldn’t you…?”

  “What?”

  “Wouldn’t you … rather send me back to prison?” I groaned.

  I felt a sharp tug on my sleeve as I was dragged away from a red-haired queen by a red-haired girl.

  Afterword

  The Essex Rebellion

  The Actor, the Rebel and the Wrinkled Queen is a story based on real people and events in Tudor times.

  The Earl of Essex was a wild young man but old Queen Elizabeth was very fond of him. She called him her ‘Wild Horse’.

  The earl was known as the ‘most popular man in England’. As Elizabeth grew old and feeble he decided to see if he was popular enough to be chosen as the ruler of England.

  First, he had to capture Elizabeth. He gathered the two hundred plotters together and rode into London on 8 February 1601. He had made a huge mistake. The people of London were poor and hungry and unhappy with the queen’s rule. But they weren’t traitors. They refused to join Essex. He was arrested without much of a fight.

  On 25 February he was beheaded.

  The play, Richard II, was performed as a signal for the rebellion to begin. Queen Elizabeth was furious that William Shakespeare had acted the play at The Globe theatre and she had him arrested with his actors. The question was, did Shakespeare know the show was part of a plot? Or did he just perform it for the money? In time, the queen released Shakespeare – she seemed to believe he was not to blame.

  But was he? What is the truth? What happened when the Earl of Essex met Shakespeare to ask him to perform? We will never know.

  Elizabeth did give Shakespeare and the actors a small punishment for their crime. She said they had to perform a play for her free of charge. Shakespeare agreed. The queen wanted to know she was not afraid of plots. So what play did she make them perform?

  Richard II … of course!