Bess Darrell

Thomas Wyatt's mistress

The story so far…

Week 34: Wreckage (II) (Part 1/2)

Bess Darrell asks him to come to the Pole house at L’Erber. He tells her he is sending her to the Courtenay house, as his spy. She reveals that she is not pregnant and perhaps never was. She shows him Margaret Pole’s sewing, the treasonous embroidery entwining the emblems of Lady Mary and the Poles.

Week 39: Vile Blood (Part 2/2)

He meets with Bess Darrell, who can provide no evidence against the Poles or Courtenays that would implicate them in rebellion. She wonders where Wyatt is but all he can say is ‘he does great deeds with his Kentish men’ against the rebels.

She darts a smile over her shoulder and melts into the darkness, as fleetly as she came. He rubs his fingers together, as if he had tried to catch at her linen and caught a spider’s web instead.

Week 45: Corpus Christi (Part 2/2) / Inheritance

Bess Darrell is questioned in the Tower along with Gertrude Courtenay’s other women. She provides evidence. Cromwell tells her she will go to Wyatt’s estate at Allington to await his return. She must ‘live and make no stir.’

She tells Cromwell that Exeter believes ‘the world will turn’ and Henry will turn. Cromwell says he will not, ‘and even if Henry does turn, I will not turn. I will make good my cause in my own person. I am not too old to take a sword in my hand.’

   'You would take arms against Henry?' She seems entertained, more than shocked.
   'I did not say that.'
   She looks down at her hands, wearing Wyatt's ring. 'Oh, I think you did.'