Stephanie Levi-John: Lina de Cardonnes

The New World

Lina de Cardonnes

Prince Arthur: [letter, with his voice] My own darling, my dearest spouse, I feel a strong desire to embrace you. Your letters have delighted me and your passion rendered me so smitten. Let your coming to me be hastened, that the love between us reaps its joy and proper fruit. Your Highness, most loving spouse, Arthur.
Catherine of Aragon: Arthur.
Lina de Cardonnes: Highness?
Catherine of Aragon: Is it foolish to believe myself in love with a man whom I have never met?
Lina de Cardonnes: You love God, and you have never met him, either.
Catherine of Aragon: I hope God has not read my letters back to Arthur, or he would not think me so devout.
[Isabella comes]
Catherine of Aragon: Good morning, madre.
Queen Isabella: Good. You must always think in English now. We must continue to the coast to catch the tide. There is still a dangerous ride ahead.

Catherine of Aragon: Tell me, are you afraid?
Lina de Cardonnes: I have never been to sea.
Catherine of Aragon: It was God himself who sent me to England. No wind or rain will stop us. Did they not tell you that when they chose you as my lady?
Lina de Cardonnes: I was chosen when I was a girl. My father was Mauro de Cardonnes.
Catherine of Aragon: My mother's adviser on the Moorish issue.
[De Fuensalida comes]
Catherine of Aragon: Ambassador. Do you bring news of our landing?
De Fuensalida: We are blown a little way off-course.
Lina de Cardonnes: I will fetch you something for your stomach.

Oviedo: [performs prayer] Allahu Akbar.
Lina de Cardonnes: Get up. You shame the Infanta.
Oviedo: We are not in Spain.
Lina de Cardonnes: You are of her guard. You must serve her God.
Oviedo: I am loyal to the Princess. And my God is Allah. There is no contradiction.
[Lina almost falls, he grabs her]
Lina de Cardonnes: Get your hands off of me. You know who I am.
Oviedo: Yes.
Lina de Cardonnes: I will be a Lady of the English court. And you are just a soldier. Remember it.
Oviedo: My name... Oviedo, and I remember, my... lady.

Catherine of Aragon: Does it always rain this much in England, Duke Stafford?
Edward Stafford: It's Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and, no, it doesn't. Sometimes it hails or snows or floods. But the sun always comes out in the end. You know, you really should have landed at Southampton. We'll escort you to Dogmersfield, where the king's mother will now greet you. But your beauty does cheer the rainy day, as does your lady. What's your name, Spanish beauty?
Rosa: I am Rosa de Vargas, senor.
Catherine of Aragon: My ladies are to marry nobles of the court. They will be chosen by the prince and I for their piety.
Edward Stafford: For their piety.
[laughs]
Edward Stafford: Well, what a pity I have a wife already.
Catherine of Aragon: Prince Arthur wrote to me of chivalry and faith. I do not think that England lacks for piety.
Lina de Cardonnes: Stop looking at him, Rosa.
Rosa: I am looking at the English trees.

Lina de Cardonnes: Ah, bring the bath to the Infanta's room at once. These go to your kitchens to be stored where it is dry.
Margaret Beaufort: What is that? We don't need your kindling. We know how to build a fire in England.
Lina de Cardonnes: This is vanilla, my lady, for the Infanta's bath, and the mint, dried rose petals, marjoram oil, and...
Margaret Beaufort: Did you bring your own water, too?
Lina de Cardonnes: There is water here, no? The Infanta must bathe every day.
Margaret Beaufort: Every day? Nonsense. Once a week will serve her, just the same as everybody else.
Lina de Cardonnes: At the Alhambra, we have heated baths with hot running water. She already leaves all this behind.

Edward Stafford: My lady, if you'll excuse me, I'll see to it the soldiers are billeted in the stables?
[Margaret nods]
Lina de Cardonnes: The... the stables?
Margaret Beaufort: Where they will sleep.
Edward Stafford: [They go] Over there.
Lina de Cardonnes: Here? No. They are not animals.
Margaret Beaufort: It was good enough for our Lord.
Lina de Cardonnes: Is it good enough for you? These men are soldiers of Spain. They have fought beside Queen Isabella of Castile.
Margaret Beaufort: I have given my instructions.
Lina de Cardonnes: Does your prince wish for the smell of caca in his castle? These men were brought as a gift to him, part of the Infanta's dowry.

King Henry Tudor: Open the door! This is the king. Open the door.
Lina de Cardonnes: The Infanta, she is sleeping, Your Grace.
King Henry Tudor: Well, kindly ask her to rouse herself and let me in.
Catherine of Aragon: I will do no such thing.
Lina de Cardonnes: The Infanta has been brought up modestly, Your Grace.
King Henry Tudor: And willfully. Considering what has been done to get you here, you'll kindly pay us the courtesy of...
Catherine of Aragon: You speak of courtesy while you bang your fists upon my door.
King Henry Tudor: I swear by my crown, I will summon my soldiers to remove this bloody door and its hinges if you do not open it!
Catherine of Aragon: [Lina opens the door and Henry enters] This is not the way a king behaves. You do not have the right to force yourself into my rooms. It is a bad beginning, and I will write my mother of your disrespect.
King Henry Tudor: I merely wished to lay my eyes upon what we have waited half a year to see. Please, remove your veil.
Catherine of Aragon: I wear my veil until I am married.
King Henry Tudor: Here, our customs are different.
Catherine of Aragon: You sound afraid, Your Grace. Why would you be afraid? You fear I may be ugly? What difference would it make? I am here to make a treaty for my mother and my country, and you need me more than we need you.
[She removes her veil]
King Henry Tudor: Welcome. And now you will come and meet my son and perhaps you will allow him to lay his eyes upon you also.

Catherine of Aragon: He did not know of them, the letters. I was... I shared my heart and passion. I was intimate. Who is it I have written to?
Rosa: Uh, what is the seal?
Catherine of Aragon: Tudor rose.
Rosa: Will the noblemen who court us write love letters to us, too?
Catherine of Aragon: I imagined that I was in love. Was it all a trick?
Lina de Cardonnes: And the king said, "What was done to bring you here." What did he mean?