Intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines of the House of Mecklenburg. Part IV.

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Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Congress of Vienna, Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Frederick William III of Prussia, German Empire, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Intermarriage, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

In 1695, the Mecklenburg-Güstrow branch of the House of Mecklenburg became extinct with the death of Duke Gustaf-Adolph of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

After more than five years of dispute over succession to the House of Mecklenburg, the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was established in 1701 in the territory of the former duchy of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. With the death of Duke Gustaf-Adolph in 1695, Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Schwerin claimed heirship, a move which his uncle, Prince Adolf-Friedrich strongly opposed. Adolf-Friedrich, was the husband of Marie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, the daughter of Duke Gustaf-Adolph, strengthening his claim to the territory. The emissaries of the Lower Saxon Circle finally negotiated a compromise on March 8, 1701.

Adolf-Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

The agreement they reached created the final, definitive division of Mecklenburg and was sealed with the 1701 Treaty of Hamburg. Section 2 of the treaty established Mecklenburg-Strelitz as a duchy in its own right and assigned it to Adolf-Friedrich (Duke Adolf-Friedrich II) together with the Principality of Ratzeburg on the western border of Mecklenburg south of Lübeck, the Herrschaft Stargard in the southeast of Mecklenburg, with the cities of Neubrandenburg, Friedland, Woldegk, Strelitz, Burg Stargard, Fürstenberg/Havel and Wesenberg, and the commandries of Mirow and Nemerow.

At the same time the principle of primogeniture was reasserted, and the right to summon the joint Landtag was reserved to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The 1701 provisions were maintained with minor changes until the end of the monarchy. Both parties continued to call themselves Dukes of Mecklenburg; Adolf-Friedrich II took his residence at Strelitz. Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Adolf-Friedrich II (October 19, 1658 – May 12, 1708), was born in Grabow as the posthumous son of Duke Adolf-Friedrich I of Mecklenburg and his second wife, Maria Katharina of Brunswick-Dannenberg (1616–1665).

In 1684 Adolf-Friedrich II married firstly to his cousin Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. They had five children:
* Adolf-Friedrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1686 – 1752).
* Duchess Magdalena Amalia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1689 – 1689).
* Duchess Maria of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born and died August 1690).
* Duchess Eleonore Wilhelmina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born and died, July 1691)
* Duchess Gustave Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1694 – 1748) she married Christian Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

On June 20, 1702, Adolf-Friedrich II married secondly to Princess Johanna of Saxe-Gotha (1680 – 1704), a daughter of Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, and Magdalena-Sybille of Saxe-Weissenfels. There were no children from this marriage.

On June 11, 1705 at Neustrelitz, Adolf-Friedrich II married thirdly to Princess Christiane Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, a daughter of Christian-Wilhelm I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Countess Antonie-Sybille of Barby-Mühlingen (1641–1684).

They had two children:
* Duchess Sophia Christina Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1706 – 1708).
* Duke Charles I Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1708 – 1752), Prince of Mirow.

Through his granddaughter Charlotte, Adolf-Friedrich II is the ancestor of every British monarch beginning with George IV, who ascended the throne of the United Kingdom in 1820.

The Strelitz duchy remained one of the most backward regions of the Empire. Nevertheless, its princesses achieved prominent marriages: Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, sister of Duke Adolf-Friedrich IV, married King George III of Great Britain in 1761, thus becoming queen consort of Great Britain.

Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Great Britain

Her niece Princess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, daughter of Duke Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, married Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia in 1793 and became queen consort of Prussia in 1797. Her other niece, Louise’s sister, Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz married in 1815 Prince Ernst-Agust, Duke of Cumberland, who, in 1837, became King of Hanover, making her queen consort of Hanover.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia

Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz adopted the constitution of the sister duchy in September 1755. In 1806 it was spared the infliction of a French occupation through the good offices of the king of Bavaria. In 1808 its duke, Charles (d. 1816), joined the Confederation of the Rhine, but in 1813 he withdrew from it. The Congress of Vienna recognized both Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Mecklenburg-Schwerin as Grand Duchies and members of the German Confederation. In 1871 Both Grand Duchies became part of the German Empire.

Following the 1918 suicide of Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, (this occurred prior to the abolition of the monarchy) Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin took up the regency of Strelitz. This happened because the heir presumptive Duke Charles-Michael was serving in the Russian Army at the time and had indicated that he wished to renounce his succession rights. Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV abdicated the grand ducal throne on November 14, 1918 following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I; the regency ended at the same time.

After his abdication, he was initially not allowed to live in Mecklenburg and had to move to Denmark. A year later, he was permitted to return. He recovered some of his former properties and occupied some of his former homes. Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV died on November 17, 1945 in Flensburg after being arrested by No6 RAF Security section on November 9, 1945. He was succeeded as head of the grand ducal house by his son Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz V.

In May 1931 against the will of his father, Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz of Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined the SS and by 1936 he had been promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer (Captain).

He was posted to Denmark during World War II where he worked at the German embassy as a personal aide to Werner Best. He spent the summer months of 1944 serving with the Waffen-SS tank corps.

In May 1943, a family council was called by the Grand Ducal family and Friedrich Franz was passed over as heir in favour of his younger brother Duke Christian-Ludwig (III), who would instead inherit the family property.

On July 5, 1954 in Glücksburg, Christian-Ludwig married in a civil wedding Princess Barbara of Prussia, daughter of Prince Sigismund of Prussia and Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg. They married in a religious ceremony on 11 July 1954. They had two daughters. Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

With the extinction of Schwerin branch, with the death of Christian-Ludwig (III), Mecklenburg-Strelitz is now the only surviving branch of the Grand Ducal house in the male line. The current head of this house is Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg. His grandfather was Count Georg of Carlow, the morganatic son of Duke George Alexander of Mecklenburg (1859–1909).

Duke Georg (II) was adopted in 1928 by his uncle Duke Charles-Michael of Mecklenburg, the head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He then assumed the title and style of “His Serene Highness The Duke of Mecklenburg”, which was confirmed by the head of the Imperial House of Russia, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich on July 18, 1929 and recognized on December 23, by Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He succeeded his uncle as head of the house on December 6, 1934 and was granted the style of Highness on 18 December 18, 1950.

In addition to Duke Borwin, the current members of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz are his wife Duchess Alice (née Wagner; born 1959); their children Duchess Olga (born 1988), the Dukes Alexander (born 1991) and Michael (born 1994); and his sisters, the Duchesses Elisabeth -Christine (born 1947), Marie Catherine (born 1949) and Irene (born 1952).

The lines of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow did briefly intermarry. Once the establishment of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz the only intermarriages of the Strelitz line had was with the Mecklenburg-Güstrow line was in the beginning in 1684 when Adolf-Friedrich II married Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – January 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

The singular marriage between the Schwerin line and the Strelitz line was when Duchess Gustave-Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1694 – 1748), daughter of Adolf-Friedrich II and Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow – married Christian-Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

After that there was no intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines.

Intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines of the House of Mecklenburg. Part III.

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Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Christian Louis I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire, House of Mecklenburg, Intermarriage, Johann-Albert II, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz

As mentioned in the first post of this series, Adolf-Friedrich I ruled in Mecklenburg-Schwerin and it was his brother Johann-Albert II, who ruled as Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (May 5, 1590 – April 23, 1636).

From 1608 to 1611, Johann-Albert II was the nominal ruler of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; the actual ruler being the regent, his great-uncle Charles I. From 1611 to 1621 Johann-Albert II and his brother Adolf-Friedrich I jointly ruled the whole Duchy of Mecklenburg. From 1621, John Albert ruled Mecklenburg-Güstrow alone.

Johann-Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

Mecklenburg-Güstrow was created for a third and final time with the partition of 1621, when Johann-Albert II received the Güstrow part of Mecklenburg.

(I) Johann-Albert II was married three times. His first marriage on October 9, 1608 was to his cousin Margaret-Elisabeth of Mecklenburg, daughter of Duke Christopher of Mecklenburg. The couple had the following children:

* Hans-Georg (1610-1660)
* Johann-Christopher (1611–1612)
* Elisabeth-Sophie (1613 – 1676) married Duke August II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
* Christine-Margaret (1615 – 1666)
married firstly on February 11, 1640 Franz-Albert of Saxe-Lauenburg, son of Franz II of Saxe-Lauenburg. Christine-Margaret married secondly, on July 6, 1650 her cousin Duke Christian-Ludwig I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They divorced in 1663.
* Charles-Heinrich (1616–1618)

(II) On March 26, 1618, Johann-Albert II married Elizabeth of Hesse-Cassel (1596 – 1625), daughter of Landgrave Mauritz of Hesse-Cassel. This marriage remained childless.

(III) Johann-Albert II married his third wife, Eleonore-Marie of Anhalt-Bernburg (1600 – 1657), daughter of Prince Christian I of Anhalt-Bernburg, on May 7, 1626. The couple had the following children:

* Anna Sophie (1628 – 1666)
married Duke Ludwig IV of Legnica
* John Christian (1629–1631)
* Eleanor (1630–1631)
* Gustaf-Adolph (1633–1695)
* Louise (20 May 1635 – 6 January 1648)

Johann-Albert II died in 1636 and was buried in the Minster in Güstrow. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Gustaf-Adolph, by his third wife, Eleonore-Marie of Anhalt-Bernburg.

Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (February 26, 1633 – October 6, 1695) was the last ruler of Mecklenburg-Güstrow from 1636 until his death and last Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg from 1636 to 1648.

A minor upon his father’s death in 1636, his uncle Duke Adolf-Friedrich I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at first became regent at Güstrow, fiercely opposed by Gustaf-Adolph’s mother. In 1654 he came of age and married Magdalene-Sibylle, a daughter of Duke Friedrich III of Holstein-Gottorp (1597-1659) and his wife Marie-Elisabeth of Saxony (1610-1684).

Magdalene-Sibylle of Holstein-Gottorp

Their marriage produced eleven children:
* Johann, Hereditary Prince of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1655 –1660).
* Eleonore (1657 – 1672).
* Marie (1659 – 1701), married on September 23, 1684 to Duke Adolf-Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
* Magdalene (1660 – 1702).
* Sophie (1662 – 1738), married on December 6, 1700 to Duke Christian-Ulrich I of Württemberg-Oels.
* Christine (1663 – 1749), married on May 4, 1683 to Ludwig-Christian, Count of Stolberg-Gedern.
* Charles, Hereditary Prince of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1664 – 1688), married on August 10, 1687 to Marie-Amalie of Brandenburg-Prussia, a daughter of daughter of the “Great Elector” Friedrich-Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Prussia from his second marriage with Sophia-Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, daughter of Duke Philipp of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

* Hedwig (1666 – 1735), married on December 1, 1686 to Duke August of Saxe-Merseburg-Zörbig.
* Louise (1667 – 1721), married on December 5, 1696 to King Frederik IV of Denmark and Norway.
* Elisabeth (1668 – 1738), married on March 29, 1692 to Duke Heinrich of Saxe-Merseburg-Spremberg.
* Augusta (27 December 1674 – 19 May 1756).

Hereditary Prince Charles, of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

The death of the only surviving son, the Hereditary Prince Charles, in 1688 at the age of 23, caused a succession crisis in Mecklenburg-Güstrow. Gustaf-Adolph’s daughter Marie married her cousin Adolf-Friedrich II of Mecklenburg, who after the death of his father-in-law claimed the Güstrow heritage, but could not prevail against the ruling duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Christian-Ludwig I. A younger daughter, Louise in 1695 married the Danish and Norwegian Crown Prince and in 1699 became queen consort of Denmark when her husband succeeded to the throne as King Frederik IV.

Gustaf-Adolph died in Güstrow at the age of 62. The subsequent inheritance conflict within the House of Mecklenburg was settled by the establishment of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1701.

Intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines of the House of Mecklenburg. Part II.

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Charles Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Christian Louis I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Czar Ivan V of Russia, Frederick William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Holy Roman Empire, Pope Alexander VII

Christian-Ludwig I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was initially born with just the name Christian. He inherited Mecklenburg-Schwerin when his father Duke Adolf-Friedrich I died on February 27, 1658. In 1660, Christian built a Lustschloss near the Ratzeburg Minster. He travelled to Paris in 1662, to the court of Louis XIV. On 29 September 1663, he converted to the Catholic faith. The next day, his godfather Louis XIV gave him the second name Louis (German: Ludwig). Later, however, he often signed only with Christian.

Christian-Ludwig I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Christian-Ludwig I married twice. His first wife was his cousin Christine-Margaret of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1615 – 1666), the second daughter of Duke Johann-Albert II of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. She was the widow of Duke Franz-Albert of Saxe-Lauenburg, whom she had married on February 21, February 1640.

Franz-Albert had died on June 10, 1642 from wounds he had received in the battle of Świdnica. Christine-Margaret married Christian-Ludwig I on July 6, 1650 in Hamburg. However, on October 16, 1660, a divorce was pronounced by an ecclesiastical court composed specifically for this case by Christian-Ludwig I. Christine-Margaret never recognized the divorce. It was, however, declared valid by a committee of ten professors of canon law of the University of Paris the Sorbonne. The divorce was confirmed by Pope Alexander VII on October 3, 1663.

His second wife was Elisabeth-Angelique de Montmorency, Duchesse de Coligny, (b. 1626). She was the widow Gaspard IV de Coligny, the son of Gaspard III de Coligny. Her first husband had died at Charenton-le-Pont on February 6, 1649 during the Fronde. The exact date of Elisabeth-Angelique’s wedding to Christian-Ludwig I is not known with certainty, but it was probably on March 3, 1664. She died on January 23 or 24 1695 in Paris.

Both marriages were childless. When Christian-Ludwig I died, he was succeeded by his nephew Friedrich-Wilhelm, the eldest son of Christian-Ludwig I’s brother Duke Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Grabow and his wife Christine of Hesse-Homburg.

After the extinction of the Mecklenburg-Güstrow line of the dynasty with the death of Duke Gustaf-Adolf in 1695, Friedrich-Wilhelm became embroiled in a violent succession dispute with his uncle Adolf-Friedrich that escalated quickly. It brought the country to the brink of civil war and was settled only through the intervention of foreign powers. The king of Denmark and Norway, Frederik IV, gave up the inheritance request for the Mecklenburg-Güstrow principality in exchange for the Duke’s support for Denmark-Norway in the Great Northern War.

Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm married Sophie-Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel on January 2, 1704 in Cassel. She was one of seventeen children of Count Charles I of Hesse-Cassel and his wife Maria Amalia of Courland (1653–1711), the daughter of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland. The couple had no children. Friedrich-Wilhelm had numerous mistresses, with whom he had at least nine children.

Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm was succeeded by his brother, Charles-Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1713, (November 16, 1678 – November 28, 1747) was Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1713 to 1747.

Charles-Leopold was the second son of Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Grabow, and his wife Christine von Hessen-Homburg (1653–1722).Charles-Leopold married three times. His first wife was Sophia-Hedwig of Nassau-Dietz (1690–1734), daughter of Heinrich-Casimir II, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, and his wife Henriëtte-Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau. They married on May 12, 1709 in Leeuwarden and divorced in 1710. There were no children from this marriage.

Charles-Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

His second wife was Christine von Lepel (1692–1728), daughter of Nicolaus-Friedrich von Lepel and his wife Leveka von Plessen. They married on June 7, 1710 at Doberau and divorced on October 2, 1711. There were no children from this marriage, either.

His third wife was the Grand Duchess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia, daughter of Czar Ivan V of Russia and his wife Praskovia Saltykova. They married on April 19, 1716 in Danzig. There was one daughter born of this marriage, the Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna of Russia. She married Duke Anthon-Ulrich of Brunswick and had 5 children. She served as Regent of Russia for her son Ivan VI from 1740 to 1741.

Charles-Leopold was succeeded by his younger brother Christian Ludwig II of Mecklenburg (May 15, 1683 – May 30, 1756) and he was the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1747 to 1756.

Christian-Ludwig II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Christian-Ludwig II married his cousin Duchess Gustave-Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1694 – 1748) was the the fourth daughter of Adolf-Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolf, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

Gustave-Caroline was also a younger sister of Adolf-Friedrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Through her father’s third marriage, she was an aunt of Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom, wife of King George III.

Up next: The extinction of the Mecklenburg-Güstrow line and the creation of the aforementioned succession crisis.

Intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines of the House of Mecklenburg. Part I.

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Adolf-Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Christian IV of Denmark, Duke of Mecklenburg, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Johann VII of Mecklenburg, Johann-Albert II of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, Thirty Years War

From the Emperor’s Desk: In response to the post on the Birth of Adolph-Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, I was asked if the Schwerin and Strelitz line of the House of Mecklenburg intermarried. So starting with today’s post I will examine this question in a short series. Today we begin with some back ground information.

Like many German territories, Mecklenburg was sometimes partitioned and re-partitioned among different members of the ruling dynasty. In 1621 Mecklenburg was divided into the two duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

Prior to the Duchy being divided in 1621 Mecklenburg was ruled by Johann VII of Mecklenburg (March 7, 1558 – March 22, 1592) (sometimes called Johann V, that will take another post to explain). Johann VII was the son of Johann-Albert I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Schwerin (1525–1576), and his wife Duchess Anna Sophia of Prussia (1527–1591). Johann was eighteen years old when his father died and he succeeded as the Duke of Mecklenburg. A regency council was appointed that ruled in his name for the next nine years.

The regency handed over the actual rule of his territories to him in 1585. He immediately faced problems that he was ill-equipped to deal with, including massive debt and his uncle Christopher’s demands for territorial concessions. After an especially harsh argument with his uncle, he committed suicide.

Johann VII, Duke of Mecklenburg.

On February 17, 1588 Johann married Sophia (1569 – 1634), a daughter of Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and his wife Christine of Hesse. They had three children:
* Adolf Frederick I (1588 – 1658). Through Adolf-Friedrich I would spring both the Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz lines of the family.
* Johann-Albert II (1590 – 1636). From Johann-Albert II came the short lived Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow line.
* Anna Sophia (1591 – 1648)

Johann-Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

After the suicide of Duke Johann VII, Adolf-Friedrich I and his brother Johann-Albert II reigned jointly under the guardianship of Duke Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Charles I of Mecklenburg (their father’s uncles). The two brothers took over governance of Mecklenburg-Schwerin beginning on April 16, 1608, after the death of Duke Ulrich III and after the death of Duke Charles I on July 22, 1610 they also governed in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

Division of Mecklenburg and Thirty Years’ War

In 1621 the Duchy of Mecklenburg was formally divided between the two brothers, with Adolf-Friedrich I ruling in Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Johann-Albert II ruling in Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

Adolf-Friedrich I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

During the Thirty Years’ War, Albrecht von Wallenstein ousted both of the dukes after they secretly sided with King Christian IV of Denmark against Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. Wallenstein ruled the duchies from 1627 until 1631, when the dukes were restored by the Swedes under King Gustaf II Adolph. In 1634 Adolf-Friedrich I succeeded Ulrik of Denmark as last Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin before its secularisation.

Duke Adolf-Friedrich I died on February 27, 1658 (aged 69) and his eldest son, Christian-Ludwig I, (December 1, 1623 in Schwerin – June 21, 1692 in The Hague) became the reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Christian-Ludwig I’s mother was Anna-Maria (1601–1634), the daughter of Count Enno III of East Frisia.

The next post will examine the descendants of Duke Adolf-Friedrich I and the Mecklenburg-Schwerin family line.

The post after that will focus on Johann-Albert II of Mecklenburg-Güstrow which lead to further division of the Duchy.

July 25, 1846: Baptism of Princess Helena of the United Kingdom.

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Baptism, Buckingham Palace, Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, Private Chapel, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

Princess Helena of the United Kingdom (Helena Augusta Victoria; May 24, 1846 – June 9, 1923) was the third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

As the daughter of the sovereign, Helena was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Helena from birth. Helena was baptised on July 25, 1846 at the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. Her godparents were the Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (the husband of Queen’s cousin); Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Duchess of Orléans (for whom the Queen’s mother the Duchess of Kent stood proxy); and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, the Duchess of Cambridge (the Queen’s aunt).

Helena was educated by private tutors chosen by her father and his close friend and adviser, Baron Stockmar. Her childhood was spent with her parents, travelling between a variety of royal residences in Britain. The intimate atmosphere of the royal court came to an end on December 14, 1861, when her father died and her mother entered a period of intense mourning.

Princess Helena of the United Kingdom

Afterwards, in the early 1860s, Helena began a flirtation with Prince Albert’s German librarian, Carl Ruland. Although the nature of the relationship is largely unknown, Helena’s romantic letters to Ruland survive. After the Queen found out in 1863, she dismissed Ruland, who returned to his native Germany. Three years later, on July 5, 1866, Helena married the impoverished Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein.

The couple remained in Britain, in calling distance of the Queen, who liked to have her daughters nearby. Helena, along with her youngest sister, Princess Beatrice, became the Queen’s unofficial secretary. However, after Queen Victoria’s death on January 22, 1901, Helena saw relatively little of her surviving siblings, including King Edward VII.

Prince and Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein

Helena was the most active member of the royal family, carrying out an extensive programme of royal engagements. She was also an active patron of charities, and was one of the founding members of the British Red Cross. She was founding president of the Royal School of Needlework, and president of the Workhouse Infirmary Nursing Association and the Royal British Nurses’ Association.

As president of the latter, she was a strong supporter of nurse registration against the advice of Florence Nightingale. In 1916 she became the first member of her family to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary, but her husband died a year later. Helena outlived him by six years, and died aged 77 at Schomberg House on June 9, 1923.

July 25, 1547: Henri II of France is crowned.

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Diane de Poitiers, Elisabeth of Valois, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, House of Valois, Italian Wars, Jousting, King Felipe II of Spain, King Henri II of France, Mary I of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots, Royal Mistress

Henri II (March 31, 1519 – July 10, 1559) was King of France from March 31, 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of François I, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder brother François III, Duke of Brittany, in 1536.

Henri was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of King François I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany (daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany, and a second cousin of her husband).

King François I of France

His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and held prisoner in Spain. To obtain his release, it was agreed that Henri and his older brother, François III, Duke of Brittany, be sent to Spain in his place. They remained in captivity for over four years.

On July 4, 1530 Henri’s father, King François I, married Archduchess Eleanor of Austria, the eldest child of Felipe I of Austria and Joanna of Castile, who would later become co-sovereigns of Castile. Her brother was Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Diane de Poitiers was born on January 9, 1500, in Château de Saint-Vallier, Drôme, France. Her parents were Jean de Poitiers, Seigneur de Saint Vallier, and Jeanne de Batarnay. Unusually athletic, Diane kept a fit figure by riding and swimming regularly. She became a keen sportswoman, remaining in good physical condition for her time.

Diane de Poitiers

On March 29, 1515, at the age of 15, Diane was married to Louis de Brézé, seigneur d’Anet, who was 39 years her senior. He was a grandson of King Charles VII by his mistress Agnès Sorel and served as a courtier to King François I. They had two daughters, Françoise (1518–1574) and Louise (1521–1577).

Shortly after her marriage, Diane became lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude of France. After the Queen died, she served in the same capacity to Louise of Savoy, the King’s mother.

After the capture of François I by Charles V’s troops during the battle of Pavia (1525), and as previously mentioned, the princes François and Henri were retained as hostages in Spain in exchange for their father. Because the ransom wasn’t paid in time, the two boys (eight and seven at the time) had to spend nearly four years isolated in a bleak castle, facing an uncertain future.

The experience may account for the strong impression that Diane made on Henri as the very embodiment of the ideal gentlewomen: as his mother was already dead, Diane gave him the farewell kiss when he was sent to Spain. At the tournament held for the coronation of Francis’s new wife, Eleanor of Austria, in 1531, Henri and his older brother were dressed as chevaliers, in which Henri wore Diane’s colors. At one point in the tournament François, the Dauphin of France saluted the new Queen as expected, Henri, on the other hand addressed his salute to Diane.

In 1533 Henri married Catherine de’ Medici, daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino and Madeleine de La Tour d’Auvergne., The bride and groom were both and at the age of fourteen, and the marriage was arranged by Catherine’s uncle Pope Clement VII.

Catherine de’ Medici

At the time of the marriage Henri’s elder brother was alive and there was little prospect of Henry coming to the throne. The following year, Henri became romantically involved with the thirty-five-year-old widow, Diane de Poitiers. Henri and Diane had always been very close: again as previously mentioned the young lady had fondly embraced Henri on the day he, as a 7-year-old child, set off to captivity in Spain, and the bond had been renewed after his return to France.

Extremely confident, mature and intelligent, Diane left Catherine powerless to intervene. Dianebdid, however, insist that Henri sleep with Catherine in order to produce heirs to the throne.

When his elder brother François III, the Dauphin and Duke of Brittany, died in 1536 after a game of tennis, Henri became heir apparent to the throne. He succeeded his father when King François I died on Henri’s 28th birthday and was crowned King of France on July 25, 1547 at Reims Cathedral.

Henri II, King of France

Incidentally, also in this date, July 25, 1554 – Queen Mary I of England marries Felipe II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral

Henri pursued his father’s policies in matters of art, war, and religion. He persevered in the Italian Wars against the House of Habsburg and tried to suppress the Protestant Reformation, even as the Huguenot numbers were increasing drastically in France during his reign.

The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559), which put an end to the Italian Wars, had mixed results: France renounced its claims to territories in Italy, but gained certain other territories, including the Pale of Calais and the Three Bishoprics. In addition, even if the Habsburgs maintained a position of primacy, France managed to change the European balance of power by forcing Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to abdicate during the Eighth Italian War and divide the Habsburg Empire between Spain and Austria.

After the abdication of Charles V in 1556, the Habsburg empire was split between Felipe II of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The focus of Henri’s conflict with the Habsburgs shifted to Flanders, where Felipe II, in conjunction with Duke Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, defeated the French at the Battle of St. Quentin (1557).

England’s entry into the war later that year led to the French capture of Calais, and French armies plundered Spanish possessions in the Low Countries. Henry was nonetheless forced to accept the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, in which he renounced any further claims to territories in Italy.

Mary I, Queen of Scots

Henri II raised the young Mary I, Queen of Scots, at his court, hoping to use her ultimately to establish a dynastic claim to Scotland. On April 24, 1558, Henri’s fourteen-year-old son, the Dauphin François, married Mary. Had there been a son of this union, he would have been King of France and King of Scotland, and also a claimant to the throne of England. Henri had Mary sign secret documents, illegal in Scottish law, that would ensure Valois rule in Scotland even if Mary died without leaving a child by Francis. (As it happened, Francis died without issue a year and half after his father, ending the French claim to Scotland.)

Henry II was an avid hunter and a participant in jousts and tournaments. On June 30, 1559, a tournament was held near Place des Vosges to celebrate the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis with his longtime enemies, the Habsburgs of Austria, and to celebrate the marriage of his daughter Elisabeth of Valois to King Felipe II of Spain.

Elisabeth of Valois

King Felipe II of Spain

During a jousting match, King Henri II, wearing the colors of his mistress Diane de Poitiers, was wounded in the eye by a fragment of the splintered lance of Gabriel Montgomery, captain of the King’s Scottish Guard. Despite the efforts of royal surgeon Ambroise Paré, the king died of sepsis on July 10, 1559. He was buried in a cadaver tomb in Saint Denis Basilica. Henry’s death played a significant role in the decline of jousting as a sport, particularly in France.

As Henri II lay dying, Queen Catherine limited access to his bedside and denied his mistress Diane de Poitiers permission to see him, even though he repeatedly asked for her. Following his death, Catherine sent Diane into exile, where she lived in comfort on her own properties until her death on April 25, 1566.

Henri II Awas succeeded by his sickly fifteen-year-old son, François II. François was married to sixteen-year-old Mary I, Queen of Scots, who had been his childhood friend and fiancée since her arrival at the French court when she was five.

François II died 18 months later in 1560, and Mary returned to Scotland the following summer. François II was succeeded by his ten-year-old brother Charles IX. His mother, Catherine de Medici, acted as Regent.

July 24, 1567: Abdication of Queen Mary I of Scotland

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4th Earl of Bothwell, Abdication, Francis II of France, Henry Stewart, James Hepburn, James Stewart, King James VI of Scotland, Lord Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots, Mary Stewart, Queen Mary I of Scotland, The 1st Earl of Moray

Queen Mary I of Scotland (December 8, 1542 – February 8, 1587), reigned over Scotland from December 14, 1542 to July 24, 1567.

Mary, the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland, was six days old when her father died and she acceded to the throne. She spent most of her childhood in France while Scotland was ruled by regents, and in 1558, she married the Dauphin of France, François. Mary was queen consort of France from the accession of her husband as King François II of France in 1559 until his death in December 1560. Widowed, Mary returned to Scotland, arriving in Leith on August 19, 1561. Four years later, she married her half-cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and in June 1566 they had a son, James.

Mary I, Queen of Scotland

In February 1567, Darnley’s residence was destroyed by an explosion, and he was found murdered in the garden. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was generally believed to have orchestrated Darnley’s death, but he was acquitted of the charge in April 1567.

Between April 21 and 23, 1567, Mary visited her son at Stirling for the last time. On her way back to Edinburgh on April 24, Mary was abducted, willingly or not, by Lord Bothwell and his men and taken to Dunbar Castle, where Bothwell may have raped her. On May 6, Mary and Bothwell returned to Edinburgh. On May 15, at either Holyrood Palace or Holyrood Abbey, they were married according to Protestant rites. Bothwell and his first wife, Jean Gordon, who was the sister of Lord Huntly, had divorced twelve days previously.

Queen Mary I and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

Originally, Mary believed that many nobles supported her marriage, but relations quickly soured between the newly elevated Bothwell (created Duke of Orkney) and his former peers and the marriage proved to be deeply unpopular.

Catholics considered the marriage unlawful, since they did not recognise Bothwell’s divorce or the validity of the Protestant marriage service. Both Protestants and Catholics were shocked that Mary should marry the man accused of murdering her husband. The marriage was tempestuous, and Mary became despondent.

Twenty-six Scottish peers, known as the confederate lords, turned against Mary and Bothwell and raised their own army. Mary and Bothwell confronted the lords at Carberry Hill on June 15, but there was no battle, as Mary’s forces dwindled away through desertion during negotiations. Bothwell was given safe passage from the field. The lords took Mary to Edinburgh, where crowds of spectators denounced her as an adulteress and murderer.

James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell

The following night, she was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle on an island in the middle of Loch Leven. Between July, 20 and 23 Mary miscarried twins. On July 24, she was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son James, who became King James VI of Scotland. Mary’s half-brother, James Stewart, The 1st Earl of Moray was made regent, while Bothwell was driven into exile. He was imprisoned in Denmark, became insane and died in 1578.

After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southward seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Mary had once claimed Elizabeth’s throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the Rising of the North. Perceiving Mary as a threat, Elizabeth had her confined in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England. After eighteen and a half years in custody, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586, and was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle.

July 22, 1848: Birth of Adolph-Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

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Adolf-Friedrich V of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Augusta of Cambridge, German Empire, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt, Wilhelm I of Germany, World War I

Adolph-Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (July 22, 1848 – June 11, 1914) was reigning grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1904 to 1914.

Biography

His Highness Prince Adolph Friedrich August Victor Ernst Adalbert Gustavus Wilhelm Wellington of Mecklenburg was born in Neustrelitz, the only surviving child of Friedrich-Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, and Princess Augusta of Cambridge.

Adolph-Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Following the death of his grandfather Grand Duke Georg on 6 September 6, 1860, Adolph-Friedrich became the heir apparent to the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz with the title of Hereditary Grand Duke and the style, His Royal Highness.

Adolph-Friedrich took part in the Franco-Prussian war and represented his father at the crowning of King Wilhelm I of Prussia as German Emperor at Versailles.

His father, Friedrich-Wilhelm was a large land owner with more than half of the entire grand duchy was his personal property. Adolph-Friedrich succeeded his father as grand duke on May 30, 1904.

Friedrich-Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Father)

Princess Augusta of Cambridge (Mother)

His mother, Grand Duchess Augusta, was disgusted at her son’s military ways. She wrote to her niece, Mary of Teck, “Strelitz that was never a Military State, suddenly is all drums and fifes, … such a pity, a bad imitation of (Mecklenburgh) Schwerin & small German Courts, whilst we were a Gentlemanlike Civilian court!”

In 1907 Grand Duke Adolph-Friedrich V announced that he would grant Mecklenburg-Strelitz a constitution, but this was met with opposition from nobles. In his attempt to create a constitution he offered to pay $2,500,000 to the national treasury if the nobles and land-owning classes dropped their opposition. In 1912 he repeated attempts to create a constitution for Mecklenburg-Strelitz, which along with Mecklenburg-Schwerin were the only European states without one.

In January 1914, Adolf-Friedrich was reported to be the second richest person in Germany after the Emperor William II with a fortune of $88,750,000.

Marriage and children

Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt

Adolph-Friedrich was married on April 17, 1877 in Dessau to Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt. She was born Princess Elisabeth Marie Frederica Amelia Agnes in Wörlitz, the third child of Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg. Her nickname in the family was “Elly”.

His mother commented on his wife, “She welters in happiness at her luxurious “Schloss” wearing a new Paris dress daily, Diamonds, also, when we are quite entre nous – Yes, she does enjoy being a Grand Duchess! poor dear, I am glad she does, for I never did.”

Adolph-Friedrich and Elisabeth had four children:

* Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg (1878–1948) married June 23, 1899 and divorced December 31, 1908 Count George Jametel (1859–1944), married secondly on August 11, 1914 Prince Julius Ernst of Lippe (1873–1952)
* Duchess Jutta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1880–1946) married Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro
* Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1882–1918)
* Duke Karl Borwin of Mecklenburg (Karl Borwin Christian Alexander Arthur, Herzog von Mecklenburg-Strelitz; October 10, 1888 – August 24, 1908); killed in a duel with his brother-in-law Count George Jametel, defending his sister’s honor.

Adolph-Friedrich VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Grand Duke Adolph-Friedrich V died in Berlin on June 11, 1914, aged aged 65; two weeks before the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand of Austria, whose death would drag Grand Duke Adolph-Friedrich V‘s son and successor, Adolph-Friedrich VI, into World War I.

Was Lady Jane Grey a legitimate Queen of England and Ireland?

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Catherine of Aragon, Felipe II of Spain, King Henry VIII of England, Lady Jane Grey, Queen Mary I of England, Roman Catholic Church, Third Succession Act, Treason Act, Usurper, Wyatt’s Rebellion

When reading the lists of the Kings and Queens of England, Scotland, Great Britain or the United Kingdom, there can be discrepancies regarding the reign of Lady Jane Grey; some will list her as a legitimate Queen of England and some will not.

The question I am examining is whether or not Lady Jane Grey can be considered a legitimate Queen of England and Ireland or should she be considered a usurper? The issue at hand is there is no authoritative body to judge either the legitimacy or illegitimacy of Jane’s 9 day reign. Therefore it is open to interpretation and historians have been debating this for many, many years.

I am just another voice in this chorus of historians debating this issue. I will state my case in this post to why I don’t believe that Jane Grey was the legal successor to King Edward VI.

Lady Jane Grey

My basic foundational premise is that England was and is a Kingdom ruled by laws and it is upon the interpretation of the laws and statutes in effect at the time of Edward VI’s death which forms my opinion on the legitimacy of Janes position as Queen.

When Edward VI died on July 6, 1553 at the age of 15 the Third Act of Succession was still the law of the land, and so was the 1547 Act of Treason. This means that both Mary and Elizabeth were still the legal heirs to their brother Edward.

The motive for Edward VI’s attempt at altering the succession was that the king’s death and the succession of his Catholic half-sister Mary would jeopardise the English Reformation, and Edward’s Council and officers had many reasons to fear it. Edward himself opposed Mary’s succession, not only on religious grounds but also on those of legitimacy and male inheritance, which also applied to his sister Elizabeth. Edward VI composed a draft document, headed “My devise for the succession”, in which he undertook to change the succession, most probably inspired by his father Henry VIII’s precedent. The provisions to alter the succession directly contravened Henry VIII’s Third Succession Act of 1543 and have been described as bizarre and illogical.

In early June of 1553 Edward VI personally supervised the drafting of a clean version of his devise (his Will altering the succession) by lawyers, to which he lent his signature “in six several places.” Then, on June 15, he summoned high ranking judges to his sickbed, commanding them on their allegiance “with sharp words and angry countenance” to prepare his devise as Letters Patent and announced that he would have these passed in Parliament.

However, before his Letters Patent could be passed by Parliament and receive the Royal assent, Edward died. Edward’s failure to have his Letters Patent passed by an Act of Parliament meant that The Treason Act, which made it high treason to change the line of succession to the throne, and the Third Act of Succession, we’re still the law of the land. Of course as king, Edward VI could have had both the Third Act of Succession and the Treason Act replaced with new laws, but since he died prior to accomplishing that requirement that means his sister Mary was the legal Queen per the terms of the Third Succession Act.

Let me restate what these two acts were. The Third Succession Act of King Henry VIII’s reign, passed by the Parliament of England in July 1543, returned his daughters Mary and Elizabeth to the line of the succession behind their half-brother Edward.

Edward VI, of England and Ireland

The Act was formally titled the Succession to the Crown Act 35 Hen. 8 c.1, and is also known as the Act of Succession 1543. The royal assent was given to this bill in the spring of 1544 at the conclusion of the 1543/1544 Parliament, but until 1793 acts were usually backdated to the beginning of the session of Parliament in which they were passed. (The Act is also often dated 1544.)

The Treason Act 1547 made it high treason to interrupt the line of succession to the throne established by the Act of Succession. Edward VI meant to bypass this Act in his “Devise for the Succession”, issued as Letters Patent on June 21, 1553, in which he named Lady Jane Grey as his successor. Prevailing over Lady Jane Grey, Mary ascended the throne under the terms of the Third Succession Act.

There is an interesting issue that the Third Act of Succession and the Treason Act 1547 did restore Mary and Elizabeth’s succession right but they did not restore their legitimacy.

The Third Succession Act superseded the First Succession Act (1533) and the Second Succession Act (1536), whose effects had been to declare bastards Henry’s daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and to remove them from succession to the throne. This new act returned both Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession behind Edward, any potential children of Edward, and any potential children of Henry by his then wife, Catherine Parr, or any future wife Henry might have.

Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland

With the 1536 Act, Mary and Elizabeth, who had both been declared illegitimate and incapable to inherit, expressly remained illegitimate in the 1543/44 Act; they were only capacitated to succeed to the Crown (with several provisos, such as they could not marry without the Privy Council’s approval). This meant that the place in the succession of Mary and Elizabeth remained doubtful. Henry’s actual will (1547) simply confirmed their position as outlined in the 1543/44 statute.

Therefore Mary and Elizabeth’s right to accede to the throne is accepted by most as fact, but actually, this could be disputed. Under English law at this time, only legitimate children could inherit the throne. Mary had been declared illegitimate by her father Henry VIII after he proclaimed his marriage to Mary’s mother, Katherine of Aragon, invalid. Likewise, Elizabeth Tudor, half-sister to Edward and Mary, had also been declared illegitimate after Henry VIII declared that his marriage to her mother, Anne Boleyn, had also been invalid.

However, this all seems like a moot point in 1553. For after Mary entered London and Jane was arrested, Parliament declared Mary the rightful successor and denounced and revoked Jane’s proclamation as Queen of England and labeled her position as that of a usurper. In my view this Act of Parliament along with the fact that Edward never legalized his Letters Patent through an Act of Parliament is enough reason to view Jane as not the legitimate successor to Edward VI but as a usurper…albeit a puppet or pawn of those using her.

Also the question of Mary’s legitimacy is another moot point as evidenced by her Spanish marriage.

At age 37, Mary turned her attention to finding a husband and producing an heir, which would prevent the Protestant Elizabeth (still next-in-line under the terms of Henry VIII’s will and the Act of Succession of 1544) from succeeding to the throne. Edward Courtenay and Reginald Pole were both mentioned as prospective suitors, but her cousin, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V suggested she marry his only son, Prince Felipe of Spain.

Felipe II, King of Spain

Lord Chancellor Gardiner and the House of Commons unsuccessfully petitioned her to consider marrying an Englishman, fearing that England would be relegated to a dependency of the Habsburgs. The marriage was unpopular with the English; Gardiner and his allies opposed it on the basis of patriotism, while Protestants were motivated by a fear of Catholicism. When Mary insisted on marrying Felipe, insurrections broke out. Thomas Wyatt the younger led a force from Kent to depose Mary in favour of Elizabeth, as part of a wider conspiracy now known as Wyatt’s rebellion, which also involved the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane. This rebellion sealed the fate of Lady Jane and her husband.

Mary declared publicly that she would summon Parliament to discuss the marriage, and if Parliament decided that the marriage was not to the advantage of the kingdom, she would refrain from pursuing it. After The Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Felipe of Spain or Queen Mary’s Marriage Act (1 Mar. Sess. 3 c. 2) was passed by the Parliament of England in April 1554, their wedding at Winchester Cathedral on July 25, 1554 took place just two days after their first meeting. Felipe could not speak English, and so they spoke in a mixture of Spanish, French, and Latin.

My point in stating the history of her marriage suggests that the Spanish Government, along with Emperor Charles V and Felipe of Spain, did not view her as illegitimate. Indeed, being a strongly Catholic country all involved would not have sanctioned such a union if Mary carried the taint of illegitimacy. Further, now enthroned as Queen this did place the Catholic Church back in power in England and according to the Church Mary was legitimate as the legal offspring of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon and never recognized their divorce and Mary being a bastard.

Jane Grey is seen as a tragic figure and she certainly was. “The traitor-heroine of the Reformation”, as historian Albert Pollard called her, was only 16 or 17 years old at the time of her execution. During and in the aftermath of the Marian persecutions, Jane became viewed as a Protestant martyr for centuries, featuring prominently in the several editions of the Book of Martyrs (Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Dayes) by John Foxe.

Incidentally, There is no proven contemporary portrait of Lady Jane Grey that survives.

July 20, 1031: Death of Robert II, King of the Franks.

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Bertha of Burgundy, Constance of Arles, Fulk III of Anjou, Hugh Capet, King of the Franks, Pope Sergius IV, Pope Sylvester II, Robert II, Robert II of France, Rollo of Normandy, William III of Aquitaine

Robert II (March 27, 972 – July 20, 1031), called the Pious or the Wise, was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second monarch from the House of Capet. He was born in Orléans to Hugh Capet, King of the Franks and Adelaide of Aquitaine, the daughter of Guillaume III, Duke of Aquitaine and Adele of Normandy, daughter of Rollo of Normandy.

Robert II distinguished himself with an extraordinarily long reign for the time. His 35-year-long reign was marked by his attempts to expand the royal domain by any means, especially by his long struggle to gain the Duchy of Burgundy. His policies earned him many enemies, including three of his sons. He was also known for his difficult marriages: he married three times, annulling two of these and attempting to annul the third, prevented only by the Pope’s refusal to accept a third annulment.

Robert II, King of the Franks

Immediately after the coronation of Hugh Capet, the new Frankish King began to push for the coronation of his son Robert as a co-ruler. “The essential means by which the early Capetians were seen to have kept the throne in their family was through the association of the eldest surviving son in the royalty during the father’s lifetime,” Andrew W. Lewis has observed, in tracing the phenomenon in this line of kings who lacked dynastic legitimacy.

Hugh’s claimed reason was that he was planning an expedition against the Moorish armies harassing Borrel II of Barcelona, an invasion which never occurred, and that the stability of the country necessitated a co-king, should he die while on expedition. Ralph Glaber, however, attributes Hugh’s request to his old age and inability to control the nobility.

Modern scholarship has largely imputed to Hugh the motive of establishing a dynasty against the claims of electoral power on the part of the aristocracy, but this is not the typical view of contemporaries and even some modern scholars have been less sceptical of Hugh’s “plan” to campaign in Spain. Robert was eventually crowned on December 25, 987. A measure of Hugh’s success is that when Hugh died in 996, Robert continued to reign without any succession dispute, but during his long reign actual royal power dissipated into the hands of the great territorial magnates.

Marital problems

As early as 989, having been rebuffed in his search for a Byzantine princess, Hugh Capet arranged for Robert to marry Rozala, the recently widowed daughter of Berengar II of Italy, many years his senior, who took the name of Susanna upon becoming queen. She was the widow of Arnulf II of Flanders, with whom she had two children.

Robert II divorced her within a year of his father’s death in 996. He then married Bertha, daughter of Conrad of Burgundy, around the time of his father’s death. She was a widow of Odo I of Blois, but was also Robert’s second cousin. For reasons of consanguinity, Pope Gregory V refused to sanction the marriage, and Robert was excommunicated. After long negotiations with Gregory’s successor, Pope Sylvester II, this marriage was annulled.

Finally, in 1001, Robert entered into his final and longest-lasting marriage—to Constance of Arles, the daughter of Guillaume I of Provence. Her southern customs and entourage were regarded with suspicion at court. After his companion Hugh of Beauvais, count palatine, urged the king to repudiate her as well, knights of her kinsman Fulk III, Count of Anjou had Beauvais murdered in 1008.

Coat of Arms of Robert II, King of the Franks

The king and Bertha then went to Rome to ask Pope Sergius IV for an annulment so they could remarry. After this was refused, he went back to Constance and fathered several children by her. Her ambition alienated the chroniclers of her day, who blamed her for several of the king’s decisions. Constance and Robert remained married until his death in 1031.

Piety

Robert II was a devout Catholic, hence his sobriquet “the Pious.” He was musically inclined, being a composer, chorister, and poet, and made his palace a place of religious seclusion where he conducted the matins and vespers in his royal robes. Robert’s reputation for piety also resulted from his lack of toleration for heretics, whom he harshly punished.

He is said to have advocated forced conversions of local Jewry. He supported riots against the Jews of Orléans who were accused of conspiring to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Furthermore, Robert reinstated the Roman imperial custom of burning heretics at the stake.

The kingdom Robert inherited was not large and, in an effort to increase his power, he vigorously pursued his claim to any feudal lands that became vacant, usually resulting in war with a counter-claimant. In 1003, his invasion of the Duchy of Burgundy was thwarted, and it would not be until 1016 that he was finally able to get the support of the Church to be recognized as Duke of Burgundy.

The pious Robert II made few friends and many enemies, including three of his own sons: Hugh, HenrI, and Robert. They turned against their father in a civil war over power and property. Hugh died in revolt in 1025. In a conflict with Henri and the younger Robert, King Robert II’s army was defeated, and he retreated to Beaugency outside Paris, his capital. Robert II died in the middle of the war with his sons on July 20, 1031 at Melun. He was interred with Constance in Saint Denis Basilica and succeeded by his son Henri, in both France and Burgundy.