June 1, 1252: Alfonso X of Castile is Proclaimed King

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Andrew II of Hungary, Emperor Isaac II Angelos of the Byzantine Empire, Holy Roman Empire, James of Aragon, King Alfonso X of Castile, King of the Romans, Kingdom of Germany, Violant of Aragon, Violant of Hungary

From the Emperor’s Desk: Although Alfonso X succeeded to the thrones of Castile, León and Galicia on May 30, 1252, he was proclaimed as such on June 1, 1252.

Alfonso X (November 23, 1221 – April 4, 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from May 30, 1252 until his death in 1284.

Born in Toledo, Kingdom of Castile, Infante Alfonso was the eldest son of King Fernando III of Castile, Leon and Galicia and Princess Elisabeth (Beatrice) of Swabia, the fourth daughter of Philipp of Swabia, King of Germany/King of the Romans, and Irene Angelina, daughter of Emperor Isaac II Angelos of the Byzantine Empire. Elisabeth’s father was murdered on June 12, 1208, and her mother died from childbirth complications on August 27th. Elisabeth and her sisters were placed under the guardianship of their cousin, King Frederick Roger of Sicily, who arranged the marriage of Elisabeth and King Fernando III of Castile.

Alfonso’s mother was the paternal cousin of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II, to whom Alfonso is often compared. His maternal grandparents were Philipp of Swabia and Irene Angelina. Little is known about his upbringing, but he was most likely raised in Toledo. For the first nine years of his life Alfonso was only heir to Castile until his paternal grandfather king Alfonso IX of León died and his father united the kingdoms of Castile and León. He began his career as a soldier, under the command of his father, when he was only sixteen years old.

After the accession of King Theobald I of Navarre, Fernando III tried to arrange a marriage for Alfonso with Theobald’s daughter, Blanche, but the move was unsuccessful. At the same time, he had a romantic relationship with Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, who bore him a daughter, Beatrice.

In 1240, he married Mayor Guillén de Guzmán, but the marriage was later annulled and their issue declared illegitimate. In the same period (1240–1250) he conquered several Muslim strongholds in Al-Andalus alongside his father, such as Murcia, Alicante and Cadiz.

In 1249, Alfonso married Infanta Violant of Aragon, the daughter of King Jaime I of Aragon and Princess Yolande of Hungary, although betrothed already in 1246.

King Jaime I of Aragon was the only son of King Pedro II of Aragon and Marie of Montpellier. Princess Violant of Hungary was the only child of King Andrew II of Hungary and his second wife, Yolanda (Violant) of Courtenay.

Princess Violant of Hungary married King Jaime I of Aragon in 1235. King Jaime had already been married to Infanta Eleanor of Castile, but he had this marriage annulled on the basis of consanguinity in 1229. He and Eleanor had a son, Infante Alfonso, who was considered legitimate, but who died before Jaime.

Reign

Alfonso succeeded his father as King Alfonso X of Castile and León on May 30, 1252. The following year he invaded Portugal, capturing the region of the Algarve. King Afonso III of Portugal had to surrender, but he gained an agreement by which, after he consented to marry Alfonso X’s daughter Infanta Beatrice of Castile, the land would be returned to their heirs. In 1261 he captured Jerez. In 1263 he returned Algarve to the King of Portugal and signed the Treaty of Badajoz (1267).

In 1254 Alfonso X signed a treaty of alliance with King Henry III of England, supporting him in the war against King Louis IX of France. In the same year Alfonso’s half-sister, Infanta Eleanor, married Henry’s son Edward: with this act Alfonso renounced forever all claim to the Duchy of Gascony, to which Castile had been a pretender since the marriage of Alfonso VIII of Castile with Eleanor of England (second daughter of Henry II, King of England, and Eleanor of Aquitaine).

Imperial election

In 1256, at the death of Willem II of Holland, Alfonso’s descent from the Hohenstaufen through his mother, a daughter of Philipp of Swabia, gave him a claim to the Holy Roman Empire through the Hohenstaufen line. Alfonso’s election as German king (King of the Romans) by the prince-electors misled him into complicated schemes that involved excessive expense but never succeeded.

King Alfonso X never even traveled to the Holy Roman Empire, and his alliance with the Italian Ghibelline Lord Ezzelino IV da Romano deprived him of the initial support of Pope Alexander IV. His rival, Richard of Cornwall, went to the Holy Roman Empire and was Crowned King of the Romans in 1257 at Aachen. Richard of Cornwall was the second son of King John of England, and Isabella, Countess of Angoulême.

To obtain money, Alfonso debased the coinage and then endeavored to prevent a rise in prices by an arbitrary tariff. The little trade of his dominions was ruined, and the burghers and peasants were deeply offended. His nobles, whom he tried to cow by sporadic acts of violence, rebelled against him in 1272. Reconciliation was bought by Alfonso’s son Infante Fernando in 1273.

In the end, after Richard’s death, the German princes elected Rudolph I of Habsburg (1273), Alfonso being declared deposed by Pope Gregory X. In 1275 Alfonso tried to meet with his imperial vicar in Italy, William VII of Montferrat (who had succeeded Ezzelino) and his Ghibelline allies in Piedmont and Lombardy to celebrate the victory against the Guelph Charles I of Anjou and be crowned in Lombardy; he was however halted in his imperial ambitions in Provence by the Pope who, after a long negotiation, obtained Alfonso’s oral renunciation of any claims to the Holy Roman Empire.

King Alfonso X fostered the development of a cosmopolitan court that encouraged learning. Jews, Muslims, and Christians were encouraged to have prominent roles in his court. As a result of his encouraging the translation of works from Arabic and Latin into the vernacular of Castile, many intellectual changes took place, including the encouragement of the use of Castilian as a primary language of higher learning, science, and law.

Alfonso was a prolific author of Galician poetry, such as the Cantigas de Santa Maria, which are equally notable for their musical content as for their literary merit. Alfonso’s scientific interests—he is sometimes nicknamed the Astrologer (el Astrólogo)—led him to sponsor the creation of the Alfonsine tables, and the Alphonsus crater on the moon is named after him. He also sponsored the work of historians, who for the first time placed Spain—he would have called it that—in the context of world history.

As a lawmaker he introduced the first vernacular law code in Castile, the Siete Partidas. He created the Mesta, an association of sheep farmers in the central plain, but debased the coinage to finance his claim to the German crown. The end of his reign was marred by a civil war with his eldest surviving son, the future King Sancho IV, which continued after his death.

May 23, 1533: The Marriage of King Henry VIII and Infanta Catherine of Aragon is declared annulled

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Anne Boleyn, Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Wolsey, Carlos I of Spain, Catherine of Aragon, Emperor Charles V, King Francis I of France, King Henry VIII of England and Ireland, Pope Clement VII, Thomas Cranmer

During his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII conducted an affair with Mary Boleyn, Catherine’s lady-in-waiting. There has been speculation that Mary’s two children, Henry Carey and Catherine Carey, were fathered by Henry, but this has never been proved, and the king never acknowledged them as he did in the case of Henry FitzRoy. In 1525, as Henry grew more impatient with Catherine’s inability to produce the male heir he desired, he became enamoured of Mary Boleyn’s sister, Anne Boleyn, then a charismatic young woman of 25 in the queen’s entourage. Anne, however, resisted his attempts to seduce her, and refused to become his mistress as her sister had.

It was in this context that Henry considered his three options for finding a dynastic successor and hence resolving what came to be described at court as the king’s “great matter”. These options were legitimising Henry FitzRoy, which would need the involvement of the Pope Clement VII and would be open to challenge; marrying off Mary, his daughter with Catherine, as soon as possible and hoping for a grandson to inherit directly, but Mary was considered unlikely to conceive before Henry’s death, or somehow rejecting Catherine and marrying someone else of child-bearing age. Probably seeing the possibility of marrying Anne, the third was ultimately the most attractive possibility to the 34-year-old Henry, and it soon became the king’s absorbing desire to annul his marriage to the now 40-year-old Catherine.

Henry’s precise motivations and intentions over the coming years are not widely agreed on. Henry himself, at least in the early part of his reign, was a devout and well-informed Catholic to the extent that his 1521 publication Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (“Defence of the Seven Sacraments”) earned him the title of Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) from Pope Leo X. The work represented a staunch defence of papal supremacy, albeit one couched in somewhat contingent terms.

It is not clear exactly when Henry changed his mind on the issue as he grew more intent on a second marriage. Certainly, by 1527, he had convinced himself that Catherine had produced no male heir because their union was “blighted in the eyes of God”. Indeed, in marrying Catherine, his brother’s wife, he had acted contrary to Leviticus 20:21, a justification Thomas Cranmer used to declare the marriage null. Martin Luther, on the other hand, had initially argued against the annulment, stating that Henry VIII could take a second wife in accordance with his teaching that the Bible allowed for polygamy but not divorce.

Henry now believed the Pope had lacked the authority to grant a dispensation from this impediment. It was this argument Henry took to Pope Clement VII in 1527 in the hope of having his marriage to Catherine annulled, forgoing at least one less openly defiant line of attack. In going public, all hope of tempting Catherine to retire to a nunnery or otherwise stay quiet was lost. Henry sent his secretary, William Knight, to appeal directly to the Holy See by way of a deceptively worded draft papal bull. Knight was unsuccessful; the Pope could not be misled so easily.

Other missions concentrated on arranging an ecclesiastical court to meet in England, with a representative from Clement VII. Although Clement agreed to the creation of such a court, he never had any intention of empowering his legate, Lorenzo Campeggio, to decide in Henry’s favour. This bias was perhaps the result of pressure from Emperor Charles V, Catherine’s nephew, but it is not clear how far this influenced either Campeggio or the Pope.

After less than two months of hearing evidence, Clement called the case back to Rome in July 1529, from which it was clear that it would never re-emerge. With the chance for an annulment lost, Cardinal Wolsey bore the blame. He was charged with praemunire in October 1529, and his fall from grace was “sudden and total”. Briefly reconciled with Henry (and officially pardoned) in the first half of 1530, he was charged once more in November 1530, this time for treason, but died while awaiting trial.

After a short period in which Henry took government upon his own shoulders, Sir Thomas More took on the role of Lord Chancellor and chief minister. Intelligent and able, but a devout Catholic and opponent of the annulment, More initially cooperated with the king’s new policy, denouncing Wolsey in Parliament.

A year later, Catherine was banished from court, and her rooms were given to Anne Boleyn. Anne was an unusually educated and intellectual woman for her time and was keenly absorbed and engaged with the ideas of the Protestant Reformers, but the extent to which she herself was a committed Protestant is much debated. When Archbishop of Canterbury William Warham died, Anne’s influence and the need to find a trustworthy supporter of the annulment had Thomas Cranmer appointed to the vacant position. This was approved by the Pope, unaware of the king’s nascent plans for the Church.

In the winter of 1532, Henry met with King François I of France at Calais and enlisted the support of the French king for his new marriage. Immediately upon returning to Dover in England, Henry, now 41, and Anne went through a secret wedding service. She soon became pregnant, and there was a second wedding service in London on January 25, 1533. On May 23, 1533, Cranmer, sitting in judgment at a special court convened at Dunstable Priory to rule on the validity of the king’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, declared the marriage of Henry and Catherine null and void.

Five days later, on May 28, 1533, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry and Anne to be valid. Catherine was formally stripped of her title as queen, becoming instead “princess dowager” as the widow of Arthur. In her place, Anne was crowned queen on June 1, 1533. The queen gave birth to a daughter slightly prematurely on September 7, 1533. The child was christened Elizabeth, in honour of Henry’s mother, Elizabeth of York.

May 19, 1744: Birth of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Great Britain

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Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Hanover, Kew Gardens, King George III of the United Kingdom, Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Prince Regent, Queen of Württemberg

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (May 19, 1744 – November 17, 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on September 8, 1761 until her death in 1818. Both kingdoms were in a personal union under King George III until the Acts of Union 1800 merged them on January 1, 1801. Charlotte then became Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As George’s wife, she was also Electress of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) until becoming Queen of Hanover on October 12, 1814. Charlotte was Britain’s longest-serving queen consort, serving for 57 years and 70 days.

Sophia Charlotte was born on May 19, 1744. She was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince of Mirow (1708–1752), and his wife Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713–1761). Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a small north-German duchy in the Holy Roman Empire.

The children of Duke Charles were all born at the Untere Schloss (Lower Castle) in Mirow. According to diplomatic reports at the time of her engagement to George III in 1761, Charlotte had received “a very mediocre education”. Her upbringing was similar to that of a daughter of an English country gentleman. She received some rudimentary instruction in botany, natural history, and language from tutors, but her education focused on household management and religion – the latter taught by a priest. Only after her brother Adolphus Frederick succeeded to the ducal throne, in 1752, did she gain any experience of princely duties and of court life.

When George III succeeded to the throne of Great Britain upon the death of his grandfather George II, he was 22 years old and unmarried. His mother and advisors were eager to have him settled in marriage. The 17-year-old Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz appealed to him as a prospective consort partly because she had been brought up in an insignificant north German duchy, and therefore would probably have had no experience or interest in power politics or party intrigues. That proved to be the case; to make sure, he instructed her shortly after their wedding “not to meddle”, a precept she was glad to follow.

The King announced to his Council in July 1761, according to the usual form, his intention to wed the Princess, after which a party of escorts, led by the Earl Harcourt, departed for the Holy Roman Empire to conduct Princess Charlotte to England. They reached Strelitz on August 14, 1761, and were received the next day by Duke Adolph Friedrich IV, Charlotte’s brother, at which time the marriage contract was signed by him on the one hand and Lord Harcourt on the other.

Three days of public celebrations followed, and on August 17, 1761, Charlotte set out for Britain, accompanied by Adolph Friedrich IV and the British escort party. On August 22, they reached Cuxhaven, where a small fleet awaited to convey them to England. The voyage was extremely difficult; the party encountered three storms at sea, and landed at Harwich only on September 7. They set out at once for London, spent that night in Witham, at the residence of Lord Abercorn, and arrived at 3:30 pm the next day at St. James’s Palace in London. They were received by the King and his family at the garden gate, which marked the first meeting of the bride and groom.

At 9:00 pm that same evening (September 8, 1761), within six hours of her arrival, Charlotte was united in marriage with King George III. The ceremony was performed at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker. Only the royal family, the party who had travelled from Germany, and a handful of guests were present.

The marriage lasted 57 years and produced 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood. They included two future British monarchs, George IV and William IV; as well as Charlotte, Princess Royal, who became Queen of Württemberg; and Prince Ernest Augustus, who became King of Hanover.

Charlotte was a patron of the arts and an amateur botanist who helped expand Kew Gardens. She introduced the Christmas tree to Britain, after decorating one for a Christmas party for children from Windsor in 1800. She was distressed by her husband’s bouts of physical and mental illness, which became permanent in later life.

She maintained a close relationship with Queen Marie Antoinette of France, and the French Revolution likely enhanced the emotional strain felt by Charlotte. Her eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, was appointed as Prince Regent in 1811 due to the increasing severity of the King’s illness. Charlotte died in November 1818 with her son George at her side. George III died a little over a year later, likely unaware of his wife’s death.

May 19, 1051: Marriage of King Henri I of the Franks and Anne of Kiev

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Anne of Kiev, Consanguineous, Grand Prince of Kiev, Henry I of France, House of Capet, Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden, Matilda of Frisia, Philip of France, Robert II of France, Yaroslavl the Wise

Henri I (May 4, 1008 – August 4, 1060) was King of the Franks from 1031 to 1060. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians. This is not entirely agreed upon, however, as other historians regard him as a strong but realistic king, who was forced to conduct a policy mindful of the limitations of the French monarchy.

A member of the House of Capét, Henri was born in Reims, the son of King Robért II (972–1031) and Constance of Arles (986–1034) Constance was the daughter of Guillaume I, Count of Provence and Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, daughter of Fulk II of Anjou.

In the early-Capetian tradition, Henri was crowned King of Franks at the Cathedral of Reims on May 14, 1027, while his father still lived. He had little influence and power until he became sole ruler on his father’s death four years later.

The reign of Henri I, like those of his predecessors, was marked by territorial struggles. Initially, he joined his younger brother Robért, with the support of their mother, in a revolt against his father (1025). His mother, however, supported Robert as heir to the old king, on whose death Henry was left to deal with his rebel sibling. In 1032, he placated his brother by giving him the duchy of Burgundy which his father had given him in 1016.

Henri I was betrothed to Matilda, the daughter of Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, but she died prematurely in 1034. Henri then married Matilda of Frisia, but she died in 1044.

The negotiations for Anne of Kiev’s marriage to the 18-years-older King Henri took place in the late 1040s, after the death of Henri’s first wife, Matilda of Frisia, and their only child. Due to the pressing need for an heir, and the Church’s growing disapproval of consanguineous marriages, it became necessary for Henri to seek an unrelated bride. Anne was a daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev and Prince of Novgorod, and his second wife Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden.

The Kievan Rus’ was not unknown to the French. Yaroslav had married several of his children to Western rulers in an attempt to avoid the influence of the Byzantine Empire

Henri married Anne on May 19, 1051, during the feast of Pentecost. Their wedding followed the installation of Lietbert as bishop of Cambrai, and Anne was crowned immediately following the marriage ceremony, making her the first French Queen to celebrate her coronation in Reims Cathedral.

Anne and Henri were married for nine years and had three sons: Philippe, Robért (who died young), and Hugh. Anne is often credited with introducing the Greek name “Philip” to royal families of Western Europe, as she bestowed it on her first son; she might have imported this Greek name from her Eastern Orthodox culture. There may also have been a daughter, Emma, perhaps born in 1055; it is unknown if she married or when she died. Henri and Anne of Kiev are additionally said to have been the parents of the beatified figure Edigna.

May 18, 1152: The future King Henry II of the English marries Eleanor of Aquitaine

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Annulment, Archbishop of Canterbury, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Empress Matilda, Henry II of England, King Robért II of the Franks, Louis VI of France, Louis VII of France, Pope Eugene III, Theobald of Bec, William X of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122 – April 1, 1204)

Eleanor was the daughter of Guillaume X, Duke of Aquitaine, and Aénor de Châtellerault. She became duchess upon her father’s death in April 1137, and three months later she married Louis, son of her guardian King Louis VI of the Franks. A few weeks later, Eleanor’s father-in-law died and her husband succeeded him as King Louis VII of the Franks

Eleanor and Louis VII had two daughters, Marie and Alix. Soon afterwards, she sought an annulment of her marriage, but her request was rejected by Pope Eugene III. Eventually, Louis agreed to an annulment, as fifteen years of marriage had not produced a son.

On March 21, the four archbishops, with the approval of Pope Eugene III, granted an annulment on grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree; Eleanor was Louis’ third cousin once removed, and shared common ancestry with King Robért II of Franks. Their two daughters were, however, declared legitimate. Custody of the daughters was awarded to King Louis VII. Archbishop Samson received assurances from Louis that Eleanor’s lands would be restored to her.

As Eleanor travelled to Poitiers, two lords—Theobald V, Count of Blois, and Geoffrey, Count of Nantes, brother of Henry II, Duke of Normandy—tried to kidnap and marry her to claim her lands. As soon as she arrived in Poitiers, Eleanor sent envoys to Henry II Duke of Normandy and future King of the English, asking him to come at once to marry her.

King Henry II of the English (March 5, 1133 – July 6, 1189)

Duke Henry II of Normandy was born in Maine at Le Mans on March 5, 1133, the eldest child of the Empress Matilda, and her second husband, Geoffrey V, Plantagenet, Count of Anjou.

His mother, Empress Matilda, was born to Henry I, King of the English and Duke of Normandy, and his first wife, Matilda of Scotland, a daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon Princess Margaret of Wessex, the daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile and his wife Agatha, and also the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, King of the English.

King Henry I of the English was the youngest son of William the Conqueror, who had invaded England in 1066.

Marriage

On May 18, 1152 (Whit Sunday), eight weeks after her annulment, Eleanor married Henry “without the pomp and ceremony that befitted their rank.”

Eleanor was related to Henry even more closely than she had been to Louis: they were cousins to the third degree through their common ancestor Ermengarde of Anjou, wife of Robért I, Duke of Burgundy and Geoffrey, Count of Gâtinais, and they were also descended from King Robért II of the Franks.

A marriage between Henry and Eleanor’s daughter Marie had earlier been declared impossible due to their status as third cousins once removed. It was rumoured by some that Eleanor had had an affair with Henry’s own father, Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, who had advised his son to avoid any involvement with her.

On 25 October 1154, Henry became King Henry II of the English. A now heavily pregnant Eleanor, was crowned Queen of the English by Theobald of Bec, the Archbishop of Canterbury, on December 19, 1154. She may not have been anointed on this occasion, however, because she had already been anointed in 1137.

Over the next 13 years, she bore Henry five sons and three daughters: William, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John, Matilda, Eleanor, and Joan. Historian John Speed, in his 1611 work History of Great Britain, mentions the possibility that Eleanor had a son named Philip, who died young. His sources no longer exist, and he alone mentions this birth.

Eleanor’s marriage to Henry was reputed to be tumultuous and argumentative, although sufficiently cooperative to produce at least eight pregnancies. Henry was by no means faithful to his wife and had a reputation for philandering; he fathered other, illegitimate, children throughout the marriage.

Eleanor appears to have taken an ambivalent attitude towards these affairs. Geoffrey of York, for example, was an illegitimate son of Henry, but acknowledged by Henry as his child and raised at Westminster in the care of the Queen.

May 17, 1536: The Marriage of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is Declared Null.

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Anne Boleyn, Annulment, Archbishop of Canterbury, Catherine of Aragon, George Boleyn, Henry VIII of England, Thomas Cranmer, Treason, White Tower

Queen Anne, pregnant, in 1536, was aware of the dangers if she failed to give birth to a son. With Catherine of Aragon recently dead, Henry would be free to marry without any taint of illegality. At this time, Henry began paying court to one of Anne’s maids-of-honour, Jane Seymour, and allegedly gave her a locket containing a portrait miniature of himself. While wearing this locket in the presence of Anne, Jane began opening and closing it. Anne responded by ripping the locket off Jane’s neck with such force that her fingers bled.

Later that month, the king was unhorsed in a tournament and knocked unconscious for two hours, a worrying incident that Anne believed led to her miscarriage five days later. Another possible cause of the miscarriage was an incident in which, upon entering a room, Anne saw Jane Seymour sitting on Henry’s lap and flew into a rage. Whatever the cause, on the day that Catherine of Aragon was buried at Peterborough Abbey, Anne miscarried a baby which, according to the imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys, she had borne for about three and a half months, and which “seemed to be a male child”. Chapuys commented “She has miscarried of her saviour.” In Chapuys’ opinion, this loss was the beginning of the end of the royal marriage.

Given Henry’s desperate desire for a son, the sequence of Anne’s pregnancies has attracted much interest. Mike Ashley speculated that Anne had two stillborn children after Elizabeth’s birth and before the male child she miscarried in 1536. Most sources[who?] attest only to the birth of Elizabeth in September 1533, a possible miscarriage in the summer of 1534, and the miscarriage of a male child, of almost four months’ gestation, in January 1536.

As Anne recovered from her miscarriage, Henry declared that he had been seduced into the marriage by means of “sortilege” – a French term indicating either “deception” or “spells”. His new mistress, Jane Seymour, was quickly moved into royal quarters. This was followed by Anne’s brother George being refused a prestigious court honour, the Order of the Garter, given instead to Sir Nicholas Carew.

Charges of adultery, incest and treason

Anne’s biographer Eric Ives believes that her fall and execution were primarily engineered by her former ally Thomas Cromwell. The conversations between Chapuys and Cromwell thereafter indicate Cromwell as the instigator of the plot to remove Anne; evidence of this is seen in the Spanish Chronicle and through letters written from Chapuys to Charles V. Anne argued with Cromwell over the redistribution of Church revenues and over foreign policy.

She advocated that revenues be distributed to charitable and educational institutions; and she favoured a French alliance. Cromwell insisted on filling the king’s depleted coffers, while taking a cut for himself, and preferred an imperial alliance. For these reasons, Ives suggests, “Anne Boleyn had become a major threat to Thomas Cromwell.” Cromwell’s biographer John Schofield, on the other hand, contends that no power struggle existed between Anne and Cromwell and that “not a trace can be found of a Cromwellian conspiracy against Anne … Cromwell became involved in the royal marital drama only when Henry ordered him onto the case.”

Cromwell did not manufacture the accusations of adultery, though he and other officials used them to bolster Henry’s case against Anne. Warnicke questions whether Cromwell could have or wished to manipulate the king in such a matter. Such a bold attempt by Cromwell, given the limited evidence, could have risked his office, even his life.

Henry himself issued the crucial instructions: his officials, including Cromwell, carried them out. The result was by modern standards a legal travesty; however, the rules of the time were not bent in order to assure a conviction; there was no need to tamper with rules that guaranteed the desired result since law at the time was an engine of state, not a mechanism for justice.

Towards the end of April, a Flemish musician in Anne’s service named Mark Smeaton was arrested. He initially denied being the queen’s lover but later confessed, perhaps after being tortured or promised freedom. Another courtier, Sir Henry Norris, was arrested on May Day, but being an aristocrat, could not be tortured. Prior to his arrest, Norris was treated kindly by the king, who offered him his own horse to use on the May Day festivities.

It seems likely that during the festivities, the king was notified of Smeaton’s confession and it was shortly thereafter the alleged conspirators were arrested upon his orders. Norris denied his guilt and swore that Queen Anne was innocent; one of the most damaging pieces of evidence against Norris was an overheard conversation with Anne at the end of April, where she accused him of coming often to her chambers not to pay court to her lady-in-waiting Madge Shelton but to herself.

Sir Francis Weston was arrested two days later on the same charge, as was Sir William Brereton, a groom of the king’s Privy Chamber. Sir Thomas Wyatt, a poet and friend of the Boleyns who was allegedly infatuated with her before her marriage to the king, was also imprisoned for the same charge but later released, most likely due to his or his family’s friendship with Cromwell. Sir Richard Page was also accused of having a sexual relationship with the queen, but he was acquitted of all charges after further investigation could not implicate him with Anne. The final accused was Queen Anne’s own brother, George Boleyn, arrested on charges of incest and treason. He was accused of two incidents of incest: November 1535 at Whitehall and the following month at Eltham.

On May 2, 1536, Anne was arrested and taken to the Tower of London by barge. It is likely that Anne may have entered through the Court Gate in the Byward Tower rather than the Traitors’ Gate, according to historian and author of The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, Eric Ives. In the Tower, she collapsed, demanding to know the location of her father and “swete broder”, as well as the charges against her.

Four of the accused men were tried in Westminster on May 12, 1536. Weston, Brereton and Norris publicly maintained their innocence and only Smeaton supported the Crown by pleading guilty. Three days later, Anne and George Boleyn were tried separately in the Tower of London, before a jury of 27 peers. She was accused of adultery, incest, and high treason. By the Treason Act of Edward III, adultery on the part of a queen was a form of treason (because of the implications for the succession to the throne) for which the penalty was hanging, drawing and quartering for a man and burning alive for a woman, but the accusations, and especially that of incestuous adultery, were also designed to impugn her moral character.

The other form of treason alleged against her was that of plotting the king’s death, with her “lovers”, so that she might later marry Henry Norris. Anne’s one-time betrothed, Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, sat on the jury that unanimously found Anne guilty. When the verdict was announced, he collapsed and had to be carried from the courtroom. He died childless eight months later and was succeeded by his nephew.

Anne was convinced of High Treason and condemned to death on May 15.

On May 17, Cranmer declared Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII null and void.

On the morning of Friday, May 19, Anne was taken to a scaffold erected on the north side of the White Tower, in front of what is now the Waterloo Barracks. She wore a red petticoat under a loose, dark grey gown of damask trimmed in fur and a mantle of ermine.

The execution consisted of a single stroke. It was witnessed by Thomas Cromwell; Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk; the king’s illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy; the Lord Mayor of London, as well as aldermen, sheriffs and representatives of the various craft guilds. Most of the king’s council were also present. Cranmer, who was at Lambeth Palace, was reported to have broken down in tears after telling Alexander Ales: “She who has been the Queen of England on earth will today become a Queen in heaven.”

May 12, 1191: Marriage of King Richard I of the English and Berengaria of Navarre

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Berengaria of Navarre, Eleanor of Aquitaine, King Henry II of England, Pope Celestine III, Pope Innocent III., Richard I of England, Richard the Lionheart, Sancho VI of Navarre, Third Crusade

Berengaria of Navarre (1165–1170 – December 23, 1230) was Queen of the English as the wife of King Richard I of England. She was the eldest daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Infanta Sancha of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his first wife Berengaria of Barcelona.

As is the case with many of the medieval English queens, little is known of her life.

Traditionally known as “the only English queen never to set foot in the country”, she may in fact have visited England after her husband’s death, but did not do so before, nor did she see much of Richard during her marriage, which was childless. She did (unusually for the wife of a crusader) accompany him on the start of the Third Crusade, but mostly lived in his French possessions, where she gave generously to the church, despite difficulties in collecting the pension she was due from Richard’s brother and successor John after she became a widow.

Early years

In 1185, Berengaria was given the fief of Monreal by her father. Eleanor of Aquitaine promoted the engagement of Berengaria to her son Richard the Lionheart. An alliance with Navarre meant protection for the southern borders of Eleanor’s Duchy of Aquitaine and helped create better relations with neighbouring Castile, whose queen was Richard’s sister Eleanor, the wife of King Alfonso VIII of Castile.

Also, Navarre had assimilated the troubadour culture of Aquitaine and Berengaria’s reputation was unbesmirched. It seems that Berengaria and Richard did in fact meet once, years before their marriage, and writers have claimed that there was an attraction between them at that time.

In 1190, Eleanor met King Sancho VI in Pamplona, and he hosted a banquet in the Royal Palace of Olite in her honour. The betrothal could not be celebrated openly, for Richard had been betrothed for many years to Alys of France, half-sister of King Philippe II of France. Alys of France, Countess of Vexin (1160 – c. 1220), known in English as “Alice”, was a French princess, the daughter of King Louis VII of the Franks and his second wife, Infanta Constance of Castile, daughter of King Alfonso VII of León and Berengaria of Barcelona, but her year of birth is not known.

Richard terminated his betrothal to Alys in 1190 while at Messina. It has been suggested that Alys had become the mistress of Richard’s own father, Henry II of England, and possibly the mother of an illegitimate child; a marriage between Richard and Alys therefore would have been technically impossible for religious reasons of affinity.

Marriage

Richard had Berengaria brought to him by his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine. Because Richard was already on the Third Crusade, having wasted no time in setting off after his coronation, the two women had a long and difficult journey to catch up with him. They arrived at Messina in Sicily in 1191 during Lent (when the marriage could not take place) and were joined by Richard’s sister Joan, the widowed Queen of Sicily, wife of King Guglielmo II of Sicily.

Berengaria was left in Joan’s custody. En route to the Holy Land, the ship carrying Berengaria and Joan ran aground off the coast of Cyprus, and they were threatened by the island’s ruler, Isaac Comnenus. Richard came to their rescue, captured the island, and overthrew Comnenus. Berengaria married Richard the Lionheart on May 12, 1191 in the Chapel of St. George at Limassol on Cyprus and was crowned the same day by the archbishop of Bordeaux and the bishops of Évreux and Bayonne.

Queen consort

Whether the marriage was ever even consummated is a matter for conjecture. In any case, Richard certainly took his new wife with him for the first part of the Third Crusade. This was unusual (although Richard’s mother and Berengaria’s predecessor, Eleanor of Aquitaine, had, when Queen of the Franks, been with her husband throughout the Second Crusade). Berengaria returned well before Richard left the Holy Land; on his return to Europe, he was captured and imprisoned. Berengaria remained in Europe, based at Beaufort-en-Vallée, attempting to raise money for his ransom.

After his release, Richard returned to England and was not joined by his wife. Richard then set about reclaiming the territories in France that had been lost by his brother John or taken by King Philippe II. His focus was on his kingdom, not his queen. He was ordered by Pope Celestine III to reunite with Queen Berengaria and to show fidelity to her in the future.

Richard, now mostly spending his time in France, obeyed and took Berengaria to church every week thereafter. When he died in 1199, she was distressed, perhaps more so at deliberately being overlooked as queen of England and Cyprus. Some historians believe that Berengaria honestly loved her husband, and Richard’s feelings for her were merely formal because the marriage was a political rather than a romantic union.

Queen dowager

Berengaria never visited England during King Richard’s lifetime, and Richard spent less than six months in England while they were married. There is evidence, however, that she may have done so in the years following his death, since she is believed to have been present at the translation of St Thomas Becket’s remains at Canterbury in 1220.

The traditional description of her as “the only English queen never to set foot in the country” still would be true because she did not visit England during the time she was Richard’s consort. She certainly sent envoys to England several times, mainly to inquire about the pension she was due as dowager queen and Richard’s widow, which King John failed to pay. Although Queen Eleanor intervened and Pope Innocent III threatened him with an interdict if he did not pay Berengaria what was due, King John still owed her more than £4000 when he died. During the reign of his son King Henry III of England, however, her payments were made.

Berengaria eventually settled in Le Mans, one of her dower properties. She founded L’Épau Abbey in Le Mans in 1229, where she was buried. In 1240, Archbishop Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada of Toledo wrote of Berengaria that she lived “as a most praiseworthy widow and stayed for the most part in the city of Le Mans, which she held as part of her marriage dower, devoting herself to almsgiving, prayer and good works, witnessing as an example to all women of chastity and religion and in the same city she came to the end of her days with a happy death.” A skeleton thought to be hers was rediscovered in 1960 during the restoration of the abbey. These remains are preserved beneath the stone effigy of the queen, which is now to be found in the chapter house of the abbey.

Historical significance

Historian Ann Trindade says about Berengaria that she “is remembered as a benefactor of several…religious congregations and institutions and was regarded as a model of piety.” She also states that “Berengaria’s life illustrates very clearly the constraints under which medieval women, even aristocratic ones, were obliged to live.”

Berengaria’s struggles are a good example of what many women faced in the thirteenth century, and “those long years of widowhood reveal, on the basis of record, a strong courageous woman, independent, solitary, battling against difficult political and economic circumstances, with little interest in the trappings of courtly existence, sustained by her faith in Christianity and her loyalty to the See of St. Peter, not afraid to assert her rights against powerful enemies, both lay and clerical.”

My Thoughts On The Coronation

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Archbishop of Canterbury, coronation, Crown of St. Edward, Gold State Coach, Imperial State Crown., King Charles III of the United Kingdom, the prince of Wales, Westminster Abbey

From The Emperor’s Desk:

I really needed a day or two to process my thoughts and feelings on this week’s coronation of King Charles III.

First of all, I was overwhelmed with the sense of the magnitude and grandeur of it all and how I was witnessing a ceremony that has been performed in that exact location gong back many centuries! It could have been King Edward I or Richard III or Charles II sitting there! Continuity and how it connects us to the past is, for me, one of cornerstones of the concept of monarchy.

For example, the Crown of St. Edward that was used to crown King Charles II and was specifically made for his coronation. This crown sat on the heads of seven monarchs (including King Charles). After King Charles II James II-VII (1685), William III (1689), George V (1911), George VI (1937) and Elizabeth II (1953) have all been crowned with this historic relic.

Mary II and Anne were crowned with small diamond crowns of their own; George I, George II, George III and William IV were crowned with the State Crown of George I. King George IV was crowned with a new large diamond crown made specially for the occasion; and Queen Victoria and Edward VII chose not to use St. Edward’s Crown because of its weight and instead used the lighter 1838 version of the Imperial State Crown.

One of the things that surprised me about St Edward’s Crown was that to me it looked dull and not shiny gold like I thought it was!

Yes I hope the king will continue to wear the Imperial State Crown at the opening of Parliament. What is interesting to me is that the arches were not altered for the coronation.

If you look at pictures of the Imperial State Crown from Queen Victoria to George sixth The arches were raised, or at least up higher. I’ve read where the arches were lowered for Queen Elizabeth II to give it a more feminine look.

So I was thinking that the arches would have been returned to a little more higher position for the king. Although I love that crown it does seem a little odd on Charles and it may take a little bit to getting used to. I hate to say it but it did seem a little bit feminine in my opinion.

Here is a link to my blog entry. If you scroll down a bit you can see the picture of king Edward VII George VI and Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Imperial State Crown and see how the arches are set.

https://wp.me/p2pver-3Ds

I’ve also heard some people say that Queen Camilla should have worn a smaller crown and that this one seemed a bit too big for her head and in that case I do agree. So I do hope she wears it without the arches for the state opening of Parliament.

The British do pomp extremely well and the coronation was very evident of that. I really appreciated seeing The Jubilee Coach used to bring the king and queen to Westminster Abbey. I was especially amazed to see The Return of the newly crowned king and queen back to Buckingham Palace in the 1761 gold coach built during the reign of King George III. With the massive amount of soldiers and guards along the way it was quite an impressive spectacle!

Although a spectacular as it was I need to take into account the fact that this was a trim down coronation. For example there were not a massive group of peers wearing their coronation robes and dining they’re coronets. I have to be honest and say I really did not miss this aspect of the coronation. This is now getting into the territory of modernizing the coronation.

I did spend a lot of time online reading other people’s perspective and opinions on the coronation. I’m not taking into account the anti-monarcus and people who absolutely were against the coronation. I’m speaking of people that support the monarchy and the coronation yet also realize that the moniker needs to be cognizant of the times in which we live and continually needs to be updated to stay relevant.

I have read some opinions that felt that much of the coronation is to archaic for our day and age. I’m not sure I agree with that. I sincerely hope in the future there will be more coronation of British monarchs. However, as I said I do understand the need for the monarchy to stay relevant. I believe this can be a topic all on the song which I will address in a future blog entry.

Another aspect that I liked was the use of the regalia during the ceremony. The spurs , armills and rings were only presented to the King. Traditionally, when a King is crowned, the spurs are supposed to touch his heels. It did not happen. And the King did not wear the armills and the ring.

The Spurs are now very fragile and it was decided that the King would just touch them. The Armills and both rings would have needed to be adjusted to fit the King and Queen. Rather than adjusting them and possibly causing damage they were just presented to Their Majesties.

By being presented to His Majesty where he touched them, I thought that was a nice way to honor the old but also bringing something new.

The coronation ring needs to be modified for each person. On a ring this old fragile that is not always practical so this time it was rightfully chosen not to alter the ring. In reading about the coronation of Queen Victoria she stated that the Archbishop forced the ring on her finger and it was quite painful.

The liked the part of the ceremony where the Prince of Wales was prominent was in paying homage to the king. In the past this part of the coronation would have taken up a lot of time with each peer of the realm coming up to the king and paying their homage and loyalty to him. To me it seems practical to only have the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Prince of Wales pay homage to the king. I did think it was a nice gesture that a pledge of homage and loyalty to the king, which was completely voluntary, was offered for all to participate in. For me that very much personalized this aspect of the coronation.

The next area, the clothes that people wore, seem to be an area of controversy and mixed opinions. I’m not sure how to categorize the way women were dressed back in other coronations, or even how men were dressed if they were not dressed in the robes of the period, the majority of people were dressed in formal day wear. I’d seen some people express that they wished the people were dressed in more formal evening wear with white ties and formal gowns and tiaras would have been better was the opinion of some people.

I’m actually mixed about that. I was absolutely fine with the way people dressed and I didn’t lament the lack of tiaras or other accoutrements generally worn at a coronation. However, I certainly wouldn’t have complained if the dress for the coronation was more traditional

I did like how men of the royal family were dressed. The King asked most of the Royal Ladies to wear the Robe of the Royal Victorian Order. The Princess of Wales, Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Gloucester also wore the Robe of the Royal Victorian Order. The only odd one out was the Princess Royal who wore the Robe of the Order of the Thistle. I personally think that was so Scotland was represented. As the Duke of York and other royal males wore their Order of the Garter Robe (English Order).

I am not sure what the Princess of Wales and her daughter princess Charlotte of Wales was wearing on their head. To me it looked like some Romanesque laurel wreaths. I like what they were wearing although I read where some did not.

All in all I was very moved and even at times choked up and in tears about this coordination. I think I’ll close right now I rambled on a bit and I’m sure I will write more in the days to come!

God Save the King!

Countdown to the Coronation VII: Co-Kings & Consorts

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And Boleyn, Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Catherine of Braganza, Charles II of England, coronation, Henry the Young King, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King George VI of the United Kingdom, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Matilda of Flanders, Philip II of Spain, Queen Consort, Roman Catholic, William the Conqueror

Coronations may be performed for a person other than the reigning monarch. In 1170, Henry the Young King, heir apparent to the throne, was crowned as a second king of England, subordinate to his father Henry II; such coronations were common practice in mediaeval France and Germany, but this is only one of two instances of its kind in England (the other being that of Ecgfrith of Mercia in 796, crowned whilst his father, Offa of Mercia, was still alive).

More commonly, a king’s wife is crowned as queen consort. If the king is already married at the time of his coronation, a joint coronation of both king and queen may be performed. The first such coronation was of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1154; seventeen such coronations have been performed, including that of the join sovereigns King William III and Queen Mary II.

I did some research to see if King Felipe II of Spain had a coronation in his capacity as King of England and Ireland. According to Harry Kelsey the author of “Philip of Spain, King of England, The Forgotten Sovereign” reports that the English Parliament’s unwillingness to agree to a coronation ceremony ultimately restricted Philip’s ability to govern England and he was never officially confirmed as King.

The most recent coronation of a King and Queen was that of King George VI and the former Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1937. If the king married, or remarried, after his coronation, or if his wife was not crowned with him for some other reason, she might be crowned in a separate ceremony.

The first such separate coronation of a queen consort in England was that of Matilda of Flanders in 1068 the wife of King William I the Conqueror and the last was Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn in 1533. The most recent king to wed post-coronation was, King Charles II, and he did not have a separate coronation for his bride, Catherine of Braganza.

Owing to her devotion to the Roman Catholic faith in which she had been raised, Catherine was unpopular in England. Catherine was not a particularly popular choice of queen, and since she was a Roman Catholic her religion prevented her from being crowned, as Roman Catholics were forbidden to take part in Anglican services.

In some instances, the king’s wife was simply unable to join him in the coronation ceremony due to circumstances preventing her from doing so. In 1821, George IV’s estranged wife Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was not invited to the ceremony; when she showed up at Westminster Abbey anyway, she was denied entry and turned away.

Following the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell declined the crown but underwent a coronation in all but name in his second investiture as Lord Protector in 1657.

Countdown to the Coronation

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coronation, King Charles III of the United Kingdom, May 6, Operation Golden Orb, Queen Camilla, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Westminster Abbey

From The Emperor’s Desk: One week from today, May 6, 2023, is the coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III of the United Kingdom and his Queen Camilla.

From today until next Saturday I will be posting on some historic aspects of past coronations and the current coronation.

The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at Westminster Abbey. Charles acceded to the throne on September 8, 2022, upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, during her Platinum Jubilee Year celebrating a record 70 years on the throne.

Compared with previous coronations, the ceremony will undergo some alterations to represent multiple faiths, cultures, and communities across the United Kingdom, and will be shorter than his mother’s coronation in 1953.

The ceremony will begin with the anointing of Charles, symbolising his spiritual entry into kingship, and then his crowning and enthronement, representing his assumption of temporal powers and responsibilities. Camilla will be crowned in a shorter and simpler ceremony. The royal family will travel to Buckingham Palace afterward, in a state procession, and appear on the balcony to celebrate the occasion.

In addition to the coronation ceremony, the event will be marked by public ceremonies and celebrations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the British Crown Dependencies and overseas territories. On 7 May, the Coronation Big Lunch will take place in the United Kingdom, providing the public with the opportunity to mark the occasion with street parties.

The Coronation Concert will be held on the same day at Windsor Castle with representatives of the King and Queen’s charities as well as members of the general public in attendance. The Big Help Out initiative will take place on 8 May, to encourage community service and volunteering. Both the coronation at Westminster Abbey and the concert at Windsor Castle will be broadcast on television and streamed online.

This will be the first coronation of a British monarch in the 21st century and the 40th to be held at Westminster Abbey since 1066.

Preparation

Charles III became king immediately upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, at 15:10 BST on Thursday September 8, 2022. He was proclaimed king by the Accession Council of the United Kingdom on Saturday 10 September, which was followed by proclamations in other Commonwealth realms.

Due to Elizabeth’s advanced age, Charles’s coronation has been planned for years, under the code name Operation Golden Orb. During Elizabeth’s reign, planning meetings for Operation Golden Orb were held at least once a year, attended by representatives of the government, the Church of England and Clarence House staff.

Planning

The Duke of Norfolk, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, is in charge of organising the coronation as hereditary Earl Marshal. A committee of privy counsellors will arrange the event.

In October 2022, the date of Charles and Camilla’s coronation was announced: Saturday May 6, 2023 at Westminster Abbey. Buckingham Palace set the date to ensure sufficient time to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II before holding a joyous ceremony. In November 2022, the government proclaimed that an extra bank holiday would occur on 8 May, two days after the coronation. On January 20, 2023, Buckingham Palace announced plans for the coronation weekend between May 6 and 8.