August 8, 1503: King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor

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6th Earl of Angus, Archibald Douglas, Battle of Flodden, Elizabeth of York, Henry Stuart, Henry VII of England, Henry VIII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, House of Stewart, House of Tudor, King James IV of Scotland, Lord Darnley, Louis XI of France, Margaret Tudor, Pope Julius II, Queen Mary I of Scotland

Margaret Tudor (November 28, 1489 – October 18, 1541) was Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She was the eldest daughter and second child of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the sister of King Henry VIII of England.

Margaret married James IV at the age of 13, in accordance with the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between England and Scotland. Together, they had six children, though only one of them reached adulthood. Margaret’s marriage to James IV linked the royal houses of England and Scotland, which a century later resulted in the Union of the Crowns.

Early life

Margaret was born on November 28, 1489 in the Palace of Westminster in London to King Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York. She was their second child and firstborn daughter. Her siblings included Arthur, Prince of Wales, the future King Henry VIII, and Mary, who would briefly become Queen of France.

Margaret Tudor

Margaret was baptised in St. Margaret’s, Westminster on St Andrew’s Day. She was named after Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, her paternal grandmother. Her nurse was Alice Davy.

On September 30, 1497, James IV’s commissioner, the Spaniard Pedro de Ayala concluded a lengthy truce with England, and now the marriage was again a serious possibility. James IV was in his late twenties and still unmarried. The Italian historian Polydore Vergil said that some of the English royal council objected to the match, saying that it would bring the Stewarts directly into the line of English succession, to which the wily and astute Henry replied:

What then? Should anything of the kind happen (and God avert the omen), I foresee that our realm would suffer no harm, since England would not be absorbed by Scotland, but rather Scotland by England, being the noblest head of the entire island, since there is always less glory and honour in being joined to that which is far the greater, just as Normandy once came under the rule and power of our ancestors the English.

On January 24, 1502, Scotland and England concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, the first peace agreement between the two realms in over 170 years. The marriage treaty was concluded the same day and was viewed as a guarantee of the new peace. Margaret remained in England, but was now known as the “Queen of Scots”.

Marriage and progress

The marriage was completed by proxy on January 25, 1503 at Richmond Palace. The Earl of Bothwell was proxy for the Scottish king and wore a gown of cloth-of-gold at the ceremony in the Queen’s great chamber. He was accompanied by Robert Blackadder, archbishop of Glasgow, and Andrew Forman, postulate of Moray.

The herald, John Young, reported that “right notable jousts” followed the ceremony. Prizes were awarded the next morning, and the tournament continued another day.

The new queen was provided with a large wardrobe of clothes, and her crimson state bed curtains made of Italian sarcenet were embroidered with red Lancastrian roses. Clothes were also made for her companion, Lady Catherine Gordon, the widow of Perkin Warbeck. The clothes were embroidered by John Flee.

James IV, King of Scotland

In May 1503, James IV confirmed her possession of lands and houses in Scotland, including Methven Castle, Stirling Castle, Doune Castle, Linlithgow Palace and Newark Castle in Ettrick Forest, with the incomes from the corresponding earldom and lordship lands.

Later in 1503, months after the death of her mother, Queen Elizabeth (of York) Margaret came to Scotland; her progress was a grand journey northward. She left Richmond Palace on June 27, with Henry VII, and they travelled first to Collyweston in Northamptonshire.

At York a plaque commemorates the exact spot where the Queen of Scots entered its gates. After crossing the border at Berwick upon Tweed on August 1, 1503, Margaret was met by the Scottish court at Lamberton. At Dalkeith Palace, James came to kiss her goodnight. He came again to console her on August 4 after a stable fire had killed some of her favourite horses. Her riding gear, including a new sumpter cloth or pallion of cloth-of-gold worth £127 was destroyed in the fire.

At a meadow a mile from Edinburgh, there was a pavilion where Sir Patrick Hamilton and Patrick Sinclair played and fought in the guise of knights defending their ladies.

On August 8, 1503, the marriage was celebrated in person in Holyrood Abbey. The rites were performed by the archbishop of Glasgow and Thomas Savage, archbishop of York. Two days later, on St Lawrence’s day, Margaret went to mass at St Giles’, the town’s Kirk, as her first public appointment. The details of the proxy marriage, progress, arrival, and reception in Edinburgh were recorded by the Somerset Herald, John Young.

The marriage led to the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when Elizabeth I of England died without heirs and James IV’s great-grandson James VI succeeded to the English throne.

The long period of domestic peace after 1497 allowed James IV to focus more on foreign policy, which included the sending of several of his warships to aid his uncle, King Hans of Denmark, in his conflict with Sweden; amicable relations with the Pope, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Louis XII of France; and James’s aspiration to lead a European naval crusade against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. James was granted the title of Protector and Defender of the Christian Faith in 1507 by Pope Julius II.

Following the death of James IV at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, Margaret, as queen dowager, was appointed as regent for their son, King James V.

A pro-French party took shape among the nobility, urging that she should be replaced by John, Duke of Albany, the closest male relative to the infant king. In seeking allies, Margaret turned to the Douglases, and in 1514 she married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, which alienated the nobility and saw her replaced as regent by Albany.

In 1524, Margaret, with the help of the Hamiltons, removed Albany from power in a coup d’état while he was in France, and was recognised by Parliament as regent, then later as chief counsellor to King James V.

Following her divorce from Angus in 1527, Margaret married her third husband, Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven. Through her first and second marriages, Margaret was the grandmother of both Queen Mary I of Scotland, and Mary’s second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

June 16, 1586: Mary I, Queen of Scots names King Felipe II of Spain as hier and successor

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Elizabeth I of England, Felipe II of Spain, Henry VIII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, jure uxoris, Mary I of England, Mary I of Scotland, Spanish Armada, Spanish Empire

Felipe II (May 21, 1527 – September 13, 1598) was the son of Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. Felipe II inherited his father’s Spanish Empire and was the King of Spain from 1556, and succeeded as King of Portugal in 1580 following a dynastic crisis. Felipe II was King of Naples and Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598.

Felipe II was also jure uxoris King of England and Ireland during his marriage to Queen Mary I of England and Ireland from 1554 until her death in 1558. He was also Duke of Milan from 1540. From 1555, he was Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands.Upon Mary I of England’s death, the throne went to her half-sister as Queen Elizabeth I. Felipe had no wish to sever his tie with England, and had sent a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth.

However, she delayed in answering, and in that time learned Felipe was also considering a Valois alliance. Elizabeth I was the Protestant daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

This union was deemed illegitimate by English Catholics, who disputed the validity of both the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and of his subsequent marriage to Boleyn, and hence claimed that Mary I, Queen of Scots, the Catholic great-granddaughter of Henry VII, was the rightful monarch.For many years Felipe maintained peace with England, and even defended Elizabeth from the Pope’s threat of excommunication.

This was a measure taken to preserve a European balance of power.Ultimately, Elizabeth allied England with the Protestant rebels in the Netherlands. Further, English ships began a policy of piracy against Spanish trade and threatened to plunder the great Spanish treasure ships coming from the New World.

English ships went so far as to attack a Spanish port. The last straw for Felipe was the Treaty of Nonsuch signed by Elizabeth in 1585 – promising troops and supplies to the rebels. Although it can be argued this English action was the result of Felipe’s Treaty of Joinville with the Catholic League of France, Felipe considered it an act of war by England.

On June 16, 1586 Mary I, Queen of Scots, recognizes Felipe II of Spain as her heir and successor to her English claim to the throne. Selecting Felipe II of Spain as heir Mary’s English throne was a move to return both England Catholic Churc. as Mary’s son, King James VI of Scotland, had been raised as a Protestant and was ruling that Kingdom.

However, the execution of Mary I, Queen of Scots for treason against Elizabeth I, in 1587 ended Felipe’s hopes of placing a Catholic on the English throne. He turned instead to more direct plans to invade England and return the country to Catholicism.In 1588, he sent a fleet, the Spanish Armada, to rendezvous with the Duke of Parma’s army and convey it across the English Channel.

However, the operation had little chance of success from the beginning, because of lengthy delays, lack of communication between Felipe II and his two commanders and the lack of a deep bay for the fleet.

At the point of attack, a storm struck the English Channel, already known for its harsh currents and choppy waters, which devastated large numbers of the Spanish fleet. There was a tightly fought battle against the English Royal Navy; it was by no means a slaughter (only one Spanish ship was sunk), but the Spanish were forced into a retreat, and the overwhelming majority of the Armada was destroyed by the harsh weather.

Whilst the English Royal Navy may not have destroyed the Armada at the Battle of Gravelines, they had prevented it from linking up with the army it was supposed to convey across the channel. Thus whilst the English Royal Navy may have only won a slight tactical victory over the Spanish, it had delivered a major strategic one—preventing the invasion of England.Through a week of fighting the Spanish had expended 100,000 cannonballs, but no English ship was seriously damaged.

However, over 7,000 English sailors died from disease during the time the Armada was in English waters.The defeat of the Spanish Armada gave great heart to the Protestant cause across Europe.

The storm that smashed the Armada was seen by many of Felipe’s enemies as a sign of the will of God. Many Spaniards blamed the admiral of the Armada for its failure, but Felipe, despite his complaint that he had sent his ships to fight the English, not the elements, was not among them.

June 1, 1533: Anne Boleyn is Crowned Queen of England

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1st Earl of Wiltshire, Anne Boleyn, Archbishop of Canterbury, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII of England, Lady Elizabeth Howard, Pope Clement VII, Thomas Boleyn, Thomas Cranmer

Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 – May 19, 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.

Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, and was educated in the Netherlands and France, largely as a maid of honour to Queen Claude of France. Anne returned to England in early 1522, to marry her Irish cousin James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond; the marriage plans were broken off, and instead she secured a post at court as maid of honour to Henry VIII’s wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Early in 1523, Anne was secretly betrothed to Henry Percy, son of Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, but the betrothal was broken off when the Earl refused to support their engagement. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey refused the match in January 1524 and Anne was sent home to Hever Castle.

In February or March 1526, Henry VIII began his pursuit of Anne. She resisted his attempts to seduce her, refusing to become his mistress, as her sister Mary had previously been. Henry soon focused his desires on annulling his marriage to Catherine so he would be free to marry Anne.

Wolsey failed to obtain an annulment of Henry’s marriage from Pope Clement VII, and when it became clear that Clement would not annul the marriage, Henry and his advisers, such as Thomas Cromwell, began the breaking of the Catholic Church’s power in England and closing the monasteries and the nunneries. In 1532, Henry made Anne the Marquess of Pembroke.

Henry VIII and Anne formally married on January 25, 1533, after a secret wedding on November 14, 1532. On May 23, 1533, the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry and Catherine’s marriage null and void; five days later, he declared Henry and Anne’s marriage valid.

Shortly afterwards, Clement excommunicated Henry and Cranmer. As a result of this marriage and these excommunications, the first break between the Church of England and the Catholic Church took place, and the king took control of the Church of England.

Anne was crowned Queen of England on June 1, 1533. On September 7, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was disappointed to have a daughter rather than a son but hoped a son would follow.

Anne subsequently had three miscarriages and by March 1536, Henry was courting Jane Seymour. In order to marry Seymour, Henry had to find reasons to end the marriage to Anne.

Henry VIII had Anne investigated for high treason (including incest) in April 1536. On May 2, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, where she was tried before a jury of peers, including Henry Percy, her former betrothed, and her uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk; she was convicted on May 15 and beheaded four days later.

April 30, 1513: Execution of Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk

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3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk, Battle of Bosworth Field, Edmund de la Pole, Edward IV of England, Elizabeth of York, Henry VII of England, Henry VIII of England, House of Tudor, Richard III of England

Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk, KG (c. 1471 – April 30, 1513), Duke of Suffolk, was a son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Elizabeth of York, the sixth child and third daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (a great-grandson of King Edward III) and Cecily Neville. She was thus a sister of King Edward IV and of King Richard III.

Although the male York line ended with the death of Edward Plantagenet 17th Earl of Warwick (February 25, 1475 – November 28, 1499) who was the son of Isabel Neville and George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, the brother of kings Edward IV and Richard III.

The 17th Earl of Warwick was a potential claimant to the English throne during the reigns of both his uncle, Richard III (1483–1485), and Richard’s usurper, Henry VII (1485–1509). He was also a younger brother of Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury.

The Poles at first swore loyalty to the Tudor king of England, they later tried to claim the throne as the Yorkist claimant. Edmund was ultimately executed at the Tower of London.

Yorkist claim

Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk

Edmund de la Pole was a son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, and Elizabeth of York. His mother was the second surviving daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. She was also a younger sister to Kings Edward IV and Richard III.

Service to the Tudors

De la Pole’s eldest brother John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln (c. 1464 – 1487), was the designated heir of their maternal uncle Richard III, who gave him a pension and the reversion of the estates of Lady Margaret Beaufort.

Meanwhile, Edmund was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Richard III, and was present at the coronation of his cousin Elizabeth of York in 1487. Following the Battle of Bosworth Field, Lincoln took the oath of allegiance to Elizabeth’s husband, Henry VII, instead of claiming the throne for himself. In 1487, Lincoln joined the rebellion of Lambert Simnel and was killed at the Battle of Stoke.

After the death of his older brother, Edmund became the leading Yorkist claimant to the throne, and succeeded to the title Duke of Suffolk in 1492. Edmund took part in the Siege of Boulogne in October 1492.

However, he is said to have subsequently agreed with King Henry VII, by Indenture dated February 26, 1492/3, to surrender the dukedom (with, apparently, the marquessate) of Suffolk, and to be known henceforth as the Earl of Suffolk only, this being ratified by Act of Parliament in 1495.

In consideration of this surrender and “of the true and diligent service done to his Highness by the said Edmund” the King granted to him, for £5,000, a portion of the lands forfeited by his elder brother John, Earl of Lincoln, in 1487.

Suffolk was one of the leaders against the Cornish rebels at Blackheath, June 17, 1497. However, in Michaelmas term 1498 he was indicted for murder in the King’s Bench and, though afterwards pardoned, he fled overseas to Guisnes, July 1499, returning to England after September.

He was at this time recorded as stout and bold and of courage. On May 5, 1500 he witnessed at Canterbury the treaty for the marriage of King Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth’s son Prince Arthur with Catherine of Aragon.

He then left for France, arriving there on the 13th, and attended the King at his meeting with Archduke Philipp of Austria, and titular Duke of Burgundy at Calais, on June 9, 1500.

Yorkist claimant

In August 1501 he and his brother Richard again left England without royal leave (apparently assisted by James Tyrrell, who was subsequently executed for these actions), and joining Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in the Tyrol, he assumed his former title of Duke of Suffolk, being also known as the “White Rose” (Yorkist Pretender).

For his alleged projected rebellion he was proclaimed an outlaw at Ipswich, December 26, 1502, and with his brothers William (arrested on suspicion and sent to the Tower, which he never left, early in 1502) and Richard, was attainted in Parliament January 1503/4, whereby all his honours were forfeited, backdated to July 1, 1499. Seward relates that throughout this period until Edmund’s death he used a Thomas Killingworth, gentleman of East Anglia and London, as his Steward, for which Killingworth later received a Royal Pardon.

On July 28, 1502 Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian signed a treaty at Augsberg whereby, in return for £10,000, he undertook not to help the English rebels.

Nevertheless, Suffolk was allowed to remain at Aix, 1502–04, though on leaving he had to leave his brother Richard as hostage for his debts. Upon leaving Aix about April 1504 in an attempt to join the Duke of Saxony in Friesland, he was imprisoned by the Duke of Gueldres at Hattem and subsequently by Archduke Philipp of Austria and Duke of Burgundy, at Namur into 1506.

Imprisonment and execution
While sailing to Spain to secure his wife Joanna’s inheritance of the Crown of Castile, Archduke Philipp of Austria (future King Felipe I of Castile) was blown off course to England, and reluctantly and unexpectedly became a guest of Henry VII.

Needing to continue his journey, Archduke Philipp was persuaded by Henry to hand over the Earl of Suffolk in the treaty Malus Intercursus. Henry VII committed the Earl to the Tower on his arrival in London, late in March 1505/6.

On the accession of Henry VII and Elizabeth’s son Henry VIII, Edmund being still in the Tower, was (with his two brothers) excepted from the new king’s general pardon of April 30, 1509. After being a prisoner in the Tower for 7 years, he was (since his brother Richard had joined the service of France, with whom England was then at war), without any further proceedings, beheaded on Tower Hill aged about 42.

Montaigne, in his Essays, said that Henry VII, in his will, instructed his son to put Suffolk to death immediately after his own death, and the author criticized the father for requiring that his son do what he himself would not.

Marriage and heirs

Edmund married, before October 10, 1496, Margaret, daughter of Sir Richard Scrope, second son of Henry Scrope, 4th Baron Scrope of Bolton. Margaret died in 1515. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, who became a nun and died of the Black Plague in the Convent of the Minoresses without Aldgate, London, in 1515.

Edmund’s younger brother, Richard de la Pole, declared himself Earl of Suffolk and was the leading Yorkist pretender until his death at the Battle of Pavia on February 24, 1525.

François III, Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of Viennois

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Anne of Brittany, Carlos I of Spain, Claude of Brittany, Dauphin of Veinnois, Felipe II of Spain, François I of France, François of Brittany, Henry VIII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Mary I of England, Treaty of Madrid

François III (February 28, 1518 – August 10, 1536) was Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of Viennois. He was the first son of King François I of France and Duchess Claude of Brittany, the eldest daughter of King Louis XII of France and Duchess Anne of Brittany.

Life

François I said of his son at birth, “a beautiful dauphin who is the most beautiful and strong child one could imagine and who will be the easiest to bring up.” His mother, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, said, “tell the King that he is even more beautiful than himself.” The Dauphin was christened at Amboise on April 25, 1519. Leonardo da Vinci, who had been brought to Amboise by François I, designed the decorations.

One of the most researched aspects of the Dauphin’s short life is the time he and his brother Henri (later King Henri II of France) spent as hostages in Spain. The king had been badly defeated and captured at the Battle of Pavia (1525) and became a prisoner of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, (King Carlos I of Spain) initially in the Alcázar in Madrid. In order to ensure his release, the king signed the Treaty of Madrid (1526). However, in order to ensure that François abided by the treaty, Charles demanded that the king’s two older sons take his place as hostages. François agreed.

On March 15, 1526, the exchange took place at the border between Spain and France. François almost immediately repudiated the treaty and the eight-year-old Dauphin and his younger brother Henri spent the next three years as captives of Charles V, a period that scarred them for life.

The Dauphin’s “somber, solitary tastes” and his preference for dressing in black (like a Spaniard) were attributed to the time he spent in captivity in Madrid. He also became bookish, preferring reading to soldiering.

Marriage arrangements

As first son and heir to a king of France the Dauphin was a marriage pawn for his father. He could not be wasted in marriage, as many felt his brother Henri had been with his marriage to Catherine de’ Medici, and there were several betrothals to eligible princesses throughout the Dauphin’s life.

The first was when he was an infant, to the four-year-old Mary Tudor (later Mary I of England), daughter of Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon; this arrangement was made as a surety for the Anglo-French alliance signed in October 1518, but abandoned around 1521 when Mary was instead betrothed to Charles V. Mary I of England would eventually marry Charles V’s son, King Felipe II of Spain.

Duchy of Brittany

In 1524, the Dauphin inherited the Duchy of Brittany on his mother’s death, becoming Duke François III, although the Duchy was actually ruled by officials of the French crown. The Duchy was inherited upon the death of François III by his brother, Henri; upon Henri’s succession to the French throne in 1547, the Duchy of Brittany and the Crown of France were merged, the Breton estates having already tied the succession of the Duchy to the French crown, rather than to the line of succession of the Dukes of Brittany, by vote in 1532.

Death

The Dauphin Francis died at Château Tournon-sur-Rhône on August 10, 1536, at the age of eighteen. The circumstances of his death seemed suspicious, and it is believed by many that he was poisoned. However, there is ample evidence that he died of natural causes, possibly tuberculosis. The Dauphin had never fully recovered his health from the years spent in damp, dank cells in Madrid.

After playing a round of tennis at a jeu de paume court “pré[s] d’Ainay”, the Dauphin asked for a cup of water, which was brought to him by his secretary, Count Montecuccoli. After drinking it, François collapsed and died several days later. Montecuccoli, who was brought to the court by Catherine de’ Medici, was accused of being in the pay of Charles V, and when his quarters were searched a book on different types of poison was found. Catherine de’ Medici was well known to have an interest in poisons and the occult. Under torture, Montecuccoli confessed to poisoning the Dauphin.

In an age before forensic science, poison was usually suspected whenever a young, healthy person died shortly after eating or drinking. There was no way to pinpoint and trace the substance after death; therefore, it was considered a quick, easy and untraceable form of homicide. There have been several other suspected cases of political-murder-by-poison in the French royal family through the ages.

January 22, 1522: Birth of Charles II of Orléans

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Archduchess Anna of Austria, Charles II of Orleans, Duke of Orleans, François I of France, Henri II of France, Henry VIII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Infanta Maria of Spain, Pope Clement VII

Charles II of Orléans (January 22, 1522 – September 9, 1545) was the third son of François I and Claude of France. Claude was a daughter of King Louis XII of France and his wife the Duchess Regnant Anne of Brittany.

From his birth until the death of his oldest brother François, Dauphin of France (François I’s eldest son), in 1536, Charles was known as the Duke of Angoulême. After his brother’s death, he became Duke of Orléans, a titled previously held by his surviving brother Henri, who had succeeded François as Dauphin and would later become King of France as Henri II.

By all accounts, he was the most handsome of François I’s sons. Smallpox made him blind in one eye, but it seems that it was not noticeable. He was known for his wild antics, his practical jokes and his extravagance and frivolousness, which his father approved of wholeheartedly.

He was, by far, his father’s favorite son. In addition, he was popular with everyone at his father’s court, and it was widely believed that the French nobility of the time would have much preferred to have him as the Dauphin as opposed to his downcast brother, Henri, who never seemed to recover from his years of captivity in Spain.

In 1540 he was granted the title of Count of Clermont.

In 1542, François I and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, again went to war against each other. Charles fought and captured Luxembourg, but then fearful that he would miss the glory of Perpignan, which was under siege by the Dauphin Henri, he headed south. Luxembourg was lost and retaken several times during the war.

In January 1535, Henry VIII offered a betrothal between the 1-year-old Princess Elizabeth and the 12-year-old Charles on the condition that François I would persuade Pope Paul to reverse Pope Clement VII’s ruling on his marriage to Anne Boleyn as illegitimate.

However, François was reluctant to recognize Henry’s marriage to Anne because that would force him to question the Pope’s ruling. More importantly, François was worried about Elizabeth’s legitimacy despite Henry’s assurance that she was his heiress presumptive.

François stated that he would agree to the match only if Henry would agree to discontinue the annual pensions that François paid to England under the Terms of the Treaty of Amiens as part of Elizabeth’s dowry.

Henry was offended, and he stated that he had been generous in offering an heiress “of most certain title, without remainder of querel to the contrary” to a younger son. English and French commissioners met at Calais to discuss the terms of the marriage treaty, but they failed to reach a consensus because Henry insisted that Charles come to England until his marriage.

François refused to send his son to be a hostage to England. By July, the marriage negotiations came to a halt. In May 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, permanently ending any prospects of a marriage to Charles.

On September 19, 1544, the Treaty of Crépy was signed. Charles had a choice to marry one either Charles V’s daughter or paternal niece. Infanta Maria of Spain was the daughter of Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal, and she would bring the Netherlands or the Low Countries of Franche-Comté as her dowry.

Archduchess Anna of Austria was the daughter of Ferdinand I, King of Hungary and Bohemia and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, and she would bring Milan as her dowry. As the groom’s father, François I agreed to endow Charles with Angoulême, Châtellerault, Bourbon and Orléans.

The Peace of Crépy deeply offended Charles’ elder brother, the Dauphin Henri, and his wife, Catherine de’ Medici. As the heir of Valentina Visconti, Henri considered Milan to be his birthright. More importantly, this settlement would make his brother Charles as powerful as a monarch and link him by marriage to Emperor Charles V, which would divide French interests and create a strategic nightmare.

Many historians believe that Charles V hoped to use Charles as an adversary against Henri. Henri wrote a secret denunciation of the pact because it gave away three inalienable Crown properties.

Death

The rivalry between Charles and his brother, the Dauphin Henri, was potentially dangerous. However, it solved itself with the death of Charles. In the autumn of 1545, Charles was on his way (with his brother, the Dauphin) to Boulogne, which was under siege.

On September 6, they came across a cluster of houses that had been emptied and sealed off “from the plague”—probably a form of influenza. Stating that “no son of a King of France ever died of plague”, Charles entered some of the infected houses with his brother. Laughing, he slashed at bedding with his sword and started a pillow fight with some of his traveling companions.

Stories have also been told of him (on a dare) lying down on one of the infected beds and rolling around on the bedding. Later that evening, after dining with his father and brother, he took suddenly ill, suffering from pain, a high fever, vomiting and shaking limbs. Dauphin Henri rushed to his sickroom immediately, but was barred from entering, being physically restrained on three occasions.

Charles died on September 9, 1545. Some thought that he had been poisoned, but most agreed that it was the “plague” that killed him. He is buried next to his father, François I and his brother, the Dauphin François at the Abbey of Saint-Denis.

During his funeral, the new King Henri II wept for Charles even though his friend, François de Scépeaux, argued that Charles “never loved or esteemed you.”

January 7, 1536: Death of Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England

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Anne Boleyn, Annulment, Catherine of Aragon, Ferdinand II of Aragon, Henry VIII of England, Isabella I of Castile

Catherine of Aragon (December 16, 1485 – January 7, 1536) was Queen of England and Ireland as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on June 11, 1509 until their annulment on May 23, 1533. She was previously Princess of Wales as the wife of Henry’s elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales.

Infanta Catherine was born at the Archbishop’s Palace of Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, on the early hours of December 16, 1485. She was the youngest surviving child of King Fernando II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. Catherine was quite short in stature with long red hair, wide blue eyes, a round face, and a fair complexion.

She was descended, on her maternal side, from the House of Lancaster, an English royal house; her great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, after whom she was named, and her great-great-grandmother Philippa of Lancaster were both daughters of John of Gaunt and granddaughters of Edward III of England. Consequently, she was a third cousin of her father-in-law, Henry VII of England, and fourth cousin of her mother-in-law Elizabeth of York.

At an early age, Catherine was considered a suitable wife for Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the English throne, due to the English ancestry she inherited from her mother. By means of her mother, Catherine had a stronger legitimate claim to the English throne than King Henry VII himself through the first two wives of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster: Blanche of Lancaster and Constance of Castile.

In contrast, Henry VII was the descendant of Gaunt’s third marriage to Katherine Swynford, whose children were born out of wedlock and only legitimised after the death of Constance and the marriage of John to Katherine. The children of John and Katherine, while legitimised, were barred from inheriting the English throne, a stricture that was ignored in later generations.

Because of Henry’s descent through illegitimate children barred from succession to the English throne, the Tudor monarchy was not accepted by all European kingdoms. At the time, the House of Trastámara was the most prestigious in Europe, due to the rule of the Catholic Monarchs, so the alliance of Catherine and Arthur validated the House of Tudor in the eyes of European royalty and strengthened the Tudor claim to the English throne via Catherine of Aragon’s ancestry. It would have given a male heir an indisputable claim to the throne.

Catherine and Arthur and corresponded in Latin until Arthur turned fifteen, when it was decided that they were old enough to be married.

First they weremmarried by proxy on May 19, 1499 and in person o November 14, 1501, they were married at Old St. Paul’s Cathedral. A dowry of 200,000 ducats had been agreed, and half was paid shortly after the marriage.

Once married, Arthur was sent to Ludlow Castle on the borders of Wales to preside over the Council of Wales and the Marches, as was his duty as Prince of Wales, and his bride accompanied him. The couple stayed at Castle Lodge, Ludlow. A few months later, they both became ill, possibly with the sweating sickness, which was sweeping the area. Arthur died on April 2, 1502; 16-year-old Catherine recovered to find herself a widow.

At this point, Henry VII faced the challenge of avoiding the obligation to return her 200,000-ducat dowry, half of which he had not yet received, to her father, as required by her marriage contract should she return home. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth in February 1503, King Henry VII initially considered marrying Catherine himself, but the opposition of her father and potential questions over the legitimacy of the couple’s issue ended the idea. To settle the matter, it was agreed that Catherine would marry Henry VII’s second son, Henry, Duke of York, who was five years younger than she was.

Catherine held the position of ambassador of the Aragonese crown to England in 1507, the first known female ambassador in European history.

Marriage to Arthur’s brother depended on the Pope granting a dispensation because canon law forbade a man to marry his brother’s widow (Lev. 18:16). Catherine testified that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated as, also according to canon law, a marriage was dissoluble unless consummated.

Catherine’s second wedding took place on June 11, 1509, seven years after Prince Arthur’s death. She married Henry VIII, who had only just acceded to the throne, in a private ceremony in the church of the Observant Friars outside Greenwich Palace. She was 23 years of age.

For six months in 1513, Catherine served as regent of England while Henry VIII was in France. During that time the English crushed and defeated the Scottish at the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part with an emotional speech about English courage.

By 1525, Henry VIII was infatuated with Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter, the future Mary I of England, as heir presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne.

Henry VIII sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England’s schism with the Catholic Church. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters.

In 1533 their marriage was consequently declared invalid and Henry married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as supreme head of the Church in England and considered herself the king’s rightful wife and queen, attracting much popular sympathy. Despite this, Henry acknowledged her only as dowager princess of Wales.

After being banished from court by Henry, Catherine lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, dying there on January 7, 1536 of cancer. The English people held Catherine in high esteem, and her death set off tremendous mourning.

Catherine commissioned The Education of a Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives, and Vives dedicated the book, controversial at the time, to the Queen in 1523. Such was Catherine’s impression on people that even her enemy Thomas Cromwell said of her, “If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History.” She successfully appealed for the lives of the rebels involved in the Evil May Day, for the sake of their families. Catherine also won widespread admiration by starting an extensive programme for the relief of the poor. She was a patron of Renaissance humanism, and a friend of the great scholars Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More.

December 16, 1485: Birth of Infanta Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England and Ireland

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Anne Boleyn, Annulment, Arthur, Catherine of Aragon, Ferdinand II of Aragon, Henry VII of England, Henry VIII of England, House of Trastámara, Isabella of Castile, Mary I of England and Ireland, Papal Dispensation, Pope Clement VII, Prince of Wales

Catherine of Aragon (December 16, 1485 – January 7, 1536) was Queen of England and Ireland as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on June 11, 1509 until their annulment on May 23, 1533. She was previously Princess of Wales as the wife of Henry’s elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales.

Infanta Catherine was born at the Archbishop’s Palace of Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, on the early hours of December 16, 1485. She was the youngest surviving child of King Fernando II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. Catherine was quite short in stature with long red hair, wide blue eyes, a round face, and a fair complexion. She was descended, on her maternal side, from the House of Lancaster, an English royal house; her great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, after whom she was named, and her great-great-grandmother Philippa of Lancaster were both daughters of John of Gaunt and granddaughters of Edward III of England. Consequently, she was a third cousin of her father-in-law, Henry VII of England, and fourth cousin of her mother-in-law Elizabeth of York.

Infanta Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England and Ireland

At an early age, Catherine was considered a suitable wife for Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the English throne, due to the English ancestry she inherited from her mother. By means of her mother, Catherine had a stronger legitimate claim to the English throne than King Henry VII himself through the first two wives of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster: Blanche of Lancaster and Constance of Castile.

In contrast, Henry VII was the descendant of Gaunt’s third marriage to Katherine Swynford, whose children were born out of wedlock and only legitimised after the death of Constance and the marriage of John to Katherine. The children of John and Katherine, while legitimised, were barred from inheriting the English throne, a stricture that was ignored in later generations.

Because of Henry’s descent through illegitimate children barred from succession to the English throne, the Tudor monarchy was not accepted by all European kingdoms. At the time, the House of Trastámara was the most prestigious in Europe, due to the rule of the Catholic Monarchs, so the alliance of Catherine and Arthur validated the House of Tudor in the eyes of European royalty and strengthened the Tudor claim to the English throne via Catherine of Aragon’s ancestry. It would have given a male heir an indisputable claim to the throne.

Catherine and Arthur and corresponded in Latin until Arthur turned fifteen, when it was decided that they were old enough to be married.

First they weremmarried by proxy on May 19, 1499 and in person o November 14, 1501, they were married at Old St. Paul’s Cathedral. A dowry of 200,000 ducats had been agreed, and half was paid shortly after the marriage.

Once married, Arthur was sent to Ludlow Castle on the borders of Wales to preside over the Council of Wales and the Marches, as was his duty as Prince of Wales, and his bride accompanied him. The couple stayed at Castle Lodge, Ludlow. A few months later, they both became ill, possibly with the sweating sickness, which was sweeping the area. Arthur died on April 2, 1502; 16-year-old Catherine recovered to find herself a widow.

At this point, Henry VII faced the challenge of avoiding the obligation to return her 200,000-ducat dowry, half of which he had not yet received, to her father, as required by her marriage contract should she return home. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth in February 1503, King Henry VII initially considered marrying Catherine himself, but the opposition of her father and potential questions over the legitimacy of the couple’s issue ended the idea. To settle the matter, it was agreed that Catherine would marry Henry VII’s second son, Henry, Duke of York, who was five years younger than she was.

Infanta Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England and Ireland

Catherine held the position of ambassador of the Aragonese crown to England in 1507, the first known female ambassador in European history.

Marriage to Arthur’s brother depended on the Pope granting a dispensation because canon law forbade a man to marry his brother’s widow (Lev. 18:16). Catherine testified that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated as, also according to canon law, a marriage was dissoluble unless consummated.

Catherine’s second wedding took place on June 11, 1509, seven years after Prince Arthur’s death. She married Henry VIII, who had only just acceded to the throne, in a private ceremony in the church of the Observant Friars outside Greenwich Palace. She was 23 years of age.

For six months in 1513, Catherine served as regent of England while Henry VIII was in France. During that time the English crushed and defeated the Scottish at the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part with an emotional speech about English courage.

By 1525, Henry VIII was infatuated with Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter, the future Mary I of England, as heir presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne.

Henry VIII sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England’s schism with the Catholic Church. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters.

In 1533 their marriage was consequently declared invalid and Henry married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as supreme head of the Church in England and considered herself the king’s rightful wife and queen, attracting much popular sympathy. Despite this, Henry acknowledged her only as dowager princess of Wales.

After being banished from court by Henry, Catherine lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, dying there on January 7, 1536 of cancer. The English people held Catherine in high esteem, and her death set off tremendous mourning.

Catherine commissioned The Education of a Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives, and Vives dedicated the book, controversial at the time, to the Queen in 1523. Such was Catherine’s impression on people that even her enemy Thomas Cromwell said of her, “If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History.” She successfully appealed for the lives of the rebels involved in the Evil May Day, for the sake of their families. Catherine also won widespread admiration by starting an extensive programme for the relief of the poor. She was a patron of Renaissance humanism, and a friend of the great scholars Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More.

October 12, 1537: Birth of King Edward VI of England and Ireland

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Act of Succession, Catherine Parr, Earl of Northumberland, Edward VI of England, Elizabeth I of England, Henry VIII of England, Jane Seymour, Lady Jane Grey, Queen Mary I of England

Edward VI (October 12, 1537 – July 6, 1553) was the King of England and Ireland from January 28, 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on February 20, at the age of nine.

Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour by his third wife, Jane Seymour. Throughout the realm, the people greeted the birth of a male heir, “whom we hungered for so long”, with joy and relief. Te Deums were sung in churches, bonfires lit, and “their was shott at the Tower that night above two thousand gonnes”. Queen Jane, appearing to recover quickly from the birth, sent out personally signed letters announcing the birth of “a Prince, conceived in most lawful matrimony between my Lord the King’s Majesty and us”.

Edward was christened on October 15, with his half-sisters, the 21-year-old Lady Mary as godmother and the 4-year-old Lady Elizabeth carrying the chrisom; and the Garter King of Arms proclaimed him as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester. The Queen, however, fell ill on October 23, from presumed postnatal complications, and died the following night. Henry VIII wrote to François I of France that “Divine Providence … hath mingled my joy with bitterness of the death of her who brought me this happiness”.

From the age of six, Edward began his formal education under Richard Cox and John Cheke, concentrating, as he recalled himself, on “learning of tongues, of the scripture, of philosophy, and all liberal sciences”. He received tuition from Elizabeth’s tutor, Roger Ascham, and Jean Belmain, learning French, Spanish and Italian.

In addition, he is known to have studied geometry and learned to play musical instruments, including the lute and the virginals. He collected globes and maps and, according to coinage historian C. E. Challis, developed a grasp of monetary affairs that indicated a high intelligence. Edward’s religious education is assumed to have favoured the reforming agenda. His religious establishment was probably chosen by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, a leading reformer.

Both Cox and Cheke were “reformed” Catholics or Erasmians and later became Marian exiles. By 1549, Edward had written a treatise on the pope as Antichrist and was making informed notes on theological controversies. Edward was England’s first monarch to be raised as a Protestant.

In 1543, Henry invited his children to spend Christmas with him, signalling his reconciliation with his daughters, whom he had previously illegitimised and disinherited. The following spring, he restored them to their place in the succession with a Third Succession Act, which also provided for a regency council during Edward’s minority.

This unaccustomed family harmony may have owed much to the influence of Henry’s new wife, Catherine Parr, of whom Edward soon became fond. He called her his “most dear mother” and in September 1546 wrote to her: “I received so many benefits from you that my mind can hardly grasp them.

On 1 July 1543, Henry VIII signed the Treaty of Greenwich with the Scots, sealing the peace with Edward’s betrothal to the seven-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots. The Scots were in a weak bargaining position after their defeat at Solway Moss the previous November, and Henry, seeking to unite the two realms, stipulated that Mary be handed over to him to be brought up in England.

When the Scots repudiated the treaty in December 1543 and renewed their alliance with France, Henry was enraged. In April 1544, he ordered Edward’s uncle, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, to invade Scotland and “put all to fire and sword, burn Edinburgh town, so razed and defaced when you have sacked and gotten what ye can of it, as there may remain forever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of God lightened upon [them] for their falsehood and disloyalty”.

Seymour responded with the most savage campaign ever launched by the English against the Scots. The war, which continued into Edward’s reign, has become known as “The Rough Wooing”.

The nine-year-old Edward wrote to his father and stepmother on 10 January 1547 from Hertford thanking them for his new year’s gift of their portraits from life. By January 28, 1547, Henry VIII was dead. Those close to the throne, led by Edward Seymour and William Paget, agreed to delay the announcement of the king’s death until arrangements had been made for a smooth succession.

Seymour and Sir Anthony Browne, the Master of the Horse, rode to collect Edward from Hertford and brought him to Enfield, where Lady Elizabeth was living. He and Elizabeth were then told of the death of their father and heard a reading of the will.

The Lord Chancellor, Thomas Wriothesley, announced Henry’s death to parliament on January 31, and general proclamations of Edward’s succession were ordered. The new king was taken to the Tower of London, where he was welcomed with “great shot of ordnance in all places there about, as well out of the Tower as out of the ships”. The following day, the nobles of the realm made their obeisance to Edward at the Tower, and Seymour was announced as Protector. Henry VIII was buried at Windsor on 16 February, in the same tomb as Jane Seymour, as he had wished.

Edward VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey four days later on Sunday 20 February.

During his reign, the realm was governed by a regency council because he never reached maturity. The council was first led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick (1550–1553), who from 1551 was Duke of Northumberland.

Edward’s reign was marked by economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace.

The transformation of the Church of England into a recognisably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters. His father, Henry VIII, had severed the link between the Church and Rome, but had never permitted the renunciation of Catholic doctrine or ceremony. It was during Edward’s reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass, and the imposition of compulsory services in English.

In February 1553, at age 15, Edward fell ill. When his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his council drew up a “Devise for the Succession” to prevent the country’s return to Catholicism. Edward named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir, excluding his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth.

This decision was disputed following Edward’s death. Edward’s attempt to alter the succession was never sanctioned by Parliament and Jane was deposed by Mary nine days after becoming queen. Because Jane’s tenure on the throne was illegal she is considered a usurper, albeit a puppet of those around her.. Therefore Mary’s reign is marked as starting with the death of her brother Edward VI.

During her reign, Mary reversed Edward’s Protestant reforms, which nonetheless, after Mary’s death, became the basis of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559.

July 23, 1536: Death of Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset.

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Duke of Richmond and Somers, Henry FitzRoy, Henry VIII of England, House of Tudor, King of Ireland, Lady Mary Howard, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Prince Edward, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Mary, Royal Bastard

Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, (June 15, 1519 – July 23, 1536), was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his mistress, Elizabeth Blount, and the only child born out of wedlock whom Henry VIII acknowledged. He was the younger half-brother of Queen Mary I, as well as the older half-brother of Queen Elizabeth I and King Edward VI. Through his mother, he was the elder half-brother of the 4th Baroness Tailboys of Kyme and of the 2nd and 3rd Barons Tailboys of Kyme. He was named FitzRoy, which means “son of the king”.

Birth

Henry FitzRoy was born in June 1519. His mother was Elizabeth Blount, Catherine of Aragon’s lady-in-waiting, and his father was Henry VIII. FitzRoy was conceived when Queen Catherine was approaching her last confinement with another of Henry’s children, a stillborn daughter born in November 1518. To avoid scandal, Blount was taken from Henry’s court to the Augustinian priory of St Lawrence at Blackmore near Ingatestone, in Essex.

FitzRoy’s birthdate is often given as June 15, 1519, but the exact date is not known. His birth may have been earlier than predicted. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was out of London from June 9 to 18 when he reappeared back at court in Windsor. The following day he was expected at Hampton Court, but he did not reappear at a council meeting at Westminster until June 29. The policy of discretion worked, as the baby boy’s arrival caused no great stir, and diplomatic dispatches record nothing of Henry VIII’s illegitimate son.

Acknowledgement

The infant boy was given the surname FitzRoy to make sure that all knew he was son of the King. Henry VIII perhaps felt that his lack of a male heir was a slur upon his manhood since he openly acknowledged the boy. At one point he proudly exhibited his newborn son to the court.

Nursery

The boy’s upbringing until the moment when he entered Bridewell Palace in June 1525 (six years following his birth) remains shrouded in confusion. Although the boy was illegitimate, this did not mean that young Henry lived remotely from and had no contact with his father. On the contrary, it has been suggested by his biographer, Beverly Murphy, that a letter from a royal nurse implies that FitzRoy had also been part of the royal nursery, and he was often at court after 1530.

In the sixteenth century royal and noble households were in a state of constant movement and transition, so it is unlikely that FitzRoy grew up in any one house. He was probably transferred from household to household around London like his royal siblings: Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. In 1519 the only surviving legitimate child of the King was the three-year-old Princess Mary. In that year her household was reorganised, suggesting that Henry made some provisions for his only son. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury replaced Lady Margaret Bryan as lady Mistress of Mary’s household.

Elevation

By 1525, the Tudor dynasty had been on the throne for 40 years. However, cracks were beginning to appear. By the sixteenth year of Henry’s reign, 34-year-old Henry still lacked a male heir with his 40-year-old wife Catherine of Aragon. Their only surviving child and heiress was Princess Mary, who at the time was a girl of nine. Henry, though, had another child, an illegitimate one, a sturdy six-year-old son.

Although Henry may have had other illegitimate children, Henry FitzRoy was the only one the King acknowledged. Henry VIII was also the only surviving son of Henry VII. Henry had no surviving younger brother nor any close male relations from his father’s family who could be called up to share the burden of government in the King’s name. As Henry and Catherine’s marriage remained without a son, the king’s only living son became more attractive for onlookers to observe. The King’s chief minister at the time was Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, and since Henry FitzRoy’s birth he had taken an interest in his monarch’s only son. In a letter dated June 1525 the Cardinal refers to the King’s son: “Your entirely beloved sonne, the Lord Henry FitzRoy”.

In 1525, FitzRoy was given his own residence in London, which he was granted by his father: Durham House on the Strand. Since his birth FitzRoy had remained in the background, although the boy had been brought up in remarkable style and comfort, almost as if he were a prince of the blood and not an acknowledged royal bastard.

Such discretion over his son may not have been to the King’s taste, and he may have felt his manhood and virility should be publicly demonstrated. He fully made up for his son’s quiet birth and equally quiet christening when on June 18, 1525 the six-year-old boy was brought to Bridewell Palace on the western edge of the city of London where honours were showered upon him. That morning of the 18th, the six-year-old Lord Henry FitzRoy travelled by barge from Wolsey’s mansion of Durham Place, near Charing Cross, down the River Thames. He came in the company of a host of knights, squires, and other gentlemen. At 9am his barge pulled up at the Watergate and his party made their way through the palace to the king’s lodgings on the south side of the second floor. The rooms were richly decorated, with various members of court and the nobility coming to see FitzRoy’s elevation.

Among them were numerous bishops, as well as Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and the King’s brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. During the first ceremony, when he was created Earl of Nottingham, FitzRoy was attended by Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, who carried the sword of state, along with John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, and William FitzAlan, 18th Earl of Arundel. Six-year old Henry knelt before his father as Sir Thomas More read out the patents of nobility.

It was the first time since the 12th century that an illegitimate son had been raised to the peerage, when Henry II, King of England had created his son William, Earl of Salisbury. To be a duke was a significant honour. It was the highest rank of the peerage, and the title, originally devised by Edward III, King of England for his son Edward, Prince of Wales as the Duke of Cornwall, retained its royal aura.

The former Henry FitzRoy was subsequently referred to in all formal correspondence as the “right high and noble Prince Henry, Duke of Richmond and Somerset”. As if to compound this sense of royal dignity and endow the child with as much respectability as possible, Henry VIII had granted his son the unprecedented honour of a double dukedom.

While he is mostly known as Richmond, some pains were taken to see that he bore both titles in equal weight. The bulk of Richmond’s new lands came from Margaret Beaufort’s estate. These were lands which were the rightful inheritance of King Henry VII when he was Earl of Richmond and the lands which had belonged to John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, the father of Margaret Beaufort. The use of the Duchy of Somerset must have struck a chord among the courtiers, as it was well known that the Beauforts’ eldest child was John Somerset, a royal bastard who had been legitimised following his parents’ adultery and then marriage.

A part of the Beaufort connection to the Somerset duchy, the title of Duke of Richmond was important as the earldom of Richmond had been held by his grandfather King Henry VII and by his great-grandfather Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond. The earldom of Nottingham had been held by Richmond’s great uncle Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the second son of Edward IV. Seeing Henry’s obvious pride and affection for his son, many of those who witnessed Richmond’s elevation must have wondered if this was what the King had in mind.

It was a proud day for Henry, and for his former mistress Elizabeth; however, the ceremony did nothing to spare the Queen’s feelings. She knew she had failed to give England a prince and was anxious about her own daughter’s prospects. In a private letter the Venetian ambassador wrote: “It seems that the Queen resents the earldom and dukedom conferred on the King’s natural son and remains dissatisfied. At the instigation it is said of her three Spanish ladies her chief counsellors, so that the King has dismissed them from court, a strong measure but the Queen was obliged to submit and have patience”.

Crown Offices

In that same year (1525), Richmond, as he came to be known, was granted several other appointments, including Lord High Admiral, Lord President of the Council of the North, and Warden of the Marches towards Scotland and Governor of Carlisle, the effect of which was to place the government of the north of England in his hands. He held the offices in name only, the power was actually in the hands of a council dominated by Thomas Magnus, Archdeacon of the East Riding.

From now on, the Duke was raised like a Prince at Sheriff Hutton Castle in Yorkshire. His father had a particular fondness for him and took great interest in his upbringing. Sir Thomas Tempest was comptroller of his household. In February 1527, Thomas Magnus told the young Duke that James V of Scotland had asked for hunting dogs. FitzRoy sent the Scottish king 20 hunting hounds and a huntsman.

Kingdom of Ireland

On June 22, 1529 Richmond was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and there was a plan to crown him king of that country, though the King’s counsellors feared that making a separate Kingdom of Ireland whose ruler was not that of England would create another threat similar to the Kingdom of Scotland. After Richmond’s death, the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 established a personal union between the English and Irish crowns, providing that whoever was King of England was to be King of Ireland as well. King Henry VIII of England was proclaimed its first holder.

Marriage

When Henry VIII began the process of having his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled, it was suggested that FitzRoy marry his own half-sister Mary in order to strengthen FitzRoy’s claim to the throne. Anxious to prevent the annulment and Henry’s possible break with the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope was even prepared to grant a special dispensation for their marriage.

At age 14, on November 28, 1533 the Duke instead married Lady Mary Howard, the only daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. He was on excellent terms with his brother-in-law, the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. The marriage was never consummated.

Possible heir to the throne

At the time of Richmond’s death, an Act was going through Parliament which disinherited Henry’s daughter Elizabeth as his heir and permitted the King to designate his successor, whether legitimate or not. There is no evidence that Henry intended to proclaim Richmond his heir, but the Act would have permitted him to do so if he wished. The Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote to Emperor Charles V on July 8, 1536 that Henry VIII had made a statute allowing him to nominate a successor, but thought the Duke of Richmond would not succeed to the throne by it, as he was consumptive and now diagnosed incurable.

Death

The Duke’s promising career came to an abrupt end in July 1536. According to the chronicler Charles Wriothesley, Richmond became sickly some time before he died, although Richmond’s biographer Beverley A. Murphy cites his documented public appearances and activities in April and May of that year, without exciting comment on his health, as evidence to the contrary.

He was reported ill with “consumption” (usually identified as tuberculosis, but possibly another serious lung complaint) in early July, and died at St. James’s Palace on July 23, 1536. Henry Fitzroy was 17 years old.

Richmond’s father-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk, gave orders that the body be wrapped in lead then taken in a closed cart for secret interment. However, his servants put the body in a straw-filled wagon. The only mourners were two attendants who followed at a distance. The Duke’s ornate tomb is in Framlingham Church, Suffolk, which contains various Howard family monuments. One of the houses at the local high school is named after him.

His father outlived him by just over a decade, and was succeeded by his legitimate son, Edward VI, born shortly after FitzRoy’s death. Most historians maintain that Edward, like Henry FitzRoy, died of tuberculosis. It is said that Henry FitzRoy might have been made king had Henry VIII died without an in-wedlock son: