Catherine of Aragon: the bride of two brothers.

Tags

Arthur Prince of Wales, Arthur Tudor, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VII of England, House of Tudor, King Henry VIII of England, Kings and Queens of England, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Prince of Wales

I missed this the other day. June 11th is the date my wife and I were married and it is also the date that Catherine of Aragon married King Henry VIII of England in 1509.

This portrait is either Catherine of Aragon, Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII) or an unknown English noble woman.

Henry VII planned to marry Arthur to a daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Fernando II of Aragon, in order to forge an Anglo-Spanish alliance against France. It was suggested that the choice of marrying Arthur to Fernando and Isabella’s youngest daughter, Catherine (b. 1485), would be appropriate and suitable. The Treaty of Medina del Campo (March 27, 1489) provided that Arthur and Catherine would be married as soon as they reached canonical age. Since Arthur, not yet 14, was below the age of consent, a papal dispensation (i.e., waiver) allowing the marriage was issued in February 1497, and the pair were betrothed by proxy on August 25, 1497. Two years later, a marriage by proxy took place at Arthur’s Tickenhill Manor in Bewdley, near Worcester; Arthur said to Roderigo de Puebla, who had acted as proxy for Catherine, that “he much rejoiced to contract the marriage because of his deep and sincere love for the Princess.”

One reason Catherine of Aragon was chosen was due to the English ancestry she inherited from her mother. England had recently completed a long dynastic struggle for the throne known as the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII, as the new King who had a weak genealogical claim to the throne sought to strengthen his hold on the crown through marriage. First Henry married Elizabeth of York to unite the two warring branches of the English Royal House of Plantagenet. Secondly he also desired to grant a strong ally in Catholic Spain, who also had a claim to the English throne.

By means of her mother, Queen Isabella I of Castile, Catherine had a stronger legitimate claim to the English throne than even 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 who were barred from succession to the English throne, the Tudor monarchy was not accepted by all European kingdoms. At the time, the Spanish 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. The two were married by proxy on May 19, 1499 and corresponded in Latin until Arthur turned fifteen, when it was decided that they were old enough to be married.

Arthur, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

On November 14, 1501, the marriage ceremony finally took place at Saint Paul’s Cathedral; both Arthur and Catherine wore white satin. The ceremony was conducted by Henry Deane, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was assisted by William Warham, Bishop of London. Following the ceremony, Arthur and Catherine left the Cathedral and headed for Baynard’s Castle, where they were entertained by “the best voiced children of the King’s chapel.

What followed was a bedding ceremony laid down by Arthur’s grandmother Lady Margaret Beaufort: the bed was sprinkled with holy water, after which Catherine was led away from the wedding feast by her ladies-in-waiting. She was undressed, veiled and “reverently” laid in bed, while Arthur, “in his shirt, with a gown cast about him”, was escorted by his gentlemen into the bedchamber, while viols and tabors played. The Bishop of London blessed the bed and prayed for the marriage to be fruitful, after which the couple were left alone. This is the only public bedding of a royal couple recorded in Britain in the 16th century.

In March 1502, Arthur and Catherine were afflicted by an unknown illness, “a malign vapour which proceeded from the air.” While Catherine recovered, Arthur died on 2 April 1502 at Ludlow, six months short of his sixteenth birthday.

Arthur’s death thrust all his duties upon his younger brother, the 10 year old Henry, Duke of York. After a little debate, Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall in October 1502, and the new Prince of Walesand Earl of Chester in February 1503. Henry VII gave the boy few tasks. Young Henry was strictly supervised and did not appear in public. As a result, he ascended the throne “untrained in the exacting art of kingship”.

Henry VII renewed his efforts to seal a marital alliance between England and Spain, by offering his second son in marriage to Arthur’s widow Catherine. Both Isabella and Henry VII were keen on the idea, which had arisen very shortly after Arthur’s death. On June 23, 1503, a treaty was signed for their marriage, and they were betrothed two days later. A papal dispensation was only needed for the “impediment of public honesty” if the marriage had not been consummated as Catherine and her duenna claimed, but Henry VII and the Spanish ambassador set out instead to obtain a dispensation for “affinity”, which took account of the possibility of consummation. Cohabitation was not possible because Henry was too young.

Isabella’s death in 1504, and the ensuing problems of succession in Castile, complicated matters. Her father preferred Catherine to stay in England, but Henry VII’s relations with Fernando had deteriorated. Catherine was therefore left in limbo for some time, culminating in Prince Henry’s rejection of the marriage as soon he was able, at the age of 14. Ferdinand’s solution was to make his daughter ambassador, allowing her to stay in England indefinitely. Devout, she began to believe that it was God’s will that she marry the prince despite his opposition.

Henry VIII, King of England. Age 18 in 1509.

Henry VII died on April 21, 1509, and the 17-year-old Henry succeeded him as King Henry VIII. Henry would turn 18 on June 28. Soon after his father’s burial on May 10, Henry suddenly declared that he would indeed marry Catherine, leaving unresolved several issues concerning the papal dispensation and a missing part of the marriage dowry. The new king maintained that it had been his father’s dying wish that he marry Catherine. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I had been attempting to marry his granddaughter (and Catherine’s niece) Eleanor of Austria to Henry; she had now been jilted.

Henry’s wedding to Catherine was kept low-key and was held at the friar’s church in Greenwich on June 11, 1509. On June 23, 1509, Henry led the now 23-year-old Catherine from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey for their coronation, which took place the following day. It was a grand affair: the king’s passage was lined with tapestries and laid with fine cloth. Following the ceremony, there was a grand banquet in Westminster Hall. As Catherine wrote to her father, “our time is spent in continuous festival”.

Advertisements

On this date in History: June 10, 1688. Birth of Prince James Francis Edward Stuart. Part I.

Tags

Glorious Revolution, James Francis Stuart, King James II-VII of England and Scotland, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, Louis XIV of France, Prince of Wales, William III of England, William of Orange

James Francis Edward Stuart (June 10, 1688 – January 1, 1766), nicknamed The Old Pretender, was the son of King James II-VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was born at St. James’s Palace and was automatically Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, among other titles. Subsequently he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

James II-VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

The prince’s birth was controversial and, coming five years after his mother’s last conception, unanticipated on the part of a number of British Protestants, who had expected his sister Mary, from his father’s first marriage, to succeed their father. Mary and her younger sister Princess Anne had been raised as Protestants.As long as there was a possibility of one of them succeeding him, the king’s opponents saw his rule as a temporary inconvenience. When people began to fear that James’s second wife, Mary, would produce a Catholic son and heir, a movement grew to replace him with his elder daughter Princess Mary and his son-in-law/nephew, Willem III of Orange.

Rumors immediately began to spread that he was an impostor baby, smuggled into the royal birth chamber in a warming pan and that the actual child of James and Mary was stillborn. In an attempt to scotch this myth, James published the testimonies of over seventy witnesses to the birth.

Prince James Frances Edward, Prince of Wales

It is widely considered that the birth of Prince James Francis Edward was the sole reason that James II-VII was deposed. This event event certainly hastened the demise of king James’s reign, however, it was not the only cause. The second event that sealed the Kings fate was the prosecution of the Seven Bishops for seditious libel; this was viewed as an assault on the Church of England and their acquittal on June 30, destroyed his political authority in England. Anti-Catholic riots in England and Scotland now made it seem only his removal as monarch could prevent a civil war.

Let me provide more context to the second event. In April 1688, James re-issued the Declaration of Indulgence, subsequently ordering Anglican clergy to read it in their churches.

The Declaration granted broad religious freedom in England by suspending penal laws enforcing conformity to the Church of England and allowing persons to worship in their homes or chapels as they saw fit, and it ended the requirement of affirming religious oaths before gaining employment in government office.By use of the royal suspending power, the king lifted the religious penal laws and granted toleration to the various Christian denominations, including Catholic and Protestant, within his kingdoms.

While this was a progressive act, anti-Catholic sentiments ruled the day and many Protestant clergy viewed this act as an attack on their authority. When seven Bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, submitted a petition requesting the reconsideration of the King’s religious policies, they were arrested and tried for seditious libel.

Protestant Clergy and Nobles had already entered into negotiations with Prince Willem III of Orange when it became known the Queen was pregnant, and the birth of a son reinforced their convictions. On June 30, 1688, when the group of Seven Bishops were acquitted, it resulted in wild celebrations throughout London, including within regiments of the Royal Army based in Hounslow, much to James’ annoyance and concern.

The same day of the acquittal seven Protestant nobles sent an Invitation to Willem III of Orange, ‘inviting’ him to take the throne on behalf of his wife Mary, James’ Protestant daughter. The invitation was signed by seven individuals selected from key elements of the political nation, including Tories, Whigs, Bishop Compton and the Royal Navy.

By September, it had become clear that Willem III sought to invade England. Believing that his own army would be adequate, James II-VII refused the assistance of Louis XIV, fearing that the English would oppose French intervention. When Willem arrived on November 5, 1688, many Protestant officers, including Churchill, defected and joined Willem as did James’s own daughter, Anne.

James lost his nerve and declined to attack the invading army, despite his army’s numerical superiority. On December 9, Mary of Modena disguised herself as a laundress and escaped with the infant James Francis Edward to France. On December 11, James II-VII tried to flee to France, first throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames. He was captured in Kent; later, he was released and placed under Dutch protective guard. Having no desire to make James a martyr, the Prince of Orange let him escape on December 23. James was received by his cousin and ally, Louis XIV, who offered him a palace and a pension.

On this date in History: June 8, 1042. Accession of Edward the Confessor as King of England.

Tags

Edward the Confessor, Harold Godwinson, Harthacnut, Kingdom of Denmark, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Norway, Kings and Queens of England, Magnus the Good

On this date in History: June 8, 1042. Death of Harthacnut, King of Denmark and England and the accession of Magnus I Olafsson the Good as King of Denmark and Edward the Confessor as King of England.

Arms of the Kingdom of England

Harthacnut (c. 1018 – June 8, 1042), sometimes referred to as Canute III, was King of Denmark from 1035 to 1042 and King of England from 1040 to 1042. He was the son of King Canute II the Great of Denmark, Norway, and England and Emma of Normandy. When Canute II died in 1035, Harthacnut struggled to retain his father’s possessions. Magnus I took control of Norway, but Harthacnut succeeded as King of Denmark and became King of England in 1040 after the death of his half-brother Harold Harefoot. Harthacnut died suddenly in 1042 and was succeeded by Magnus I of Norway in Denmark and Edward the Confessor in England. Harthacnut was the last Scandinavian to rule England.

Magnus Olafsson (c. 1024 – 25 October 1047), better known as Magnus the Good, was the King of Norway from 1035 and King of Denmark from 1042, ruling over both countries until his death in 1047. Magnus I was an illegitimate son of Olaf II of Norway, but fled with his mother when his father was dethroned in 1028. He returned to Norway in 1035 and was crowned king at the age of 11. In 1042, he was also crowned king of Denmark. Magnus ruled the two countries until 1047, when he died under unclear circumstances. After his death, his kingdom was split between Harald III Hardrada in Norway and Sweyn Estridsson in Denmark.

Edward the Confessor (c. 1003 – 5 January 1066), also known as Saint Edward the Confessor, was among the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.

Edward was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeeded Canute II the Great’s son – and his own half brother – Harthacnut. He restored the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Canute II conquered England in 1016.

During his childhood, England was the target of Viking raids and invasions under Sweyn Forkbeard and his son, Canute. Following Sweyn’s seizure of the throne in 1013, Emma fled to Normandy, followed by Edward and Alfred, and then by Æthelred. Sweyn died in February 1014, and leading Englishmen invited Æthelred back on condition that he promised to rule ‘more justly’ than before. Æthelred agreed, sending Edward back with his ambassadors.

King Æthelred the Unreadydied in April 1016, and he was succeeded by Edward’s older half-brother Edmund Ironside, who carried on the fight against Sweyn’s son, Cnut. According to Scandinavian tradition, Edward fought alongside Edmund; as Edward was at most thirteen years old at the time, the story is disputed. Edmund died in November 1016, and Cnut became undisputed king. Edward then again went into exile with his brother and sister; in 1017 his mother married Canute II. In the same year Canute had Edward’s last surviving elder half-brother, Eadwig, executed, leaving Edward as the leading Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne.

Following Harthacnut’s death on June 8, 1042, Godwin, the most powerful of the English earls, supported Edward, who succeeded to the throne. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the popularity he enjoyed at his accession – “before he [Harthacnut] was buried, all the people chose Edward as king in London.” Edward was crowned at the cathedral of Winchester, the royal seat of the West Saxons, on April 3, 1043.

When Edward died in 1066, he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, who was defeated and killed in the same year by the Normans under William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. Edgar the Ætheling, who was of the House of Wessex, was proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but never ruled and was deposed after about eight weeks.

About a century later, in 1161, Pope Alexander III canonised the king. Saint Edward was one of England’s national saints until King Edward III adopted Saint George as the national patron saint in about 1350. Saint Edward’s feast day is 13 October, celebrated by both the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Royal Ancestry of King Henry VII of England. Conclusion

Tags

Catherine of Valois, Charlemagne, Henry Tudor, Henry VII of England, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, House of Tudor, Hugh Capet, Kings and Queens of England, Kings of france

The Tudor name

Before I continue to discuss the Royal Ancestry of Henry VII of England I’d like to delve into some history of the Tudor name itsel and it’s usage.

The name Tewdur or Tudor is derived from the words tud “territory” and rhi “king”. Owen Tudor took it as a surname on being knighted. It is doubtful whether the Tudor kings used the name on the throne. Kings and princes were not seen as needing a name, and a ‘Tudor’ name for the royal family was hardly known in the sixteenth century. The royal surname was never used in official publications, and hardly in ‘histories’ of various sorts before 1584.

Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland

Monarchs were not anxious to publicize their descent in the paternal line from a Welsh adventurer, stressing instead continuity with the historic English and French royal families. Their subjects did not think of them as ‘Tudors’, or of themselves as ‘Tudor people’”. Princes and Princesses would have been known as “of England”. The medieval practice of colloquially calling princes after their place birth (e.g. Henry of Bolingbroke for Henry IV or Henry of Monmouth for Henry V) was not followed. Henry VII was likely known as “Henry of Richmond” before his taking of the throne and not Henry Tudor.

In my posts about the Maternal Ancestry of Henry VII we saw that he descended from both the Kings of England and the Kings of France many times over. In this post I’d like to focus on Catherine of Valois, Henry’s maternal grandmother.

Catherine of Valois

Henry V of England died on August 31, 1422, leaving his wife, Queen Catherine of Valois, widowed. The Queen initially lived with her infant son, King Henry VI, before moving to Wallingford Castle early in his reign. In 1427, it is believed that Catherine began an affair with Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. The evidence of this affair is questionable; however the liaison prompted a parliamentary statute regulating the remarriage of queens of England. The historian G. L. Harris suggested that it was possible that the affair resulted in the birth of Edmund Tudor. Harriss wrote: “By its very nature the evidence for Edmund ‘Tudor’s’ parentage is less than conclusive, but such facts as can be assembled permit the agreeable possibility that Edmund ‘Tudor’ and Margaret Beaufort were first cousins and that the royal house of ‘Tudor’ sprang in fact from Beauforts on both sides.”Despite the statute it is accepted that Catherine married Owen at some unknown later date.

Catherine lived in the king’s household, presumably so she could care for her young son, but the arrangement also enabled the councillors to watch over the queen dowager herself. Nevertheless, Catherine entered into a sexual relationship with Welshman Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudor, who, in 1421, in France, had been in the service of Henry V’s steward Sir Walter Hungerford. Tudor was probably appointed keeper of Catherine’s household or wardrobe. The relationship began when Catherine lived at Windsor Castle, and she became pregnant with their first child there. At some point, she stopped living in the King’s household and in May 1432 Parliament granted Owen the rights of an Englishman. This was important because of Henry IV’s laws limiting the rights of Welshmen.

Catherine of Valois’s arms as queen consort

There is no clear evidence that Catherine of Valois and Owen Tudor actually were married. No documentation of such a marriage exists. Moreover, even if they had been married, the question arises whether the marriage would have been lawful, given the Act of 1428. At the same time, there is no contemporaneous evidence that the validity of the marriage and the legitimacy of her children were questioned in secular or canon law. From the relationship of Owen Tudor and Queen Catherine descended the Tudor dynasty of England, starting with King Henry VII. Tudor historians asserted that Owen and Catherine had been married, for their lawful marriage would add respectability and stronger royal ties to the claims of the Tudor dynasty.

Owen and Catherine had at least six children. Edmund, Jasper and Owen were all born away from court. They had one daughter, Margaret, who became a nun and died young.

When discussing the maternal ancestry of King Henry VII of England I didn’t mention several times that Henry was descended from the kings of France. I was reserving the discussion about Catherine of Valois to cite some of the prominent royals from France that Henry is a descendant. I will begin with the founder of the French House of Capet, Hugh Capet. Keep in mind as I discuss the ancestry of Hugh Capet, these are also ancestors of Henry VII.

Hugh Capet, King of the Franks

Hugh Capet (c. 939 – October 24, 996) was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder and first king from the House of Capet. He was elected as the successor of the last Carolingian king, Louis V. Hugh was a descendant in the illegitimate line from Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans.

Descent and inheritance

The son of Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks, and Hedwige of Saxony, daughter of the German king Heinrch I the Fowler, Hugh was born sometime between 938 and 941. He was born into a well-connected and powerful family with many ties to the royal houses of France and Germany.

Through his mother, Hugh was the nephew of Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor; Heinrich I, Duke of Bavaria; Bruno the Great, Archbishop of Cologne; and finally, Gerberga of Saxony, Queen of the Franks. Gerberga was wife of Louis IV, King of the Franks and mother of Lothair of France and Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine.

His paternal family, the Robertians, were powerful landowners in the Île-de-France. His grandfather had been King Robert I. King Odo was his granduncle and King Rudolph was his uncle by affinity. Hugh’s paternal grandmother was a legitimate descendant of Charlemagne.

From Hugh descends many Kings of France and Kings and Queens of England.

Charlemange, King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans.

For a little fun I want to end this series demonstrating how Henry VII of England is a descendant of Heinrich VII, Holy Roman Emperor.

Heinrich VII (c. 1275 – August 24, 1313) was the King of Germany (or Rex Romanorum) from 1308 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1312. He was the first emperor of the House of Luxembourg. During his brief career he reinvigorated the imperial cause in Italy, which was racked with the partisan struggles between the divided Guelf and Ghibelline factions, and inspired the praise of Dino Compagni and Dante Alighieri. He was the first emperor since the death of Friedrich II in 1250, ending the great interregnum of the Holy Roman Empire; however, his premature death threatened to undo his life’s work. His son, Johann of Bohemia, failed to be elected as his successor. Heinrich VII was married to Margaret of Brabant (4 October 1276 – 14 December 1311), She was the daughter of Jean I, Duke of Brabant and Margaret of Flanders.

Johann of Bohemia (August 10, 1296 – August 26, 1346) was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He was the eldest son of the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VII and his wife Margaret of Brabant. He is well known for having died while fighting in the Battle of Crécy at age 50, after having been blind for a decade. Jean of Bohemia was married to Elizabeth of Bohemia (1292–1330) a princess of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty who became queen consort of Bohemia as the first wife of King John the Blind. She was the mother of Emperor Charles IV, King of Bohemia. She was the daughter of Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and Judith of Habsburg (Judith 1271 – 21 May 1297, also named Guta (Czech: Guta Habsburská), was a member of the House of Habsburg, was the youngest daughter of King Rudolf I of Germany and his wife Gertrude of Hohenburg.

Bonne of Luxemburg or Jutta of Luxemburg (May 20, 1315 – September 11, 1349), was born Jutta (Judith), the second daughter of Johann the Blind, king of Bohemia, and his first wife, Elisabeth of Bohemia. She was the first wife of King Jean II of France; however, as she died a year prior to his accession, she was never a French queen. Jutta was referred to in French historiography as Bonne de Luxembourg. She was a member of the House of Luxembourg. Among her children were Charles V of France, Philippe II, Duke of Burgundy, and Joan, Queen of Navarre.

Charles V, King of France

Charles V (21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380), called “the Wise” was King of France from 1364 to his death, the third from the House of Valois. His reign marked a high point for France during the Hundred Years’ War, with his armies recovering much of the territory held by the English, and successfully reversed the military losses of his predecessors. On April 8, 1350 Charles V was married to Joanna of Bourbon (3 February 1338 – 4 February 1378). She was born in the Château de Vincennes, a daughter of Peter I, Duke of Bourbon, and Isabella of Valois, a half-sister of Philippe VI of France.

Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422), called the Beloved and the Mad was King of France for 42 years from 1380 to his death in 1422, the fourth from the House of Valois. Charles VI married Isabeau of Bavaria (ca. 1371 – 24 September 1435) on 17 July 1385. She was born into the House of Wittelsbach as the eldest daughter of Duke Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Taddea Visconti of Milan. She gave birth to 12 children: Among them was Catherine of Valois who first married Henry VI, King of England and secondly to Owen Tudor and through her second marriage she was the Paternal grandmother of Henry VII of England. This concludes Henry VII’s descent from Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VII.

Speaking of conclusions, this concludes my series on the Royal Ancestry of King Henry VII of England. Although he won the throne by conquest and his hereditary right was pretty week, he did have many royal ancestors from many of the prominent royal houses of Europe.

On this date in History: April 24, 1558, the marriage of Mary I, Queen of Scots and The Dauphin of France.

Tags

Francis II of France, Henry II of France, House of Stewart, House of Stuart, James V King of Scots, King Henri II of France, King Henry VIII of England, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, Kings of france, Margaret Tudor, Marie de Guise, Mary I of Scots, Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots, The Dauphin

Mary was born on December 8, 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, to King James V of Scots and his French second wife, Marie de Guise. Mary was said to have been born prematurely and was the only legitimate child of James V to survive him She was the great-niece of King Henry VIII of England, as her paternal grandmother, Margaret Tudor, was Henry VIII’s sister. On December 14, 1542 six days after her birth, she became Queen of Scotland when her father died from drinking contaminated water while on campaign following the Battle of Solway Moss.

Mary I, Queen of Scots

Since Mary was an infant when she inherited the throne, Scotland was ruled by regents until she became an adult. From the outset, there were two claims to the regency: one from Catholic Cardinal Beaton, and the other from the Protestant Earl of Arran, who was next in line to the Scottish throne. Beaton’s claim to the regency was based on a version of the King Jame V’s will that his opponents dismissed as a forgery. Arran, with the support of his friends and relations, became the regent until 1554 when Mary’s mother managed to remove and succeed him.

Henry VIII, King of England and King of Ireland.

King Henry VIII of England took the opportunity of the regency to propose marriage between Mary and his own son and heir, Edward (future Edward VI of England) seeking to unite Scotland and England. On July 1, 1543, when Mary was six months old, the Treaty of Greenwichwas signed, which promised that, at the age of ten, Mary would marry Edward and move to England, where Henry could oversee her upbringing. The treaty provided that the two countries would remain legally separate and that if the couple should fail to have children, the temporary union would dissolve. Cardinal Beaton rose to power again and began to push a pro-Catholic pro-French agenda, angering Henry, who wanted to break the Scottish alliance with France.

The French king, Henri II, desired to unite France and Scotland and proposed marrying the young queen to his three-year-old son, the Dauphin Francis. On the promise of French military help, and a French dukedom for himself, the regent Earl of Arran agreed to the marriage. In February 1548, Mary was moved, for her safety, to Dumbarton Castle. The English left a trail of devastation behind once more and seized the strategic town of Haddington. In June, the much awaited French help arrived at Leith to besiege and ultimately take Haddington. On July 7, 1548, a Scottish Parliament held at a nunnery near the town agreed to a French marriage treaty.

Mary I, Queen of Scots

With the promise of her marriage agreement in place, five-year-old Mary was sent to France to spend the next thirteen years at the French court. The French fleet sent by Henri II, commanded by Nicolas de Villegagnon, sailed with Mary from Dumbarton on August 7, 1548 and arrived a week or more later at Roscoff or Saint-Pol-de-Léon in Brittany.

At the French court, she was a favourite with everyone, except Henri II’s wife Catherine de’ Medici. Mary learned to play lute and virginals, was competent in prose, poetry, horsemanship, falconry and needlework, and was taught French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and Greek, in addition to speaking her native Scots. Her future sister-in-law, Elisabeth of Valois, became a close friend of whom Mary “retained nostalgic memories in later life”.Her maternal grandmother, Antoinette de Bourbon, was another strong influence on her childhood, and acted as one of her principal advisors.

King Francis II and Queen Mary I of France and Scotland

Mary was eloquent and especially tall by sixteenth-century standards (she attained an adult height of 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), while Henri II’s son and heir, Francis, stuttered and was abnormally short. Henri commented that “from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together. On April 4, 1558, Mary signed a secret agreement bequeathing Scotland and her claim to England to the French crown if she died without issue. Twenty days later, April 24,1558 she married the Dauphin at Notre Dame de Paris, and he became king consort of Scotland. When Henri II died on July 10, 1559 from injuries sustained in a joust, the fifteen-year-old Dauphin became King Francis II of France and sixteen-year-old Mary I, Queen of Scots became Queen of France.

Royal Ancestry of Henry VII of England: Part V.

Tags

Earl of Richmond, Edmund Tudor, Edward III of England, Henry VII of England, House of Tudor, Jasper Tudor, John of Gaunt, King Henry VI of England, Kings and Queens of England, Margaret Beaufort, Owen Tudor, Prince of Wales, Wales

Today we will begin to examine the Paternal Ancestry of Henry VII of England. We begin with his father Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, born June 11, 1430 and died November 3, 1456. He was also known as Edmund of Hadham. Edmund Tudor was father of King Henry VII of England and a member of the Tudor family of Penmynydd, North Wales.

Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland.

Edmund’s parents were Owen Tudor and the dowager queen Catherine of Valois, (wife of Henry V of England) making Edmund a half-brother to Henry VI of England. Edmund was raised for several years by Katherine de la Pole, and King Henry VI took an interest in Edmund’s upbringing, granting him the title 1st Earl of Richmond and lands once he came of age. Both Edmund and his brother, Jasper, were made advisers to the King as they were his remaining blood relatives. The brothers were made the senior earls in the royal court and had influential positions in the Parliament of England. Edmund was also granted Baynard’s Castle, London and ran a successful estate.

As Earls, and recognised by court as the King’s half brothers, Edmund and Jasper Tudor had unparalleled precedence over the other laypersons in court with the exception of the Dukes. They were each given lands, although Jasper received a yearly stipend until the Earldom of Pembroke became available. After seven years of marriage to Margaret of Anjou, King Henry VI was still without children. After the death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the royal line was at risk of extinction and considerations were made about the Tudor brothers inheriting the throne. There were concerns that while they had descended from the French royal line through Catherine, they only had little or distant blood relation to the English throne.

On November 1, 1455, Edmund married John Beaufort’s granddaughter, Margaret Beaufort, (John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, third son of King Edward III of England). Prior to the start of the Wars of the Roses, Edmund liaised with Richard of York and supported him when the King fell ill during 1453 and 1454. After war began in 1455, York sent Edmund to uphold the authority of the King in South Wales. While he was there, York was overthrown by the King and in retaliation, Yorkist forces were sent to engage those of Tudor’s in South Wales. Edmund was captured at Carmarthen Castle, and died there of the bubonic plague on November 3 1456 aged only 26. The future Henry VII of England was born at Pembroke Castle on January 28, 1457 and automatically became the 2nd Earl of Richmond, for his father had died three months before his birth.

Edmund’s father was Sir Owen Tudor Sir Owen Tudor (c. 1400 – 2 February 1461) Asmentioned the Tudor’s were descendants of a prominent family from Penmynydd on the Isle of Anglesey, which traces its lineage back to Ednyfed Fychan (d. 1246), a Welsh official and seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Tudor’s grandfather, Tudur ap Goronwy, married Margaret, daughter of Thomas ap Llywelyn ab Owain of Cardiganshire, the last male of the princely house of Deheubarth. Margaret’s elder sister married Gruffudd Fychan of Glyndyfrdwy, whose son was Owain Glyndŵr (sometimes called Owen Glendower in English, was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales). Owen’s father, Maredudd ap Tudur, and his uncles were prominent in Owain Glyndŵr’s revolt against English rule, the Glyndŵr Rising.

Owen’s original name in Welsh was Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur. When Owen Anglicized his name he abandoned the Welsh patronymic naming practice and adopted a fixed surname. When he did, he did not choose, as was generally the custom, his father’s name, Maredudd, but chose that of his grandfather, Tudur ap Goronwy, instead. This name is sometimes given as Tewdwr, the Welsh form of Theodore.

The Tudors of Penmynydd were the senior line of a noble and aristocratic family, connected with the village of Penmynyddin Anglesey, North Wales, who were very influential in Welsh (and later English) politic. The family descended from one of the sons of Ednyfed Fychan (died in 1246), the Welsh warrior who became seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in north Wales, serving Llywelyn the Great and later his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn. He claimed descent from Marchudd ap Cynan, Lord of Rhos and ‘protector’ of Rhodri the Great, king of Gwynedd, a founder of one of the so-called Fifteen Tribes of Wales. From Ednyfed’s many sons would come a ‘ministerial aristocracy’ in northern Wales. He left the manors of Trecastell, Penmynydd and Erddreiniogin, Anglesey to those of his sons born to his second marriage to Gwenllian, daughter of king Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth, and among these sons was Goronwy (died 1268), founder of the line of the Tudors of Penmynyth.

This is enough information for one day. More on the background of the Tudor dynasty in then next post in this series.

Royal Ancestry of Henry VII of England: Part IV

Tags

Countess of Richmond, Frederick Barbarossa, Henry VII of England, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, House of Stuart, Joan of Kent, Kings and Queens of England, Margaret Beaufort, Margaret Holland

I want to take a step back and look at another line of ancestors of Henry VII. The line in question stems from Lady Margaret Holland, Grandmother of Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond who was the mother of King Henry VII.

Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland

Margaret Holland (1385 – December 30, 1439) was a medieval English noblewoman. She was a daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, who was the son of Joan “the Fair Maid of Kent” (herself a granddaughter of Edward I of England, wife of Edward the Black Prince and mother of Richard II of England). Margaret’s mother was Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.

Margaret Holland’s mother was Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster. Eleanor of Lancaster was a great-granddaughter of Henry III of England (1216-1272) via his second son Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster. Margaret Holland’s great-grandmother was Maria of Hohenstaufen (April 3, 1201 – March 29, 1235) she was a member of the powerful Hohenstaufen dynasty of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors which lasted from 1138 to 1254. She is also known to history as Marie of Swabia. Maria herself was a granddaughter of the great Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I (1152-1190), also known as Frederick Barbarossa.

Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I (1152-1190), also known as Frederick Barbarossa.

Historians consider Friedrich I among the Holy Roman Empire’s greatest medieval emperors. He combined qualities that made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries: his longevity, his ambition, his extraordinary skills at organization, his battlefield acumen and his political perspicacity. His contributions to Central European society and culture include the reestablishment of the Corpus Juris Civilis, or the Roman rule of law, which counterbalanced the papal power that dominated the German states since the conclusion of the Investiture Controversy (a conflict between church and state in medieval Europe over the ability to appoint local church officials through investiture. By undercutting imperial power, the controversy led to nearly 50 years of civil war in the Empire.

Margaret Holland’s Maternal grandfather, Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, was a member of the FitzAlan family. The FitzAlan family shared a common patrilinear ancestry with the Scots, and later English, royal dynasty, the House of Stuart. They are therefore also related to the current British royal family. They were descendants of the Bretonknight Alan fitz Flaad (d. 1120) grandson of the Seneschal of the Bishop of Dol. The FitzAlans held the earldom of Arundel during the period 1267 – 1580.

A FitzAlan descendant, Alan fitz Walter (1140–1204) was hereditary High Steward of Scotland and a crusader. His son by his second marriage to Alesta, daughter of Morggán, Earl of Mar, was Walter, 3rd High Steward of Scotland, and it was he that adopted the surname Stewart and became the founder of The House of Stewart (Stuart).

Joan of Kent

Margaret Holland’s grandmother was Joan of Kent (September 29, 1328 – August 7, 1385), known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent. Joan was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell. Her father Edmund was the son of King Edward I by his second wife, Margaret of France, daughter of Philippe III of France. This brings the descendants of Edward I’s second marriage into the Ancestry of Henry VII.

The marriages of Joan of Kent is rather complicated and the topic is worthy of a separate blog post. Joan’s third husband was Edward the Black Prince, eldest son and heir to King Edward III. Two sons were born to the royal couple. The elder son, named Edward (1365 – 1370) after his father and grandfather, died at the age of six. Their younger son, Richard, became King Richard II of England when his grandfather, Edward III, died on June 21, 1377. Richard’s father, the Black Prince had died in his bed at the Palace of Westminster June 7, 1376.

Descendants of Joan of Kent through her children Lady Joan and Thomas Holland include Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (mother of King Henry VII), and queens consort Anne Neville, Elizabeth of York, and Catherine Parr.

This concludes the MATERNAL ancestry of Henry VII of England. In the next entry in the series I will begin to examine the Royal Ancestry of Henry VII’s Paternal side, the Tudors.

On this date in History, March 25, 1199 Richard I, King of England was mortally wounded.

Tags

crossbow, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Normandy, King Henry II of England, King Richard I of England, Kings and Queens of England, Richard the Lionheart

On this date in History, March 25, 1199 Richard I, King of England was mortally wounded.

Richard I (September 8, 1157 – April 6, 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was known as Richard Cœur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior.

In March 1199, Richard was in Limousin suppressing a revolt by Viscount Aimar V of Limoges. Although it was Lent, he “devastated the Viscount’s land with fire and sword.” He besieged the puny, virtually unarmed castle of Châlus-Chabrol. Some chroniclers claimed that this was because a local peasant had uncovered a treasure trove of Roman gold, which Richard claimed from Aimar in his position as feudal overlord.

Richard I, King of England.

In the early evening of March 25, 1199, Richard was walking around the castle perimeter without his chainmail, investigating the progress of sappers on the castle walls. Missiles were occasionally shot from the castle walls, but these were given little attention. One defender, in particular, amused the king greatly—a man standing on the walls, crossbow in one hand, the other clutching a frying pan he had been using all day as a shield to beat off missiles. He deliberately aimed at the king, which the king applauded; however, another crossbowman then struck the king in the left shoulder near the neck. He tried to pull this out in the privacy of his tent but failed; a surgeon called a “butcher” by Howden, removed it, “carelessly mangling” the King’s arm in the process.

The wound swiftly became gangrenous. Richard asked to have the crossbowman brought before him; called alternatively Pierre (or Peter) Basile, John Sabroz, Dudo,[and Bertrand de Gourdon (from the town of Gourdon) by chroniclers, the man turned out (according to some sources, but not all) to be a boy. He said Richard had killed his father and two brothers, and that he had killed Richard in revenge. He expected to be executed, but as a final act of mercy Richard forgave him, saying “Live on, and by my bounty behold the light of day”, before he ordered the boy to be freed and sent away with 100 shillings. It is unclear whether the King’s pardon was upheld following his death. Richard then set his affairs in order, bequeathing all his territory to his brother John and his jewels to his nephew Otto.

King Richard’s Tomb.

Richard died on April 6, 1199 in the arms of his mother, and thus “ended his earthly day.” Because of the nature of Richard’s death, it was later referred to as “the Lion by the Ant was slain.” According to one chronicler, Richard’s last act of chivalry proved fruitless when the infamous mercenary captain Mercadier had the crossbowman flayed alive and hanged as soon as Richard died.

Royal Ancestry of Henry VII of England: Part III

Tags

Alfonso X of Castile, Alfred the Great, Edward I of England, Eleanor of Castile, Ferdinand III of Castile, Henry I of England, Henry II of England, Henry III of England, Henry VII of England, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, Louis VII of France, Margaret of Wessex, Matilda of Scotland

We left off with the descendants Isabella of France, wife of Edward II, in our examination of the royal ancestry of Henry VII. Today we will begin with Eleanor of Castile the wife of Edward I, King of England and Lord of Ireland.

Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland.

Edward I (June 17/18, 1239 – July 7, 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Before his accession to the throne, he was commonly referred to as The Lord Edward. Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III of England (1216-1272) and Eleanor of Provence. Edward is an Anglo-Saxon name, and was not commonly given among the aristocracy of England after the Norman conquest, but Henry was devoted to the veneration of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), and decided to name his firstborn son after the saint.* Edward I was a tall man (6’2″) for his era, hence the nickname “Longshanks“. He was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man, and he often instilled fear in his contemporaries.

Nevertheless, he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith. Edward I is credited with many accomplishments during his reign, including restoring royal authority after the reign of Henry III, establishing Parliament as a permanent institution and thereby also a functional system for raising taxes, and reforming the law through statutes. At the same time, he is also often criticised for other actions, such as his brutal conduct towards the Welsh and Scots, and issuing the Edict of Expulsion in 1290, by which the Jews were expelled from England.

Edward I, King of England, Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine.

In 1252, Alfonso X of Castile and León (1252-1284) had resurrected another ancestral claim, this time to the duchy of Gascony, in the south of Aquitaine, last possession of the Kings of England in France, which he claimed had formed part of the dowry of Eleanor of England. Henry III of England swiftly countered Alfonso X’s claims with both diplomatic and military moves. Early in 1254 the two kings began to negotiate the marriage between his fifteen-year-old son and thirteen-year-old Eleanor, Alfonso X’s half-sister. After haggling over the financial provision for Eleanor, Henry III and Alfonso X agreed Eleanor would marry Henry’s son Edward, and Alfonso would transfer his Gascon claims to Edward. Eleanor and Edward were married on November 1, 1254 in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Castile. As part of the marriage agreement, the young prince received grants of land worth 15,000 marks a year.

Eleanor was born in Burgos, daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile León (1230-1252) and Joan, Countess of Ponthieu. Her Castilian name, Leonor, became Alienor or Alianor in England, and Eleanor in modern English. She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, Eleanor of England, the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. This made Edward and Eleanor second cousins once removed.

Eleanor of Castile’s great-great grandfather was Louis VII of France (1137-1180) and his great-grandmother was Alice of Normandy the daughter of of Richard II, Duke of Normandy (972–1026) and Judith of Brittany. Richard II of Normandy was the the paternal grandfather of William the Conqueror (1066-1087) King of England, Duke of Normandy. This displays that Eleanor of Castile’s lineage descends not only from the Kings of England but from at least two lines from the Dukes of Normandy.

Louis VII, King of France.

I will not pursue the descendants of the wives of Henry II, John or Henry III for they simply repeat descent from either the kings of France or other members of the French nobility. However, I do want to mention Henry VII’s descent from Henry I of England (1100-1135) specifically his spouse, Matilda of Scotland (c. 1080 – May 1, 1118) and her mother Margaret of Wessex.

Matilda, originally christened Edith, was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry I. She acted as regent of England in the absence of her spouse on several occasions. Matilda was the daughter of Margaret of Wessex and Malcolm III, King of Scots. On November 11, 1100 Matilda married Henry I of England. Henry was now around 31 years old, Margaret was about 19/20 years of age but late marriages for noblemen such as Henry was not unusual in the 11th century. The pair had probably first met earlier the previous decade, possibly being introduced through Bishop Osmund of Salisbury.

Matilda’s mother was St. Margaret of Wessex (c. 1045 – November 1093), she was an English princess and a Scottish queen, sometimes called “The Pearl of Scotland.” Born in exile in the Kingdom of Hungary, was the daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile, and granddaughter of Edmund II Ironside, King of England (1016) Margaret and her family returned to the Kingdom of England in 1057, but fled to the Kingdom of Scotlandfollowing the Norman conquest of England in 1066. By the end of 1070, Margaret had married King Malcolm III of Scotland (1058-1093) becoming Queen of Scots.

Malcolm III, King of Scots greets Margaret of Wessex.

Margaret was a descendant of Alfred The Great, King of Wessex from 871 to c. 886 and King of the Anglo-Saxons from c. 886 to 899. And further back she descends from Cerdic leader of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, being the founder and first king of Saxon Wessex, reigning from c.519 to c.534.

Margaret’s husband Malcolm III, king of Scots and their eldest son Edward, were killed in the Battle of Alnwick against the English on November 13, 1093. Her son Edgar was left with the task of informing his mother of their deaths. Not yet 50 years old, Margaret died on November 16, 1093, three days after the deaths of her husband and eldest son. The cause of death was reportedly grief. Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254) canonized St. Margaret in 1250 in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church, work for ecclesiastical reform, and charity.

* Since the use of ordinal numbers had not come into common usage during the reign of Edward Longshanks, he was simply known as King Edward or King Edward Longshanks. It wasn’t until the successive reigns of his son and grandson, also named Edward, that Edward Longshanks became known as Edward I. But this was not accurate for there were three Anglo-Saxon kings named Edward prior to the Norman conquest. Therefore, Edward I was in reality the fourth King of England by that name and should have been called King Edward IV.

Royal Ancestry of Henry VII of England. Part II

Tags

Earl of Richmond, Henry Tudor, Henry VII of England, Isabella of of France, Kings and Queens of England, Kings of france, Philip III of France, Philip IV of France, Philippa of Hainault

Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland.

In our first look at the royal ancestry of Henry VII we’ll examine the maternal line starting with His mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort May 31, 1441 or 1443 – June 29, 1509. She had been an essential figure in the Wars of the Roses and an influential matriarch of the House of Tudor. She was the daughter and sole heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (1404–1444), who was a great-grandson of King Edward III through his third surviving son, John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford. It was Margaret’s descent from John of Gaunt that gave Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond a slight claim to the English throne. Henry VII’s descent from Edward III also establishes Henry’s first link to royal ancestry.

Lady Margaret Beaufor, Countess of Richmond.

Though noted last week, just because Henry had royal ancestry doesn’t conclude his claim to the throne was strong. At first the children of John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford were illegitimate, however, Letters Patent in 1397 by Richard II and a subsequent Papal Bull issued by the Pope Eugene IV, legitimized the adult children of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford with full rights to the throne. However, an Act of Parliament in the reign of Henry IV confirmed their legitimacy but barred the children from having succession rights to the throne.

Also, as stated in my original post, that Henry VII’s royal ancestry was not just from the English Royal Family, he descended from other royal houses that English royalty married into, such as the royal houses of France and Spain. For the rest of this post as I examine the royal descent of Henry VII, I’ll examine the ancestry of the spouses of the English kings from which he descends.

The ancestry I’ll examine next is Philippe of Hainaut, spouse of Edward III who were Henry VII’s closest royal ancestors. Philippa was born June 24, c.1310/15 in Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut in the Low Countries, a daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut, and Joan of Valois, Countess of Hainaut, a granddaughter of Philippe III of France. She was one of eight children and the second of five daughters. Her eldest sister Margaret married the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig IV in 1324. Edward promised in 1326 to marry her within the following two years. She was married to Edward, first by proxy, when Edward dispatched the Bishop of Coventry “to marry her in his name” in Valenciennes (second city in importance of the county of Hainaut) in October 1327. The marriage was celebrated formally in York Minster on 24 January 1328, some months after Edward’s accession to the throne of England.

Philippe IV, King of France

With Philippa being a great-granddaughter of Philippe III of France, her royal ancestry does reconnect back to the English Royal Family. Philippe III himself was a great-great-grandson of Henry II of England via his daughter Eleanor who married Alfonso VIII of Castile. Their daughter Blanche of Castile married Louis VIII of France and their son was Louis IX of France the father of Philippe III. Philippa and Edward III were second cousins via their descent from Philippe III.

Next royal ancestry we’ll examine is Isabella of France (1295 – 22 August 1358), sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France. She was Queen of England as the wife of Edward II, and regent of England from 1326 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philippe IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. Queen Isabella was notable at the time for her beauty, diplomatic skills, and intelligence.

Isabella is descended from Gytha of Wessex through King Andrew II of Hungary and thus brought the bloodline of the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, Harold II Godwinson, back into the English Royal family.

As said, Isabella was married to Edward II of England and her first cousin, Joan of Valois, was the daughter of Charles of Valois (himself a brother of Philippe IV of France, the father of Isabella) and Joan married William I, Count of Hainaut and their daughter, Philippa of Hainaut, was the wife Edward III son of Edward II and Isabella!

Arms of the Kings of France

If you can follow that, it simply means that Philippa and Edward III were second cousins via their descent from Philippe III. This further exemplifies the fact that these cousin relationships increased the number of times Henry VII descended from the royal families of France, Castile and even England.

To keep this post at a digestible level I’ll stop here.