November 17, 1558: Death of Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland. Part I.

Tags

Anne Boleyn, Cardinal Wolsey, Carlos I of Spain, François I of France, Henry VIII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Infanta Catherine of Aragon, Mary I of England, Mary Tudor, Pope Clement VII, Pope Julius II

Mary I (February 18, 1516 – November 17, 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as “Bloody Mary” by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death in 1558.

Mary was born on February 18, 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, England. She was the only child of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Infanta Catherine of Aragon, to survive infancy. Her mother had suffered many miscarriages and stillbirths. Before Mary’s birth, four previous pregnancies had resulted in a stillborn daughter and three short-lived or stillborn sons, including Henry, Duke of Cornwall.

Mary was baptised into the Catholic faith at the Church of the Observant Friars in Greenwich three days after her birth.

Despite his affection for Mary, Henry was deeply disappointed that his marriage had produced no sons. By the time Mary was nine years old, it was apparent that Henry and Catherine would have no more children, leaving Henry without a legitimate male heir.

In 1525, Henry sent Mary to the border of Wales to preside, presumably in name only, over the Council of Wales and the Marches. She was given her own court based at Ludlow Castle and many of the royal prerogatives normally reserved for a Prince of Wales.

Vives and others called her the Princess of Wales, although she was never technically invested with the title. She appears to have spent three years in the Welsh Marches, making regular visits to her father’s court, before returning permanently to the home counties around London in mid-1528.

Throughout Mary’s childhood, Henry negotiated potential future marriages for her. When she was only two years old, Mary was promised to François, Dauphin of France, the infant son of King François I of France, but the contract was repudiated after three years.

In 1522, at the age of six, she was instead contracted to marry her 22-year-old cousin Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (King Carlos I of Spain). However, Charles broke off the engagement within a few years with Henry’s agreement.

Cardinal Wolsey, Henry’s chief adviser, then resumed marriage negotiations with the French, and Henry suggested that Mary marry the French king François I, who was eager for an alliance with England. A marriage treaty was signed which provided that Mary marry either François I or his second son Henri, Duke of Orleans, but Wolsey secured an alliance with France without the marriage.

In 1528, Wolsey’s agent Thomas Magnus discussed the idea of her marriage to her cousin King James V of Scotland with the Scottish diplomat Adam Otterburn. According to the Venetian Mario Savorgnano, by this time Mary was developing into a pretty, well-proportioned young lady with a fine complexion.

Although these various possibilities for Mary’s marriage had been considered, the marriage of Mary’s parents was itself in jeopardy, which threatened her status. Disappointed at the lack of a male heir, and eager to remarry, Henry attempted to have his marriage to Catherine annulled, but Pope Clement VII refused his request.

Henry claimed, citing biblical passages (Leviticus 20:21), that the marriage was unclean because Catherine was the widow of his brother Arthur, Prince of Wales (Mary’s uncle). Catherine claimed that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated and so was not a valid marriage.

Pope Julius II had issued a dispensation on that basis. Clement VII may have been reluctant to act because he was influenced by Emperor Charles V, Catherine’s nephew and Mary’s former betrothed, whose troops had surrounded and occupied Rome in the War of the League of Cognac.

From 1531, Mary was often sick with irregular menstruation and depression, although it is not clear whether this was caused by stress, puberty or a more deep-seated disease. She was not permitted to see her mother, whom Henry had sent to live away from court.

In early 1533, Henry married Anne Boleyn, and in May, Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, formally declared the marriage with Catherine void and the marriage to Anne valid. Henry repudiated the pope’s authority, declaring himself Supreme Head of the Church of England.

Catherine was demoted to Dowager Princess of Wales (a title she would have held as Arthur’s widow), and Mary was deemed illegitimate. She was styled “The Lady Mary” rather than Princess, and her place in the line of succession was transferred to Henry and Anne’s newborn daughter, Elizabeth.

Mary’s household was dissolved; her servants (including the Countess of Salisbury) were dismissed and, in December 1533, she was sent to join her infant half-sister’s household at Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

Mary determinedly refused to acknowledge that Anne was the queen or that Elizabeth was a princess, further enraging King Henry VIII. Under strain and with her movements restricted, Mary was frequently ill, which the royal physician attributed to her “ill treatment”.

The Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys became her close adviser, and interceded, unsuccessfully, on her behalf at court. The relationship between Mary and her father worsened; they did not speak to each other for three years.

Although both she and her mother were ill, Mary was refused permission to visit Catherine. When Catherine died in 1536, Mary was “inconsolable”. Catherine was interred in Peterborough Cathedral, while Mary grieved in semi-seclusion at Hunsdon in Hertfordshire.

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

Tags

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.

François III, Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of Viennois

Tags

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.

February 28, 1518: Birth of François III, Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of Viennois

Tags

Claude of Brittany, Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of Viennois, François III, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King François I of France, Leonardo di Vinci, 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.

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 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, 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.

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 by his brother, Henri; upon Henri’s succession to the French throne in 1547, the Duchy and the crown were effectively merged with France, 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 François 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, Francis 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. It is suspected that the Dauphin’s younger brother, Charles may have been poisoned.

September 7, 1533: Birth of Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland.

Tags

Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, Henry VIII of England and Ireland, James VI of Scotland, Mary I of England, Mary I of Scotland, Papal Bull, Pope Pius V, Virgin Queen

Elizabeth I (September 7, 1533 – March 24, 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from November 17, 1558 until her death in 1603. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor.

Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed when Elizabeth was 2 1/2 years old. Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her half-brother Edward VI ruled until his death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters, the Roman Catholic Mary and the younger Elizabeth, in spite of statute law to the contrary.

Edward’s will was set aside which did not have the consent of Parliament. Mary became queen, thwarting the attempted usurping of the crown by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland KG (1504 – 1553) who unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane Grey on the throne.

• 

Elizabeth I of England and Ireland

During Mary’s reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.

Upon her half-sister’s death in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the supreme governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England.

It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir; however, despite numerous courtships, she never did. She was eventually succeeded by her first-cousin twice-removed, King James VI of Scotland, laying the foundation for the future Kingdom of Great Britain. She had earlier been responsible for the imprisonment and execution of James’s mother, Queen Mary I of Scotland.

In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was “video et taceo” (“I see and keep silent”). In religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. After Pope Pius V declared her excommunicated  in 1570 and released her subjects from obedience to her, several conspiracies threatened her life, all of which were defeated with the help of her ministers’ secret service.

Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the major powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, and Ireland. By the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain.

As she grew older, Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult of personality grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day. Elizabeth’s reign became known as the Elizabethan era.

The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, who enjoyed more than her share of luck.

Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor in an era when government was ramshackle and limited, and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems that jeopardised their thrones. After the short reigns of her half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.

History of Male British Consorts Part I.

Tags

Carlos I of Spain, Charles V Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, House of Tudor, jure uxoris, Kings and Queens of England, Mary I of England, Mary Tudor, Philip II of Spain, Royal Marriages

Mary Tudor was England’s first queen regnant. As mentioned in the initial post announcing the series, Mary I of England is acknowledged as the first Queen to reign in her own right despite the brief, disputed reigns of the Empress Matilda and Lady Jane Grey.

In 1554, Mary married the future King Felipe II of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556. He was the eldest son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who is also Carlos I of Spain, and Eleanore of Portugal.

Felipe’s father arranged this marriage to 37-year-old Queen Mary I of England, Charles’ maternal first cousin. Charles V ceded the crown of Naples, as well as his claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, to Felipe in order to give his son equal status to his wife upon their marriage.

Their marriage at Winchester Cathedral on July 24, 1554 took place just two days after their first meeting. Lord Chancellor Gardiner and the House of Commons petitioned Mary to consider marrying an Englishman, preferring Edward Courtenay.

On the part of Felipe, the marriage was purely political. Felipe had no amorous feelings toward Mary and sought the marriage for its political and strategic gains; Felipe’s aide Ruy Gómez de Silva wrote to a correspondent in Brussels, “the marriage was concluded for no fleshly consideration, but in order to remedy the disorders of this kingdom and to preserve the Low Countries.”

Although England was enlightened enough to allow a woman to be Sovereign Queen in her own right, equality of the sexes was still a long way off because under the English common law doctrine of jure uxoris, all property and titles belonging to a woman became her husband’s upon marriage. Because of this law it was feared that any man married to Queen Mary would thereby become King of England in fact and in name.

While Mary’s grandparents, Fernando II of Aragon Isabella I of Castile (and Felipe’s great-grandparents) had retained sovereignty of their own realms during their marriage, there was no precedent to follow in England.

Both Mary and Felipe were descended from John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, son of King Edward III of England, a relationship that was used to portray Felipe as an English king.

Incidentally, because Felipe descended from an earlier marriage of John of Gaunt, it is genealogically accurate that he had a greater hereditary right to the throne because the House of Tudor’s thin claim to the English crown stemmed from John of Gaunt’s third marriage which at first did not give succession rights to their descendants.

It can also be claimed that despite a thin blood claim to the English throne the House of Tudor became Kings of England by right of conquest and not right of hereditary succession.

Under Mary’s marriage treaty with Felipe, the official joint style and titles reflected not only Mary’s royal domains but also Felipe’s dominions and claims. Upon their Marriage they were titled: “Felipe and Mary, by the grace of God, King and Queen of England, France, Naples, Jerusalem, and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Princes of Spain and Sicily, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Milan, Burgundy and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and Tyrol”.

This style, which had been in use since 1554, was replaced when Felipe inherited the Spanish Crown in 1556 with “Felipe II and Mary, by the Grace of God King and Queen of England, Spain, France, both the Sicilies, Jerusalem and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and Tyrol.”

With Mary eager to enter into marriage with Felipe of Spain, therefore the legal parameters of this Union had to be ironed out in a Act of Parliament.

Under the terms of Queen Mary’s Marriage Act, Felipe was to be styled “King of England”, in all official documents (including Acts of Parliament) which were to be dated with both their names, and Parliament was to be called under the joint authority of the couple.

On the surface this may seem like Mary and Felipe II were joint sovereigns but this was not the case. Felipe’s title, King of England and Ireland, was during Mary’s lifetime only.

Despite holding the title of King, Felipe’s powers were restricted. England would not be obliged to provide military support to Felipe’s father, the Emperor, in any war. When Felipe came to the Spanish throne this stipulation was also adhered to.

As King, Felipe could not act without his wife’s consent or appoint foreigners to offices in England. Felipe was unhappy at these conditions imposed upon him but he was ready to agree for the sake of securing the marriage.

After Felipe II’s visit in 1557, Mary once again thought she was pregnant, with a baby due in March 1558. She decreed in her will that her husband would be the regent during the minority of their child. But no child was born, and Mary was forced to accept that her half-sister Elizabeth would be her lawful successor.

Mary was weak and ill from May 1558. In pain, possibly from ovarian cysts or uterine cancer, she died on November 17, 1558, aged 42, at St James’s Palace, during an influenza epidemic. She was succeeded by Elizabeth. Felipe, who was in Brussels, wrote to his sister Joan: “I felt a reasonable regret for her death.

Upon Mary’s death Felipe cease to be king of England and Ireland. However, he was not so willing to let go of this power and prestigious titles. As we we’ll see in the next post Felipe desired to marry Elizabeth in order to remain being King of England.

This was the first of two times in English history that the husbands of a reigning Queen Regnant were granted the title “King of England.” However, there were difference in each of these occasions. Felipe held the royal title as a Consort but as we shall see in the case of Willem of Orange, he was a full sovereign.

Ironically, Felipe II of Spain and Willem of Orange were the spouses of Queen Mary I of England and Ireland and Queen Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland, respectively.

History of Male British Consorts

Tags

Anne of Great Britain, British Monarchy, Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom., King Scotland, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Male Consorts, Mary I of England, Mary I of Scotland, Mary II of England and Scotland, United Kingdom, Victoria of the United Kingdon

In the British Monarchy, and most monarchies on Continental Europe, the wife of a sovereign King will hold the title Queen, though technically a Queen Consort. But what is the title of a male Consort to a Queen Regnant, a Queen that holds sovereignty in her own right and does not hold the title “Queen” as a Consort of a sovereign King?

• 

Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh

For this series I will examine the spouses of the Queen Regnants of England and Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. It is debatable to how many Queen Regnants there have been in the British Isles. In Scotland the reign of Margaret the Maid of Norway is disputed and in England the reigns of the Empress Matilda and Lady Jane Grey are also disputed.

In Scotland the reigns that are not disputed are that of Mary I, Queen of Scots and Mary II who was not only Queen of Scots but also Queen of England and Ireland. In England the Queen Regnants were Mary I (of the House of Tudor) and her sister Elizabeth I.

Queen Anne was the last Queen Regnant to hold the individual titles of Queen of England and Queen of Scotland respectively. In 1707 with the Union of England and Scotland Anne became the first and only Queen Regnant of Great Britain. The current and previous Queen Regnants have been Queen’s of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

In this series I will examine the titles of the spouses of these Queen Regnants and demonstrate how their titles changed and evolved.

March 24, 1603: Death of Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland

Tags

Anne Boleyn, Church of England, Elizabeth I of England, Henry VIII of England, House of Tudor, James VI of Scotland, Mary I of England, Mary I of Scotland, Queen of England

Elizabeth I (September 7, 1533 – March 24, 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from November 17, 1558 until her death in 1603. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor.

Elizabeth was the daughter Toof Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two-and-a-half years after Elizabeth’s birth. Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Her half-brother, Edward VI, ruled until his death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters, the Roman Catholic Mary and the younger Elizabeth, in spite of statute law to the contrary. Edward’s will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Mary’s reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.

Upon her half-sister’s death in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant Church, of which she became the supreme governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England. It was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir; however, despite numerous courtships, she never did. She was eventually succeeded by her first-cousin twice-removed, James VI of Scotland, laying the foundation for the Kingdom of Great Britain. She had earlier been responsible for the imprisonment and execution of James’s mother, Mary I, Queen of Scots.

In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was “video et taceo” (“I see and keep silent”). In religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. After the pope declared her illegitimate in 1570 and released her subjects from obedience to her, several conspiracies threatened her life, all of which were defeated with the help of her ministers’ secret service. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the major powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, and Ireland. By the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. England’s victory against the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history.

As she grew older, Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult of personality grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day. Elizabeth’s reign became known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, and for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, who enjoyed more than her share of luck.

Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor in an era when government was ramshackle and limited, and when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems that jeopardised their thrones. After the short reigns of her half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity.

The Queen’s health remained fair until the autumn of 1602, when a series of deaths among her friends plunged her into a severe depression. In February 1603, the death of Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham, the niece of her cousin and close friend Lady Knollys, came as a particular blow. In March, Elizabeth fell sick and remained in a “settled and unremovable melancholy”, and sat motionless on a cushion for hours on end. When Robert Cecil told her that she must go to bed, she snapped: “Must is not a word to use to princes, little man.” She died on March 24, 1603 at Richmond Palace, between two and three in the morning. A few hours later, Cecil and the council set their plans in motion and proclaimed James VI of Scotland, King of England.

While it has become normative to record the death of the Queen as occurring in 1603, following English calendar reform in the 1750s, at the time of her death England observed New Year’s Day on March 25, commonly known as Lady Day. Thus Elizabeth died on the last day of the year 1602 in the old calendar. The modern convention is to use the old calendar for the date and month while using the new calendar for the year.

November 17, 1558: Death of Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland. Part III.

Tags

Bloody Mary, Elizabeth Tudor, False Pregnancy, Felipe II of Spain, Kings and Queens of England, Mary I of England, Mary Tudor, Philip II of Spain, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Reginald Pole, Roman Catholic Church

Furthering the Tudor conquest of Ireland, under Mary and Felipe’s reign English colonists were settled in the Irish Midlands. Queen’s and King’s Counties (now Counties Laois and Offaly) were founded, and their plantation began. Their principal towns were respectively named Maryborough (now Portlaoise) and Philipstown (now Daingean).

In January 1556, Mary’s father-in-law the Emperor abdicated. Mary and Felipe were still apart; he was declared King of Spain in Brussels, but she stayed in England. King Felipe II negotiated an unsteady truce with the French in February 1556. The following month, the French ambassador in England, Antoine de Noailles, was implicated in a plot against Mary when Sir Henry Dudley, a second cousin of the executed Duke of Northumberland, attempted to assemble an invasion force in France. The plot, known as the Dudley conspiracy, was betrayed, and the conspirators in England were rounded up. Dudley remained in exile in France, and Noailles prudently left Britain.

Felipe II returned to England from March to July 1557 to persuade Mary to support Spain in a renewed war against France. Mary was in favour of declaring war, but her councillors opposed it because French trade would be jeopardised, it contravened the foreign war provisions of the marriage treaty, and a bad economic legacy from Edward VI’s reign and a series of poor harvests meant England lacked supplies and finances.

War was only declared in June 1557 after Reginald Pole’s nephew, Thomas Stafford, invaded England and seized Scarborough Castle with French help, in a failed attempt to depose Mary. As a result of the war, relations between England and the Papacy became strained, since Pope Paul IV was allied with Henri II of France.

In August, English forces were victorious in the aftermath of the Battle of Saint Quentin, with one eyewitness stating “Both sides fought most choicely, and the English best of all.” Celebrations however, were brief, as in January 1558 French forces took Calais, England’s sole remaining possession on the European mainland. Although the territory was financially burdensome, its loss was a mortifying blow to the queen’s prestige. According to Holinshed’s Chronicles, Mary later lamented, “When I am dead and opened, you shall find ‘Calais’ lying in my heart”, although this may be apocryphal.

After her husband Felipe II’s visit in 1557, Mary again thought she was pregnant, with a baby due in March 1558. She decreed in her will that her husband would be the regent during the minority of their child. However, no child was born, and Mary was forced to accept that her half-sister Elizabeth would be her lawful successor. Mary was weak and ill from May 1558.

In pain, possibly from ovarian cysts or uterine cancer, she died on November 17, 1558, aged 42, at St James’s Palace, during an influenza epidemic that also claimed the life of Reginald Pole later the same day. She was succeeded by Elizabeth. Felipe II, who was in Brussels, wrote to his sister Joan: “I felt a reasonable regret for her death.”

Although Mary’s will stated that she wished to be buried next to her mother, she was interred in Westminster Abbey on December 14, in a tomb she would eventually share with Elizabeth. The Latin inscription on their tomb, Regno consortes et urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis (affixed there by James I when he succeeded Elizabeth), translates to: “Consorts in realm and tomb, we sisters Elizabeth and Mary here lie down to sleep in hope of the resurrection.”
Legacy

At her funeral service, John White, bishop of Winchester, praised Mary: “She was a king’s daughter; she was a king’s sister; she was a king’s wife. She was a queen, and by the same title a king also.” She was the first woman to successfully claim the throne of England, despite competing claims and determined opposition, and enjoyed popular support and sympathy during the earliest parts of her reign, especially from the Roman Catholics of England.

Mary’s attempts to undo the national religious reforms of her brother’s reign faced major obstacles. Despite her belief in the papal supremacy, she ruled constitutionally as the Supreme Head of the English Church, a contradiction under which she bridled.

Protestant writers at the time, and since, have often condemned Mary’s reign. By the 17th century, the memory of her religious persecutions had led to the adoption of her sobriquet “Bloody Mary”. John Knox attacked her in his First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558), and she was prominently vilified in Actes and Monuments (1563), by John Foxe. Foxe’s book remained popular throughout the following centuries and helped shape enduring perceptions of Mary as a bloodthirsty tyrant.

Mary is remembered in the 21st century for her vigorous efforts to restore the primacy of Roman Catholicism in England after the rise of Protestant influence during the previous reigns. Protestant historians have long deplored her reign, emphasizing that in just five years she burned several hundred Protestants at the stake. In the mid-20th century, H. F. M. Prescott attempted to redress the tradition that Mary was intolerant and authoritarian, and scholarship since then has tended to view the older, simpler assessments of Mary with increasing reservations.

A historiographical revisionism since the 1980s has to some degree improved her reputation among scholars. Christopher Haigh argued that her revival of religious festivities and Catholic practices was generally welcomed. Haigh concluded that the “last years of Mary’s reign were not a gruesome preparation for Protestant victory, but a continuing consolidation of Catholic strength.”

Catholic historians, such as John Lingard, thought Mary’s policies failed not because they were wrong but because she had too short a reign to establish them and because of natural disasters beyond her control. In other countries, the Catholic Counter-Reformation was spearheaded by Jesuit missionaries, but Mary’s chief religious advisor, Cardinal Reginald Pole, refused to allow the Jesuits into England.

Her marriage to King Felipe II of Spain was unpopular among her subjects and her religious policies resulted in deep-seated resentment. The military loss of Calais to France was a bitter humiliation to English pride. Failed harvests increased public discontent. Philip spent most of his time abroad, while his wife remained in England, leaving her depressed at his absence and undermined by their inability to have children.

After Mary’s death, Felipe II sought to marry Queen Elizabeth but she refused him. Although Mary’s rule was ultimately ineffectual and unpopular, the policies of fiscal reform, naval expansion, and colonial exploration that were later lauded as Elizabethan accomplishments were started in Mary’s reign.

November 17, 1558: Death of Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland. Part II.

Tags

Carlos I of Spain, Charles V Holy Roman Empire, Felipe II of Spain, King of Naples, Kings and Queens of England, Kings and Queens of Ireland, Mary I of England, Mary Tudor, Philip II of Spain

Infante Felpie of Spain was unhappy at the conditions imposed on him in his marriage to Queen Mary, but he was ready to agree for the sake of securing the marriage. He had no amorous or romantic feelings toward Mary and sought the marriage for its political and strategic gains; Felipe’s aide Ruy Gómez de Silva wrote to a correspondent in Brussels, “the marriage was concluded for no fleshly consideration, but in order to remedy the disorders of this kingdom and to preserve the Low Countries.”

To elevate his son to Mary’s rank, Felipe’s father, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ceded to Felipe the crown of Naples as well as his claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Therefore, Mary became Queen of Naples and titular Queen of Jerusalem upon marriage.

Their wedding at Winchester Cathedral on July 25, 1554 took place just two days after their first meeting. Felipe could not speak English, and so they spoke in a mixture of Spanish, French, and Latin.

False Pregancy

In September 1554, Mary stopped menstruating. She gained weight, and felt nauseated in the mornings. For these reasons, almost the entirety of her court, including her doctors, believed her to be pregnant. Parliament passed an act making Felipe regent in the event of Mary’s death in childbirth.

In the last week of April 1555, Elizabeth was released from house arrest, and called to court as a witness to the birth, which was expected imminently. According to Giovanni Michieli, the Venetian ambassador, Felipe may have planned to marry Elizabeth in the event of Mary’s death in childbirth, but in a letter to his brother-in-law, Maximilian of Austria, Felipe expressed uncertainty as to whether his wife was pregnant.

Thanksgiving services in the diocese of London were held at the end of April after false rumours that Mary had given birth to a son spread across Europe. Through May and June, the apparent delay in delivery fed gossip that Mary was not pregnant. Susan Clarencieux revealed her doubts to the French ambassador, Antoine de Noailles.

Mary continued to exhibit signs of pregnancy until July 1555, when her abdomen receded. Michieli dismissively ridiculed the pregnancy as more likely to “end in wind rather than anything else”. It was most likely a false pregnancy, perhaps induced by Mary’s overwhelming desire to have a child.

Elizabeth remained at court until October, apparently restored to favour. In the absence of any children, Philip was concerned that one of the next claimants to the English throne after his sister-in-law was the Queen of Scots, who was betrothed to the Dauphin, François of France. Felipe persuaded his wife that Elizabeth should marry his cousin Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, to secure the Catholic succession and preserve the Habsburg interest in England, but Elizabeth refused to comply and parliamentary consent was unlikely.

In the month following her accession, Mary issued a proclamation that she would not compel any of her subjects to follow her religion, but by the end of September 1553, leading Protestant churchmen—including John Bradford, John Rogers, John Hooper, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer—were imprisoned.

Mary’s first Parliament, which assembled in early October, declared the marriage of her parents valid and abolished Edward’s religious laws. Church doctrine was restored to the form it had taken in the 1539 Six Articles of Henry VIII, which (among other things) re-affirmed clerical celibacy. Married priests were deprived of their benefices.

Mary had always rejected the break with Rome instituted by her father and the establishment of Protestantism by her brother’s regents. Philip persuaded Parliament to repeal Henry’s religious laws, thus returning the English church to Roman jurisdiction. Reaching an agreement took many months and Mary and Pope Julius III had to make a major concession: the confiscated monastery lands were not returned to the church but remained in the hands of their influential new owners. By the end of 1554, the pope had approved the deal, and the Heresy Acts were revived.

Under the Heresy Acts, numerous Protestants were executed in the Marian persecutions. Around 800 rich Protestants, including John Foxe, fled into exile. The first executions occurred over a period of five days in early February 1555: John Rogers on February 4,:Laurence Saunders on February 8, and Rowland Taylor and John Hooper on February 9. Thomas Cranmer, the imprisoned archbishop of Canterbury, was forced to watch Bishops Ridley and Latimer being burned at the stake.

Cranmer recanted, repudiated Protestant theology, and rejoined the Catholic faith. Under the normal process of the law, he should have been absolved as a repentant. Mary, however, refused to reprieve him. On the day of his burning, he dramatically withdrew his recantation. In total, 283 were executed, most by burning. The burnings proved so unpopular that even Alfonso de Castro, one of Felipe’s own ecclesiastical staff, condemned them and another adviser, Simon Renard, warned him that such “cruel enforcement” could “cause a revolt”.

Mary persevered with the policy, which continued until her death and exacerbated anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish feeling among the English people. The victims of the persecutions became lauded as martyrs.