June 5, 1523: Birth of Marguerite de Valois, Duchess of Berry and Duchess of Savoy

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Catherine de Médici, Duke Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, Duke Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, Emperor Charles V, Francis I of France, Henry II of France, Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain, Marguerite de Valois, Philip II of Spain

Marguerite de Valois, Duchess of Berry, Duchess of Savoy (June 5, 1523 – September 15, 1574)

Early life

Marguerite de Valois was born at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on June 5, 1523 the youngest daughter and child of King Francis I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany, the eldest daughter of King Louis XII of France and Duchess Anne of Brittany.

Marguerite was very close to her paternal aunt, Marguerite de Angoulême, the eldest child of Louise of Savoy and Charles, Count of Angoulême. Her father was a descendant of King Charles V of France, and was thus in the succession line to the French crown by male primogeniture, if both Charles VIII and the presumptive heir, Louis, Duke of Orléans, would die without producing male offspring.

Marguerite de Angoulême took care of Marguerite de Valois and her sister Madeleine during their childhood, along wih her sister-in-law Catherine de’ Medici.

Near the end of 1538, her father, King François I and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, agreed that Marguerite should marry Charles’ son, the future King Felipe II of Spain. However, the agreement between François and Charles was short-lived and the marriage never took place.

King François I died at the Château de Rambouillet on March 13, 1547, on his son (Henri, the Dauphin) and successor’s 28th birthday. It is said that “he died complaining about the weight of a crown that he had first perceived as a gift from God”. He was interred with his first wife, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son as King Henri II of France.

In 1557 Marguerite de Valois was appointed as lady in waiting Jacqueline d’Entremont, to whom she would remain close with later in life.

On April 29, 1550, at the age of 26, she was created suo jure Duchess of Berry by her brother.

Duchess of Savoy

Shortly before her 36th birthday, a marriage was finally arranged for her by her brother King Henri II of France and her former suitor Felipe II of Spain as part of the terms stipulated in the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis which was signed by the ambassadors representing the two monarchs on April 3, 1559.

The husband selected for her was Felipe’s ally and his first cousin once removed, Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, (1528 – 1580) only child of Charles III, Duke of Savoy, and Beatrice of Portugal to reach adulthood. His mother was sister-in-law to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the future duke served in Charles’s army during the war against François I of France, the father of his future bride.

At the time, Marguerite was described as having been a “spinster lady of excellent breeding and lively intellect”. She was five years older than her husband.

The wedding took place in tragic circumstances. On June 30 just three days after her marriage contract had been signed, King Henri II was gravely injured during a tournament celebrating the wedding of his eldest daughter Elisabeth to the recently widowed King Felipe II. King Felipe II’s wife, Queen Mary I of England and Ireland died the previous November.

A lance wielded by his opponent the Count of Montgomery accidentally struck King Henri II’s helmet at a point beneath the visor and shattered. The wooden splinters deeply penetrated his right eye and entered his brain. Close to death, but still conscious, the king ordered that his sister’s marriage should take place immediately, for fear that the Duke of Savoy might profit from his death and renege on the alliance.

The ceremony did not take place in Notre Dame Cathedral as had been planned. Instead it was a solemn, subdued event conducted at midnight on July 9, in Saint Paul’s, a small church not far from the Tournelles Palace where Margurite’s dying brother was ensconced. Among the few guests was the French Queen Consort Catherine de’ Medici who sat by herself, weeping.

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

Children

Marguerite and her husband had only one surviving child: Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy who was born in January 1562, when Margaret was 38 years of age. Charles Emmanuel later married his closely related cousin, Infanta Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain, the daughter of King Felipe II by his marriage to Marguerite’s niece, Elisabeth of Valois, the eldest daughter of King Henri II of France and Catherine de’ Medici.

Death

Marguerite died on September 14, 1574 at the age of 51. She was buried in Turin at the Cathedral of Saint Giovanni Battista.

Countdown to the Coronation VII: Co-Kings & Consorts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naming the Royals of Europe: What Language to use? Part I.

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Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Louis-Philippe of France, Mikhail Gorbachev, Philip II of Spain

From the Emperor’s Desk: I am doing a short series about how I’ve handled the names and titles of non-English speaking Royals.

When I began my interest in studying European Royalty back in the late 1970s my main focus was the British Monarchy. So of course English was how I rendered the names of all the British Royals. Even when dealing with the Old English names of the Anglo-Saxon Royals or the Middle Gaelic of the ancient Scottish and Irish Kingdoms, Modern English was how I rendered these names.

As I began to branch out and away from the British Monarchy I eventually began researching and studying all European Royalty as I desired to learn it all. At first rendering the names of non-British monarchies in English was they way to go given the fact that the vast majority of books I read also rendered the names of non-British monarchies in English.

However, by the late 1980s I noticed what I call a discrepancy or inconsistency. These inconsistencies occurred when I would see the names of modern European heads of state, even monarchs, rendered in thier own native language.

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofie of Spain

Two prominent individuals stood out. One was King Juan Carlos of Spain and the other was Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union.

I found it odd and inconsistent that I would read a book about the Spanish Monarchy with names such as Ferdinand and Isabella, King Philip II of Spain, King Charles II of Spain and so on. However, when reading about the then current King of Spain he was called Juan Carlos and his heir, the Prince of Asturias, was called Felipe. I noticed no one was calling King Juan Carlos by the English translation of King John Charles! I also noticed that no one was call Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev by the English translation of Michael Gorbachev!

So it was at that time I decided to render the names of the Royals beyond Britain in thier native language. However, as you will see, I have not been consistent in this endeavor.

In the German Monarchies from the Holy Roman Empire to the German Empire of the Hohenzollerns I rendered thier names in German. In my English language books I noticed they were not always consistent either. For example, the last German Emperor was often called William II but in many books he was called Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany

What was odd and inconsistent in those books that called him Kaiser Wilhelm II, they would still call his father by the English translation of Frederick and his grandfather as William I of Prussia.

I actually preferred Wilhelm to William. So for me Frederick became Friedrich, Louis became Ludwig, Philip became Philipp, Henry became Heinrich and Francis became Franz to name just a few examples.

Now the name Charles is where I became inconsistent in the German language. For a long time Charles became either Carl or Karl. For example Holy Roman Emperor Charles V became Emperor Karl V, and the father of Austria Emperor Franz Joseph was Archduke Franz Karl.

However, I never have cared for the hard C found in the name Carl/Karl so recently, within the last few years I’ve been using Charles once again in the German Monarchies. Although I still struggle with it. For example, I wonder if Prussian Prince Friedrich Karl sounds better than Friedrich Charles?

Incidentally, in Sweden names like Charles XIII of Sweden I will call Carl XIII to stay consistent with the name of the current Swedish Monarch, King Carl XVI Gustaf. Oh, I generally prefer Gustaf to Gustav and Olaf to Olav but I will call the previous King of Norway King Olav V instead of King Olaf.

In France I would read about King Philip II or Philip IV of France and King Henry IV of France and Navarre. But it would then be very odd to read about the last King of France, last King of the French to be accurate, who was called Louis Philippe. So Henry became Henri and Philip became Philippe.

I’ll end it here today and will continue this topic tomorrow!

Marriage of Anna of Saxony and Willem the Silent, Prince of Orange

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Anna of Saxony, Beilstein Castle, Christine van Dietz, Holy Roman Empire, Jan Rubens, Maurice of Saxony, Philip II of Spain, Willem of Orange

Anna of Saxony (December 23, 1544 — December 18, 1577) was the daughter and heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes of Hesse, eldest daughter of Philipp I, Landgrave of Hesse. Maurice’s only son, Albrecht, died in infancy. Anna was the second wife of Willem the Silent, Prince of Orange.

Willem the Silent (April 24, 1533 – July 10, 1584) was the main leader of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) Willem was born at Dillenburg Castle in the County of Nassau-Dillenburg, in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the eldest son of Count Wilhelm I of Nassau-Dillenburg and Juliana of Stolberg.

Anna’s wealth drew many suitors; before the proposal of the Prince of Orange in 1560, there were negotiations with the Swedish royal house. She accepted the suit of Willem I of Orange, and on June 2, 1561 the marriage contract was signed in Torgau. Anna’s dowry would be the large sum of 100,000 thalers. The wedding took place on August 24, 1561 in Leipzig. On September 1, 1561 William of Orange, along with his young wife, relocated to the Netherlands.

The marriage produced five children, of whom three survived to adulthood:

Anna (born and died Brussels, 31 October 1562).
Anna (Breda, 5 November 1563 – Franeker, 13 June 1588), married on 25 November 1587 to William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg.
Maurice August Philip (Brussels, 8 December 1564 – Brussels, 3 March 1566).
Maurice (Dillenburg, 13 November 1567 – The Hague, 23 April 1625), later Prince of Orange and Governor of the Netherlands.
Emilia (Köln, 10 April 1569 – Geneva, 6 March 1629), married on 7 November 1597 to Manuel of Portugal.

Just a few months after the wedding, in 1562 difficulties arose between Anna and Willem. Anna received letters from her uncle meant for Willem stating he should work more towards pleasing her.

Both tried to end the rumours that they had an unhappy marriage. By 1565, it was well known in all the courts of the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands that the marriage was an unhappy one.

Her uncle August tried to save face by making claims that disputes arose due to his brother Ludwig antagonizing Willem. In 1566 Willem finally complained about the “contentious” nature of his wife to her Saxon uncle August and her Hessian uncle Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Cassel (1532–1592).

After the death of her first son Maurice in 1566, Anna fell into severe depression and suicidal thoughts for the first time. She also tried to drown her grief with excessive alcohol consumption.

In 1567 Willem had to flee due to his opposition to the Habsburg Netherlands, and went with his wife to Dillenburg, the German headquarters of the family. On November 14, 1567 she bore a son and named him Maurice again. At the baptism of January 1568 a message arrived for William in Burgundy 11–19 stating that on December 20, 1567 all his Dutch lands and possessions had been confiscated.

When Willem on August 15, 1568 went back to Brabant to continue his war against the Spaniards, Anna decided on October 20, 1568 although pregnant again, to leave Dillenburg with her court (probably 43 people), to escape the antipathies of his mother and to create a new home in Cologne.

Their two children, Anna and Maurice, had been taken by her mother-in-law to Braunfels due to the risk of disease. The next year, after a fierce battle with Willem’s mother, she was able to bring her children back to him. Her daughter Emilia was born on April 10, 1569 in Cologne.

On March 4, 1569 Anna met her husband in Mannheim. Willem’s campaign against the Duke of Alba had failed, and King Felipe II of Spain had forced him out. After this, he left the Holy Roman Empire and went to support the Huguenots in France in their faith struggles.

Since Willem could no longer provide for the family, Anna looked to other means of support. She considered either persuading the Duke of Alba returning their confiscated goods, or demanding payment from Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Cassel as specified in the contract of 12,000 guilders or the castles of Diez or Hadamar. This would have meant a severe financial burden to be borne for Nassau. Anna became a substantial risk to the family.

To enforce their claims, they purchased the services of the successful lawyer Jan Rubens in the end of January 1569, the father of the painter Peter Paul Rubens, who had left Antwerp because of his Calvinist faith in 1568, and found refuge in Cologne.

The case was begun in January 1570 at the Royal Brussels to take fiscal action for their confiscated goods in the Netherlands.

Affair

Anna desired to see her husband again and met with him in May 1570 in Butzbach to discuss financial matters as well as other important topics. In June 1570, Anna and Willem moved in together again in Siegen for a few weeks, where she had settled with her three children. It was there where she began an affair with her lawyer Jan Rubens.

During the Christmas holidays from December 24 to 26 1570 Willem visited his family there again. It was likely a harmonious time, because he persuaded Anna to visit him in January 1571 in Dillenburg, where she even was willing to forego, for the time, payments from her jointure. She was pregnant again, this time from her lover. Willem accused Anna of adultery at this point and made plans to separate from her.

Rubens was often with Anna because he was their counsellor, financial advisor and attorney, and thus was suspected of adultery with Anna between March 7 and 10, 1571. He was arrested outside the city of Siegen when he was on his way to see her.

Rubens was blackmailed for a suitable confession. Anna was put under pressure too: either they must confess themselves or Rubens would be executed.

Anna agreed on March 26, 1571 to plead guilty. OnAugust 22, 1571 Anna’s last child, Christine, was born. On the basis of the allegation, Willem of Orange didn’t recognize the child as his daughter. Christine received the name van Dietz. On December 14, 1571 Anna had to sign their consent to the final separation from her husband. In addition, Willem of Orange was not willing to pay maintenance for her.

Imprisonment and death

In September 1572 Anna decided to challenge the Imperial Court’s ruling for her financial rights. At this time her Hessian and Saxon relatives had already made plans to turn Beilstein castle into a prison, to hold her captive as an adulteress. On October 1, 1572, she was brought there with her youngest daughter Christine. Three years later, her daughter was taken from her.

In March of that year, although the divorce was not finalized, the first news appeared of an impending remarriage of Willem of Orange. His chosen wife was the former Abbess of Jouarre, Charlotte de Bourbon-Montpensier, a daughter of Louis II of Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier, and his first wife, Jacqueline de Longwy.

Outraged at this news, some of Anna’s relatives demanded the return of large wedding gifts despite her possible infidelity. Her Uncle August also demanded of Willem, whom he now called “Head of all the rogues and rebels ” claimed one of the counties of Nassau, Hadamar and Diez.

August of Saxony also insisted that the marriage of the prince was not legally ended yet, and thus he had no right to remarry or confiscate her property. Anna did not admit her adultery in court, and if she did, then she could have proven that the prince had broken his marriage agreement. He also ordered the immediate transfer of his niece from Nassau to Saxony.

When Anna learned in December 1575 of her upcoming transferral to Saxony, she attempted suicide. After a long stay in Zeitz, she was taken to Dresden in December 1576. There, the windows of her room were walled up and fitted with additional iron bars. At the door was a square hole in the top panel that provided a narrow grid, which was closed off outside. Through this hole food and drinks were served to her. At the door there was also another iron gate, virtually guaranteeing no chance of escape.

As of May 1577, Anna was continuously hemorrhaging. She died on December 18, 1577, shortly before her 33rd birthday. Her bones reportedly lie in the cathedral of Meissen near her ancestors in a nameless tomb.

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

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Bloody Mary, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Henry VIII of England and Ireland, Mary I of England and Ireland, Mary Tudor, Philip II of Spain, Philip of Spain, Queen Mary’s Marriage Act, Roman Catholic Church

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. She is best known for her vigorous attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament, but during her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions.

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 Catherine of Aragon to survive infancy. Her mother had suffered many miscarriages. 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 the only child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive to adulthood. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded their father in 1547 at the age of nine. When Edward became mortally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because he supposed, correctly, that she would reverse the Protestant reforms that had taken place during his reign. Upon his death, leading politicians proclaimed Lady Jane Grey as queen.

Mary was—excluding the brief, disputed reigns of the Empress Matilda and Lady Jane Grey—England’s first Queen Regnant. Further, under the English common law doctrine of jure uxoris, the property and titles belonging to a woman became her husband’s upon marriage, and it was feared that any man she married would thereby become King of England in fact and name.

While Mary’s grandparents Fernando II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile had retained sovereignty of their respective realms during their marriage, there was no precedent to follow in England. Under the terms of Queen Mary’s Marriage Act, Felipe was to be styled “King of England”, all official documents (including Acts of Parliament) were to be dated with both their names, and Parliament was to be called under the joint authority of the couple, for Mary’s lifetime only.

England would not be obliged to provide military support to Felipe’s father in any war, and Felipe could not act without his wife’s consent or appoint foreigners to office in England. Feilpe was unhappy with these conditions but ready to agree for the sake of securing the marriage. He had no amorous feelings for Mary and sought the marriage for its political and strategic gains; his 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, Emperor Charles V ceded to Felipe the crown of Naples as well as his claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Mary thus became Queen of Naples and titular Queen of Jerusalem upon marriage. Their wedding at Winchester Cathedral on 25 July 1554 took place just two days after their first meeting. Felipe could not speak English, and so they spoke a mixture of Spanish, French, and Latin.

After Felipe’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. 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 that also claimed Pole’s life later that day. She was succeeded by Elizabeth. Philip, 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 eventually shared with Elizabeth. The inscription on their tomb, affixed there by James I when he succeeded Elizabeth, is Regno consortes et urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis (“Consorts in realm and tomb, we sisters Elizabeth and Mary here lie down to sleep in hope of the resurrection”).

After Mary’s death in 1558, her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed by her younger half-sister and successor, Elizabeth I.

Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia. Conclusion

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Diet of Augsburg, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, Ottoman Empire, Philip II of Spain, Pope Pius V, Protestants, Stephan IV Bathory of Poland, Suleiman I, Treaty of Adrianople

In November 1562 Maximilian was chosen King of the Romans, or German King, by the electoral college at Frankfurt, where he was crowned a few days later, officially designating him heir to the empire. After assuring the Catholic electors of his fidelity to their faith, and promising the Protestant electors that he would publicly accept the confession of Augsburg when he became emperor, he also took the usual oath to protect the Church, and his election was afterwards confirmed by the papacy.

Maximilian was the first King of the Romans not to be crowned in Aachen. In September 1563 he was crowned King of Hungary by the Archbishop of Esztergom, Nicolaus Olahus, and on his father’s death, in July 1564, he became Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. He was also Archduke of Austria.

The new emperor had already shown that he believed in the necessity for a thorough reform of the Church. He was unable, however, to obtain the consent of Pope Pius IV to the marriage of the clergy, and in 1568 the concession of communion in both kinds to the laity was withdrawn. On his part Maximilian granted religious liberty to the Lutheran nobles and knights in Austria, and refused to allow the publication of the decrees of the council of Trent.

Amidst general expectations on the part of the Protestants he met his first summoned Diet of Augsburg in March 1566. He refused to accede to the demands of the Lutheran princes; on the other hand, although the increase of sectarianism was discussed, no decisive steps were taken to suppress it, and the only result of the meeting was a grant of assistance for the war with the Turks, which had just been renewed.

The Ottomans would besiege and conquer Szigetvár in 1566, but their sultan, Suleiman I the Magnificent, would die of old age during the siege. With neither side winning a decisive engagement, Maximilian’s ambassadors Antun Vrančić and Christoph Teuffenbach would meet with the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha in Adrianople to negotiate a truce in 1568.

The terms of the Treaty of Adrianople required the Emperor to recognise Ottoman suzerainty over Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia. In his realm, Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 until his death in 1566. Under his administration, the Ottoman caliphate ruled over at least 25 million people.

Meanwhile, the relations between Maximilian II and Felipe II of Spain had improved, and the emperor’s increasingly cautious and moderate attitude in religious matters was doubtless because the death of Felipe II’s son, Don Carlos, had opened the way for the succession of Maximilian, or of one of his sons, to the Spanish throne. Evidence of this friendly feeling was given in 1570, when the emperor’s daughter, Archduchess Anna, became the fourth wife of Felipe II. Archduchess Anna was Felipe’s niece, her mother, Infanta Maria of Spain, was Felipe’s sister. Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Maria of Spain, were first cousins.

In 1570 the emperor met the diet of Speyer and asked for aid to place his eastern borders in a state of defence, and also for power to repress the disorder caused by troops in the service of foreign powers passing through Germany. He proposed that his consent should be necessary before any soldiers for foreign service were recruited in the empire; but the estates were unwilling to strengthen the imperial authority, the Protestant princes regarded the suggestion as an attempt to prevent them from assisting their co-religionists in France and the Netherlands, and nothing was done in this direction, although some assistance was voted for the defense of Austria.

The religious demands of the Protestants were still unsatisfied, while the policy of toleration had failed to give peace to Austria. Maximilian’s power was very limited; it was inability rather than unwillingness that prevented him from yielding to the entreaties of Pope Pius V to join in an attack on the Turks both before and after the victory of Lepanto in 1571; and he remained inert while the authority of the empire in north-eastern Europe was threatened.

In 1575, Maximilian was elected by the part of Polish and Lithuanian magnates to be the King of Poland in opposition to Stephan IV Bathory, but he did not manage to become widely accepted there and was forced to leave Poland.

Emperor Maximilian II died on October 12, 1576 in Regensburg while preparing to invade Poland. On his deathbed he refused to receive the last sacraments of the Church. He is buried in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

By his wife Maria he had a family of ten sons and six daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, who had been chosen King of the Romans in October 1575, and was elected as Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Another of his sons, Matthias, also became Holy Roman Emperor Emperor; three others, Ernst, Albert and Maximilian, took some part in the government of the Habsburg territories or of the Netherlands, and a daughter, Elizabeth, married Charles IX of France.

July 31, 1527: Birth of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia. Part I.

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Agust of Saxony, Charles V Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia, Kingdom of Hungary Maximilian II, Philip II of Spain

Maximilian II (July 13, 1527 – October 12, 1576), a member of the Austrian House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 until his death. He was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague on May 14, 1562 and elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) on November 24, 1562. On September 8, 1563 he was crowned King of Hungary and Croatia in the Hungarian capital Pressburg (Pozsony in Hungarian; now Bratislava, Slovakia). On July 25, 1564 he succeeded his father Ferdinand I as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.

Maximilian was born in Vienna, Austria, the eldest son of the Habsburg archduke Ferdinand I, younger brother of Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Jagiellonian Princess Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547). Maximilian’s mother, Princess Anne of Bohemia and Hungary was the elder child and only daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (1456–1516) and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale.

King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia was her younger brother. Her paternal grandparents were King Casimir IV of Poland (of the Jagiellon dynasty) and Elisabeth of Austria (Habsburg), one of the heiresses of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Duchy of Luxembourg and the Duchy of Kujavia. Her maternal grandparents were Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale, and Catherine de Foix, an Infanta of the Kingdom of Navarre.

Maximilian was named after his great-grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. At the time of his birth in 1527, his father Ferdinand succeeded his brother-in-law King Louis II in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Hungary, and in 1556 Ferdinand succeeded his brother as the Holy Roman Emperor, laying the grounds for the global Habsburg Monarchy.

Having spent his childhood years at his father’s court in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Maximilian was educated principally in Italy. Among his teachers were humanist scholars like Kaspar Ursinus Velius and Georg Tannstetter. He also came in contact with the Lutheran teaching and early on corresponded with the Protestant Prince-Elector August of Saxony, suspiciously eyed by his Habsburg relatives.

From the age of 17, he gained some experience of warfare during the Italian War campaign of his uncle Charles V against King François I of France in 1544, and also during the Schmalkaldic War. Upon Charles’ victory in the 1547 Battle of Mühlberg, Maximilian put in a good word for the Schmalkaldic leaders, Johann Friedrich I of Saxony and Philipp I, Landgrave of Hesse, and soon began to take part in Imperial business.

On September 13, 1548 Emperor Charles V married Maximilian to his daughter (Maximilian’s cousin) Infanta Maria of Spain in the Castile residence of Valladolid. By the marriage his uncle intended to strengthen the ties with the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, but also to consolidate his nephew’s Catholic faith.

Maximilian temporarily acted as the emperor’s representative in Spain, however not as stadtholder of the Habsburg Netherlands as he had hoped for. To his indignation, King Ferdinand appointed his younger brother Ferdinand II administrator in the Kingdom of Bohemia, nevertheless Maximilian’s right of succession as the future king was recognised in 1549. He returned to the Empire in December 1550 in order to take part in the discussion over the Imperial succession.

Maximilian’s relations with his uncle worsened, as Charles V, again embattled by rebellious Protestant princes led by Elector Maurice of Saxony, wished his son, the future King Felipe II of Spain, to succeed him as emperor. However, Charles’ brother Ferdinand, who had already been designated as the next occupant of the imperial throne, and his son Maximilian objected to this proposal. Maximilian sought the support of the German princes such as Duke Albert V of Bavaria and even contacted Protestant leaders like Maurice of Saxony and Duke Christoph of Württemberg.

At length a compromise was reached: Felipe was to succeed Ferdinand, but during the former’s reign Maximilian, as King of the Romans, was to govern Germany. This arrangement was not carried out, and is only important because the insistence of the emperor seriously disturbed the harmonious relations that had hitherto existed between the two branches of the Habsburg family; an illness that befell Maximilian in 1552 was attributed to poison given to him in the interests of his cousin and brother-in-law, Felipe II of Spain.

The relationship between the two cousins was uneasy. While Felipe had been raised a Spaniard and barely travelled out of the kingdom during his life, Maximilian identified himself as the quintessential German prince and often displayed a strong dislike of Spaniards, whom he considered as intolerant and arrogant. While his cousin was reserved and shy, Maximilian was outgoing and charismatic. His adherence to humanism and religious tolerance put him at odds with Felipe who was more committed to the defence of the Catholic faith.

July 19, 1553: Lady Mary Tudor is declared Queen ending Lady Jane Grey’s brief tenure on the throne.

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Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley, King Edward VI, King Henry VIII, Lady Jane Grey, Lord Guildford Dudley, Philip II of Spain, Privy Council, Wyatt’s Rebellion

Lady Jane Grey (1536 or 1537 – February 12, 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the “Nine Days’ Queen”, was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from July 10 until July 19, 1553.

Jane was the great granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary, and was a first cousin once removed of Edward VI. She had an excellent humanist education and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day. In May 1553, she married Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward’s chief minister John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

In June 1553, Edward VI wrote his will, nominating Jane and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, in part because his half-sister Mary was Catholic, while Jane was a committed Protestant and would support the reformed Church of England, whose foundation Edward laid. Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on June 21 and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. The will removed his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, from the line of succession on account of their illegitimacy, subverting their claims under the Third Succession Act.

The Third Succession Act of 1544 restored Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the line of succession, although they were still regarded as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. Henry’s will reinforced the succession of his three children, and then declared that, should none of them leave descendants, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary, which included Jane. For unknown reasons, Henry excluded Jane’s mother, Frances Grey, from the succession, and also bypassed the claims of the descendants of his elder sister, Margaret, who had married into the Scottish Royal House and Nobility.

Edward also announced to have his “declaration” passed in Parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared. The King died on July 6, 1553, but his death was not announced until four days later.

On July 9, Jane was informed that she was now queen, and according to her own later claims, accepted the crown only with reluctance. On July 10, she was officially proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland after she had taken up secure residence in the Tower of London, where English monarchs customarily resided from the time of accession until coronation. Jane refused to name her husband Dudley as king, because that would require an Act of Parliament. She would agree only to make him Duke of Clarence.

Parliament never gathered to make into Law Edward’s Will altering the succession. Though the Tudor Kings had considerable power they were not absolute monarchs and Parlimentary approval was still needed to create new laws.

Support for Mary grew very quickly, and most of Jane’s supporters abandoned her. The Privy Council of England suddenly changed sides and proclaimed Mary as queen on July 19, 1553, ending her brief attempt at usurping the Crown. I should accurately say the usurping attempt was orchestrated buy her father-in-law the Duke of Northumberland and Jane was a rather reluctant pawn. For his leadership in the attempt to place Lady Jane on the throne the Duke of Northumberland was accused of treason and executed less than a month later.

Jane was held prisoner in the Tower and was convicted of high treason in November 1553, which carried a sentence of death — though Queen Mary initially spared her life. However, Jane soon became viewed as a threat to the Crown when her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, became involved with Wyatt’s Rebellion against Queen Mary’s intention to marry Felipe II of Spain. Both Jane and her husband were executed on February 12, 1554.

History of Male British Consorts Part III

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By Right of Wife, Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, jure uxoris, Male Consorts, Philip II of Spain, royal wedding, Spain

Marriage question

From the start of Elizabeth’s reign, it was expected that she would marry and the question arose to whom. Although she received many offers for her hand, she never married and was childless; the reasons for this are not clear.

Historians have speculated that Thomas Seymour had put her off sexual relationships. She considered several suitors until she was about fifty. Her last courtship was with François, Duke of Anjou, 22 years her junior.

While risking possible loss of power like her sister, who played into the hands of King Felipe II of Spain, marriage offered the chance of an heir. However, the choice of a husband might also provoke political instability or even insurrection.

One of the reasons that Elizabeth I of England never may have been due to the legal concept of Jure uxoris (a Latin phrase meaning “by right of (his) wife”). This term describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title suo jure (“in her own right”).

Similarly, the husband of an heiress could become the legal possessor of her lands. For example, married women in England and Wales were legally incapable of owning real estate until the Married Women’s Property Act 1882.

During the feudal era, the husband’s control over his wife’s real property, including titles, was substantial. On marriage, the husband gained the right to possess his wife’s land during the marriage, including any acquired after the marriage. Whilst he did not gain the formal legal title to the lands, he was able to spend the rents and profits of the land and sell his right, even if the wife protested. The concept of jure uxoris was standard in the Middle Ages even for queens regnant.

By the time of the Renaissance, laws and customs had changed in some countries: a woman sometimes remained monarch, with only part of her power transferred to her husband. This was usually the case when multiple kingdoms were consolidated, such as when Isabella of Castile and Fernando II-V of Aragon shared crowns.

As we noted in the marriage of Mary I and Felipe II created a precedent for a jure uxoris unions. Parliament passed the Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Felipe of Spain specifically to prevent Felipe from seizing power on the basis of jure uxoris. The Act established the limits Felipe had as a jure uxoris King of England and Ireland.

As it turned out, the marriage produced no children, and Mary died in 1558, ending Philip’s jure uxoris claims in England and Ireland, as envisaged by the Act, and was followed by the accession of Elizabeth I. She, in turn, resolved concerns over jure uxoris by never marrying.

Throughout her Reign Queen Elizabeth I demonstrated that she intended to maintain control and authority over the government and sharing power was not something high on her agenda. Also, prospects of her marrying for political Alliance was something she used for her advantage during those years when she was still considered of childbearing age.

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.