February 13, 1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery. Part II.

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Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Execution, George Boleyn, Jane Boleyn, King Henry VIII of England and Ireland, Queen of England, Thomas Culpeper, Viscountess Rochford (Lady Rochford)

Downfall

Catherine may have been involved during her marriage to the King with Henry’s favourite male courtier, Thomas Culpeper, a young man who “had succeeded [him] in the Queen’s affections”, according to Dereham’s later testimony. She had considered marrying Culpeper during her time as a maid-of-honour to Anne of Cleves.

Culpeper called Catherine “my little, sweet fool” in a love letter. It has been alleged that in Spring 1541 the pair were meeting secretly. Their meetings were allegedly arranged by one of Catherine’s older ladies-in-waiting, Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (Lady Rochford), the widow of Catherine’s executed cousin, George Boleyn, Anne Boleyn’s brother.

People who claimed to have witnessed her earlier sexual behaviour while she lived at Lambeth reportedly contacted her for favours in return for their silence, and some of these blackmailers may have been appointed to her royal household.

John Lassels, a supporter of Cromwell, approached the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, telling him that his sister Mary refused to become a part of Queen Catherine’s household, stating that she had witnessed the “light” ways of Queen Catherine while they were living together at Lambeth. Cranmer then interrogated Mary Lassels, who alleged that Catherine had had sexual relations while under the Duchess of Norfolk’s care, before her relationship with the King.

Cranmer immediately took up the case to topple his rivals, the Roman Catholic Norfolk family. Lady Rochford was interrogated and as she feared that she would be tortured, she agreed to talk. She told how she had watched for Catherine backstairs as Culpeper had made his escapes from the Queen’s room.

During the investigation a love letter written in the Queen’s distinctive handwriting was found in Culpeper’s chambers. This is the only letter of hers that has survived (other than her later “confession”).

On All Saints’ Day, November 1, 1541, the King arranged to be found praying in the Chapel Royal. There he received a letter describing the allegations against Catherine. On November 7, 1541 Archbishop Cranmer led a delegation of councillors to Winchester Palace in Southwark, to question her.

Even the staunch Cranmer found the teenaged Catherine’s frantic, incoherent state pitiable, saying, “I found her in such lamentation and heaviness as I never saw no creature, so that it would have pitied any man’s heart to have looked upon her.” He ordered the guards to remove any objects she might use to commit suicide.

Catherine was stripped of her title as Queen on November 23, 1541 and imprisoned in the new Syon Abbey, Middlesex, formerly a convent, where she remained throughout the winter of 1541. She was obliged by a Privy Councillor to return the ring previously owned by Anne of Cleves, which the King had given her; it was a symbol of removal of her regal and lawful rights. The King would be at Hampton Court, but she would not see him again. Despite these actions, her marriage to Henry VIII was never formally annulled.

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

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Arthur Tudor, Infanta Catherine of Aragon, Kimbolton Castle, King Fernando II of Aragon, Prince of Wales, Princess of Wales, Queen Isabella I of Castile, Queen Mary I of England, Queen of England, Thomas Cromwell

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

The daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Fernando II of Aragon, Infanta Catherine was three years old when she was betrothed to Prince Arthur, heir apparent to the English throne.

Infanta Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England

They married in 1501, but Arthur died five months later. Catherine spent years in limbo, and during this time, she held the position of ambassador of the Aragonese crown to England in 1507, the first known female ambassador in European history.

She married Arthur’s younger brother, the recently ascended King Henry VIII, in 1509. For six months in 1513, she served as regent of England while Henry VIII was in France. During that time the English crushed and defeated a Scottish invasion at the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part with an emotional speech about English courage and patriotism.

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

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

In 1533 their marriage was consequently declared invalid and Henry VIII married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as supreme head of the Church in England and considered herself the king’s rightful wife and Queen, attracting much popular sympathy.

Portrait by Juan de Flandes thought to be of 11-year-old Catherine. She resembles her sister Joanna of Castile.

Despite this, Henry acknowledged her only as dowager Princess of Wales. After being banished from court by Henry, Catherine lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, dying there in January 1536 of cancer. The English people held Queen Catherine in high esteem, and her death set off tremendous mourning. Her daughter Mary would become the first undisputed English Queen Regnant in 1553.

Catherine commissioned The Education of a Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives, who dedicated the book, controversial at the time, to the Queen in 1523.

Portrait of a noblewoman, possibly Mary Tudor c. 1514 or Catherine of Aragon c. 1502, by Michael Sittow. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Such was Catherine’s impression on people that even her adversary Thomas Cromwell said of her, “If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History.”

She successfully appealed for the lives of the rebels involved in the Evil May Day, for the sake of their families, and also won widespread admiration by starting an extensive programme for the relief of the poor. Catherine was a patron of Renaissance humanism, and a friend of the great scholars Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More.

Speaking of Henry IV … his second wife, Joan of Navarre, was arrested for being a witch.

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Charles I the Bold, Friar Randolph, Henry IV of England, Henry V of England, Imprisoned, Jean IV of Brittany, Joan of Navarre, Leeds Castle, Pevensey Castle, Queen of England, Witchcraft

Joan of Navarre, also known as Joanna (c. 1368 – June 10, 1437) was Duchess of Brittany by marriage to Duke Jean IV of Brittany and Count of Montfort from 1345 until his death and 7th Earl of Richmond from 1372 until his death.

Joan of Navarre was later Queen of England by marriage to King Henry IV. She served as regent of Brittany from 1399 until 1403 during the minority of her son. She also served as regent of England during the absence of her stepson, Henry V, in 1415. Four years later her stepson had her imprisoned and confiscated her money and land on the suspicion of being a witch. Joan was released in 1422, shortly before Henry V’s death.

Joan was a daughter of King Charles II of Navarre and Joan of France, the daughter of King Jean II of France (called The Good), and his first wife, Bonne of Luxembourg.

Duchess of Brittany

On October 2, 1386, Joan married her first husband, Duke Jean IV of Brittany. She was his third wife and the only one with whom he had children.

Jean IV died on November 1, 1399 and was succeeded by his and Joan’s son, Jean V. Her son being still a minor, she was made his guardian and the regent of Brittany during his minority. Not long after, King Henry IV of England proposed to marry her. The marriage proposal was given out of mutual personal preference rather than a dynastic marriage. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, affection developed between Joan and Henry while he resided at the Breton court during his banishment from England.

Joan gave a favourable reply to the proposal, but stated that she could not go through with it until she had set the affairs of Brittany in order and arranged for the security of the duchy and her children.

Joan knew that it would not be possible for her to continue as regent of Brittany after having married the king of England, nor would she be able to take her sons with her to England. A papal dispensation was necessary for the marriage, which was obtained in 1402. She negotiated with the Duke Charles I the Bold of Burgundy to make him guardian of her sons and regent of Brittany. Finally, she surrendered the custody of her sons and her power as regent of Brittany to the Duke of Burgundy, who swore to respect the Breton rights and law, and departed for England with her daughters.

Queen of England

On February 7, 1403, Joan married Henry IV at Winchester Cathedral. On the 26th, she held her formal entry to London, where she was crowned Queen of England. Queen Joan was described as beautiful, gracious and majestic, but also as greedy and stingy, and was accused of accepting bribes.

Reportedly, she did not have a good impression of England, as a Breton ship was attacked outside the English coast just after her wedding. She preferred the company of her Breton entourage, which caused offence to such a degree that her Breton courtiers were exiled by order of Parliament, a ban the king did not think he could oppose given his sensitive relation to the Parliament at the time.

Joan and Henry IV had no surviving children, but it appears that in 1403 Joan gave birth to stillborn twins. She is recorded as having had a good relationship with Henry’s children from his first marriage, often taking the side of the future King Henry V in his quarrels with his father. Her daughters returned to France three years after their arrival on the order of their brother, her son.

In 1413, her second spouse, Henry IV, died, and was succeeded by her stepson Henry V. Joan had a very good relationship with Henry, who allowed her use of his royal castles of Windsor, Wallingford, Berkhamsted and Hertford during his absence in France in 1415. Upon his return, however, he brought her son Arthur of Brittany with him as a prisoner. Joan unsuccessfully tried to have him released. This apparently damaged her relationship with Henry.

In August 1419 the goods of her personal confessor, Friar Randolph, were confiscated, although the itemised list shows the objects actually belonged to Joan. The following month, Randolph came before Parliament and claimed that Joan had “plotted and schemed for the death and destruction of our said lord the King in the most evil and terrible manner imaginable”.

On September 27, 1419, (other sorces mention September 30) Joan, was deprived of all her possessions and revenue and four days later, she was arrested on charges of witchcraft. The charges were probably an attempt at claiming her wealth and Joan had no actual dealings with witchcraft.

Her large fortune was confiscated and she was imprisoned at Pevensey Castle in Sussex and later was incarcerated at Leeds Castle in Kent. She was released upon the order of Henry V in 1422, six weeks before he died.

After her release, her fortune was returned to her, and she lived the rest of her life quietly and comfortably with her own court at Nottingham Castle, through Henry V’s reign and into that of his son, Henry VI. She died at Havering-atte-Bower in Essex, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral next to Henry IV.

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

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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.

February 11: Birth and Death Anniversary of Elizabeth of York, Queen of England (1466-1503).

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Edward V of England, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VII of England, House of Tudor, House of York, King Edward IV of England, King Henry VIII of England, Kings and Queens of England, Queen of England

Elizabeth of York (February 11, 1466 – February 11, 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which marked the end of the Wars of the Roses. Together, they had seven children.

Elizabeth’s younger brothers, the “Princes in the Tower”, mysteriously disappeared shortly after the death of her father, King Edward IV. Although the 1484 act of Parliament Titulus Regius declared the marriage of her parents, Edward and Elizabeth Woodville, invalid, she and her sisters were subsequently welcomed back to court by Edward’s brother, King Richard III. As a Yorkist princess, the final victory of the Lancastrian faction in the Wars of the Roses may have seemed a further disaster, but Henry Tudor knew the importance of Yorkist support for his invasion and promised to marry Elizabeth before he arrived in England. This may well have contributed to the haemorrhaging of Yorkist support for Richard.

Although Elizabeth seems to have played little part in politics, her marriage appears to have been a successful and happy one. Her eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales, died at age 15 in 1502, and three other children died young. Her second, and only surviving, son became King Henry VIII of England, while her daughters Mary and Margaret became queens of France and of Scotland, respectively; many modern royals, including Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom trace their line through Margaret.

In 1469, aged three, she was briefly betrothed to George Neville. His father John later supported George’s uncle, the Earl of Warwick, in rebellion against King Edward IV, and the betrothal was called off. In 1475, Louis XI agreed to the marriage of nine-year-old Elizabeth of York to his son Charles, the Dauphin of France. In 1482, however, Louis XI reneged on his promise. She was named a Lady of the Garter in 1477, at age eleven, along with her mother and her paternal aunt Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk.

Wife of the king

As the eldest daughter of Edward IV with no surviving brothers, Elizabeth of York had a strong claim to the throne in her own right, but she did not assume the throne as queen regnant. There was no queen regnant until 1553, when her granddaughter, Mary I, acceded to the throne; the last attempt a female had made at ruling in her own right resulted in disaster when the mother and first cousin once removed of Henry II of England fought bitterly for the throne in the 12th century. Though initially slow to keep his promise, Henry VII acknowledged the necessity of marrying Elizabeth of York to ensure the stability of his rule and weaken the claims of other surviving members of the House of York. It seems Henry wished to be seen as ruling in his own right, having claimed the throne by right of conquest and not by his marriage to the de facto heiress of the House of York. He had no intention of sharing power. He consequently chose to be crowned on 30 October 1485, before his marriage.

Henry VII had the Act of Titulus Regius repealed, thereby legitimising anew the children of Edward IV, and acknowledging Edward V as his predecessor. Though Richard III was regarded as a usurper, his reign was not ignored. Henry and Elizabeth required a papal dispensation to wed because of Canon Law frowning upon ‘affinity”: Both were descended from John of Gaunt or his older brother Lionel in the 4th degree, an issue that had caused much dispute and bloodshed as to which claim was superior. Two applications were sent, the first more locally, and the second one was slow in reaching Rome and slow to return with the response of the Pope. Ultimately, however, the marriage was approved by papal bull of Pope Innocent VIII dated March 1486 (one month after the wedding) stating that the Pope and his advisors “approveth confirmyth and stablishyth the matrimonye and coniuncion made betwene our sou[er]ayn lord King Henre the seuenth of the house of Lancastre of that one party And the noble Princesse Elyzabeth of the house of Yorke.

Because the journey to Rome and back took many months, and because Henry as king wanted to be certain that nobody could claim that his wedding to Elizabeth was unlawful or sinful, the more local application was obeyed first – it was sent to the papal legate for England and Scotland, which returned in January 1486. Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated at the wedding of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York on 18 January 1486 in Westminster Abbey. Their first son, Arthur, was born on 20 September 1486, eight months after their marriage. Elizabeth of York was crowned queen on 25 November 1487. She gave birth to several more children, but only four survived infancy: Arthur, Margaret, Henry and Mary.

Despite being a political arrangement at first, the marriage proved successful and both partners appear to have slowly fallen in love with each other. Thomas Penn, in his biography of Henry VII writes that “[t]hough founded on pragmatism, Henry and Elizabeth’s marriage had nevertheless blossomed throughout the uncertainty and upheaval of the previous eighteen years. This was a marriage of ‘faithful love’, of mutual attraction, affection and respect, from which the king seems to have drawn great strength.”

Death

In 1502, Elizabeth of York became pregnant once more and spent her confinement period in the Tower of London. On 2 February 1503, she gave birth to a daughter, Katherine, but the child died a few days afterwards. Succumbing to a post partum infection, Elizabeth of York died on 11 February, her 37th birthday. Her family seems to have been devastated by her death and mourned her deeply. According to one biographer, the death of Elizabeth “broke the heart” of her husband and “shattered him.” Another account says that Henry Tudor “privily departed to a solitary place and would no man should resort unto him.” This is notable considering that, shortly after Elizabeth’s death, records show he became deathly ill himself and would not allow any except his mother Margaret Beaufort near him, including doctors. For Henry Tudor to show his emotions, let alone any sign of infirmity, was highly unusual and alarming to members of his court. Within a little over two years, King Henry VII lost his oldest son, his wife, his baby daughter, and found himself having to honour the Treaty of Perpetual Peace.

Henry VII entertained thoughts of remarriage to renew the alliance with Spain — Joanna, Dowager Queen of Naples (daughter of Ferdinand I of Naples), Joanna, Queen of Castile (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella), and Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Savoy (sister-in-law of Joanna of Castile), were all considered — but he died a widower in 1509. The specifications that Henry gave to his ambassadors outlining what he wanted in a second wife described Elizabeth. On each anniversary of her death, he decreed that a requiem mass be sung, the bells be tolled, and 100 candles be lit in her honour. Henry also continued to employ her minstrels each New Year.

The Tower of London was abandoned as a royal residence, as evidenced by the lack of records of its being used by the royal family after 1503. Royal births in the reign of Elizabeth’s son, Henry VIII, took place in various other palaces.

Henry VII’s reputation for miserliness became worse after Elizabeth’s death.

He was buried with Elizabeth of York under their effigies in his Westminster Abbey chapel. Her tomb was opened in the 19th century and the wood casing of her lead coffin was found to have been removed to create space for the interment of her great-great-grandson James VI-I of England and Scotland.

July 2, 1849: Birth of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este.

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Archduchess Maria-Theresa of Austria-Este, Duke of Modena., House of Habsburg, House of Wittelsbach, Jacobite Succession, James Francis Stuart, Ludwig III of Bavaria, Luitpold of Bavaria, Queen of England, Regent of Bavaria

Archduchess Maria-Theresa of Austria-Este (Maria Theresa Henriette Dorothee; July 2, 1849 – February 3, 1919) was the last Queen of Bavaria. She was the daughter and only child of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este and his wife, Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, the daughter of Palatine Joseph of Hungary (1776–1847) and his third wife Maria Dorothea of Württemberg (1797–1855).

Archduchess Maria-Theresa of Austria-Este

Her father Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este was the second son of Francesco IV Duke of Modena and his niece-consort Maria-Beatrice of Savoy. His paternal grandmother had been heiress to the Duchy of Modena, because her father Ercole III d’Este had no sons.

On February 20, 1868 she married Prince Ludwig of Bavaria eldest son of Bavaria’s Prince Regent Luitpold, in the Augustinerkirche in Vienna. Ludwig III (Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfried; 1845-1921) was the last king of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918. He served as regent and de facto head of state from 1912 to 1913, ruling for his cousin, Otto.

He was the son of Prince Luitpold of Bavaria and of his wife, Archduchess Augusta of Austria (daughter of Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany). He was a descendant of both Louis XIV of France and William the Conqueror. Hailing from Florence, Augusta always spoke in Italian to her four children. Ludwig was named after his grandfather, King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

The couple had fallen in love during a visit of Ludwig at Pfingsten in Austria to attend the burial of Archduchess Mathilda and their decision to marry initially angered the Emperor Franz-Joseph, who had wished for her to marry Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The chief witness was Count Antonius Schaffgotsch.

Leopold III, King of Bavaria

The family mostly lived on their farms at Leutstetten south of Munich, where Maria-Theresa cultivated rose gardens.
Maria-Theresa became queen consort of Bavaria in 1913 when her husband the reigning Prince Regent proclaimed himself king as King Ludwig III in place of his living but insane cousin King Otto.

She became the first Catholic Queen in Bavaria since Bavaria was made a kingdom 1806. She spoke German, Hungarian, Czech, French, and Italian.

In 1914, she hosted festivities during the royal Bavarian jubilee. She appeared with her husband when war was announced. During World War I, she visited wounded soldiers and encouraged the women of Bavaria to support the troops by providing food and clothes, including with the donations references to legendary heroines.

On November 7, 1918 Ludwig III was forced to abdicate the Bavarian throne, and Maria-Theresa fled Munich with her family to Wildenwart Castle near Frasdorf, in order to escape from the Bolsheviks. The health of the Queen soon declined and she died there on February 3, 1919, being buried at the local chapel. On November 5, 1921 her remains were transferred to the cathedral of Munich along with those of her husband, who died less than a month before.

The Jacobite succession

Upon the extinction of the Royal Stuart line with the death of Henry, Cardinal of York, and applying male-preference primogeniture unaltered by the Act of Settlement 1701, the succession would have passed to the individuals named in the table below. However, unlike the Stuart pretenders, none of them has claimed the British throne (or the thrones of England, Scotland or Ireland) or incorporated the arms of these countries in their coats-of-arms. Nevertheless, since the 19th century, there have been small groups advocating the restoration of the Jacobite succession to the throne.

As a granddaughter of Maria Beatrice of Savoy who was known as Queen Mary III-II to the Jacobite supporters and niece of Francesco V, Duke of Modena (King Francis I. to the Jacobites) she was recognised by the Jacobites as “Princess of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland”.

Since Maria-Theresa was the niece and heir of the childless Francesco V, Duke of Modena who had been, at the time of his death, the Jacobite heir-general to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland; as such, she became the heir after his death in 1875. Neither she, nor any of her Jacobite forebears since 1807, ever seriously pursued this claim. To Jacobites Maria-Theresa was Queen Mary IV-III England, Scotland, France, and Ireland.

Maria-Theresa was the first Jacobite heir-general since James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1766) who could (but for her religion) also have claimed to be a natural-born citizen of Great Britain. While she was not born on British soil, as James had been, Maria-Theresa was a descendant of the Electress Sophia of Hanover.

Under the terms of the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705, the Electress Sophia and all “issue of her body” were declared to be natural-born British subjects, regardless of the actual place of their birth, unless they were Roman Catholics. The 1705 Act was not repealed until 1948 and, consequently, Maria-Theresa would have been covered by its provisions.

Following her death in 1919, Maria-Theresa’s son Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria inherited the Jacobite claim. Like his mother, he and his descendants have not pursued a claim to the British thrones.

May 30, 1536: Marriage of Henry VIII of England and Jane Seymour.

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Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII of England, Jane Seymour, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Queen Mary I of England, Queen of England, Queen of Ireland

Jane Seymour (c. 1508 – October 24, 1537) was Queen of England and Ireland from 1536 to 1537 as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter’s execution on May 19, 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, a son who became King Edward VI. She was the only wife of the King to receive a queen’s funeral, and his only consort to be buried beside him in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Jane Seymour

Jane, the daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth was most likely born at Wulfhall, Wiltshire, although West Bower Manor in Somerset has also been suggested. Her birth date is not recorded; various accounts use anywhere from 1504 to 1509, but it is generally estimated as occurring in or around 1508.

Through her maternal grandfather, she was a descendant of King Edward III’s son Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence. Because of this, she and King Henry VIII were fifth cousins. She shared a great-grandmother, Elizabeth Cheney, with his second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

Jane was not as highly educated as Henry’s first and second wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. She could read and write a little, but was much better at needlework and household management, which were considered much more necessary for women.

Jane became a maid-of-honour in 1532 to Queen Catherine, but may have served her as early as 1527, and went on to serve Queen Anne with her sister Elizabeth. The first report of Henry VIII’s interest in Jane was in February 1536, about three months before Anne’s execution.

Jane was highly praised for her gentle, peaceful nature, being referred to as “gentle a lady as ever I knew” by John Russell and being named as “the Pacific” by the Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys for her peacemaking efforts at court. According to Chapuys, she was of middling stature and very pale; he also commented that she was not of much beauty. However, John Russell stated that she was “the fairest of all the King’s wives.” Polydore Vergil commented that she was “a woman of the utmost charm in both character and appearance.” She was regarded as a meek, gentle, simple, and chaste woman, whose large family made her a suitable candidate to give birth to many children.

Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane on May 20, 1536, just one day after Anne Boleyn’s execution. They were married at the Palace of Whitehall, Whitehall, London, in the Queen’s closet by Bishop Gardiner on May 30, 1536. As a wedding gift he made her a grant of 104 manors in four counties as well as a number of forests and hunting chases for her jointure, the income to support her during their marriage.

Jane, Queen of England and Ireland

Jane was publicly proclaimed queen on June 4, 1536. Her well-publicised sympathy for the late Queen Catherine and her daughter Mary showed her to be compassionate and made her a popular figure with the common people and most of the courtiers. She was never crowned because of plague in London, where the coronation was to take place. Henry may have been reluctant to have her crowned before she had fulfilled her duty as a queen consort by bearing him a son and a male heir.

As queen, Jane was said to be strict and formal. The lavish entertainments, gaiety, and extravagance of the queen’s household, which had reached its peak during the time of Anne Boleyn, was replaced by a strict enforcement of decorum. For example, she banned the French fashions that Anne had introduced. Politically, Jane appears to have been conservative.

Her only reported involvement in national affairs, in 1536, was when she asked for pardons for participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Henry is said to have rejected this, reminding her of the fate her predecessor met with when she “meddled in his affairs”.

Edward, Prince of Wales

Jane formed a close relationship with her stepdaughter Mary. Jane put forth much effort to restore Mary to court and to the royal succession, behind any children that she might have with Henry. She brought up the issue of Mary’s restoration both before and after she became queen. While she was unable to restore Mary to the line of succession, she was able to reconcile her with Henry. A letter from Mary to her shows that Mary was grateful to her. While it was she who first pushed for the restoration, Mary and Elizabeth were not reinstated to the succession until Henry’s sixth wife, Catherine Parr, convinced him to do so.

By Christmas of 1536, Jane was pregnant but subsequently lost the child. In January 1537, Jane conceived again. During her pregnancy, she developed a craving for quail, which Henry ordered for her from Calais and Flanders. During the summer, she took no public engagements and led a relatively quiet life, being attended by the royal physicians and the best midwives in the kingdom.

She went into confinement in September 1537 and gave birth to the coveted male heir, the future King Edward VI, at two o’clock in the morning on October 12, 1537 at Hampton Court Palace. Edward was christened on October 15, 1537, without his mother in attendance, as was the custom. He was the only legitimate son of Henry VIII to survive infancy. Both of his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were present and carried Edward’s train during the ceremony.

Jane’s labour had been difficult, lasting two days and three nights, probably because the baby was not well positioned. After the christening, it became clear that she was seriously ill. She died on October 24, 1537 at Hampton Court Palace. Within a few weeks of her death, there were conflicting testimonies concerning the cause of her demise.

Edward VI, King of England and Ireland, son of Jane Seymour

In retrospect from the current day, there are various speculations that have been offered. According to King Edward’s biographer, Jennifer Loach, her death may have been due to an infection from a retained placenta. According to Alison Weir, she may have succumbed to puerperal fever following a bacterial infection contracted during the birth. The same author has also speculated, after medical consultation, that the cause of her death was a pulmonary embolism.

Jane was buried on November 12, 1537 in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after the funeral in which her stepdaughter Mary acted as chief mourner. A procession of 29 mourners followed Mary, one for every year of Queen Jane’s life. She was the only one of Henry’s wives to receive a queen’s funeral.

After her death, Henry wore black for the next three months. He married Anne of Cleves two years later, although marriage negotiations were tentatively begun soon after Jane’s death. He put on weight during his widowerhood, becoming obese and swollen and developing diabetes and gout. Historians have speculated she was his favourite wife because she gave birth to a male heir. When he died in 1547, he was buried beside her, on his request, in the grave he had made for her.

This date in History: January 13, 1546, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey is arrested for treason.

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3rd Duke of Norfolk, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Earl of Surrey, Edward the Confessor, Edward VI of England, House of Howard, King Henry VIII of England, Queen of England, Thomas Howard

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516/1517 – January 19, 1547), KG, (courtesy title), was an English nobleman, politician and poet. He was one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry and the last known person execution by King Henry VIII. He was a first cousin of both Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Catherine Howard, second and fifth wives of King Henry VIII.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Henry Howard, was born in Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk by his second wife Elizabeth Stafford, a daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. He was thus descended from King Edward I on his father’s side and from King Edward III on his mother’s side.

He was brought-up at Windsor Castle with Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII. He became a close friend, and later a brother-in-law, of Fitzroy following the marriage of his sister, Lady Mary Howard, to him. Like his father and grandfather, he was a soldier, serving in Henry VIII’s French wars as Lieutenant General of the King on Sea and Land.

Howard was repeatedly imprisoned for rash behaviour, on one occasion for striking a courtier, on another for wandering through the streets of London breaking the windows of houses whose occupants were asleep. Henry Howard assumed the courtesy title Earl of Surrey in 1524 when his grandfather, Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443-1524) died and his father, Thomas Howard, became 3rd Duke of Norfolk.

In 1532 he accompanied Anne Boleyn (his first cousin), King Henry VIII, and the Duke of Richmond to France, staying there for more than a year as a member of the entourage of King François I of France during the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The Field of the Cloth of Gold was a site in Balinghem that hosted a tournament field as part of a summit from June 7-24 1520, between the French king and King Henry VIII of England.

Frances de Vere, Countess of Surrey

The Earl of Surrey married Frances de Vere, a daughter of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, (by his wife Elizabeth Trussell). His first son was born, Thomas Howard (later 4th Duke of Norfolk) in 1536 and in the same year Anne Boleyn was executed on charges of adultery and treason. Also that same year the Duke of Richmond, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII died at the age of 17 and was buried at Thetford Abbey, one of the Howard seats. Another event in 1536 is when the Earl of Surrey also served with his father in the suppression of the Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion against the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Downfall

Henry VIII, King of England of Ireland

King Henry VIII, consumed by paranoia because of his increasing illness, became convinced that the Earl of Surrey had planned to usurp the crown from his son the future King Edward VI. The Earl of Surrey suggested that his sister Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset (a widow of Henry’s illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy) should seduce the aged King, her father-in-law, and become his mistress, to “wield as much influence on him as Madame d’Etampes doth about the French King”. The Duchess, outraged, said she would “cut her own throat” rather than “consent to such villainy”. She and her brother fell out, and she later laid testimony against Surrey that helped lead to his trial and execution for treason.

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk

The matter came to a head when the Earl of Surrey quartered the attributed arms of King Edward the Confessor into his family coat-of-arms. Although the arms of the Earl of Surrey’s ancestor Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk shown that he was entitled to bear Edward the Confessor’s arms, Henry VIII thought that doing so was an act of pride and rebellion against him. In consequence, on December 12, 1546 both the Earl of Surrey and his father Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk were arrested and sent to the Tower.

On December 24, 1546, the elder Howard acknowledged that he had “concealed high treason, in keeping secret the false acts of my son, Henry, Earl of Surrey, in using the arms of St. Edward the Confessor, which pertain only to kings”, and offered his lands to the King in compensation. The Duke of Norfolk’s family, including his estranged wife, his daughter Mary Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, and his mistress, Elizabeth Holland, all gave evidence against the father and son.

The two were sentenced to death on January 13, 1547 without a formal trial. On January 19, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey was beheaded for treason. The dying King Henry VIII gave his assent to the death of the Earl of Surrey’s father, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, by royal commissioners, and it was rumoured that he would be executed on the following day. However, King Henry VIII died on January 28, and was succeeded by his eldest son as King Edward VI. The Duke of Norfolk’s execution was stayed because the king’s Council did not want to inaugurate the new king’s reign with bloodshed.

The Earl of Surrey’s son, Thomas Howard became heir to the Dukedom of Norfolk in place of his father, which title he inherited on the 3rd Duke’s death in 1554.

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1st Duke of Northumberland., Edward VI, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, James IV King of Scots, John Dudley, Kings and Queens of England, Lady Jane Grey, Lady Mary Tudor, Queen of England

On this day in history: February 12, 1554. Execution of Lady Jane Grey, pretender to the throne of England.

Lady Jane Grey (c. 1537-February 12, 1554), known also as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as “the Nine Days’ Queen”, was an English noblewoman and de facto Queen of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553.

The great-granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter, Mary Tudor, Jane was a first cousin, once removed, of Edward VI, King of England and Ireland from 1547. In May 1553, she was married to Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward’s chief minister, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

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 James IV of Scotland, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus and Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven.

When the 15-year-old Edward VI lay dying in the early summer of 1553, his Catholic half-sister Mary was still his heir presumptive. However, Edward, in a draft will (“My devise for the Succession”) composed earlier in 1553, had first restricted the succession to (non-existent) male descendants of Frances Brandon and her daughters, before he named his Protestant cousin “Lady Jane and her heirs male” as his successors, probably in June 1553; the intent was to ensure his Protestant legacy, thereby bypassing Mary who was a Roman Catholic. Edward’s decision to name Jane Grey herself was possibly instigated by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland.

Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on 21 June and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. Edward also announced to have his “declaration” passed in parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared. However, this act the will of the king, never received Parliamentary approval for the young king died before his Will altering the succession could be voted on.

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, France 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.

Northumberland faced a number of key tasks to consolidate his power after Edward’s death. Most importantly, he had to isolate and, ideally, capture Lady Mary to prevent her from gathering support. As soon as Mary was sure of King Edward’s demise, she left her residence at Hunsdon and set out to East Anglia, where she began to rally her supporters. Northumberland set out from London with troops on July 14, to capture Mary. After his departure, recognizing the overwhelming support of the population for Mary, the Privy Council switched their allegiance and proclaimed Lady Mary, Queen of England, London on July 19. Jane had only been de facto queen since the moment of Edward’s death on July 6, 1553 according to several prominent historians, so in fact, she had not been a Nine-Day Queen.

On July 16, 1553, Jane was imprisoned in the Tower’s Gentleman Gaoler’s apartments, her husband in the Beauchamp Tower. The Duke of Northumberland was executed on August 22, 1553. In September, Parliament declared Mary the rightful successor and denounced and revoked Jane’s proclamation as that of a usurper.

Trial and execution

Referred to by the court as Jane Dudley, wife of Guildford, Jane was charged with high treason, as were her husband, two of his brothers, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Their trial, by a special commission, took place on November 13, 1553, at Guildhall in the City of London. The commission was chaired by Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor of London, and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Other members included Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby and John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath. As was to be expected, all defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death. Jane’s guilt, of having treacherously assumed the title and the power of the monarch, was evidenced by a number of documents she had signed as “Jane the Quene”. Her sentence was to “be burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the Queen pleases” (burning was the traditional English punishment for treason committed by women). The imperial ambassador reported to Karl V, Holy Roman Emperor, that her life was to be spared.

The rebellion of Thomas Wyatt the Younger in January 1554 against Queen Mary’s marriage plans with Felipe of Spain sealed Jane’s fate. Her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his two brothers joined the rebellion, and so the government decided to go through with the verdict against Jane and Guildford. Their execution was first scheduled for February 9, 1554, but was then postponed for three days so that Jane should get a chance to be converted to the Catholic faith. Mary sent her chaplain John Feckenham to Jane, who was initially not pleased about this. Though she would not give in to his efforts “to save her soul”, she became friends with him and allowed him to accompany her to the scaffold.

On the morning of 12 February 1554, the authorities took Guildford from his rooms at the Tower of London to the public execution place at Tower Hill, where he was beheaded. A horse and cart brought his remains back to the Tower, past the rooms where Jane was staying. Seeing her husband’s corpse return, Jane is reported to have exclaimed: “Oh, Guildford, Guildford.” She was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower, to be beheaded.

According to the account of her execution given in the anonymous Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, written in 1850, which formed the basis for Raphael Holinshed’s depiction, Jane gave a speech upon ascending the scaffold:

Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same. The fact, indeed, against the Queen’s highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency, before God, and the face of you, good Christian people, this day.

While admitting to action considered unlawful, she declared that “I do wash my hands thereof in innocence”. Jane then recited Psalm 51 (Have mercy upon me, O God) in English, and handed her gloves and handkerchief to her maid. The executioner asked her forgiveness, which she granted him, pleading: “I pray you dispatch me quickly.” Referring to her head, she asked, “Will you take it off before I lay me down?”, and the axeman answered: “No, madam.” She then blindfolded herself. Jane then failed to find the block with her hands, and cried, “What shall I do? Where is it?” Probably Sir Thomas Brydges, the Deputy Lieutenant of the Tower, helped her find her way. With her head on the block, Jane spoke the last words of Jesus as recounted by Luke: “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit!”

There is no contemporaneous evidence that this occurred, however, and there was no reference to this description of her execution prior to 1850. Eyewitness accounts indicate that the scaffold for Jane’s execution was built against the wall of the central White Tower, at its northwest corner (the corner closest to the Chapel of St Peter-ad-Vincula). Jane was accompanied to the scaffold by two gentlewomen, identified by the Tower chronicler as Mistress Elizabeth Tylney and “Mistress Eleyn,” and by John de Feckenham.

Jane and Guildford are buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula on the north side of Tower Green. No memorial stone was erected at their grave. Jane’s father, Duke of Suffolk, was executed 11 days after Jane, on February 23, 1554. Her mother, the Duchess of Suffolk, married her Master of the Horse and chamberlain, Adrian Stokes, in March 1555 (not, as often said, three weeks after the execution of the Duke of Suffolk). She was fully pardoned by Mary and allowed to live at Court with her two surviving daughters. She died in 1559.

Was Jane Queen of England, thus making her the first Queen Regnant of England? Sadly, though she was an innocent pawn of those around her she was, by definition, a usurper. Edward VI’s failure to have his letters altering the succession passed by an Act of Parliament still mean that not only was the Third Act of Succession still the law of the land, so was the 1547 Act of Treason. The Treason Act made it high treason to change the line of succession to the throne that had been established by Third Act of Succession. Of course as king, Edward VI could have had both the Third Act of Succession and the Treason Act replaced with new laws, but since he died prior to accomplishing that requirement that his sister Mary was the legal Queen per the terms of the Third Succession.

1066, Not something to celebrate?

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1066, 2066, Battle of Hastings, Duke of Normandy, England, Harold Godwinson, Kingdom of England, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen of England, William I of England, William the Bastard

Okay, I am a few months behind on this. The Norman Conquest of England occurred on October 14, 1066. The Battle of Hastings was fought between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy (who became King William I of England) and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England. That was 950 years ago. In 50 years from now, the year 2066, this historic even will celebrate its 1,000th anniversary. Will this be something to celebrate or not?

Maybe celebrate is not the correct word? How about honor…or even mark the date? No matter how you want to note this historic event the topic is very controversial. Even though this was a significant date that forever changed England’s entire culture, language and structure of society; this event helped shape England and the United Kingdom into what it is today. The truth is, this is the date when England was conquered and defeated and then occupied by a foreign power. Who wants to celebrate or honor that!?

However, is there anything positive that can be acknowledged on this anniversary? Without the Norman Conquest England would have developed very differently. Certainly the end result of this conquest, the by product of this invasion, is something to honor? The monarchy itself, although it did exist pre-1066, also was significantly changed and a descendant of William the Conqueror sits on the throne today. In fact, many people alive in Britain are descendants of William the Conqueror.

Much of this is speculative. In 50 years I will be 103 so chances are I will not be here, but you never know!? I am sure the occasion will be marked in someway and maybe a balance can be found and the good and the bad from this can be acknowledged.