Weekend Links

 Happy almost August!  (ugh, where did the summer go??)  It's been crazy here, with the day job at its busiest and a book launch coming next week (Death Comes to Santa Fe, third in my 1920s mystery series!!!).  Hope you are staying cool and getting your reading in.  

 Speaking of reading, here's a few fun links I've found lately.  Enjoy!

Happy birthday, Emily Bronte!  (July 30, 1818)

Pompeii's ancient fast-food markets

Tudor tapestries returned to their former glory

Barbie and "the cinematic history of weaponized pink"

On setting and society in "Pride and Prejudice"

12 Eiffel Tower facts

Archaeologists unearth foundations of Wolf Hall

Fun Weekend Links

 It's been too long since I posted here!  It feels like it should be June, not July 8, ugh.  Summer goes so fast, and I have so many writing deadlines coming up.  But happy reading!  (oh, and I'm dipping my toe in at Threads, if you'd like to follow me!  @amandamccabeauthor)

Margot Robbie's Barbie promo wardrobe!

New museum exhibit on the power of the little black dress

The mystery of the Taos Hum (I have never heard it...)

Performance on a harp owned by Austen's sister-in-law

Another museum exhibit, Holbein at the Tudor Court

Scholar finds doodles by Henry VIII in old prayer book

How Elizabeth I honored her mother

How a Venetian monk created the first map of the world

Julian Sands in A Room With A View (one of my favorite movies, and RIP)

6 female rulers who deserve more recognition

Royal Wedding Weekend: Queen Mary Tudor

Have you heard the news?? (I know you have!)  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be married at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on May 19, and I am SO excited at the news.  To celebrate, I've decided to blog about a few royal weddings of the past.  Some ended happily, many did not, but there were always beautiful clothes, pageantry, and some kind of hope for the future.

We'll start in the 1500s, with the wedding of Queen Mary Tudor and Philip II of Spain, on July 25, 1554.  Mary had not been queen long, after her dramatic accession, and she was eager to marry.  She was 37, loved children, and really wanted to be a traditional wife, which she had been denied for her whole life.  There were also the concerns of state, the need for an heir.  But her choice was not a popular one.  Encouraged by her cousin and longtime mentor, Charles V, and with nostalgic memories of her Spanish mother, she determined to marry Charles's son Philip II.  Philip was 10 years younger but already a widower, and said to be very handsome.  Mary's council, and most of the country's population, were not big on foreigners, and had qualms that the two would unite in their uber-Catholicism.  Mary brushed them off, maybe already somewhat infatuated with the idea of a bit of romance in her life at long last, and declared she would marry him.  After quelling some anti-Spanish riots, she did just that.

The royal couple married at majestic Winchester Cathedral two days after meeting (Mary was enthusiastic; Philip less so, but no doubt being declared King of England made him happy enough).  As Philip spoke no English, the service was conducted in a mix of Latin, Spanish, and English, and it was hours long and quite grand.  Philip wore "breeches and doublet were white...over all a mantle of cloth of gold...ornamented with pearl and precious stones, and wearing the collar of the Garter."  The cathedral itself was "richly hanged with arras and cloth of gold," with a dais draped in scarlet and set with two thrones.  (Philip had been declared King of England, to rule alongside his wife).

Mary herself wore a dress of the French style, "rich tissue with a border and wide sleeves, embroidered upon purple satin, set with pearls," and a kirtle and train of white and silver satin.  (A splendid replica was made to be displayed at the cathedral)

The ceremony was followed with a lavish banquet and dancing, amid the uneasy mixing of Spanish and English courtiers (the Spanish didn't think much of Mary's looks), and then the marriage bed was blesed by Archbishop Gardiner and the couple put to bed.  The marriage was almost certainly consumated, because a few months later Mary thought herself pregnant, her blessing from God complete.  (It turned out to be a false pregnancy, a humiliating blow Mary never recovered from).  The marriage was marred by war, illness, and long separations, though Mary was devoted to her husband.

When Mary died in 1558, Philip was in Brussels and had not seen her in many months.  He declared he felt a "reasonable regret" for her death, and later tried to court her half-sister Elizabeth, and then married a French princess.  Much later, he went to war with the country where he was so briefly king, with the disastrous Armada.  I always feel so sorry for Mary.

There are many interesting biographies of Mary and Philip, but a couple of my favorites are:
Linda Porter, Mary Tudor: The First Queen
Anna Whitelock, Mary Tudor, England's First Queen

You can see more about the Act of Marriage here.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_for_the_Marriage_of_Queen_Mary_to_Philip_of_Spain..

(and on a totally different note, if you are in the mood for a Regency Christmas read, my Wallflower's Mistletoe Wedding is still available!!  I promise it's a lot more fun than the fateful union of Mary and Philip....)

Heroine of the Weekend

So the weekend is almost over (I am not sure where it went! Probably frittered away dealing with an AC that decided to die right when the temps reached the 90s here...), but we can't let it pass without a Heroine. And I can't believe I've never featured Lady Jane Grey before! She was married on May 21, 1553, so she is our (tragic) Heroine this weekend.

Jane was born sometime in 1536 or '37 (there is some doubt to the exact date) at her family's home at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire. Her parents were Henry Grey, the 1st Duke of Suffolk, and Lady Frances Brandon, the niece of Henry VIII through her mother Mary Brandon. The couple had three daughters, studious Jane, beautiful Catherine, and deformed Mary, all of whom would run afoul of their Tudor cousins.

Jane was very well-educated according to the classical model of the day (it was speculated that her parents were preparing her to one day marry her cousin Prince Edward0. She knew modern languages, as well as Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and was instructed in the new reformed Protestant religion, which she was quite devoted to. She prefered studying to hunting or dancing, and was from all reports a serious young lady. In 1546 she went to join the household of Catherine Parr, the dowager queen and widow of Henry VIII, where she would be educated in humanist, Protestant thought along with her royal cousins. (Jane was the chief mourner at Catherine's funeral in 1548).

After she left Catherine Parr's care, Jane was married to Guildford Dudley, the son of the Duke of Northumberland (one of the most powerful men in England). It was a lavish triple ceremony--her sister Catherine also married, to the heir of the Earl of Pembroke, and Guildford's sister Catherine married the heri to the Earl of Huntingdon. It was a huge power play for the two fathers Suffolk and Northumberland. The reasons for it all soon became clear.

When Henry VIII died his Act of Succession laid out his plans for the future of the throne. If Edward was to die without an heir, the throne would then pass to Henry's two perviously disowned daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. If they died without issue, it would then go to his sister Mary's descendants (the Greys), bypassing his sister Margaret's Scottish line (inlcuding Margaret's granddaughter Mary Queen of Scots). But Edward, who was very ill by the beginning of 1553, laid out his own "Device"--he excluded his sisters altogether (Mary was a devout Catholic, at odds with her strictly Protestant brother throughout his reign; leaving out Elizabeth is more puzzling). He instead directed the succession through Frances Brandon's line, hopefully to Jane's soon-to-be-produced male children. Edward died on July 6, 1553, and everyone sprang into action.

Four days later the king's will was revealed and Jane was proclaimed Queen to shocked Londoners. Jane went in procession to the security of the Tower to await her coronation. A Genoese in London, Baptista Spinola, watched her walk past and described her as "very short and thin, but prettily-shaped and graceful. She has small features and a well-made nose, the mouth flexible and the lips red."

Northumberland's first task to secure his daughter-in-law's reign (even though she had refused to name Guildford king) was to isolate and secure Mary, who naturally expected to be queen. But she had escaped and was rallying her supporters. He rode out of London with his troops on July 14, and while he was gone the Privy Council changed their tune. They saw the wind was blowing toward support of Mary, and the proclaimed her queen to much rejoicing July 19. Jane's palace turned into a prison at the Tower, and Mary entered London in a triumphant procession on August 3. Northumberland was executed August 22.

Even though Jane and her husband were tried, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to death, they were not executed until February 12, 1554. Guildford was beheaded on Tower Hill, but Jane was given the rare privilege of a private execution at Tower Green. She was only 16 or 17 years old, but she faced her death with rare bravery and calm, with only flahs of panic when she was blindfolded and couldn't find the block. She made a short speech:

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.

With only a few last words, ""Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit," she held out her arms and was killed. Over the centuries, her youth and innocence have given rise to many romantic images and legends.

A few sources on her life:

Leandra de Lisle, The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: The Tragedy of Mary, Katherine, and Lady Jane Grey (2008)
Eric Ives, Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery (2009)
Faith Cook, The Nine Days Queen (2005)
Alison Plowden, Lady Jane Grey: Nine Days Queen (1985)

(And for a more detailed explanation of Edward VI's very complicated Device, you can look here)

Heroine of the Weekend

Next week, July 28 marks the anniversary of the day Henry VIII married his 5th wife, Catherine Howard (ca. 1521--February 13, 1442), so we continue the saga of the Tudor women this week with that poor, naive young woman.

Catherine was the fourth of 10 children born to Lord Edmund Howard (a younger son of the Duke of Norfolk) and his wife Joyce. She had an aristocratic lineage (Norfolk was the leading Catholic peer of the realm), but her father's low birth order and large family meant he was always short of funds and had to beg from his better-off relations. His niece, Anne Boleyn, got him a government job working for the King in Calais in 1531, but that lasted only as long as Anne's tragic reign. When he took the job, Catherine was sent to live in the household of her step-grandmother, Agnes Tilney, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

At Lambeth, the Dowager Duchess ran a very large household including many female wards, usually the offspring of poor relatives. The Duchess was usually at Court, and took little interest in the upbringing of these wards, so life at Lambeth was wild and lax. Catherine was not very well-educated, especially compared with some of Henry's intellectual wives such as Anne Boleyn and Catherine Parr (though she could read and write), and she ran wild. She started a sexual relationship with her music teacher, Henry Manox, when she was between the ages of 12 and 16. At her later trial, she stated, "At the flattering and fair persuasions of Manox, being but a young girl, I suffered him at sundry times to handle and touch the secret parts of my body which neither became me with honesty to permit nor him to require."

This youthful affair came to an end in 1538, when Catherine fell for a secretary of the household, Francis Dereham. They often addressed each other as "husband" and "wife," and other people in the household took notice of them. It ended the next year, when the Duchess finally figured out what was going on, but they may have parted with vows to marry (which would have constituted a pre-contract and invalidated her marriage to the King).

Catherine's uncle the Duke found her a place at Court as lady-in-waiting to Henry's new queen Anne of Cleves. The young, vivacious beauty quickly caught the king's eye, as he had never cared for Anne at all. Though her family wondered if she had the maturity and intelligence to handle the position of King's mistress, it was most advantageous to them and thus they encouraged it. Within months of her arrival at Court, the King was showering Catherine with expensive gifts and calling her his "rose without a thorn."

The Cleves marriage was annulled on July 9, 1540 and Catherine and Henry married a few weeks later on July 28. Henry, now near 50 and constantly expanding in girth (definitely no longer the golden prince of the early days of his reign!) was infatuated with his teenaged bride, and gave her expensive jewelry, gowns, and gifts of land. Her motto, "No other will but his," seemed to signify a devotion to her new husband that was deceptive. Despite her newfound wealth and power, she was a young, lusty woman who found her marital relations--unappealing. (The King weighed around 300 pounds at this time, and had a bad-smelling, festering ulcer on his leg that had to be drained every day). Early in 1541 she met the handsome young courtier Thomas Culpeper, and started meeting him in secret with the help of her lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford (widow of Anne Boleyn's beheaded brother, so she should have known better!).

In 1541, Henry and Catherine embarked on a popular progress of the north of England. But people who had witnessed her wild behavior at Lambeth began contacting her for favors, and in order to buy their silence she appointed many of them to her household, including her first lover Henry Manox as musician and Francis Dereham as her secretary. John Lascelles, a Protestant reformer who resented the Norfolks' continued Catholicism, and his sister Mary Hall, who served the Dowager Duchess and witnessed Catherine's liaisons, contacted Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, with what they they knew of the Queen's scandalous past. Cranmer, well aware that any pre-contract with Dereham would invalidate the royal marriage, gave Henry a letter with accusations against his wife at an All Souls Day Mass on November 2, 1541. Henry at first refused to believe the claims, and ordered Cranmer to investigate further. Within days more proof was found, including the confessions of Dereham and Culpeper after they were taken to the Tower, and a love letter to Culpeper in Catherine's handwriting (the only letter from her still surviving. She signs off as "Yours as long as life endures"). Catherine was charged with treason, but she never confessed (even to her confessor just before her death) to infidelity, only that her behavior was unbecoming a lady of her rank.

Cranmer and a delegation went to question her at Hampton Court on November 7, and even the stern Archbishop found her tearful, paniced state pitiable, saying, "I found her in such lamentation and heavyness as I never saw no creature, so that it would have pitied any man's heart to have looked upon her." A pre-contract would have terminated the marriage and allowed Henry to banish her from Court. She would have been disgraced and impoverished, but not dead as her cousin Anne Boleyn was. But she denied any pre-contract, stating that Dereham had forced himself on her.

She was stripped of the the title of Queen on November 23 and sent to live at Syon House through the winter of 1541. Culpeper and Dereham were executed on December 10, and bill of attainder passed against Catherin on January 21, 1542. She was taken to the Tower on February 10, and executed on the 13th. The night before her death, she is said to have ordered the block brought to her room so she could practice making a good death. If so, it worked--though she was pale and had to be helped up the steps to the scaffold, she died with dignity and composure. She made a speech declaring her punishment "worthy and just" and asked for mercy for her family and prayers for her soul. She was buried in the nearby Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, near her cousin Anne Boleyn.

A few good sources for Catherine's short, sad life are:
Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Karen Lindsey, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII
Lacey Baldwin Smith, A Tudor Tragedy: The Life and Times of Catherine Howard
Joanna Denny, Katherine Howard: A Tudor Conspiracy

Heroine of the Weekend

This weekend's Tudor heroine is, literally, the grandmother of them all--Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (May 31, 1443--June 29, 1509). Margaret was born at Bletsoe Castle in Bedfordshire, the daughter of John Beaufort, first Duke of Somerset, and his wife Margaret. Through her father she was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, first Duke of Lancaster and his mistress and eventual third wife Katherine Swynford. Following their marriage, their children (the Beauforts) were legitimized with one condition--their descendants were barred from ever inheriting the throne.

Margaret's father died when she was 2, and at the age of 6 her wardship was obtained by the Duke of Suffolk who betrothed her to his 7-year-old son and heir. But when Suffolk was executed soon after, the match was dissolved by Henry VI (her second cousin), who married her to his half-brother Edmond Tudor (eldest son of the king's mother Dowager Queen Catherine, widow of Henry V, by her second husband Owen Tudor. Catherine was French, the daughter of Charles VI). Margaret and Edmond were married on November 1, 1455, and he died the following year, leaving his 13-year-old widow 7 months pregnant.

Margaret and Edmond's son Henry thus had lots of royal blood, but no real legal claim to the throne. The widowed Margaret moved with her infant to Pembroke, where she was living whenn the wars between Lancaster and York broke out, and they stayed there until the Yorkist victories in 1461. She returned to court, but after the battle of Tewkesbury she sent Henry (the hope of the Lancasters) to Brittany.

Margaret married twice more, to Sir Henry Stafford (1447-1471) and Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby, but she never had more children after the ordeal of giving birth at age 13. But she was always busy. No sooner had Henry gone to France that she set to conspiring against Richard III with Dowager Queen Consort Elizabeth Woodville (whose sons, the two young princes, disappeared in the Tower. They were helped by the fact that Thomas Stanley, Lord High Constable, had a son who was also held captive by King Richard. After the battle of Bosworth Field and Richard's death, Stanley placed the crown on his stepson's head.

Margaret was now styled "My Lady the King's Mother" at court, but she didn't like having a lower status than the dowager queen and her new daughter-in-law, Elizabeth of York. She always wore robes of the same sumptuous quality as the new queen and walked only a half-pace behind her. She became known for her strong character as well as her education and piety, and her son was said to be devoted to her.

In 1497 she announced her intention to build a free school for the public at Wimborne, Dorset. It came into being as Wimborne Grammar School (now known as Queen Elizabeth's School) after her death in 1509. In 1502, she established the Lady Margaret's Professorship of Divinity at Cambridge. In 1505, she refounded and enlarged God's House, Cambridge, as Christ's College with a royal charter from her son the King, and she's been honored ever since as Foundress of the College. Lady Margaret Hall, the first women's college at Oxford, was named in her honor. She took vows of religion in 1504 but continued to live out of a nunnery (though she founded several).

On the death of Henry VII, she was named as regent for her grandson Henry VIII, who was considered too young to reign on his own (even though he immediately married Katherine of Aragon and set about organizing his court with her). The regency was short-lived, as Margaret died on June 29, 1509 at the Deanery of Westminster Abbey, just two months after her son's death. She is buried in a black marble tomb with a gilded effigy and canopy, between the graves of William and Mary and the lavish tomb of Mary Queen of Scots (her great-great granddaughter).

For more information, I like Michael K. Jones' The King's Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort Countess of Richmond and Derby

Heroine of the Weekend

Since last weekend I was still totally wiped out by the NY trip, I dropped the ball on Heroine of the Weekend! Sorry about that. We'll continue exploring the fascinating Tudor women this week with Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland.

Margaret, the elder of the 2 surviving daughters of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, was born November 28, 1489 and baptised two days later in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. Even before her 6th birthday, her father started negotiating a marriage between her and King James of Scotland (he hoped to head off Scottish support of Perkin Warbeck, the latest Yorkist pretender to the English throne). In January 1502 England and Scotland concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace along with a marriage contract, which was then completed with a proxy wedding. (It's been said her younger brother Prince Henry, Duke of York, then pitched a fit because his queenly sister now outranked him at Court!) In 1503, she made her way in a grand procession northward, where she was married again on August 8 at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. The marriage was said to be harmonious enough, and they had 6 children, though only one, the future James V, lived beyond infancy.

But the 1502 treaty was hardly "perpetual" (they never were), and as soon as Henry VII died in 1509 his succesosor, Henry VIII, had no time for his father's cautious diplomacy and penny-pinching ways. He was soon headed towards war with Scotland's ally France. In 1513, King James fought for France, honoring that Auld Alliance, and died at the Battle of Flodden. Margaret, who had opposed the war, was named Regent for her infant son the new king. A woman was never much welcome in positions of power, and Margaret was the sister of the enemy in addition. A pro-French party soon formed among the discontented nobility, saying she should be replaced by John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, 3rd in line to the throne behind Margaret's two sons (and born and raised in France). But by July 1514 Margaret had managed to pacify the battling parties, and Scotland (and France) concluded peace with England. But then she took a fatal step.

In seeking allies, she had turned to the House of Douglas, and found herself especially drawn to Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, whom even his uncle called "a young witless fool." The two were secretly married at the church of Kinnoull, near Perth, on August 6. This alienated the other noble houses, and strengthened the pro-French faction. By September, the Privy Council ruled she had forfeited her right to the supervision of her sons, and she ran off with her children to Stirling Castle. This didn't stop her enemies, though; in May 1515 Albany arrived from France to take over custody of the children as Regent. Margaret, initially defiant, finally surrendered at Stirling in August, and, expecting another baby, retired to Edinburgh. Eventually she escaped to the English border, and went to Harbottle Castle to give birth to a daughter, Lady Margaret Douglas (who became Countess of Lennox and mother of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, cousin and husband to Mary Queen of Scots). She also finally started to get the measure of Angus, who had returned to Scotland to look after his own interests and make peace with Albany.

Margaret was well-received by her brother, and installed at Scotland Yard, the ancient palace of the Scottish kings. But in 1517, after having spent only a year in England, she returned north after a treaty of reconciliation negotiated between Albany, Henry, and Cardinal Wolsey. She was temporarily reconciled with her husband as well, but that was not for long. She discovered that while she was gone Angus was shacked up with his old lover Lady Jane Stewart, and living on Margaret's money while he was doing it. She wrote to her brother, hinting at divorce plans: "I am so minded that, an I may by law of God and to my honor, to part with him, for I wit well he loves me not, as he shows me daily."

Henry, then a staunch Catholic, was opposed to divorce (ha!!!). Also he found Angus a useful ally against Albany and the pro-French faction. Angered by his unsupportive attitude, Margaret drew closer to the Albany faction, calling for his return from France. (Albany, wisely not wanting to get into the middle of this mess, suggested she become Regent again herself). Albany finally came back to Scotland in November 1521, and soon rumors were flying he and Margaret were more than political allies. Angus went in exile as the Regent and Queen Dowager set about restoring order to a country torn by 3 years of bitter factional fighting. Albany was also useful to Margaret in other ways, as he used his influence in Rome to facilitate her divorce.

But their alliance was short-lived. In 1524, Margaret staged a coup removing the Regent (who was once again in France, lucky man) and bringing her son James to Edinburgh to be declared fully King in his own right (but he was only 12, and very much under his mother's influence). In November Margaret was formally recognized as chief counselor to the King. Having more time on her hands, she now formed a new attachment to Henry Stewart, younger brother of Lord Avondale. Henry was promoted to high office, angering powerful nobles who promptly joined forces with her estranged husband. Angus arrived in Edinburgh with a large force of armed men, claiming his right to attend Parliament, and Margaret ordered cannons fired on him from both the Castle and Holyrood House. When 2 English ambassadors suggested that maybe she shouldn't fire on her lawful husband, she told them to "go home and not meddle with Scottish matters." But under pressure, she finally admitted him to the council of regency in February 1525. He took custody of James, refusing to give him up, and exercised power on his behalf for 3 years (which left young James with an abiding hatred of both the Douglases and the English).

By this time Margaret was obsessed with getting her divorce, and in March 1527 the Pope finally granted her petition. She quickly married Henry Stewart, ignorning her brother's hypocritical warnings that marriage was "divinely ordained." In June 1528 her son broke away from Angus and began truly ruling in his own right. Margaret benefited from this change greatly, she and her husband becoming two of his most trusted advisors. James created Stewart Lord Methven "for the great love he bore to my dearest mother." Margaret's main political goal now was to ensure understanding between England and Scotland, but by 1536 she confessed "I am weary of Scotland."

Weary of her husband, too, who was even worse than Angus in his desire for other women and his wife's money. Their only child had died in infancy, and she was thwarted in her quest for another divorce. Eventually husband and wife reconciled, and in June 1538 she welcomed her son's new wife Marie of Guise from France, and the two strong women proved fast friends. An ambassador reported to King Henry, "the young queen was all papist, and the old queen not much less."

After this tumultuous life, Margaret died of a stroke at Methven Castle on October 18, 1541 and was buried at the Carthusian Priory of St. John in Perth (which was destroyd in 1559). Her son died in 1542, leaving the newborn Mary as his successor.

A few good sources on Margaret's life are:
Alison Plowden's Tudor Women
Hester W. Chapman's The Thistle and the Rose: The Sisters of Henry VIII
Maria Perry's The Sisters of Henry VIII
Sharon L. Jansen's The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe

Heroine of the Weekend

To kick off our Tudor Heroines of the Weekend posts, we'll start with one of Henry VIII's troublesome sisters--Mary Tudor Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, Dowager Queen of France.

Mary was born March 18, 1496, the fifth child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, and the youngest to survive infancy. She was renowned as one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe, described by the Venetian ambassador as "a Paradise," and she was betrothed in 1507 to Charles of Castile (later Holy Roman Emperor), but the wedding never took place. Instead, a treaty with France was signed in 1514, and Mary was its pawn. At age 18 she married the 53-year-old Louis XII (two of the girls in her train were Mary and Anne Boleyn. Despite 2 previous marriages, Louis had no sons to succeed him, and hoped to produce one on the Tudor beauty--but he died barely 3 months after their marriage (rumored to be done in by the strenuous exertions in the bedchamber). Mary again became a marriage pawn, both for her brother and the new French king.

But Mary had plans of her own. At the time of her marriage to King Louis, she was in love with her brother's handsome, dashing, athletic young friend Charles Brandon. She had made Henry promise her that if she wed the French king now, she could choose her own marriage later--not the he intended to keep this promise, of course. Brandon was sent to fetch her back to England after her period of mourning was over, and she persuaded him to marry secretly on March 3, 1515 before they left France. Henry was outraged, and the Privy Council urged that Brandon be executed, or at least imprisoned (marrying a royal princess without the King's consent was treason). But Mary was his favorite sister, and she managed to cajole him into forgiving her and her new husband. They were officially married at Greenwich on May 13.

Mary seemed content with her handsome husband, and spent most of her time at their home of Westhorpe Hall in Suffolk (she was known as "the French Queen" for the rest of her life). Relations between herself and her brother were not so cordial when she opposed his efforts to end his marriage to Katherine of Aragon.

She died on June 25, 1533 and was first buried at the abbey of Bury St. Edmonds. When the abbey was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, she was moved to St. Mary's Church--and her husband went on to marry their son's fiancee (and their ward), 14-year-old heiress Catherine Willoughby. Mary had 3 children with Brandon, Henry, 1st Earl of Lincoln; Lady Frances Brandon (the mother of Lady Jane Grey), and Lady Eleanor Brandon.

A few good sources on Mary's life include WC Richardson's Mary Tudor: The White Queen; Maria Perry, The Sisters of Henry VIII: The Tumultuous Lives of Margaret of Scotland and Mary of France; Alison Plowden's Lady Jane Grey and the House of Suffolk.

What I'm Reading Today

Henry VIII Anniversary

I wish I could take a trip to England this year! There's so many amazing events planned for the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne. Now, I don't much like King Henry (though I do like several of his wives!), but there is no denying this period was fascinating. Some highlights of the anniversary include:

An exhibit at Windsor Castle

"Henry VIII Remembered" at the National Portrait Gallery

An exhibit and related events (including films) about Henry VII and VIII in Richmond at the Museum of Richmond

"Henry VIII: Romance and Intrigue" at Sudeley Castle (the last home of his last wife, Katherine Parr)

Exhibits and events at Hever Castle (family home of wife two, Anne Boleyn! This one looks like a big, fun Renaissance Faire)

"Dressed to Kill" at the Tower

Living History Weekend and Tudor Water Pageant, June 20-21 (I really, really wish I could see this!)

And much more. (Closer to home, I think the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC is having an exhibit in the fall...)

Anyone planning to attend any of these???