Mary Queen of Scots

The wrong sex and the wrong time

Mary Queen of Scots was born at Linlithgow Palace on 8 December 1542, the only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland. Just two weeks before, on 24 November, the king’s forces had been routed by the English at the battle of Solway Moss. When he heard the news of the birth of a daughter, he is reputed to have said, ‘It [the Stewart dynasty] came with a lass and it will pass with a lass’. He died at midnight on 14 December. At the age of six days, Mary was Queen of Scots.

The inheritance

Mary was the queen of a small, poor country with a population of about 850,000, dwarfed in wealth and size by its southern neighbour, England, with a population of 3.5 million. She was the inheritor of centuries of hostility between the two countries as, in seeking to maintain its independence from England, the Scots had formed the ‘Auld Alliance’ with France. However, the Scottish nobility was notoriously quarrelsome and factional, and both the English and French rulers sought to play off one set of nobles against another.

From her great-grandfather Henry VII, Mary inherited a claim to the English throne, though she was excluded from the Succession Act of 1543 and from Henry's will.

Through her mother, Mary of Guise, she was related to one of the most powerful noble families in France and she was a pawn in the family’s quest to control the French monarchy.

The ‘rough wooing’

On 9 September 1543 Mary was crowned at Stirling Castle, making her an anointed queen. Henry VIII was desperate to secure control of Mary so that he could marry her to his son Prince Edward, thus bringing about the union of the two kingdoms. In 1544 and again in 1547, after Henry VIII’s death, English troops invaded Scotland in what is known as 'the rough wooing' in order to force the Scots to agree to the marriage.

France

In August 1548 the 5-year-old Mary, her guardians and her attendants – the ‘four Maries’ – sailed for France. Mary was to remain in France for the next thirteen years. She rapidly became fluent in French and her striking looks and charisma made her extremely popular. 

Mary Queen of Scots by
François Clouet
c. 1558-60
Public domain.

On 24 April 1558 she and the Dauphin François were married in Notre Dame. The official marriage contract stated that Scotland would remain a distinct kingdom, but a secret document, signed by Mary, gave Scotland to France should Mary die without heirs.
When Queen Mary Tudor died Mary controversially asserted her claim to the throne against Elizabeth by quartering the arms of England on her shield, a gesture that was interpreted by the English as extremely provocative. William Cecil, Elizabeth’s Secretary became her life-long enemy.

On 10 July 1559 Henri II died in a jousting accident and François became King. Mary was now Queen of Scotland and France and at the same time asserting a claim to the English throne.

Mary I. England's first reigning queen (1)

Mary Tudor, by Antonis Mor
Prado National Museum
Public domain

This post is indebted to Anna Whitelock’s Mary Tudor. England’s First Queen (Bloomsbury 2010), Eric Ives' Lady Jane Grey. A Tudor Mystery (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), and the revisionist article on Mary I in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by Ann Weikel ©Oxford University Press 2018.

‘Judged as a private person, Mary was probably the most attractive of the Tudor family.’ Eric Ives, Jane Grey, p. 78

Mary was England’s first crowned Queen regnant. Her predecessor, Matilda, had never been able to substantiate her claim. She was never crowned and only granted the title ‘Lady of the English’.  Lady Margaret Beaufort passed on her claim to her son, Henry VII. Jane Grey was proclaimed queen but the coup that launched her was short-lived. 

She was born at Greenwich Palace on 18 February 1516.  She was a healthy child, and though her sex was a disappointment, her parents, Henry and Catherine hoped that a healthy son would follow. She was pretty and clever and her parents were proud of her. No expense was spared on her household. 

Greenwich Palace, Mary's birthplace
Public domain

Betrothals: on and off!

Though she was not the desired male heir, she was useful diplomatically, and at the age of two, in a grand ceremony at Greenwich, she was betrothed to François, the heir of François I. But the alliance with France came unstuck and in 1521 she was betrothed to her cousin, Charles V, who was sixteen years her senior. She met the emperor when he came to England in 1522. 

Mary at the time of her betrothal
to Charles V
by Lucas Horenbout.
NPG. Public domain

However, the the betrothal was broken off when in 1525 Charles announced that he would marry Isabella, the daughter of the King of Portugal. Mary saw this as a painful rejection, but she still remained attached to Charles and was later to see him as a vital ally and political mentor.

Henry then resumed the idea of a French marriage, either to François I or to his second son, Henri duc d’Orléans. But as she was still only 11, he refused to allow her to leave England, and the French envoys thought she was so thin and small that she would not be physically ready for marriage for another three years.

Education

Queen Catherine took a keen interest in her daughter’s education. She may have instructed her in Latin and educationalists produced treatises in grammar and French for her.  In 1523 Catherine invited the celebrated Spanish scholar Juan Luis Vives to England and she commissioned him to write a treatise on the education of women and to draw up an outline of studies for Mary. When she was 15, the Venetian ambassador wrote a complimentary account of her accomplishments, noting that she was fluent in Spanish, French and Latin and played several instruments.


The Dutch humanist, Erasmus, wrote: ‘We have in the Queen of England a woman distinguished by her learning, whose daughter Mary composes fine Latin epistles’.

Heiress?

It was a blow to Catherine, and potentially to Mary, when in 1518, Henry’s mistress, Elizabeth Blount, gave birth to a son, named Henry Fitzroy. In 1525 Henry gave him his father’s old title of Duke of Richmond. But the king was sending out mixed signals. In August Mary was sent to govern Wales, the traditional role of the heir to the throne, and she remained at Ludlow for nineteen months. She returned to England in 1527 to find her world turned upside down.

Mary 1. England's first reigning queen (2)

Mary I, by Hans Eworth
Society of Antiquaries
Public domain.

Queen regnant

Mary’s accession has been described as the only successful rebellion in Tudor England. Some historians even believe that she mounted a coup against Jane Grey, the rightful queen. Her claim rested on the fact that she was Henry VIII’s elder surviving child, named as his heir in the Succession Act, and that she had support from the mass of Londoners, and most leading nobles and gentry. As there was no significant male claimant, she was accepted in spite of her gender and the fact that she was still legally a bastard.

But how was a woman to rule when there were no role models for her? Three days before her coronation, Mary appealed on her knees to her councillors for help. The imperial ambassador reported that 

no-one knew how to answer, amazed as they all were by this humble and lowly discourse, so unlike anything ever heard before in England, and by the queen’s great goodness and integrity’. From Helen Castor, She Wolves. 

This could be seen as pleasing feminine modesty, but also lack of self-confidence. 

A few days into her reign, her cousin, Charles V, the son and grandson of reigning queens, had written to offer advice: 

Let her be in all things what she ought to be: a good Englishwoman, and avoid giving the impression that she desires to act on her own authority, letting it be seen that she wishes to have the assistance and consent of the foremost men of the land.… You will also point out to her that it will be necessary in order to be supported in matters that are not of ladies’ capacity, that she soon contract matrimony with the person who shall appear to her most fit from the above point of view.

As ever, Mary, having little confidence in her own judgement, was very ready to take the emperor's advice. On 28 July she told the imperial ambassadors that ‘after God, she desired to obey none but’ her cousin Charles, ‘whom she regarded as a father’. These instructions were communicated through the Spanish ambassador, Simon Renard. He took to visiting her in disguise in her privy apartments. It was on Renard’s advice that, against her own judgement, she allowed her brother, Edward VI, to be buried with Protestant rites.

Elizabeth I: (1: 1533-68)

Elizabeth, aged 13
William Scrots
Public domain

There have been numerous books on Elizabeth but this post is especially indebted to a couple of the more recent: Helen Castor's Elizabeth I. A Study in Insecurity (Penguin 2018) and Anna Whitelock's Elizabeth's Bedfellows. An Intimate History of the Queen's Court (Bloomsbury, 2014).

Reversal of fortune

Before Elizabeth was three, her life had seen an astonishing reversal of fortune. In spite of the disappointment at her birth in September 1533, she was named Princess of Wales and the heir to the throne. Then in May 1536 her mother was executed. This in itself was a shocking event – the putting to death of an anointed queen. Although Anne had been executed for alleged adultery, the marriage to Henry was declared invalid, leaving Elizabeth illegitimate like her half-sister, Mary. But her status remained ambiguous. The Act of Succession of 1543 named Mary and Elizabeth as heirs to their half-brother, Edward at the same time as they remained illegitimate.

She is unlikely to have felt personal grief for her mother, though it may be significant that when she became queen, she promoted her Boleyn relatives. In her later years she owned a mother-of-pearl locked ring which opened to reveal portraits of her mother and herself.  

At her mother’s death she experienced a series of stepmothers – Jane Seymour who died, Catherine Howard who was executed, and Katherine Parr, who proved a kind and loving stepmother. But even she could not protect her. 

The Thomas Seymour affair

When Henry VIII died Elizabeth went with her governess, Kate Ashley, to live with the widowed Katherine. But six months after her husband’s death Katherine married Thomas Seymour, uncle of the young king and brother of the new Lord Protector, the king's uncle, the Duke of Somerset. But Seymour had his eyes on Elizabeth and he and Catherine indulged in boisterous horseplay with her. In May 1548 she and her servants left to stay with Kate’s sister. On 5 September Catherine died following complications after childbirth. 

The tomb of Katherine Parr at
Sudeley, Gloucestershire
My photograph

In January 1549 Seymour was arrested and a few days later Kate Ashley and Elizabeth’s financial administrator, Thomas Parry found themselves in the Tower. When they were interrogated the story emerged of Seymour’s conduct. At the age of 15, Elizabeth was in danger. She had not repulsed Seymour’s attentions – so had she been preparing to marry him? 

She was interrogated by Sir Robert Tirwhit who wrote to Protector Somerset, ‘I do see in her face she is guilty’. But could he prove anything against her? On the following day he wrote, ‘I do assure your grace she has a very good wit, and nothing is gotten off her but by great policy’. She defended herself in a letter to the Protector: ‘My Lord, these are shameful slanders’. On 20 March 1549 Seymour was executed. In 1552, Somerset himself was executed.

Elizabeth had learned the dangers of proximity to the throne. She was now careful to cultivate the image of a demure and learned young lady, committed to her brother’s Protestant policies.

Catherine and Anne: rival queens

Catherine of Aragon
daughter and sister of reigning queens.
Public domain

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine was born in December 1485, the fifth child and fourth daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. In March 1489 at the age of three she was betrothed to Henry VII’s son Prince Arthur at Medina del Campo in what Henry regarded as a diplomatic coup for his still insecure dynasty. 

Isabella had received little formal education but she made sure that her daughters learned Latin, and this was the language with which Catherine first communicated with Arthur. Her daughters were also taught music, dancing, needlework, falconry, horse-riding and hunting. She was later to sew her husband’s shirts, and continued to do so after her marriage broke up - much to the fury of Anne Boleyn. Surprisingly, no attempt was made to teach her English, and when she did learn to speak it, it was with a strong Spanish accent.

Catherine at the age of 11
by Juan de Flandres,
showing the red hair she had
inherited from Isabella
Public domain

In May 1501 she finally set off from the Alhambra for England. She and her future husband were both 13. She did not reach Plymouth until October. She and Arthur were married in St Paul’s Cathedral on 14 November. The wedding night is the most disputed in English history. Was the marriage consummated? 

After the wedding she accompanied Arthur to Ludlow Castle, the border fortress that was the temporary home of the Prince of Wales. On 2 April 1502 the prince died. Catherine returned to London and settled into Durham House on the Thames. As a childless widow, her position was vulnerable. Far from ordering her back to Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella wanted her to marry again and they set their sights on Arthur’s brother, Henry, now the heir to the throne, and six years younger than Catherine.

Legally, Catherine was Princess Dowager of Wales. But was she? Her ‘lady mistress’, Doña Elvira insisted that she was still a virgin. Ferdinand and Isabella took the claim seriously, but there was no way of verifying it. In 1503 it was agreed that Catherine should marry Henry, and both the English and Spanish sides agreed that a papal dispensation was needed. The wording of the dispensation allowed for the fact that the marriage had 'perhaps' been consummated.

Over the next few years Catherine was often ill and depressed and she was short of money while Henry VII and Ferdinand squabbled over her dowry. In 1505 on the eve of his 14th birthday, Prince Henry denounced the marriage treaty. This was a diplomatic ploy in order to extract more of the dowry from Ferdinand.  

Catherine as queen

Then just when her fortunes were at their lowest ebb, Henry VII died on 21 April 1509. On 11 June Catherine married Henry VIII.

Catherine's badge as queen,
the crowned pomegranite

Advocate of Spain: When a queen married, she was faced with a potential conflict of loyalties. Her marriage had been arranged by her parents for diplomatic reasons and she was expected to further the interests of her native country. But as queen, she also owed loyalty to her new country and it was often a difficult balancing act to reconcile the two.

Catherine was always fervently pro-Spanish and at first she furthered the interests of her father, Ferdinand. This meant supporting Henry's war against France. When he left for France in June 1513 she became ‘Regent and Governess of England, Wales and Ireland’. This meant that she could raise armies, appoint sheriffs, approve church appointments and control the nation’s finances.  But she was dismayed when her father backed out of the war and signed a peace treaty with France. After this her loyalty was to England.

Margaret of Austria

The Hof van Savoye
Margaret's palace at Mechelen
where Anne Boleyn served as fille d'honneur.
Public domain

Margaret is best known in Britain because in 1513 the 12-year-old Anne Boleyn became one of her maids of honour. What is less well known is that she was one of the most successful rulers of the early sixteenth century. One of the best English-language sources for Margaret is Sarah Gristwood's Game of Queens (Oneworld, 2016) on which much of this post is blamed.

She was born in 1480, the only daughter of Duchess Mary, the heiress of the Duchy of Burgundy, and her husband, Maximilian of Habsburg (which is why she is known as Margaret of Austria). She was named after her English step-grandmother, Margaret of York, the sister of Edward IV. Her mother died after a riding accident in 1482, leaving her to Margaret's guardianship. Her brother, Philip, became sovereign of the Low Countries, with Maximilian acting as regent.

Margaret's brother, Philip of
Habsburg, called 'the Handsome'
though why is not clear from this portrait.
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Public domain

Queen in waiting

The Duchy of Burgundy and France had long been enemies, but in 1482 Maximilian signed a peace treaty with Louis XI. By its terms, Margaret was to marry Louis' 13-year-old son Charles. In 1483 at the age of 3 she travelled to France. Two months later, on 30 August, Louis XI died and Charles became King Charles VIII.  However, Margaret was only nominally the Queen of France, because she was still a small child and the marriage was unconsummated. The real power lay with Charles’s sister, the regent Anne de Beaujeu (also known as Anne of France).

Anne de Beaujeu,
'Madame la Grande',
a powerful female role model
for Margaret
Public domain

At the French court Margaret learned the courtly arts of painting and drawing, dancing and music. She learned to write French verse. She was to take these accomplishments back with her to the Netherlands.

Margaret as future Queen of France.
Public domain

At a very young age, therefore, Margaret had experienced two powerful women: Margaret of York and Anne of Beaujeu. She also had the memory of her mother, Mary of Burgundy. But at the age of 11 she experienced her own powerlessness when her marriage to Charles VIII was annulled. Anne de Beaujeu had her eyes on the Duchy of Brittany and its 12-year-old, heiress, Duchess Anne, for her brother. But quarrels over Margaret's dowry meant that she was kept in France for another two years, living in conditions of near poverty. She returned to her father in 1493 but never forgot her humiliation.

Isabella: reigning queen and queen consort

Isabella of Castile
Public domain

Isabella of Castile (1451-1504) was the most remarkable ruler (not just woman ruler!) of her age. Contemporaries recognised her significance. Here are two contemporary quotations from Giles Tremlett's biography. (All subsequent quotations are also taken from Tremlett.)

The queen of Spain, called Isabella, has had no equal on this earth for 500 years.

The queen … is the greatest of all the feminine sex; she not only emulates men, but in spirit, prudence, and strength – not exactly a feminine quality – she matches the great heroes. 

This historian of Spain, Hugh Thomas states: ‘No woman in history has exceeded her achievement.’ 

The marriage of Isabella to Ferdinand of Aragon is often inaccurately described as the union of two crowns. In fact, they were the separate rulers of two realms and the only common institution was the Inquisition. Spain did not become a unified country until the accession of their grandson, Carlos I (Emperor Charles V) to the throne of Aragon. This also made him the de facto ruler of Castile, which he governed as nominal co-regent for his imprisoned mother Juana.