Tudor? I Hardly Knew Her! : Mary Tudor, Queen of France

No, not that Mary. Or that one. The OTHER one.

This newsletter is part of the Tudor? I Hardly Knew Her! series. Click here to see other posts in the series.

A drawing of Mary Tudor probably from 1514-1515, when she was Queen of France, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Important note: quite a few women named Mary were running around Western Europe in the 16th century, so let’s all make sure we know which one we’re talking about here. THIS Mary Tudor is not England’s Queen “Bloody” Mary I, nor is she Mary, Queen of Scots. Today’s heroine is Mary Tudor, the youngest surviving child of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII, baby sister to both Margaret Tudor and Henry VIII; she later attained the titles of Queen of France and then Duchess of Suffolk. This Mary was passionate and stubborn like her siblings, which always meant a life filled with twists and turns.

Mary Tudor was born in March 1496. That is all we know about her birthday, so nobody can do up her astrological chart (BUT her energy is VERY Aries, so I think she was born in the latter part of the month). Why didn’t anyone record her birthday? Probably partly because people didn’t care about birthdates back then and partly because daughters didn’t matter as much as sons. Mary was the fourth child and second daughter born to the King and Queen. She was ten years younger than her eldest brother Arthur, seven years younger than her sister Margaret, and five years younger than her brother Henry.

When Mary was around five, the teenage Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon arrived to marry Arthur. Catherine, who had grown up with several sisters of her own, got along very well with her new sisters-in-law. For a few months, the court was filled with the youthful energy of this whole crowd of royals: Arthur, Catherine, Margaret, Henry, and little Mary. A sort of Tudor-era Von Trapp scenario. But then a series of tragedies would separate them because: Tudors gotta Tudor.

First, Mary’s eldest brother, Arthur, died, which made Henry the new heir to the throne (much to the surprise of everyone, particularly Henry). Shortly after that, Mary’s mother died from complications of childbirth; the baby she’d delivered, a girl named Katherine, died days later. And just after that, Mary’s older sister Margaret was sent away to marry the King of Scots. Henry was sent away to learn how to be the next King; Katherine of Aragon was put on house arrest while everyone figured out what to do with her; and six-year-old Mary was sent to live in her household away from all the others.

Perhaps from the emotional toll of all of the above, or maybe from just the general health issues of living in 16th-century England, Mary seems to have been frequently ill as a child. But she overcame whatever had afflicted her and was trained in all the skills required of a young Princess: French, Latin, music, dancing, and embroidery. By the time she was a teenager, she was described as lovely in personality and looks. She was said to be one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe, and while there is some doubt as to what she looked like, we do know reasonably well she shared the same dark red hair as many of the other women of the Tudor dynasty, along with their fair complexion and light eyes.

When she was ten, Mary was brought out to dance and play the lute and clavichord for a visiting delegation from Castile in an audition to see if they’d agree to betroth her to their son. She did well, as a betrothal was soon arranged between her and Charles of Castile (the son of Juana “The Mad” of Castile; more on her in a future newsletter). But, shortly after this all got sorted, Mary’s father, Henry VII, passed away, and her brother Henry turned into King Henry “Yes, that one” VIII. He married his brother’s widow, Katherine of Aragon, and Mary was delighted to hang out with her friend again. Then, in 1513, Henry tossed out the Castilian marriage contract because he’d found a more advantageous match for Mary. After all, the whole point of her existence was as a pawn in a marriage scheme to cement some alliance or another for England.

Eventually, Henry VIII figured out who would be the most convenient person for Mary to marry: the fifty-three-year-old, gout-ridden French King, Louis XII. Just so we’re keeping track, although Mary has by now lived through so much trauma you’d think she was like thirty-five, she was at this point seventeen years old. And more than that, she was also already in love with someone more age-appropriate, and that was her brother’s BFF Charles Brandon (played by Henry Cavill on The Tudors, so we all have a visual in mind for how and why Mary was so determined to get a ring on it). She had always been close to Henry and explained that she wanted to marry him for love to a man who wasn’t a royal. And Henry, as much as he adored his little sister, was like, “Marry for love? LOL! That’s not how this works for royals like you and me!” (It was still a few decades away from him inventing a whole new national religion so he, himself, could marry for love.)

Mary refused to accept this without a fight. Henry refused to back down. They were both smart and savvy young people who also, at this point, still very much respected and loved one another. Eventually, Mary leveraged her brother’s affection for her by getting him to agree that if Mary agreed to marry the French King, she’d be allowed to pick her next husband after the French King died. As he was fifty-three and quite ill, and it was the sixteenth century, she likely hoped he’d die within the next few years. And if that meant she’d have to wait a year or two or ten, she was willing to put up with that if it meant she could choose her next husband, Dreamboat Charles Brandon.

And so it was that at eighteen (the negotiations with Henry took a while), Mary sailed across the English Channel to marry this man who didn’t want to be married to. NOTE: she was accompanied on this journey by an entourage of ladies in waiting that included a certain ANNE BOLEYN (this was before Henry and Anne were romantically involved, but we love a foreshadowing moment). And something happened on this journey to make Mary not the biggest fan of Anne Boleyn, so file that away for later.

The most thorough description of Mary’s appearance and personality comes from the record of her arrival in France. She was described as so gorgeous, graceful, and well-mannered that it took your breath away. “She is a paradise,” wrote one chronicler of her effect on everyone; Louis XII described her as a “nymph from heaven.” Her personality and spirit seem to be buoyant, cheery and fun, as she is known to have enthusiastically taken part in dances and performances at her brother’s court. When she first met Louis XII, as much as she didn’t want to marry him at all, she blew him a kiss. She may not have wanted to go there at all, but she wouldn’t let anyone say she didn’t do her best to make a good impression. Mary Tudor, taking one for the team.

BUT THEN, less than three months after this wedding, Louis suddenly DIED!! TWIST!!

Now, his various gout-related health problems were likely what killed him. But Mary was so young and gorgeous, and the marriage so short, that rumours began to spread that the teenage Queen was so sexually voracious that she had, in effect, fucked him to death. If you’ve seen these episodes of The Tudors, you will also know that some people thought/think that Mary intentionally killed him by smothering him with a pillow or that sort of thing. And maybe she did; we’ll never know (and if she did, she hid the murder well because she was clever). Whatever the reason, Mary was now free to marry whoever she wanted, as per her agreement with her brother! Happily for her, too, she hadn’t gotten pregnant with the French King’s heirs, so she could truly just cut ties and fly back to England unencumbered.

But guess what: none of the men who controlled her life had expected her to be widowed so quickly. The French royals were keen to find her a new French husband so they could maintain this precarious English/French alliance. Henry was also keen to marry her off to someone French for alliance-based reasons. The English courtiers didn’t want Charles Brandon to get to marry her because then he’d get even more influence in court than the amount he already got as Henry’s BFF. So, although Mary and Charles were both entirely on board the plan to get married, nobody else was about to let them follow their hearts.

On top of all that, the French custom at the time was for royal widows to stay indoors for a month following the death of their husbands. So, while all these men in two countries were scheming what to do with her, Mary was pacing around a room, not sleeping and going increasingly unhinged.

BUT THEN, for unknown reasons, Henry VIII sent his BFF Charles Brandon to escort Mary back across the English Channel personally. Why did he pick Charles? Was it because he knew they loved each other and wanted them to get together? NO. Henry assumed that Charles — his #1 best bro — was the most trustworthy person to care for Mary during this trip. He made Charles promise not to do anything silly like marry Mary, and Charles agreed, and they probably did a fancy handshake to seal the deal. But all of Charles’s promises meant nothing when Mary burst out of her month-long confinement, saw him looking so gorgeous, and was like, “WE NEED TO ELOPE RIGHT NOW. COME ON!” Who was he to turn her down?

And so, Mary Tudor married Charles Brandon in a semi-secret (!!!) on March 3, 1515, in front of ten guests, including the new French King. The thing is that this was officially treason because English law stated that the King had to consent to all royal marriages. Mary and Charles were both hoping that Henry’s well-known soft heart and affection for both of them would mean he wouldn’t be too mad about all this. And so they sailed back to England as man and wife on an English Channel honeymoon!

To the surprise of no one, Henry was SO ANGRY (even though it was his fault for sending Charles to France, like what did he think would happen??). Henry’s scheming advisers, who all hated Charles Brandon, were like, “What if you… KILL CHARLES???”,. But Henry’s affection for his BFF and his darling sister superseded everything, and he chose to punish them by making them pay a pretty small monetary fine and letting them do so in small annual installments. He also commanded Mary to repay him her dowry from the marriage to Louis XII. Mary and Charles were like, “DEAL!” and Henry was like, “Aww, I can’t stay mad at you two,” and group hug, everything was fine between them all once more. So Mary and Charles had a second, non-secret wedding in England, with Henry VIII among the happy guests. The next year, Henry named his new baby daughter Mary in honour of his sister, who he was no longer mad at.

And so, now aged nineteen (still so young!!), Mary was ready to begin her new life as Mrs. Charles Brandon — no longer a Queen, and effectively not really a Princess anymore either. She was now, by marriage, the Duchess of Suffolk. The first nineteen years of her life had been chaotic, so who could blame her for just wanting to chill out in the country with her new family for the rest of her life? Charles also had a built-in family, as he had two daughters from his first marriage. Despite being a teenager, Mary threw herself into being a doting stepmother to these girls, who were named Mary and Anne, because those are the only names of any girls in this story. Mary also got to work popping out children to carry on the Brandon surname, giving birth to two sons and two daughters (and the DAUGHTERS become SUPER IMPORTANT TO WORLD HISTORY, but we’ll get to that in a bit).

But, as Philippa Gregory has shown us numerous times, Tudor lives never end happily. You knew another twist was coming eventually, right? First of all, in 1528, Mary was one of many, many, many people in England to come down with a gruesome disease called the sweating sickness. At around the same time, Henry got to work trying to convince the Pope to get his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled so he could marry Anne Boleyn. You might recall that Mary was a fan of Catherine and hated Anne Boleyn, so she didn’t support her brother in this. And also, remember how Henry was like, “Mary, you can’t marry for love! That’s not what royals do!”? I hope Mary was like, “Henry, you HYPOCRITE!” because he indeed was. She had never been one to keep her feelings to herself, so she told Henry she opposed him and told everyone else she hated Anne Boleyn, and that led to the next big twist.

In 1532, one of Charles Brandon’s aides was (allegedly) murdered by Anne Boleyn’s uncle and relatives. And why was he killed? Oh, just in retaliation for all of Mary’s shit-talking about Anne Boleyn. This poor aide was killed to send Mary a message, which was, “Be nicer to your brother.” Mary, true to character, refused to stop being mad at Henry. The two siblings never recovered the close sibling bond they used to share.

And then, very sadly, Mary died one year later from — probably — ongoing issues related to the sweating sickness. She was just thirty-seven years old. As befitted the Dowager Queen of France/the sister of the English King/daughter of the previous English King, her funeral was a huge affair that lasted for two days. Highlights included a funeral procession in which her hearse, pulled by six horses, was accompanied by 100 torchbearers. Mary’s older daughter, Frances Brandon, was the chief mourner. However, her step-daughters Anne and Mary apparently pushed their way to the front of the procession just as the coffin was lowered into its crypt, which annoyed everyone and makes me picture those two now like Cinderella’s step-sisters, which makes me like them even more.

Legacy

Mary’s #1 legacy was being a strong, independent woman who defied the King to marry for love. In that, she is a timeless icon and the true heir to her grandmother, Elizabeth Woodville (and also set the template for several of her descendants, including her namesake, Lady Mary Grey). Two of Mary Tudor’s children survived infancy, her daughters Frances and Eleanor Brandon (her two sons died in infancy or early childhood). And it’s these two girls through whom Mary’s major legacy to history comes about.

So the thing is, when Henry VIII died, his son Edward VI took over from him as a boy king. But when Edward fell ill without having fathered children, all the courtiers began panicking over who would be the next monarch. Henry VIII’s next available child to take over was Mary I, who was Catholic. The Protestant government didn’t want her to take over, so they started looking back on the Tudor family tree for other candidates. Henry’s sister Margaret (remember she was shipped off to marry the King of Scots?) had some children. Still, they were Scottish and also Catholic, and nobody wanted them to take over (** this is where Mary, Queen of Scots‘s claim to the English throne comes from; more on that in future newsletters). But it’s from Mary’s descendants that we get to the whole Lady Jane Grey scenario.

Here’s how that happened. Mary’s older daughter, Frances Brandon, grew up and married a man named Henry Grey, with whom she had three daughters: Lady Jane Grey, Lady Katherine Grey, and Lady Mary Grey. Somewhat famously, Jane was named heir to Edward VI, reigned for nine days, and wound up executed. Katherine Grey had two sons, and if you follow that family tree down, you will wind up with Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, aka Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mum! Meaning that today’s British royal family is all descended from Mary Tudor’s secret, sexy marriage to Charles Brandon.

Vulgar History a la Carte is a companion newsletter to the Vulgar History podcast. This week on the podcast, I’m talking about Deborah Sampson/Robert Shurtleff, veteran of the American Revolutionary War.

References

The Sisters of Henry VIII: The Tumultuous Lives of Margaret of Scotland and Mary of France by Maria Perry

Henry VIII: The King and his Court by Alison Weir