Mary Tudor

Mary Tudor

Female 1496 - 1533  (37 years)

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  • Name Mary Tudor 
    Birth 18 Mar 1496  Richmond Palace, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Gender Female 
    Religion Roman Catholic  [2
    Death 25 Jun 1533  Westhorpe Hall, Westhorpe, Suffolk, Kingdom of England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Burial St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, Kingdom of England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Person ID I47697  The Hennessee Family
    Last Modified 24 Jun 2017 

    Father Henry VII, King of England,   b. 28 Jan 1457, Pembroke Castle, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Apr 1509, Shere, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 52 years) 
    Mother Elizabeth of York, Queen of England,   b. 11 Feb 1465, Westminster Palace, Westminster, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Feb 1503, Tower Hill, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 38 years) 
    Marriage 18 Jan 1485  Westminster Abbey, 20 Deans Yd, London SW1P 3PA, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4
    Family ID F15352  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Sir Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk,   b. (England) Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Marriage Y  [1
    Children 
     1. Lady Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk,   b. 16 Jul 1517, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 20 Nov 1559, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 42 years)
    Photos
    Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon
    Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon
    Family ID F17530  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 30 Apr 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 18 Mar 1496 - Richmond Palace, London, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 25 Jun 1533 - Westhorpe Hall, Westhorpe, Suffolk, Kingdom of England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, Kingdom of England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Mary Tudor, Queen of France (1496-1533)
    Mary Tudor, Queen of France (1496-1533)

    the third daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, was an English princess. Mary became the third wife of Louis XII of France, more than 30 years her senior. Following his death, she married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. The marriage, which was performed secretly in France, took place during her brother's reign and without his consent. This necessitated the intervention of Thomas Wolsey and although the couple were eventually pardoned by Henry VIII, they were forced to pay a large fine.

    Mary's second marriage produced four children; and through her eldest daughter Frances, Mary was the maternal grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, who was the de facto monarch of England for a little over a week in July 1553.

  • Notes 
    • Mary Tudor (/'tju?d?r/; 18 March 1496 – 25 June 1533), the third daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, was an English princess. Mary became the third wife of Louis XII of France, more than 30 years her senior. Following his death, she married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. The marriage, which was performed secretly in France, took place during her brother's reign and without his consent. This necessitated the intervention of Thomas Wolsey and although the couple were eventually pardoned by Henry VIII, they were forced to pay a large fine.

      Mary's second marriage produced four children; and through her eldest daughter Frances, Mary was the maternal grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, who was the de facto monarch of England for a little over a week in July 1553.

      First marriage: Queen of France

      Mary was the fourth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the youngest to survive infancy. She was born at Sheen Palace, "most probably" in March 1496. A privy seal bill dated from midsummer 1496 authorizes a payment of fifty shillings to her nurse, Anne Skeron. Also, Erasmus stated that she was four years old when he visited the Royal nursery in 1499–1500.[1] At age six, she was given her own household, complete with "a staff of gentlewomen assigned to wait upon her," a schoolmaster, and a physician. She was given instruction in French, Latin, music, dancing, and embroidery.[1]

      As children, Mary and her brother, the future King Henry VIII, shared a close friendship. He would name his first surviving child, the future Queen Mary I, in her honour. They lost their mother when Mary was just seven, and given the number of bills paid to her apothecary between 1504 and 1509, it would appear that Mary's own health was fragile.[1]


      A sketch of Mary during her brief period as Queen of France
      Known in her youth as one of the most beautiful princesses in Europe,[1] Erasmus said of her that "Nature never formed anything more beautiful."[2]

      In 1506, during a visit from Philip I of Castile, Mary was called upon to entertain the guests, dancing, and playing the lute and clavicord. The following year, King Philip died, and on 21 December 1507, Mary was betrothed to his son Charles, later Holy Roman Emperor. The betrothal was called off in 1513.[1]

      Instead, Cardinal Wolsey negotiated a peace treaty with France, and on 9 October 1514, at the age of 18, Mary married the 52-year-old King Louis XII of France at Abbeville. One of the Maids of Honour who attended her in France was Anne Boleyn. Despite two previous marriages, Louis had no living sons, and sought to produce an heir; but he died on 1 January 1515, less than three months after marrying Mary, reputedly worn out by his exertions in the bedchamber, but more likely from the effects of gout.[3] Their union produced no children. Following Louis' death, the new King Francis I made attempts to arrange a second marriage for the beautiful widow.[1]

      Second marriage: Duchess of Suffolk

      Mary had been unhappy with her marriage of state to Louis, as at this time she was almost certainly already in love with Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Henry was aware of his sister's feelings; letters from 1515 indicate that Mary agreed to wed Louis only on condition that "if she survived him, she should marry whom she liked."[4] However, Henry wanted any future marriage to be to his advantage. The King's council, not wishing to see Brandon gain further power at Court, were also opposed to the match. Meanwhile, rumours swirled in France that she would wed either the Duke of Lorraine or the Duke of Savoy. A pair of French friars actually went so far as to warn Mary that she must not wed Brandon, because he "had traffickings with the devil."[1]


      Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon
      When Henry sent Brandon to bring Mary back to England in late January 1515, he made the Duke promise that he would not propose to her.[5] Once in France, Mary persuaded Brandon to abandon this pledge. The couple wed in secret at the Hotel de Clugny on 3 March 1515, in the presence of just ten people, among them the young King Francis.[6] Technically this was treason, as Brandon had married a Royal Princess without Henry's consent.[7] The King was outraged, and the Privy Council urged that Brandon should be imprisoned or executed. Because of the intervention of Thomas Wolsey, and Henry's affection for both his sister and Brandon, the couple were let off with a heavy fine.[8][9] The fine of ¹24,000 – approximately equivalent to ¹7,200,000 today – was later reduced by Henry.[10] They officially married on 13 May 1515 at Greenwich Palace in the presence of Henry and his courtiers.[1]

      Mary was Brandon's third wife, and he had two daughters, Anne and Mary by his second marriage to Anne Browne. She had died in 1511. Mary would raise the girls alongside her own children. Even after her second marriage, Mary was normally referred to at the English Court as "the French Queen", and was not known as "the Duchess of Suffolk" in her lifetime,[11] despite being legally allowed to be. Mary spent most of her time at the Duke's country seat of Westhorpe Hall in Suffolk.[12]

      In the late 1520s, relations between Henry VIII and Mary were strained when she opposed the King's attempt to obtain an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, whom Mary had known for many years. Mary developed a strong dislike for Anne Boleyn,[13] whom she had first encountered in France.[1] Anne and her sister Mary were among the Maids of Honour in the entourage that had accompanied Mary to France for her wedding to King Louis.[14]

      Death

      English Royalty
      House of Tudor
      Coat of Arms of Henry VII of England (1485-1509).svg
      Royal Coat of Arms
      Henry VII
      Arthur, Prince of Wales
      Margaret, Queen of Scots
      Henry VIII
      Mary, Queen of France
      v t e
      Mary died at Westhorpe, Suffolk, on 25 June 1533, and was first interred "with much heraldic ceremony" at Bury St Edmunds Abbey. Five years later, when the monastery was dissolved, Mary's body was removed to nearby St Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds. In 1784, her remains were disinterred, her coffin opened, and locks of her hair were taken by Horace Walpole, the Duchess of Portland, and several others.[1]

      Mary's widower would later marry their son's betrothed, who was also his ward, the fourteen-year-old Catherine Willoughby, by whom he had two sons.[15]

      Issue

      Mary and Brandon had four children, two daughters and two sons:

      Henry Brandon (11 March 1516 – 1522)
      Lady Frances Brandon (16 July 1517 – 20 November 1559), who married Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, and was the mother of Lady Jane Grey
      Lady Eleanor Brandon (1519 – 27 September 1547), who married Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland.
      Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln (c. 1523 – March 1534).
      Mary and Charles's two sons, both named Henry, are commonly mistaken for being the same son. Both boys died when they were children.

      * [2]

  • Sources 
    1. [S10490] "Lady Jane Grey" biography, which was abstracted, downloaded and published Sunday, February 26th, 2017 by David A. Henne.

    2. [S10586] "Mary Tudor, Queen of France" biography, which was abstracted, downloaded and published Sunday, March 5th, 2017 by David.

    3. [S6250] Pedigree of Henry VIII, King of England | http://www.ourfamilyhistories.org/ahnentafel.php?personID=I23575&tree=00&paren.

    4. [S9263] "Elizabeth of York", biography, updated March 19, 2016 by David A. Hennessee.