Charlie Fenton > Recent Status Updates

‘As Henry’s daughter, Lady Mary’s appearance reflected on the king and on his household. Even throughout repeated periods of deprivation and loss of income, Mary made attempts to maintain her wardrobe in the style that her father preferred. One of Mary’s wardrobe warrants from the final year of Henry’s reign notes a series of “translations,” mostly of sleeves but on several occasions of gowns’

‘The birth of his daughter Mary immediately resolved Henry VIII’s succession dilemma. Quite unlike continental monarchies, in which women both inherited thrones and served as regents for husband and sons, there was no precedent for female rule in England, with the exception of the Empress Matilda’s tenure as Lady of the English (1139-1147).‘

‘In the early modern period, therefore, differences in levels of civility were regularly invoked to justify the invasion, conquest and colonisation of ‘uncivilised’ countries. It was usually claimed that in this way the inhabitants would be introduced to a higher form of existence. Aristotle had maintained that Greeks were entitled to make war against barbarians in order to rule them’

‘The progress of civility in the centuries following the Norman Conquest was widely asserted to have been very slow. In the sixteenth century, classically minded humanists, zealous Protestants and apologists for the Tudor dynasty united in portraying the Middle Ages as a barbarous era of Gothic ignorance, popish darkness, feudal oppression and political disorder.‘

‘Degrees of civility thus mirrored the inequalities of the social order. A sixteenth-century Dutch traveller observed that, in all countries, the ‘common sort and multitude’ were ‘in behaviour and manners gross and unnurtured’; whereas, thanks to their education and upbringing, the nobility and gentry displayed a ‘very commendable order and civil behaviour’.’

‘Good manners thus came to be seen as a branch of morality, a religious duty to live ‘honestly and civilly’. Bodily comportment and emotional restraint were generally agreed to be outward signs of the inner dispositions of the soul. Injunctions to children to keep their hands clean or comb their hair were intermingled with reminders about the need to perform their religious duties.’

‘Civility was (and is) a slippery and unstable word. Yet although it was employed in the early modern period in a variety of senses, they all related in one way or another to the existence of a well-ordered political community and the appropriate qualities and conduct expected of its citizens.‘

‘He knew that she was afraid that she would not bear a living child, as her mother had failed to do so many times. She was afraid that she would die in the process of trying. She was terrified that her faithless sister would take her crown. And, more than anything else, she feared that she had failed, leaving thousands of her subjects doomed for all eternity.’

‘God was punishing her. There would be no child. Mary would be publicly humiliated, but, worse than that, she would be forced to recognize her sister as heir. Despite their personal differences, Mary would be able to accept this path if it were not for the fact that she had lingering suspicions that Elizabeth was a heretic.’

‘22 June 1610 Arbella Stuart went ahead with a secret marriage to William Seymour which James had expressly forbidden, she looked to Anna to intercede on her behalf with the king. Anna sent countless letters to James imploring him to look on Arbella with sympathy and leniency. In the end her counsel had little effect and following Arbella’s attempt to escape to the continent she was imprisoned in the Tower of London'

‘Anne of Denmark was the first queen consort in England since 1547, the last had been Katherine Parr, and the first queen consort of “Great Britain”. She therefore occupied a position (in theory at least) as the figure at court closest to the king, and was the mother of the heir to the throne. Given her family heritage, she also had a keen sense of her own royalty.'

‘Although she dared not give voice to her concerns, Mary worried that she had not had to let out her dresses much after the first few months. The flutter of movement never became the strong kicks and nauseating rolls that she heard other women describe. When she undressed, her belly was larger, but still flabby rather than stretched out tightly by the growing child.‘

‘There was much that was true in Walsingham’s self-presentation. He did believe that his advice was the most beneficial for Elizabeth and England. The problem was that Elizabeth did not always agree. Walsingham usually conflated the interests of England and Elizabeth with the interests of international Protestantism, in contrast to Elizabeth’s notorious reluctance to play the role of Deborah.'

'Significantly, her privy councillor appointments were the same privy council who had served her mother as regent, prior to her overthrow. Jenny Wormald criticises Mary for not bringing new blood into her privy council. In fact, Mary pointedly chose those same magnates who had then gone on to lead the October 1559 rebellion that overthrew her regent, because Mary could then hold them accountable.'

‘She prayed daily that she was forgiven for her judgement against the young woman she had wished so desperately to free. Mary knew that Jane was guilty of treason but still would have been content to keep the girl under close guard if it had not been for her family’s continued treason and the demands of the Spanish.’

‘What had Suffolk been thinking in joining the rebels? His daughter, Jane, was still held in the Tower, though many had encouraged Mary to have her executed. She had refused, not willing to sign the warrant that would send her sixteen-year-old cousin to death. Had her father not realized what a challenge that had been, that all would be lost now that he had fought in her name once more?’

‘Prince Philip was an ideal match, and it infuriated her that so many dared to speak out in opposition to their queen. Had she been a king, marriage to a princess of Philip’s standing would have been lauded as an ideal arrangement. Did she not deserve the same respect?’

‘Mary’s mind was also not able to set aside the problem of a husband for very long before it was bringing it back up for her consideration. She thought of poor Jane, imprisoned within the same castle complex where Mary’s preparations were carried out. She had been given no choice in marrying Guildford Dudley and little more option when she was thrust onto the throne.‘

'The decision to entrust the 1529 negotiations to Louise and Margaret was regarded by the Imperial side as largely a matter of face-saving for Francis. He could leave his mother to make concessions and, if need be, let her take the blame for decisions taken without his knowledge. The peace could be done in “no honourable or convenient” way than by the ladies in question.'

'the necessity of appearing steadfastly loyal to her husband in public, while in private engaging in a more nuanced, conciliar relationship that balanced loyalty to her husband with that to her natal family, thereby fulfilling the consort’s complex and challenging role. From her female attendants Mary directly received wisdom and counsel, and from her brother the king and his advisers Mary received instructions'

‘Pure joy brightened Mary’s face as she stood in wonder that these people, her people, were willing to sacrifice all they had, their very lives if necessary, to see her crowned. God had blessed her indeed. Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked them away. She would not have this moment remembered with a blurry image.‘

‘He nodded his agreement and was gone. Mary took one moment to herself to wonder if she were doing the right thing. The last woman to attempt to claim the crown of England had thrown the country into a savage civil war. But Maude had been fighting a man. Jane Grey, much as Mary loved her as a cousin, would not take her place as queen.’

'Extant correspondence makes plain the seriousness with which Mary took her role as queen, encompassing as it did the role of quasi-diplomatic agent of her brother, Henry. Mary’s correspondence and that of the English ambassadors resident during her time in France highlight not only Mary’s strategies for providing counsel, but also crucially the necessity of retaining the support of her English female attendants'

'This unique combination provided her with a strong position from which to offer advice to her husband and her kin. Catherine’s career shows that she understood that in order to be a successful queen of England, she needed to acquiesce to policies that turned against Spain temporarily in order to maintain the Anglo-Spanish alliance in the long term.'

‘Catherine encouraged her father to use gifts to repair his diplomatic relationship with England in 1515, when Ferdinand sent Henry VIII a jewelled collar, two horses and a sword in an effort to gain his help against the French. Both the Venetian ambassador and Henry’s adviser, Thomas Wolsey, regarded these gifts as expensive bribes to obtain English aid.‘

‘Catherine continued to advocate for the Anglo-Spanish alliance, but years of near-failures and disappointments on Ferdinand’s side had made her realise that the alliance must serve both England and Spain’s interests. When, in 1514, Henry VIII broke away from his alliance with Spain and concluded a peace deal with Louis XII of France, Catherine chose to support her husband.’

‘Catherine was unusually experienced as counsellor because of her early involvement in Spanish diplomacy after the death of her first husband... The drawn-out conflict over her second marriage encouraged Catherine to become more involved in the diplomacy that would dictate her fate. In 1507 she became her father’s accredited ambassador to the English court, in part to advocate for her own marriage’

‘For over twenty years, Bona conducted a political programme, but it was primarily because her husband was ready to compromise with her, which was in turn motivated by the fact that supporting some of Bona’s ideas suited him politically... On the rare occasions that she was recorded providing counsel to the king, she had to compromise, or even experienced humiliating refusal.‘