Mary
Rose
By
David Loades
‘A
paradise… talk, slender, grey eyed, possessing an extreme pallor’, The
contemporary view of Henry VIII’s younger sister, Princess Mary Rose as one of
the most beautiful princesses in Europe, was an arresting one. Glorious to behold,
this Tudor princess with her red hair flowing loose to her waist, was also
impossible for Henry to control.
She
married first the King of France, a match of great importance to Henry’s
diplomatic plans. He was dead within three months, ‘danced to death’ by his
young bring according to the court gossip of the period. She then secretly
married her long time admirer, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, one of the
more notorious lovers of the Tudor period. After some uncomfortable arguments
with her brother, she was publically wedded to Brandon in 1515, at Greenwich
Palace. Henry remained deeply attached to his sister, and may have named his
great warship after her. He continued to support her, in spite of her later
opposition to his wishes.
I have read several of David Loades’ books and was
quite looking forward to his work on Mary Tudor and I have to admit that I was
not disappointed. In his latest book Loades explores the life of Mary Tudor,
younger sister of Henry VIII, wife of a French King and reportedly one of the
most beautiful women in all of Christendom.
Loades starts off his book looking at the little
that is known about Mary’s younger years. There is obviously quite a lot
recorded about the life of Henry VIII and even his older brother Arthur but
there seems to be little written about Mary. This could possibly be because she
was a girl and a younger sister and her role, as history records, was that of a bargaining
tool for international relations. Loades does talk about how Mary was brought
up in the same household as her other siblings (minus Arthur who was removed
and groomed as the next King). I did however find it interesting that Loades
speculates that Mary may not have been particularly close to her mother and
that Elizabeth of York, Mary’s mother, may not have spent a great deal of time
with her children. I have watched a fascinating documentary with David Starkey
in which he speaks about how Elizabeth of York spent a great deal of time
personally educating and being with her children and it was probably even her
that taught Henry VIII to write as both mother and son have very similar styles
of handwriting. Since Mary was raised in the same household as Henry it can be
assumed that she would have seen quite a deal of her mother then. I am not sure
exactly why Loades writes that Mary was not close to her mother and this is a
question that I found extremely intriguing.
One interesting fact that I never knew about Mary
Tudor and learnt through reading this book was that Mary was engaged at a young
age to Charles, Prince of Castile – the future Charles V Holy Roman Emperor. I
never knew this about Mary and can only wonder what would have happened if
international relations had held out and Mary did become the Princess of
Castile. However this was not to be and a French alliance was worked out and
Mary became betrothed to King Louis XII, a man thirty four years her senior!
Loades writes that before Mary departed for France
she and her brother talked and Henry VIII agreed that when Louis died Mary
could take a husband of her own choosing. I always thought this was a romantic
story but it appears as there is some truth behind this as after Mary remarried
she wrote several letters to her brother reminding him of his promise.
Loades talks about Mary’s time in France and her
life as Queen of France, married to an aging man. He then moves on to speak
about Louis’ death and the difficult situation it thrust Mary into. She was a
Dowager Queen, possibly pregnant and now opened up once again to the
international marriage market. But more than just his she was stuck in France
at the mercy of the new French King, Francis I. From events that Loades writes
about and the fear that Mary must have felt I can understand why she married
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Not just for the probable love she felt for
him but also to save herself from a new and possibly disastrous marriage.
Yet marrying again without the King’s permission was
treason and Mary and Charles had to face the consequences. They were forced to
return Mary’s dowry to the King and her jewels and pay a sum of approximately
£2000 a year over twelve years. Although it seems that soon all anger was swept
aside and very little of the fine was actually repaid.
Once Mary married Charles Brandon Loades spends much
of the rest of his book looking at the life and rise of the Duke of Suffolk. Personally
I found this utterly fascinating as I just adore Charles Brandon and find him
one of the most intriguing and interesting personalities of Tudor history. Yet
I can see that it may be slightly frustrating for people who wish to learn more
about Mary Tudor as she is spoken only briefly over the rest of the book and
generally in relation to her husband or children.
Loades mentions that towards Mary’s latter life she
suffered from illness and withdrew herself from court happenings, only appearing
from time to time at different occasions. He also writes of Mary’s unhappiness
over her brother’s urgent need for an annulment from his marriage to Queen
Catherine of Aragon. Mary and the Queen had been friends for many years,
apparently even before Catherine became Queen of England so I can understand
how Mary would be upset at her dear friend being thrust aside for another woman
– especially since it was so contrary to the Catholic religion at the time.
Loades only briefly writes about Mary’s death and
suggests that it may have been from angina. I have to admit that I was a little
disappointed as he had mentioned that Mary had been ill and I would have liked to
learn more about her final days and the reason behind her passing. Perhaps
there was not enough information or facts to accurately suggest what Mary died
of but I still feel as though he did skim over this last event in Mary’s life
with little detail.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Loades’ book on Mary
Tudor. As I said I learnt several new facts about this interesting woman that I
had not known before and find her even more intriguing! However Loades did
spend a great portion of his book talking about Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk and Mary’s second husband. Again I personally found this fascinating as
I feel Charles Brandon is one of the most intriguing characters in Tudor
history, yet others may find this a little distracting from the life of Mary
Tudor. Overall a great and interesting read and I would definitely recommend
this book to anyone who is interested in Tudor history or more so the life of
Mary Tudor.
0 comments:
Post a Comment