Mary Tudor ( ; 18 March 1496 – 25 June 1533) was an English princess who was briefly Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII. Louis was more than 30 years her senior. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the youngest to survive infancy.

Following Louis's death, Mary married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Performed secretly in France, the marriage occurred without the consent of Mary's brother Henry VIII. The marriage necessitated the intervention of Thomas Wolsey; Henry eventually pardoned the couple after they paid a large fine. Mary had four children with Suffolk. Through her older daughter, Frances, she was the maternal grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, the disputed queen of England for nine days in July 1553.

Early life

thumb|left|Mary and [[Louis XII of France, from a contemporary manuscript]]

Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the youngest of those who survived infancy. She was born at Shene Palace, on 18 March 1496. Mary was likely named after either the Virgin Mary, or her maternal aunt, Mary of York, who died at the age of 14 in 1482. A privy seal bill dated from midsummer 1496 authorizes a payment of 50 shillings to her nurse, Anne Skeron. Also, Erasmus stated that she was four years old when he visited the royal nursery in 1499–1500. 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.

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

In 1506, during a visit from Philip I of Castile, Mary was called to entertain the guests, dancing and playing the lute and clavichord. In September 1506, Philip died, and on 21 December 1507, Mary was betrothed to his son Charles, later Holy Roman Emperor. The betrothal was called off in 1514.

Mary was accompanied to France by several English maids of honour (one of whom was Anne Boleyn) under the supervision of her old governess Lady or "Mother" Guildford, who acted as her principal lady-in-waiting.

thumb|upright|Arms of Mary as queen consort of France

Despite two previous marriages, Louis had no living sons, and sought to produce one. 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. Their union produced no children. Following Louis's death, his successor, King Francis I of France, made unsuccessful attempts to arrange a second marriage for Mary. The couple married in secret at the Hotel de Cluny in Paris on 3 March 1515 in the presence of just 10 people, among them King Francis I. Technically, this was treason, as Brandon had married a royal princess without King Henry's consent. Henry was outraged, and the privy council urged that Charles be imprisoned or executed; Mary, as royalty and the King's favourite sister, was safe from execution.

Due to the intervention of Thomas Wolsey and Henry's affection for both his sister and Charles, the couple were given only a heavy fine despite being legally allowed to be. Mary spent most of her time at the Duke's country seat of Westhorpe Hall in Suffolk.

In the late 1520s, relations between King Henry VIII and his sister 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 strongly disliked Anne Boleyn (King Henry's intended wife), whom she had first encountered in France. Though it was said to be caused by a private quarrel, he was "assured it was owing to opprobrious language uttered against Madam Anne by his Majesty's sister, the Duchess of Suffolk, Queen Dowager of France." At the funeral, her step-daughters, Anne and Mary, pushed themselves to the head of the cortège just before the coffin was lowered into the crypt of the Abbey, much to the consternation of their half-siblings.

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, Dorothy Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, and several others.

Contemporaries lauded her beauty, including her husband, Louis XII, who described her as a "nymph from heaven". She regularly took part in masques at her brother's court, and enjoyed "hearing singing, instrumental music, and dancing". with one nobleman noting "[she] is never still." She was also said to be cheerful and affable; this is shown when, upon meeting her future husband Louis for the first time, she blew him a kiss in greeting.

  • When Knighthood Was in Flower, by Edwin Caskoden (the pen name of Charles Major) (1898), the novel was the source material for both the Davies film directed by Robert Vignola and the Disney film, The Sword and the Rose.
  • The Reluctant Queen by Molly Costain Haycraft (1962)
  • Mary, Queen of France by Jean Plaidy (1964)
  • Princess of Desire by Maureen Peters (1970)
  • Rose of England by Hilda Lewis (1977)
  • Heart of a Rose by Hilda Lewis (1978)
  • The Secret Bride by Diane Haeger (2008)
  • The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper
  • Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory (2016)

In other media

  • In the 2007 television series The Tudors, Mary and Margaret Tudor were amalgamated into one character named Margaret. While the character's story is more similar to Mary's, she was given the name Margaret to avoid confusion with her namesake niece Mary I of England. Margaret was played by Gabrielle Anwar. She is depicted as marrying the King of Portugal rather than France (as Francis I had already been introduced in the show as King of France, Mary/Margaret could not be shown marrying his predecessor, Louis XII). The fictional Portuguese king lives only a few days until she smothers him in his sleep. She then marries Charles Brandon.
  • In The Spanish Princess (television mini series, 2019–2020), Mary Tudor is a main character. Isla Merrick-Lawless portrays a younger version in Season 1 and Sai Bennett portrays an older version in Season 2.
  • In The Sword and the Rose (Walt Disney and Perce Pearce film, 1953), Mary Tudor (played by Glynis Johns) falls for the non-noble Brandon (played by Richard Todd) and attempts to run away from England with him, but is forced by Henry VIII to marry the King of France. She relies on her friend, the Duke of Buckingham, to help her, with nearly disastrous consequences.

Portraiture and other depictions

Mary's portraits and other depictions are mostly subject of heated debate as to if it is really her or somebody else, who draw or painted her or whether the painting is misdated.

Confirmed depictions of her include:

  • Illumination called Henry VII in mourning, c.1503–1504 which also depicts the three surviving children of Elizabeth of York on left side.
  • Painting called The Family of Henry VII with St George and the Dragon, Royal Collection, c. 1503–1509 -shows Mary as second girl on right, with strawberry blonde hair.
  • Illumination of The family of Henry VII with Joachim and Anne meeting at the Golden Gate, done after 1503 -depicts Elizabeth of York with four daughters behind her, all depicted with strawberry blonde hair.
  • Illuminations of Mary as Queen of France-show her with light red hair.
  • So-called marriage portrait depicts Mary holding hands with her second husband Charles Brandon
  • While the identities of the sitters are not questioned, the dating of c.1515 is not accepted unanimously, and later dates have been suggested. Allegedly the version from the collection of the Earl of Yarborough is the original, whilst the Woburn Abbey version is a copy. Both versions shows Mary with brown hair, probably due to darkening of pigments.
  • An engraving from 1784 is based upon the same portrait (Royal Collection; National Trust Collection).

Alleged portraits of Mary meant for Charles V include:

  • Portrait of woman by Michael Sittow, traditionally labelled as Catherine of Aragon
  • Mary has been suggested instead, however while initials(K, C or E) would fit her, the author of this reidentification says that Catherine of Aragon had no reason to wear the symbol of scallops(which line the bodice) as they were not her emblem; the pomegranate was. Scallops are a symbol of St. James the Great, patron saint of Spain. Notably, pilgrimage to his shrine in Santiago de Compostela was commemorated by wearing scallops, and it is known Catherine of Aragon made this pilgrimage. The credibility of this reidentification is therefore questionable.
  • The Magdalen, National Gallery, London
  • The painting shows a woman in Spanish clothes wearing jewels of the Crown of Castile, including the emerald necklace depicted on tomb of Joanna of Castile. Mary has been suggested as a possible sitter.

Many believe it is the lost painting of Queen Isabella I of Castile by Sittow, but it is not attributed to him.

  • Portrait de Marie d'Angleterre in Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
  • Possibly depicts same woman as in The Magdalene, in different dress, but with Spanish headwear called cofia de tranzado.

Note: on Wikipedia this painting is labelled as by Jean Perréal, location unknown. However, on the museum's webpage it is not labelled as by him but by anonymous Maître de la Reine Marie Tudor(Master of Queen Mary Tudor).

Lost depictions:

  • Portrait for Louis XII by Jean Perréal
  • An original portrait upon which the drawing entitled Maria Regina Fra. et D. Suffoltiae in British Museum is based.
  • Drawing of Mary while in France, by either Anonymous French Master or Jean Clouet(father of Francois Clouet).
  • Nobody knows which(if any) of its multiple versions is the original drawing done from life. There are at least five versions:

2 in Ashmolean Museum, one labelled as by follower of Jean Clouet, and the other by anonymous.

1 in Uffizi Gallery -labelled as Ritratto di donna(portrait of woman) 3911 F, it is a very crude sketch by Francois Clouet, who was a child when Mary was in France.

2 more versions from Bibliothèque Municipale Méjanes, Aix en Provence. Both bear a 16th-century text(thus most likely to be original). However the picture on Wikipedia of one of them is described as not the real drawing but a print of it.

Other suggested depictions:

  • Westminster Tournament roll 1511-figure next to Catherine of Aragon in gold-red dress

Ancestry

Notes

References

  • LCC .
  • Calendar of State Papers, Venice.
  • Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1, 1509 – 1514
  • Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 2, 1515 – 1518

Further reading

  • Barbara J. Harris (1989). 'Power, Profit and Passion: Mary Tudor, Charles Brandon, and the Arranged Marriage in Early Tudor England', Feminist Studies. Maryland, USA.
  • A short biography
  • Mary Tudor Gallery
  • studies about famous tapestries representing Mary Tudor
  • Images from the Festival Book of the Betrothal to Charles of Castile
  • [http://collections.madparis.fr/portrait-de-marie-d-angleterre]
  • [https://www.kleio.org/site/assets/files/3084/99262.jpg]

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