Monday, August 03, 2009

Question from Diane - Serious requests for marriage to Mary after the divorce

Were there any serious requests for Mary's hand in marriage after her father repudiated Catherine of Aragon and declared their daughter illigitimate? I know Henry and later Edward's Council would have rejected most, if not all, unless it served their own interests: and Mary herself would never have considered marriage with a "heretic," but did any serious offers come before she became Queen?

3 comments:

kb said...

I hate to see a question unanswered. One issue to remember - all royal marriage offers were part of foreign policy. The seriousness of an offer was dependent on the seriousness of the foreign policy. I am not an expert in England's foreign policy before 1554 however...there were offers.

I've just done a cursory look through the Calendar of State Papers (available on the Internet Archive) and found a couple of references that indicate that Mary was still considered a valuable matrimonial chess piece.

In 1548, there was discussion of Mary wedding the Duke of Ferrara's son. (CSP-Foreign, Edward VI, p. 17)

In 1549, there was discussion of her marrying the heir to the Portuguese thrown. (see p.36) William Paget was sent to Emperor Charles V as an envoy to discuss this among other issues.

In 1550, Albert Marquis of Brandenburg proposed marrying Princess Mary as part of a deal to also offer to raise troops for Edward. (p.60)

In 1551, she was also considered a potential bride for the king of Poland. (p.120)

I am sure there are more and would suggest that you find a copy of Anna Whitelock's book on Mary Tudor for more information.

kb said...

Of course I meant throne not thrown....aarggh. The perils of posting when tired.

Lara said...

kb - I had to laugh.... One, because I've done the exact same thing, and two, because of the mental image!