Bloody Mary and the Fleur de Lys - Catherine of Aragon dies in 1518

Bloody Mary and the Fleur de Lys


The Death of Catherine of Aragon
Mary was born on 18 February 1516 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London.

before Mary's birth, four previous pregnancies had resulted in a stillborn daughter and three short-lived or stillborn sons, including Henry, Duke of Cornwall. She was baptised into the Catholic faith at the Church of the Observant Friars in Greenwich three days after her birth. Her godparents included her great-aunt the Countess of Devon, Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey, and the Duchess of Norfolk. Henry VIII's cousin once removed, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, stood sponsor for Mary's confirmation, which was held immediately after the baptism.

In February 1518, Catherine announced her sixth pregnancy. In March, she visited Merton College, Oxford and also made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Frideswide, asking for a healthy son. On 10 November, she gave birth to a daughter, named Catherine, named after St Catherine, a few months after, Catherine of Aragon would die due to a certain illness, on Catherine’s deathbead Henry told Catherine of Aragon that she is still beautiful and he would love her until the end but he was not sincere at what he said and she told him to marry another woman as this is what she wants for him.

Field of Gold and the second marriage of Henry VIII

On the meeting of the field of Cloth it was arranged that Henry VIII would a princess of Navarre, the heiress presumptive of Henry II of Navarre and Mary would marry the heir to France, earlier Francis had arranged the betrothal of his daughter Louise to the future King of Scotland, the nephew of Henry VIII.

Unfortunately for Anna of Navarre she wanted to be the queen of England that would fulfill the treaty, her brother died just after the meeting making her the Queen of Navarre and she was kidnapped and Catherine of Navarre, who was before a nun in training who planned to marry a cousin of Anne Boleyn was forced to come to Henry VIII, apparently Catherine of Navarre and Anne Boleyn became friends at the French court before she would depart to England due to Catherine of Navarre being cousins with Claude of France and Anne Boleyn would be an influence for Catherine as she is very liberal and very protestant in her outlook and an admirer of Luther and later a sympathizer of Calvin which would plunge England to a protestant future.

For Anna of Navarre she is kidnapped and brought forward to Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, the abduction was sanctioned by the King of Castile - he is just 20 years old and she is 28, they were married, the marriage would cause a war between France and Spain, it is said that she is a rose without a thorn.

After the marriage, Charles V said, the main reason why she is abducted and married to him is that her brother is dead and that she is the Queen of Navarre.

People often wondered what would happen if the intended marriage between Anna and Henry VIII did happen, would England still be Catholic.

Bohemia and Hungary
On 1515 Louis II was married to Mary of Austria, granddaughter of Emperor Maximilian I, as stipulated by the First Congress of Vienna in 1515. His sister Anne was married to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, then a governor on behalf of his brother Charles V, and later Emperor Ferdinand I, On 1520, Louis II is poisoned by rebels in Hungary pretending as servants causing Hungary to fall under Habsburg rule under Ferdinand of Austria, the husband of his sister.

The Poles in Silesia and the Transylvanian Romanians would come to support the Habsburgs against the Hussites and the anti-Habsburgs and who wanted the Habsburgs out of Bohemia and Hungary and these areas proved to be loyal due to them joining the troops of Hungary and Bohemia against the rebels and because of that both the Polish and Romanians in the Habsburg lands would aid the Habsburgs and they would be guaranteed equal rights in the Habsburg realms, Ferdinand of Austria would adopt the titles King of Poles and King of Vlachs and the Polish language would be official in Silesia and the Romanian language would be official in Transylvania - that would be sweet for them and would cause them to be more loyal to the Habsburgs, The Habsburgs invited more Poles to settle in Silesia in order to make the province a bastion of loyalty to the Habsburgs, both Transylvania and Silesia become bastions of loyalty for the Habsburgs.