I have no intention of that, let me assure you! What I am having her do, however, is spoilers 😉
The Queen is Dead!: Katherine of Aragon dies in 1518
- Thread starter FalconHonour
- Start date
Very good. Maria is smart and fiery and her rage will be really big and dangerous but she is still a good girl who care a lot for her immortal soul...
I will happily wait for know more, do not worry...
Epilogue IV: Maria (II)
As her father-in-law’s condition worsened, storm clouds gathered over Maria’s head. Everyone at the French Court knew that, while King Francis might respect her maternal ties enough not to seek an annulment of her union with the Dauphin, Prince Henri himself had no such qualms. There was no doubt that Henri’s first move as King would be to send proctors to Rome seeking an annulment.
Tudor that she was, Maria wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Rather than wait for the matter to come to her, she struck pre-emptively. In March 1547, as the rest of the French Court gathered around King Francis’s bedside, waiting for the end, Maria fled Rambouillet for St-Germain-de-Laye. Collecting her daughters, nine-year-old Jeanne, four-year-old Diane and six-month-old Louise, on the pretext of wanting to take them to Court to farewell their grandfather, she disappeared into the night and didn’t stop until she’d reached her brother Richard’s Ducal Court in Rouen, 120km away.
It would be fair to say that Richard and his wife Beatrice were more than a little astonished by her arrival in the dead of night. However, they didn’t let their surprise stop them welcoming her with all the pomp and honour her rank and blood ties to them merited. In what was one of their few coordinated manoeuvres, Maria was escorted through the streets of Rouen with the fleur-de-lys of France and the dolphin of the Dauphin flying high above her head. Her two older daughters were also present at the ceremonial event, Jeanne perched on Richard’s saddle and Diane on Beatrice’s as they flanked her mother through the streets.
Never shy to retaliate, Henri had no sooner acceded to the throne of France than he sent an ambushing force to Ireland, seeking to stake his claim to Maria’s jointure lands of the Irish Clarence estates. The venture was a futile one, however, for bad weather and unfamiliar terrain hindered its progress, so that the English force under the command of the Baron of Upper Ossory, had little difficulty in expelling the French from Anglo-Irish shores.
Henri’s diplomatic efforts bore more fruit than his military ones, however. In 1550, three years after Maria's midnight flight to Rouen, Pope Julius III granted him his annulment on the grounds of Maria’s desertion, and ordered Maria to hand her daughters over to their father’s custody.
Richard, furious on his sister’s behalf and chary of the Pope’s influence over European affairs at the best of times, bristled and declared that if Henri wanted the girls, he should damn well act like a father and come and get them himself rather than hiding behind the skirts of an interfering old man. Maria wept and begged God for mercy, prevaricating all the while. For a while, it looked as though she might dig her heels in against the Papal edict, despite her fervent Catholicism, but then her former mother-in-law, Dowager Queen Eleanor, interceded.
Eleanor had been one of Maria’s few friends at the French Court, the two women bridging the gap in their ages by bonding over their shared Spanish heritage and the fact that their would-be courtiers hated them both.
Eleanor wrote to Maria, pleading with her to accept the Pope’s verdict and promising that, were the younger woman to give up the custody of her daughters, then she, Eleanor, would take them into her household, rather than let King Henri hand them over to the care of his mistress.
Since Diane de Poitiers’s presence in Henri’s life and that of their daughters had always been a major thorn in Maria’s side, and a large part of why her marriage to Henri broke down as far as it did, Queen Eleanor’s offer removed a major stumbling block from the proceedings. Most likely relieved that she wouldn’t have to choose between her love as a mother and her duty as a daughter of the Church of Rome, Maria yielded. Two months later, she handed her daughters over to the young Duke of Guise, whom their father had sent to collect them, with a pale composure that won her more than a few sympathisers, even amongst the French, who, up to that point, had resented her for abandoning her husband. It was there, on the steps of Rouen Cathedral, on a cool, damp October day in 1550, that Maria saw her three daughters, 13-year-old Jeanne, almost eight-year-old Diane and newly 4-year-old Louise, for the last time.
Tudor that she was, Maria wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Rather than wait for the matter to come to her, she struck pre-emptively. In March 1547, as the rest of the French Court gathered around King Francis’s bedside, waiting for the end, Maria fled Rambouillet for St-Germain-de-Laye. Collecting her daughters, nine-year-old Jeanne, four-year-old Diane and six-month-old Louise, on the pretext of wanting to take them to Court to farewell their grandfather, she disappeared into the night and didn’t stop until she’d reached her brother Richard’s Ducal Court in Rouen, 120km away.
It would be fair to say that Richard and his wife Beatrice were more than a little astonished by her arrival in the dead of night. However, they didn’t let their surprise stop them welcoming her with all the pomp and honour her rank and blood ties to them merited. In what was one of their few coordinated manoeuvres, Maria was escorted through the streets of Rouen with the fleur-de-lys of France and the dolphin of the Dauphin flying high above her head. Her two older daughters were also present at the ceremonial event, Jeanne perched on Richard’s saddle and Diane on Beatrice’s as they flanked her mother through the streets.
Never shy to retaliate, Henri had no sooner acceded to the throne of France than he sent an ambushing force to Ireland, seeking to stake his claim to Maria’s jointure lands of the Irish Clarence estates. The venture was a futile one, however, for bad weather and unfamiliar terrain hindered its progress, so that the English force under the command of the Baron of Upper Ossory, had little difficulty in expelling the French from Anglo-Irish shores.
Henri’s diplomatic efforts bore more fruit than his military ones, however. In 1550, three years after Maria's midnight flight to Rouen, Pope Julius III granted him his annulment on the grounds of Maria’s desertion, and ordered Maria to hand her daughters over to their father’s custody.
Richard, furious on his sister’s behalf and chary of the Pope’s influence over European affairs at the best of times, bristled and declared that if Henri wanted the girls, he should damn well act like a father and come and get them himself rather than hiding behind the skirts of an interfering old man. Maria wept and begged God for mercy, prevaricating all the while. For a while, it looked as though she might dig her heels in against the Papal edict, despite her fervent Catholicism, but then her former mother-in-law, Dowager Queen Eleanor, interceded.
Eleanor had been one of Maria’s few friends at the French Court, the two women bridging the gap in their ages by bonding over their shared Spanish heritage and the fact that their would-be courtiers hated them both.
Eleanor wrote to Maria, pleading with her to accept the Pope’s verdict and promising that, were the younger woman to give up the custody of her daughters, then she, Eleanor, would take them into her household, rather than let King Henri hand them over to the care of his mistress.
Since Diane de Poitiers’s presence in Henri’s life and that of their daughters had always been a major thorn in Maria’s side, and a large part of why her marriage to Henri broke down as far as it did, Queen Eleanor’s offer removed a major stumbling block from the proceedings. Most likely relieved that she wouldn’t have to choose between her love as a mother and her duty as a daughter of the Church of Rome, Maria yielded. Two months later, she handed her daughters over to the young Duke of Guise, whom their father had sent to collect them, with a pale composure that won her more than a few sympathisers, even amongst the French, who, up to that point, had resented her for abandoning her husband. It was there, on the steps of Rouen Cathedral, on a cool, damp October day in 1550, that Maria saw her three daughters, 13-year-old Jeanne, almost eight-year-old Diane and newly 4-year-old Louise, for the last time.
__________Eoin Peniston, ‘“The Fruitless Pomegranate”: Maria Tudor 1516-1558’
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Aww...poor Maria. At least she's gotten away with her dignity reasonably in tact. It's nice to see that Maria and Eleanor formed a close relationship.
Do you really think Henri would let his daughters see their mother again, once he got his hands on them? She's had three years to poison them against him - he's not going to give her another chance. (I'm not saying Maria is poisoning the girls against him, but that's what he fears, a la Henry VIII, Katherine and Mary OTL) Henri's son by Jeanne of Navarre might be a different matter, he might not have any qualms about sending his half-sisters to see their mother, but by the time he ascends to the throne, given Maria's state of health by the later 1550s, it would probably be too late.
Also, it's only realistic that the Pope would rule that, really. Maria has deserted her role as Queen of France and the girls are French Princesses, they need to be raised in France, really. Maria could probably have argued to keep custody of Louise, given how young she is, but she would definitely have lost Jeanne and Diane... Jeanne's probably got a groom waiting in the wings, let's face it...
Yes, she has, and now she can retreat to her lands in Ireland and try to rebuild something of her life. And yes. Two half-Spanish Princesses, in France, and both resented by the courtiers around them? Of course they were going to form a strong bond.
Yes, Poor Maria really does draw the short straw here. But at least she had a happier childhood, several younger siblings, and three daughters of her own to mother, as well as never being bastardised. I'd say she's still doing better than OTL...
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Definitely better than otl, she got to feel loved by new mum, she remains a legitimate Princess, while her mother stayed as queen of England rather than dying as a dowager of Wales she also won’t go down in history as Bloody Mary.
This was beautifully written.
Thank you. One more section on Maria and then we see what her baby brother's been up to all this time.
Poor Maria will at least have the consolation that her daughter's may be more influenced by her than her husband, and that they all may make good marriages. It would also be interesting if she started corresponding with her aunt Juana, both have suffered much at the hands of their husbands after all. At least Maria will remain a part of her half siblings lives for know...
Maria corresponding with Juana? I never thought of that, but it is genius!
But yes, Maria will definitely be in her half-siblings lives for a while longer. After all, it only makes sense for the Marchioness of Clarence to be a star in the firmament of the English-Norman Court, doesn't it?
Surprised the daughters did not go over to England and stay there. Maybe then have Marie return to Paris and demand her right to remain Queen and try to get preggers again. (With the dangled carrot of if you promise to give me X years to birth a boy, I promise the girls will return in Y years.) Maybe I am naive.
also a bit surprised that Henri did not use his daughters presence in Normandy as a Causus Belli to invade and regain the territory lost to HVIII,
Still, a dramatic, emotionally moving chapter.
also a bit surprised that Henri did not use his daughters presence in Normandy as a Causus Belli to invade and regain the territory lost to HVIII,
Still, a dramatic, emotionally moving chapter.
Normandy would have been the more sensible plan of attack for Henri, now that I think about it, but to be honest, it never crossed my mind. 😛😛
As for Maria, she and Henri have never been happy. Nor has she ever really been accepted in France. Despite the loss of prestige she suffers at being set aside, she's actually quite relieved to be free of Henri. She fought to keep her daughters, but not for herself. This Maria's not like Katherine OTL. She's had too Boleyn an upbringing for that!
Also, she's suffering undiagnosed PCOS. Another few years probably wouldn't have made any difference in the son department...
And at least her daughter's legitimacy is secure. Henri might resent the fact that they're not boys, but he's not going to devalue his dynastic bargaining chips too much by bastardising them....
Yeah,, but Henri is bitter enough that war would have been well within the realms of possibility. Ah well. What's done is done. No use crying over spilt milk.
Epilogue V: Maria (III)
Following her daughters’ departure for Paris, Maria retreated to her estates in Ireland, where rumour soon started to fly about her relationship with her Master of Horse, the nineteen-year-old Sir Barnaby Fitzpatrick. The eldest son and heir of the last titular King of Osraige, Barnaby Fitzpatrick had been raised in the household of the Earl of Pembroke and Ormonde, where he had found a talent for riding and caring for horses before leaving for the Marquisate of Clarence at the age of fifteen. Historians have suspected for centuries that Sir Barnaby found it too painful to watch as his ancestral lands were governed by others, particularly when those others were an Anglo-Irish Lord and the daughter of the King who had pressured his father into giving his lands up in the first place.
Whatever the truth, by the beginning of 1552, Barnaby was firmly ensconced in Maria’s household, riding and laughing with her by day, dancing and making merry with her by night.
If King Henry had still been alive, he would most likely have violently disapproved of his eldest daughter’s relationship with her ‘Irish Hare’, as Maria fondly christened her young favourite, but Lionel, no stranger to displeasing their father himself, given his rebellious marriage to Queen Christina, was far more blasé about the scandalous rumours coming from the Clarence estates. Indeed, he even created Barnaby Baron Carrickfergus in 1554, saying ‘even a former Queen must have her lords about her’.
When Edmund Bonner, the Bishop of London, protested this elevation – and, no doubt, the reasons behind it – Lionel is reputed to have said, ‘My sister has served her penance since she was seventeen, my Lord of London,” before dismissing him and refusing to see him at Court again for more than a year. It is in moments like these, that we, looking back over the gap of four and a half centuries, can truly glimpse the depths of Lionel’s devotion to his older sister.
Even Lionel’s protection of the couple wasn’t enough to stem the tide of talk, however, particularly not with Maria being almost twice Barnaby’s age. Things came to a head in 1556, when Maria retreated into the ramshackle Ferns Castle in County Wexford, with only her closest circle around her – Barnaby, Lady Siobhan Fitzgerald and two of her young Upper Ossory cousins chief among them. Her extended seclusion – which many historians have put down to the onset of the lupus and subsequent kidney damage that ultimately killed her - gave rise to talk that Maria was pregnant with Lord Carrickfergus’s child, talk that turned out to be so persistent that, upon her recovery, Maria was forced to swear before the Archbishop of Dublin himself that ‘though she loved him dearly…nothing unseemly had ever passed between them’ or risk Barnaby being forced to leave her household.
Despite her solemn oath before such a high-ranking churchman, which, we must remember, a pious Catholic like Maria would have taken only with the utmost gravity, however, Maria managed to do no more than to quell the rumours for a year or so. Her sudden gain in weight in the early months of 1558, followed by her sudden death at Barnaby’s stronghold of Carrickfergus Castle that September, reignited the belief that she and Lord Carrickfergus were lovers and that she had died of the complications of a geriatric pregnancy. It is my solemn hope that the final chapter of this book, which I have dedicated specifically to Maria’s health throughout her adulthood, will quash those rumours once and for all.
Whatever the truth, by the beginning of 1552, Barnaby was firmly ensconced in Maria’s household, riding and laughing with her by day, dancing and making merry with her by night.
If King Henry had still been alive, he would most likely have violently disapproved of his eldest daughter’s relationship with her ‘Irish Hare’, as Maria fondly christened her young favourite, but Lionel, no stranger to displeasing their father himself, given his rebellious marriage to Queen Christina, was far more blasé about the scandalous rumours coming from the Clarence estates. Indeed, he even created Barnaby Baron Carrickfergus in 1554, saying ‘even a former Queen must have her lords about her’.
When Edmund Bonner, the Bishop of London, protested this elevation – and, no doubt, the reasons behind it – Lionel is reputed to have said, ‘My sister has served her penance since she was seventeen, my Lord of London,” before dismissing him and refusing to see him at Court again for more than a year. It is in moments like these, that we, looking back over the gap of four and a half centuries, can truly glimpse the depths of Lionel’s devotion to his older sister.
Even Lionel’s protection of the couple wasn’t enough to stem the tide of talk, however, particularly not with Maria being almost twice Barnaby’s age. Things came to a head in 1556, when Maria retreated into the ramshackle Ferns Castle in County Wexford, with only her closest circle around her – Barnaby, Lady Siobhan Fitzgerald and two of her young Upper Ossory cousins chief among them. Her extended seclusion – which many historians have put down to the onset of the lupus and subsequent kidney damage that ultimately killed her - gave rise to talk that Maria was pregnant with Lord Carrickfergus’s child, talk that turned out to be so persistent that, upon her recovery, Maria was forced to swear before the Archbishop of Dublin himself that ‘though she loved him dearly…nothing unseemly had ever passed between them’ or risk Barnaby being forced to leave her household.
Despite her solemn oath before such a high-ranking churchman, which, we must remember, a pious Catholic like Maria would have taken only with the utmost gravity, however, Maria managed to do no more than to quell the rumours for a year or so. Her sudden gain in weight in the early months of 1558, followed by her sudden death at Barnaby’s stronghold of Carrickfergus Castle that September, reignited the belief that she and Lord Carrickfergus were lovers and that she had died of the complications of a geriatric pregnancy. It is my solemn hope that the final chapter of this book, which I have dedicated specifically to Maria’s health throughout her adulthood, will quash those rumours once and for all.
________ Eoin Peniston, ‘“The Fruitless Pomegranate”: Maria Tudor 1516-1558’
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At least Maria finally found someone who she loved, and returned her love fully.
She did. Since I couldn't have the Elizabeth/Robert Dudley pairing ITTL, not having an Elizabeth, I decided to make Barnaby a mixture of Robert Dudley and the Earl of Essex and put him in Maria's life instead.
I also got the feeling that it has a hint of the relationship between the widowed Queen Victoria and Scottish servant, John Brown.She did. Since I couldn't have the Elizabeth/Robert Dudley pairing ITTL, not having an Elizabeth, I decided to make Barnaby a mixture of Robert Dudley and the Earl of Essex and put him in Maria's life instead.