1513 - A very unhappy King
Henry VIII, King of England has just returned from his French campaign and was simply furious: his campaign against France had been much less successful than he had hoped, and he had felt abandoned and betrayed by his allies, specially his father-in-law, Ferdinand of Aragon, or well former father-in-law as Catherine was dead. He had left her as Regent of England, something who now he fully regretted as Catherine had decided to go personally to the northern border to incite the men rallied to repel the Scottish incursion in England, without caring for the fact who she was pregnant, instead of leaving the job entirely to the Duke of Norfolk - who would have likely obtained the same result without Catherine’s interference - and as consequence of that journey Catherine had miscarried the child, a boy who would be his heir, and had died for the miscarriage, leaving him heirless and in need to remarry soon as Catherine had totally failed in her first duty.
Sure Flodden had been a great victory and the Scottish would not be dangerous for years as their King James IV had died on the battlefield (and Henry would NOT take in consideration the rumors who James had been alive at the end of the battle, but had been captured while trying to escape back on Scotland and killed on order of Catherine), leaving a two years old heir and a pregnant widow (who was Henry’s own sister Margaret) to held Scotland and keep secure her son’s crown.
Now without Catherine, Henry was more dependent than ever from the engagements of Mary, his other sister and his only political pawn, thanks to Catherine‘s failure to give him children, to the young Duke of Burgundy, nephew of his wife, for keep some links to Spain and Burgundy as Charles was to inherit a lot of lands. And he needed to keep that links as Charles’ elder sister Eleanor, almost 15 now, was the only princess available of marriageable age and with the right bloodline and prestige for being worth to become Queen of England and getting her would not be so easy considering years earlier he had broken their betrothal for marrying Catherine (and Henry was sure who his father in that moment was laughing of him from the otherworld as Henry VII had valued highly Scottish friendship and chosen Eleanor for him). At least Charles and Mary had been married by proxy some years earlier, but that was no guaranty as he needed to hope who Archduchess Margaret‘s hate for the French would prevail over their former father-in-law Ferdinand’s schemes (the King of Aragon, being the only one in their league who had already reached his objectives, now was searching peace with France and had already failed in helping his allies ) persuading Maximilian to upheld Charles and Mary’s engagement (and give Eleanor to him) instead of agreeing to Ferdinand’s plan of marrying Charles to Princess Renee of France (Louis XII’s second daughter, barely three year old).
Sure Flodden had been a great victory and the Scottish would not be dangerous for years as their King James IV had died on the battlefield (and Henry would NOT take in consideration the rumors who James had been alive at the end of the battle, but had been captured while trying to escape back on Scotland and killed on order of Catherine), leaving a two years old heir and a pregnant widow (who was Henry’s own sister Margaret) to held Scotland and keep secure her son’s crown.
Now without Catherine, Henry was more dependent than ever from the engagements of Mary, his other sister and his only political pawn, thanks to Catherine‘s failure to give him children, to the young Duke of Burgundy, nephew of his wife, for keep some links to Spain and Burgundy as Charles was to inherit a lot of lands. And he needed to keep that links as Charles’ elder sister Eleanor, almost 15 now, was the only princess available of marriageable age and with the right bloodline and prestige for being worth to become Queen of England and getting her would not be so easy considering years earlier he had broken their betrothal for marrying Catherine (and Henry was sure who his father in that moment was laughing of him from the otherworld as Henry VII had valued highly Scottish friendship and chosen Eleanor for him). At least Charles and Mary had been married by proxy some years earlier, but that was no guaranty as he needed to hope who Archduchess Margaret‘s hate for the French would prevail over their former father-in-law Ferdinand’s schemes (the King of Aragon, being the only one in their league who had already reached his objectives, now was searching peace with France and had already failed in helping his allies ) persuading Maximilian to upheld Charles and Mary’s engagement (and give Eleanor to him) instead of agreeing to Ferdinand’s plan of marrying Charles to Princess Renee of France (Louis XII’s second daughter, barely three year old).
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