A Diversis Anglie

What if events in England had been different (This replaces my old timeline which was, admittedly, badly planned and badly thought out.)
And so… to begin.

1533
April 5th: Catherine Parr's husband, Sir Edward Burgh, recovers - after a diligent bedside vigil by Catherine - from his illness and the happy couple is reunited.

September 7th: Anne Boleyn goes into labour and gives birth; a boy - Henry, who has Anne'a dark eyes and dark hair - much to the King's delight. At Ludlow Castle, Lady Mary and the Imperial Ambassador are planning an escape and, when the news of a living child born to the Queen arrives with a messenger later that day, the two flee. The Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, returns to Spain… while Mary flees to France and the protection of King Francis.
September 8th: Thomas Boleyn, father of Queen Anne, is made Duke of Wiltshire and Ormond, while his son, George, is made Marquess of Rochford. George's title will become the subsidiary title of the Dukes of Wiltshire and Ormond. George's other reward is an annulment from the marriage to his barren wife, Jane Parker.

September 9th: When the news of Mary's flee to France arrives at Court, Henry VIII is furious… so furious in fact, that the only remaining documents on it - unearthed in a vault in 1922 - reveal that there were "several bloody and demeaning beheadings" and that a "new act of succession was immediately drawn up."

September 12th: Mary, adding a few embellishments to her escape story, arrives in France. King Francis seizes on his chance; most of the Catholic nations see Mary as heiress of all in England and so, he marries her, sick and weak, to his son, the Dauphin. The marriage is consummated - several times - immediately. Once Mary is healed, she settles herself into the French Court and begins to adjust being the Dauphine of France.

For Mary, this is a match that can help her regain her place, even if she doesn't really like the French. For the Emperor, this is a good thing, for it puts the bloodline of Spain into France and gives him another ally there.

December 3rd: Ivan IV succeeds his father Vasili III as Grand Prince of Muscovy at the age of 3.

December 13th: Eric, Crown Prince of Sweden, is born to King Gustav and Queen Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg.​
1534
January 15th: The Parliament of England passes the Act Respecting The Oath to the Succession recognising the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and their children as the legitimate heirs to the throne. To Henry and Anne, Mary is now most definitely a bastard and anyone saying differently is wrong.

January 16th: Henry VIII, now 42, is insistent on still living his life like he did in his 20s and takes part in a joust to celebrate the birth of Prince Henry. He is knocked from his horse and crushed, slipping into unconsciousness for six hours. His condition is bad enough to warrant Prince Henry being prepared for a coronation. Henry VIII recovers, but his health is badly damaged and his temper ever more capricious. [1]

April 7th: Thomas More is sent to the tower for protesting to the Submission of the Clergy Act. It's only his friendship with the King and the fact that he was one of the King's childhood tutors that keeps him alive... for now.

July 12th: Mary Boleyn is exiled from court after making a love marriage to William Stafford.

1st September: Catherine Parr, wife of Sir Edward Burgh, gives birth to a son; the child inherits Catherine's constitution.

25th September: Pope Clement III dies - when "accidentally" fed some poisoned mushrooms - and is succeeded by Paul III, whose stance on the problem of Henry is, merely, "ignore it".

As Christmas arrives it is evidently obvious that Anne is pregnant again, having conceived in November.​
[1] I butterflied this away from 1536 to 1534 as instead of Elizabeth being born, a son was. In celebration, Henry is harmed in the joust instead.

The title is in Latin and means "A Different England".
 
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1535
21 January: Henry VIII appoints Thomas Cromwell as his royal vicegerent and vicar-general and commissions him to organize visitations of all the country's churches, monasteries, and clergy. In this capacity, Cromwell conducts a census to enable the government to tax church property more effectively. To allow the census to be carried out correctly, Thomas Cromwell hires sixteen year old Ralph "Rafe" Spadell as his assistant. [2]

March: English forces under William Skeffington storm Maynooth Castle in Ireland, the stronghold of Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare. The attack is successful and Kildare is imprisoned in the castle of Vilvoorde, from whence he would never leave... well, not alive anyway.

May 4th: Four monks, John Houghton, Robert Lawrence, Augustine Webster and Richard Reynolds are executed by Henry VIII. The first two are Carthusian monks, the third a prior of London Charterhouse and the final a Bridgettine monk of Syon. They are the first of the Carthusian monks to be executed in England, but not the last by far.

May 20th: William Tyndale, translator of the bible into English, is arrested in Antwerp for heresy in relation to his Bible translation and imprisoned in Vilvoorde.

June 22nd: The execution of Cardinal John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, for his refusal to swear an oath of loyalty to King Henry VIII of England. Sir Thomas More takes the advice of Cardinal Wolsey... and dies, by jumping out of the window of his cell in the tower - during Fisher's execution - breaking his neck on contact with the ground. A letter found in his cell, written in his own hand, states that he is "the King's good servant, but God's first."

Thomas More's death allows Thomas Cromwell to become Lord Privy Seal. Meanwhile, the Catholics fly into an uproar at the deaths of Fisher and More and break into open rebellion. This, for now, is the first Pilgrimage of the Catholics and they march on London. The King is furious and, turning against the Queen for angering his subjects, sends out his men - The Duke of Suffolk, The Duke of Norfolk, Sir Edward Seymour and others - to execute all rebels.

As the Queen goes into a long and difficult labour - giving birth to a girl, Princess Elizabeth, on July 1st - the rebels are slaughtered on their way to London.

22nd July: Katarina Stenbock, third and final wife of Gustav I of Sweden is born. She is the niece of his second wife, Margaret.

August 11th: Mary Boleyn gives birth to her first child by William Stafford: Edward.

September: On the 18th, Catherine Willoughby, wife of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, gives birth to a son - Henry, the future Duke of Suffolk - and, on the 23rd of September, Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, Queen of Sweden, dies after falling during a dance with her brother. On a currently undisclosed date, George Neville, 5th Baron Bergavenny, dies.

October 4th: The first complete English language Bible is printed in Antwerp, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale. Around the same time, Mary Howard, the Duchess of Richmond and Somerset, who is married to Henry VIII's illegitimate son, conceives, despite Henry VIII's warning to not indulge in too much "hanky panky".

November: The news of the birth of another child - another LIVING CHILD - for Henry reaches France; Henry VIII's daughter, Mary, flies into a fit of anger and tears and locks herself in her chambers. News flies around France that the Dauphine is "mad" - the rumours are probably right. Meanwhile, in England, Katherine of Aragon's health begins to fail.

December 7th: Catherine Parr gives birth to another child; Margaret, who is doted on by her brother, Edward.

As 1535, a year of death, birth, madness and bloodshed comes to an end, two things are plainly obvious: England is radically changing and the King, as Rafe Spadell dryly informs Cromwell, "is beginning to increase in stoutness as well as capriciousness". In basic terms, the King is getting fat and angry.

1536
January 7th: Katherine of Aragon, finally, dies. The increasingly fat Henry quickly has new clothing ordered for his family; he, Anne, Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth deck themselves in yellow - the Spanish colour of mourning. Reports from the time - one written by John Dudley, son of traitor Edmund Dudley - states that the Royal Family later dressed in purple to celebrate Katherine's death and that the King indulged in more food, wine and sex with the Queen than ever before.

February: Mary Tudor, recently emerged from seclusion in France, flees back into it again to mourn her mother. More rumours fly - Mary's emotions are damning her, not just in England, but in France as well. Her reputation for piety is being replaced with a reputation of madness. Meanwhile in England, the final session of the Reformation Parliament begins on February 4th.

March: Protestantism is introduced in Denmark and Norway by King Christian III, which begins the Reformation of Denmark.

March 10th: Thomas Howard, the future Duke of Norfolk and grandson of the present Duke, is born.

March 18th: An Act for the Suppression of the Lesser Monasteries, those with a gross income of less than £200 per annum, has passed both houses. This causes a clash with Anne Boleyn, formerly one of Cromwell's strongest allies, who wants the proceeds of the dissolution used for educational and charitable purposes, not paid into the King's coffers.

April 6th: Frances Brandon, married to Henry Grey, the Marquess of Dorset, goes into labour. The child is a boy - Henry.

May 19th: Jane Seymour becomes Henry's official mistress. [3]

June 23rd: Mary Fitzroy gives birth to a son, Thomas. Her husband, Henry, is weak from his recent bout of fever, but is recovering. Henry VIII makes his grandson the Marquess of Nottingham, thus creating the subsidiary title of the Dukes of Richmond and Somerset for the next six hundred years. [4]

June 24th: For their work in filling up the King's coffers in the Suppression of the Lesser Monasteries, Thomas Cromwell and Rafe Spadell are rewarded; Cromwell becomes Earl of Essex and Rafe is knighted. Publically, the rewards are due to celebrating the birth of the King's grandson.

July/August: War resumes between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Francis ceases control of Savoy and captures Turin.

Charles triumphally enters Rome following the Via Triuphalis and delivers a speech before the pope and college of cardinals publicly challenging the king of France to a duel.

August 10th: After playing a round of tennis at a jeu de paume court "pré d'Ainay", Prince Henry, Duke of Orleans - the second son of Francis I of France - dies. After asking for a cup of water, which is brought to him by his brother's secretary, Count Montecuccoli, the Duke collapses and dies. Montecuccoli, who was brought to the court by Catherine de' Medici, is accused of being in the pay of Charles V, and when his quarters are searched a book on different types of poison is found. Under torture, Montecuccoli confesses to poisoning the Duke, though admits that the poison was supplied by the Duke of Orleans from his wife's stocks and was meant for the Dauphin. [5]

Now, only one problem remains: what to do with Catherine de' Medici?

September: On the 6th, William Tyndale is executed and, on a currently unknown date, Guilford Dudley, youngest son of John Dudley, is born.

October: With a dispensation granted by the Pope, Catherine de' Medici is married again - to her husband's younger brother, Charles, now the Duke of Orleans. Around this time, William Tyndale, betrayed by the imperial authorities, is killed. Anne Boleyn announces she is a month pregnant, her courses having not arrived. Around this time, the thoughts of a rebellion in the north are quashed by Robert Aske.

October 6th: Dianne de Poitiers gives birth to Sebastian, the illegitimate child of herself and Henry, Duke of Orleans. He is recognised, by the Dauphin, as being his brother's child.

November 4th: Mary Boleyn's final child, Anne Stafford, is born.

December 21st: Jane Seymour's father, Sir John, dies. His eldest son, Edward, becomes head of the family. Henry VIII spends Christmas ill as one of the ulcers on his leg - made worse by his 1534 jousting accident - has become infected.

[2] I made up Rafe Spadell and have based him on the Rafe from the upcoming Wolf Hall TV series.
[3] This seemed as good a date as any and, given the historical context, I couldn't resist.
[4] Chalk this one up to Butterflies; I just need him around for the 1560s and 1570s.
[5] Yes, I did just kill OTL Henry II of France. Well, why not? Mary needs a way to be Queen of France... and I needed a way to keep Catherine de' Medici in a position close to the throne that did not involve her being Queen; this way, she's close... but not on the throne.
 
1537
January: Following the Pilgrimage of the Catholics, Henry VIII had made promises which had not been kept; because of this a new rising - Bigod's Rebellion - begins to take shape, though Robert Aske - a leader of the Pilgrimage of the Catholics - tries to prevent it. The rebellion is unsuccessful and all participants are captured; this is pleasing news to the now recovered Henry VIII.

January 1st: Madeleine of Valois, sixteen year old daughter of Francis I of France, marries twenty five year old James V of Scotland, the nephew of Henry VIII; Madeleine renounces all claim for herself and her heirs to the throne of France and Mary of Guise, daughter of the Duke of Guise, attends the marriage. Months of celebrations in France begins.

February: Jane Seymour falls pregnant by Henry VIII.

March: More religious buildings - Bisham Priory, Bridlington Priory, Castle Acre Prior and Valley Crucis Abbey - are dissolved and Bisham Abbey is founded in place of Bisham Priory by Henry VIII, though it will not remain for long.

May 16th: Everyone who took part in Bigod's Rebellion - all 216 of them - is executed (or hanged, drawn and quartered or burned at the stake). Now, the Catholics have learned their place and do not rebel again; England, and victory, is Henry's.

May 19th: Anne Boleyn dies, giving birth to twins: George and Anne [6]. As Anne dies, James V and his wife, Madeleine, arrive in Scotland after months of celebrations in France; Madeleine, always of weak health, is very sick when they arrive.

May 30th: Henry VIII, not wanting another bastard child, marries Jane Seymour; Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth attend the ceremony as does Edward Burgh and his six month pregnant wife, Catherine. Henry is obese now and waddles, rather than walks, at the ceremony. Thomas Seymour, Jane's younger brother, wonders how Jane can stomach being married to - and bedded by - so obese a man; his words are private to his sister and she replies that she thinks she "can change His Majesty".

June 1st: Catherine Parr, Lady Burgh, becomes Mistress of the Robes and Chief Chamberer to Jane Seymour. The chosen maids of honour are Jane and Mary Arundell (the latter of whom is the daughter of Sir John Arundell), Jane Ashley, Anne Bassett, Margery Horsman, Elizabeth Jerningham, Mary Norris, Anne Parr (sister of Catherine, Lady Burgh), and Mary Zouche. Three other ladies: Mary Brandon, Lady Mounteagle (eldest daughter of The Duke of Suffolk), Elizabeth Oxenbridge and Eleanor Paston, Countess of Rutland are appointed to various other positions.

June 2nd: Edward Seymour is made Viscount Beauchamp of Hache and his brother, Thomas, is made Baron Seymour of Sudeley.

June 8th: Madeleine of Valois writes to her father saying that her symptoms have diminished. This pleases both Francis and James, the latter of whom drops his mistress for his young, beautiful wife; most historians agree on the fact that James V truly loved Madeleine as he never had another mistress again in the entirety of their marriage.

Meanwhile, in England, Catherine Willoughby gives birth to another son: Charles Brandon Jr.

June 18th: Henry Clifford marries Eleanor Brandon. The ceremony had been put off due to the pregnancy of Catherine Willoughby, Eleanor's stepmother.

July 7th: Madeleine announces that she is pregnant. James and Madeleine are both hopeful for a son and Madeleine's health is closely watched, especially as the child could be twins for they run in James's family.

August 12th: Mary Fitzroy announces that she is pregnant again. At the same time, Catherine Parr gives birth again; this time, like the first, it is a son, whom she and her husband name William, after Catherine's father.

August 25th: The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.

October 12th: Jane Seymour goes into labour and gives birth to a son: Edward. On the same day, Frances Brandon gives birth; a girl, Jane. For the Queen, it is a victory and secures her place. For Frances, it is a disappointment for another son is needed to most definitely secure the Marquisate of Dorset. [7]

Two days later, the increasingly obese Henry falls ill with the ulcers on his legs plaguing him. He remains ill throughout the Christmas period.

20th December: John, Duke of Finland is born - he is the future King John III of Sweden.
1538
January 8th: Beatrice of Portugal, having given birth to a son one month prior, dies, leaving her husband, the Duke of Savoy, a widower. Around the same date, historians differs as to the actual date, King Henry VIII recovers from his illness, though his legs are basically ruined now. The only thing agreed on by everyone is that the King is greedier, more obese and more capricious than ever. Almost as if to prove them right, Henry VIII throws the banquet he was too ill to throw at Edward's birth.

February 6th: Madeleine gives birth; a boy. Healthy, hale and hearty, she and James name the child after the King - James, who instantly becomes Duke of Rothesay at birth. For Madeleine, this is a well timed (and perfect gendered) birth; it puts her securely on the throne by James's side.

February 24: The Treaty of Nagyvárad is agreed upon: Peace is declared between Ferdinand I, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and the Ottoman Empire. John Zápolya is recognized as King of Hungary (Eastern Hungarian Kingdom), while Ferdinand retains the northern and western parts of the Kingdom, and is recognized as heir to the throne.

March 29th: Mary Fitzroy gives birth; a girl, Cecily.

April 3rd: Elizabeth Boleyn, Duchess of Wiltshire and Ormond dies and is buried in the Crypt at Hever Castle.

April 4th: Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya, mother of Ivan IV, dies. Most historians agree that she was poisoned by those who usurped power after her death.

May 8th: John Foxe, Bishop of Hereford, dies.

May 22nd: John Forest, a Catholic Martyr, is burned at the stake.
June 18th: Peace is declared between Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France when both agree to the Truce of Nice. Henry VIII, on receiving the news of this, flies into a rage, angrily denouncing the Emperor and the King of France.

August 12th: Madeleine of Valois announces that she is pregnant again.

September 28th: The Ottoman fleet of Suleiman the Magnificent under the command of Hayreddin Barbarossa defeats the Holy League of Emperor Charles V under the command of Andrea Doria in the Battle of Preveza.

October 11th: Jane Seymour announces she is pregnant again.

As Christmas arrives, Henry VIII summons his family - excluding his bastard daughter, Mary, who is in France - to court to be together. One thing is plainly obvious; the King's weight is increasingly drastically and his health is failing. He won't be around for much longer... but the question now is: just how short a time does the King have and once he's gone, who will step into the threshold as regent for the young king?

1539
January 3rd: Francis III, Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of France, is roundly and soundly beaten in a round of tennis at a jeu de paume court "pré d'Ainay" by his brother, Charles. Charles promptly christens his brother "His Royal Stoutness", which, while mocking, is true. The Dauphin is settling into a stoutness that will remain for the rest of his life; preferring books to soldiering, the Dauphin's pursuit of intelligence to run a country is widening his waistline, though he will not reach the stoutness of Henry VIII of England for many, many years.

Charles also has something else on his brother; while his brother is stoutening and childless, he is strong, fit... and Catherine de' Medici is pregnant. [8]

January 5th: George Boleyn impregnates his cousin, Catherine Howard.

January 6th: Henry VIII has become so fat now that he cannot walk without machinery, much to his annoyance.

January 12th: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Francis I of France sign the Treaty of Toledo, agreeing to make no further alliances with England. The treaty comes after Henry VIII of England's split with Rome and Pope Paul III.

February 9th: The first horse race is held at Chester Racecourse - this is the oldest use in England.

March: Canterbury Cathedral surrenders, and reverts to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons'. The Abbeys of Beaulieu, Bolton, Colchester, Newstead, St Albans, St Mary's, York and Hartland fall prey to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England.

March 11th: Madeleine gives birth; twins - Alexander, Duke of Ross, and Robert, Duke of Kintyre.

March 12th: Thomas Boleyn, Duke of Wiltshire and Ormond dies and his son, George, succeeds to his titles. His first act as Earl? Find a new wife and make lots of babies.

April 30th: Isabella, Holy Roman Empress, gives birth to a son, John of Austria. He is stillborn and the labour is difficult.

May 1st: Empress Isabella dies after giving birth to her sixth child. Emperor Charles is away. On receiving news of her death, he is heartbroken and will wear black for the rest of his life.

May: The Six Articles, an Act of the Parliament of England, reaffirms certain Catholic principles in Henry VIII's Church of England.

May 15th: Jane Seymour gives birth; a daughter - named after her.

Though the King is jubilant, his weight has increased to thirty stone and his health is failing; balding and half-blind, he cannot see what his daughter looks like when she is presented to him, though no-one can doubt her paternity - the red hair and blue eyes is a giveaway.

June 12th: Henry Fitzroy moves to make himself regent for his young half-brother by petitioning the King and plying him with words; he is the eldest and has seen how Henry has ruled for all these years, so can teach the younger Henry once he is King. His plan is successful, though not to the extent he would like, for his father only appoints him to the regency council, rather than the head of it.

August 11th: Catherine de' Medici goes into labour and gives birth to a girl; named Claude, after the Duke's mother.

August 15th: King Francis I of France issues the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêt that places the whole of France under the jurisdiction of the royal law courts and makes French the language of those courts and the official language of legal discourse.

September 1st: Madeleine of Valois conceives.

September 6th: George Boleyn marries Catherine Howard - she is pregnant with his child and due to give birth any day. Within hours of the marriage, sixteen year old Catherine goes into labour. She - and the baby - die in "a pool of blood, sweat and tears." [9]

September 15th: Henry VIII has the Privy Council pass the new Act of Succession. First in line is Prince Henry, then Prince George, then Prince Edward, with Elizabeth, Anne and Jane finishing the succession. Neither of Henry's bastards - Henry Fitzroy and Mary, Dauphine of France - are to inherit.

October 8th: The King's health takes a turn for the worse; his weight is higher than any monarch before him and it is obvious that he will be dead either before the end of the year, or shortly in the beginning of the new one.

December 11th: Frances Brandon conceives again.

December 25th: Margaret Pole, her husband and children are executed by the ailing King. With their deaths, only the exiled Reginald Pole, remains. He has no support from the Emperor or Francis I. They know that by supporting Reginald, they would turn the new King - who is due to succeed his most definitely dying father - away from Catholicism, so banish him from their countries. His ship sinks three days later on his way from Spain; thus, the Pole family - at least in name - is extinct.

Dauphine Mary is furious; when she confronts King Francis, he tells her promptly to "mind [her] place and become pregnant".

[6] I just needed Anne gone, yet I wanted her legacy to be secure - so she survives an extra year ITTL.
[7] Yes, this is the historical Edward VI and Jane Grey.
[8] Yes, early, I know - but it was the anatomy of Henry II and a (very slight) abnormality in Catherine that prevented her from getting pregnant. Here, there are no deformities on Charles's part and Catherine has conceived.
[9] Well, this got rid of Catherine - and 3 years early too!
 
This timeline is ended. I shall be starting a new one that is, mostly, the same (and under the same title) in a few days when my editing is complete.
:D
 
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