A Tudor Kingdom of England and Scotland

What if Edward VI didn't die young, and he successfully married his widowed first cousin once removed Mary Queen of Scots after her French husband died?
 
Why would Mary agree to marry Edward? She was devoutely Catholic and he was an intense and not very flexible Priotestant.
 
Well, with the support of Presbyterians, it's not entirely impossible
What?

Again, on the English side Edward, or atleast (probably) his handlers, were militantly protestant and the Scottish court is unformly Catholic and not going to agree to a protestant king.
The lowland Presbyterians were merchants mostly at this point, generally not the sort of people who can arrange a royal marriage.

Unless you mean Englsih Presbyterians, but it's not really the English that are going to be the biggest sticking point. A female monarch marrying would have been seen as her husband becoming defacto king, whatever the reality. Scottish nobles definately didn't want to see Edward VI up there.
 
What?

Again, on the English side Edward, or atleast (probably) his handlers, were militantly protestant and the Scottish court is unformly Catholic and not going to agree to a protestant king.
The lowland Presbyterians were merchants mostly at this point, generally not the sort of people who can arrange a royal marriage.

Unless you mean Englsih Presbyterians, but it's not really the English that are going to be the biggest sticking point. A female monarch marrying would have been seen as her husband becoming defacto king, whatever the reality. Scottish nobles definately didn't want to see Edward VI up there.
I'm pretty sure there were no such thing as English presbyterians, do you mean Puritans?
 
First of all the was an OTL war about this the Rough Wooing launched by Henry VIII in order to force just such a marriage. In OTL it ended in defeat for England while they conquered southern Scotland France intervened and Mary got smuggled out of Scotland to France where she was engaged to the Dauphin. Have her get captured by the English and Edward and Mary would be married very quickly.

Again, on the English side Edward, or atleast (probably) his handlers, were militantly protestant and the Scottish nobility is unformly Catholic and not going to agree to a protestant king.

The Scottish nobility was far from uniformly Catholic, by this point a considerable number had gone Protestant, specifically the Lords of the Congregation who included 5 Earls among them the Earl of Argyll, head of Clan Campbell and the most powerful Highland Clan Chief. Its impossible to give precise numbers because religious affiliation was so changeable at this point and especially as quite a lot of people chose their religion based on their politics i.e. if you were pro-French you stayed Catholic, rather than being pro-French because you were Catholic. Still as a rough idea a 1/3rd were Protestant, a 1/3rd Catholic and a 1/3rd were on the winning side.
 
The Scottish nobility was far from uniformly Catholic, by this point a considerable number had gone Protestant, specifically the Lords of the Congregation who included 5 Earls among them the Earl of Argyll, head of Clan Campbell and the most powerful Highland Clan Chief.

Yeah, and frankly, Mary's "dedicated Catholicism" is highly over-rated--prior to her imprisonment she was seen a moderate, and as rather personally irreligious to boot. Hell--Husband #3, Bothwell, was a dedicated Protestant, though admittedly the pair had a rather... disturbing relationship.

AFTER Elizabeth put her in prison, Mary remarketed herself as the ultra-Catholic British alternative in a rather desperate bid for Spanish (and/or French) support, but even that seems to have been a largely tactical move. (She did refuse to recant her faith at her execution, but then Mary was always tougher then people like to give her credit for, and likely realized that there was no point in giving her oppressors a propaganda win.)
 
Why would Mary agree to marry Edward? She was devoutely Catholic and he was an intense and not very flexible Priotestant.

Have you ever heard of a reigning monarch getting herself violated? Mary Stuart was so easy to manipulate, that the English could just play her like a fiddle.
 
Have you ever heard of a reigning monarch getting herself violated? Mary Stuart was so easy to manipulate, that the English could just play her like a fiddle.

Yeah no. Mary was naive but not an idiot. She was very pro-French and had little love for Edward VI, so I can't see her deciding "Hay I'll marry cousin Edward of England".
 
Have you ever heard of a reigning monarch getting herself violated? Mary Stuart was so easy to manipulate, that the English could just play her like a fiddle.

I find that a rather ironic statement, since in reality she played the English like a fiddle. Elizabeth had to keep taking her away from the men she had been sent into the custody of - she was passed between various nobles to keep in luxurious imprisonment - because they kept falling in love with her and "accidentally" allowing her to leave confinement and start passing secret correspondence to other Catholics with whom she was plotting armed insurrections. Even the married ones, IIRC, kept being seduced by her.
 
I find that a rather ironic statement, since in reality she played the English like a fiddle. Elizabeth had to keep taking her away from the men she had been sent into the custody of - she was passed between various nobles to keep in luxurious imprisonment - because they kept falling in love with her and "accidentally" allowing her to leave confinement and start passing secret correspondence to other Catholics with whom she was plotting armed insurrections. Even the married ones, IIRC, kept being seduced by her.
She was forced into marrying Hepburn, and he had possibly raped her, do you really believe she's the kind of political animal that you imagined? What advantage does she have, besides being Catholic, if she's not Catholic, why would the English Catholics fight for her claim while Elizabeth was still alive? Of course, she has to have something to hold on to, but that doesn't make her master of mind games.
 
Yeah no. Mary was naive but not an idiot. She was very pro-French and had little love for Edward VI, so I can't see her deciding "Hay I'll marry cousin Edward of England".
Her French mother was pro-French and sent her to marry the French dauphin, her Parliament sent her to marry Darnley, none of them were decided by her.
If Edward had lived, the only obstacle would be if he had already married to someone else by the time Mary widowed.
 
She was forced into marrying Hepburn, and he had possibly raped her, do you really believe she's the kind of political animal that you imagined?

Okay, leaving aside the exceedingly disturbing sexual politics on display here--Scotland was a traditionally weak throne by Renaissance standards--and given even the French monarchs had to worry about kidnapping and murder attempts, problems came up. Mary's mother (as regent), father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all had to deal with overmighty subjects pulling the sort of crap on them that wouldn't be out of place in a Mafia novel, and her son had to deal with it after her deposition. Mary being a young woman just added... an extra-unpleasant element to it.
 
In my reading, Darnley was very much Mary's choice. Being - after her position has considerably weakened - in a situation where Bothwell could take advantage of her (either actual rape or simply in a position of de facto authority - the nonobjectivity of our sources is rather vicious) does not mean that Mary was unable to decide her own affairs at any point.
 
Few thoughts/points
Mary might have been a firm catholic but she was more than aware of her inability to drag the lords of the congregation back to Rome. Whilst she remained determined in her own faith she was perfectly willing to allow others to make their own choice. Whilst informing Rome and Catholic Europe of her determination to restore the faith.
In fact her own actions and her reliance on her illegitimate half brother managed to alienate many who would have naturally supported a Catholic monarch.
She was also incredibly aware of her own political status as a monarch from birth and her status as a Queen Dowager of France.
Initially she was extremely keen to marry someone of equal status to her first husband and was alsmost willing to consider anyone as long as their rank was high.
Her attraction to Darnley was helped by his own strong claim to the English Throne but he was certainly her choice rather than anyone else's.
In prison of course she refashioned herself into a martyr for her faith rather than a monarch who had been deposed in part due to her own political errors.
Assuming Edward lives then intervention in Scots affairs is likely to be very strong - he is far more likely than Mary Tudor was to support the Protestant faction in Scotland.
Which in turn might have meant the collapse of the regency of Marie of Guise in favour of a pro-English government.
Alternatively Edward unlike his half sister Mary Tudor is not likely to be allied to Spain - and in fact a French alliance with him betrothed to Elisabeth of France is not unlikely.
Which might mean his intervention in Scots affairs is more secretive and less blatant.
Edwards own religious views would have meant he would expect any wife to be secondary to him whether a princess of France or a Queen of Scots - he is also going to insist on his children being brought up in his faith and will probably pressure any wife to realise the "errors" of her ways in religion.
If Edward was unwed after Francis II's death then he is going to have a very strong appeal to Mary irrespective of her religious views.
 
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