"walking to one of the pews" isn't it?
Maybe refer to Marguerite d'Angoulême as "Marguerite", just to avoid confusion with Margaret of Austria?
An Imperial Match: Anne Boleyn marries Charles V
- Thread starter pandizzy
- Start date
Not necessarily. IIRC, pews were a eighteenth-century invention.
You're right about it being a later invention (although the origin of the word implies that it was older than the 1500s):
England is not my first language. In portuguese, everything is a bench, or a banco. I'll fix it.
I find this alternate history very interesting.
I wonder if any maps will be made once things start getting...well....bang bang (I'd love to see how this marriage alliance would begin to change the map of Europe)
I'm also looking forward to seeing how England, the HRE, Spain, France, Burgundy and even the Ottoman Empire evolve as a result of this marriage
I wonder if any maps will be made once things start getting...well....bang bang (I'd love to see how this marriage alliance would begin to change the map of Europe)
I'm also looking forward to seeing how England, the HRE, Spain, France, Burgundy and even the Ottoman Empire evolve as a result of this marriage
10th of June, 1522.
London, England. 10th of June, 1522.
Little Mary Tudor curtsied before her mother, the Queen, as she entered the halls of Hampton Court. Her Highness wore a fine green dress, with white ribbons, the Tudor colors. The reddish-golden hair that she inherited from her parents is neatly brushed under her hood, which is covered with rubies and other precious stones. Her face was flushed, as she had inherited her father’s ruddy cheeks. Mary’s blue eyes were bright as she walked to her mother, holding her nurse’s hand, and Catherine of Aragon thought no other girl was as beautiful as her darling daughter.
“Mary,” she said, falling to her knees, “Come here, mi querida.”
Mary smiled and let go of her nurse’s hand. She skipped over to her mother, her feet barely touching the ground in her high happy steps, and embraced the Queen, wrapping her arms around Catherine’s neck. Her hood slipped from her hair, a clear sign that it was not pinned properly, but it didn’t matter. Even as the red tresses fell to her shoulders, free from their bounds, Catherine did not care. They were in private, alone, and it was good to see her daughter.
“How are you? Have you been good?” Catherine asked when they separated. She had not seen her daughter in many months, as Mary had been moved to the country for her health, and was eager for news from the girl’s own mouth. It was hard to be parted from her only child, but she couldn’t risk Mary’s health for her sake. Henry thought the air of the court was not good for her, as she often suffered from periods of ill health and Catherine had to accept his better judgment. The fact that neither Lady Salisbury nor her other attendants such as her tutors reported illnesses made her believe it had been the better decision to send her away from London.
And it was only a short ride to Sudeley Castle, one which Catherine intended to do more frequently over the following months after the Emperor left England. She wanted to focus more on Mary, as she may very well be her only surviving child and deserved the attention and education befitting the King’s undoubted heir.
Catherine had been married to Henry for thirteen years by then and had been pregnant six times. Four times, she had brought forth a living child, but most died shortly after birth, having been recalled by God soon after they first opened their little eyes. Only Mary had lived for more than a few weeks. Mary, her loving daughter, her dear child. Clever Mary, with her great facility for music. Mary, who was not the boy Henry longed for.
But it did not matter. Catherine was still thirty-seven. Her monthly courses still came every month. And Henry had started visiting her bedchamber at night again. There was still a chance for her.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Mary, smiling, “Lady Salisbury says I’ve been very good. She says she has never seen a more graceful child.”
“Really?” Catherine asked and Mary nodded, “That is good. So good. I’m so proud of you, my darling.” She stroked her red curls, smiling, “There is something important I must tell you.”
Mary smiled, pleased with the idea of being told something important by her mother. When she was happy, her skin flushed very prettily, and she would bite her lower lip as she beamed. She nodded incessantly when Catherine asked if she really wanted to hear it, smiling even more widely.
“Emperor Charles is here.” Mary deflated and, if she were any other child, she might have pointed out how she already knew her cousin was there, as someone was likely to have told her before. Instead, she smiled sadly, as if trying to tell her mother that she was still excited, and Catherine’s heart could have broken at that right moment, “And you will meet him by the end of the week. You must behave very well, as he is to be your husband someday. Do you promise to be a good girl, my love?”
“I promise,” Mary said. Her good mood had returned.
“When you marry Charles, you will be Queen of Castile, León, and Aragon, as well as the Holy Roman Empress. You will be a great lady.”
Mary nodded, but she then twisted her lips, as she was likely to do while thinking. “Will I have to live with the Emperor now, mama?” she asked, “Or can I stay with Lady Salisbury?”
Catherine did not allow herself to be upset that Mary didn’t think about saying with her, and smiled, “No, my darling. Not now. Not until you’re twelve.”
“That is six years away!” Mary pointed out, and her eyes rolled. She had a child’s notion of any time being too far away, no matter whether it was good or not to wait. Catherine chuckled. She was such a precious girl, so intelligent. She would be a fantastic Queen, either of Spain or of England. That, Catherine knew so.
“Yes, but don’t worry. Charles will only be your husband when you are sixteen, or seventeen, not before,” Catherine said, trying to not mention the consummation for her six-year-old daughter. Still, she had to say this to Mary, as she felt the need to point out that it would only be ten or eleven years before she was a wife in truth, as well as in name.
Ten years until she had a child of her own, a grandson for her father. An heir for the King of England, who was once more trying for a son with his wife as the thought of a foreign grandson on his throne finally seemed to hit him. Henry could not wait another ten years for a boy of his blood when he had waited thirteen already. Catherine prayed that she would be strong enough to still give him this one son, this one last boy to make the country safe. She was young still, if not too young, and her sisters had produced healthy boys. Had her own mother not birthed her when she was almost thirty-five? If they had done it, why could she not?
Oh Mary is adorable!
And I actually read it the other way... That Katherine will be so desperate to conceive that she'll have a phantom pregnancy or something...
Anyway, looking forward to more!
And I actually read it the other way... That Katherine will be so desperate to conceive that she'll have a phantom pregnancy or something...
Anyway, looking forward to more!
Ooo now that is an option too...and ironic considering that Mary I supposedly had one IOTL (though I think her physicians might have agreed that she was pregnant because her cancer was causing it to look like she was but i might be wrong)
Ooh, hopefully Catherine can manage a miracle boy.. Mary was so adorable, great update!
Mary was so adorable in the beginning 
what a cutie. I feel for Catherine wanting a baby hopefully she gets one. Great update
what a cutie. I feel for Catherine wanting a baby hopefully she gets one. Great updateI think it only happened once, because Philip left very soon after it became apparent that she was not pregnant and there was no more talk of pregnancy after his departure. Also, just looking at her wiki, it seems that the pregnancy was believed to be real by many, considering that preparations for a regency in the event of Mary’s death in childbirth were made.
I'm not as well versed in Mary, as I would have liked. I'm sure you are right.
Who knows... Like she said before, she is still fertile, and there will be no Anne with her 'no ringie, no flingie' attitude to encourage Henry with his stupidness.Mary was so adorable in the beginning