1539: Starting off the year was Mary Tudor’s arrival in Cleves and the first meeting with her new husband. Though both had heard a lot about eachother, this was the first time they had met. Of course he had seen her portrait and she had seen sketches, but the first impression would be vital to a happy marriage (well, that and children). But something happened, that would become infamous among historians and regular people alike. While she prepared herself to meet him (choosing a nice dress, scents ect.) she sent out one of her attendants, Catherine Howard, to keep him entertained in the interim. But, when she walked into the room to meet him, she was greeted by the sight of them in an… akward situation. This set off the wrong tone to the marriage, but her reaction probably didn’t help. She apparantly screamed at them, broke an expensive vase and stormed back to her rooms to cry for an hour. When she did finally come out, William was apolegetic but Mary was icy. But Catherine, well she apparantly convinced Mary that he had seduced her, a story that nobody believed later but was good enough for Mary.
The wedding was a extravagent, if gaudy affair. In preparation for it a new churched had been built, complete with raised isle and marble statues everywhere. There was gold embroidery everywhere, the attendants wore dark red (English Style) dresses while Mary wore a deep purple (English Style) dress with white, red and gold embroidery. Days the ceremony Mary had questioned the Duke as to many things, and had even managed to get a Catholic wedding rather than a Protestant to take place. During the ceremony though, many noted the cold and aloof way Mary interacted with her husband. But, when the sheets were checked to see if they had consumated the marriage, it was obvious that she knew her duty, even if she didn’t like her husband.
Over in Scotland, things were getting a little less unstable than previously thought possible. With a strong leader and two heirs, the succession (strange as it was) was secure. Also, the details as to how the royal family worked was finally worked out. Hamilton was now considered King of Scotland, to the detrament of many other nobles, but after what happened to Mathew Stewart and family, it was quitely put aside, at least for now. The boys were now considered his childresn and as such took his name. This caused the biggest stir amongst the Stewarts, as this has a huge blow to there sense of honour. But for now, the need for a rest from all the infighting and skirmishes outweighed the need to preserve honour (a first for Scotland). The year also brought a new development as Queen Dowager, now Queen Margaret announced that she was pregnant.
In England, there wasa huge scandal amongst the court that no one cared about. It was pointed out by several courtiers that Jane Seymour was pregnant for a second time, while her husband had not been at court for 6 months. Also the previous child, Mary, was pretty much a small, female verson of Henry with more feminine features. From her hair colour to her eye colour, it seemed the ony similarities to her mother was her pale skin and, more obvious later, her temperant.
During all this, Queen Anne sent much of her time trying to push Henry towards another mistress. She did not want an equiviant of Diane de Poitiers messing up her life. She had publicly said many times that she felt extremely sorry for Catherine de Medici over that woman and didn’t want that happening to her. But she couldn’t really do anything but keep Jane close and try to get Henry to see how boring the tart really was.
Then, in June, Anne announced a new pregnancy. There was the usual gifts and celebrations, but one event occurred that tied Anne to Jane together in a more personal way then before. On the night of a celebration ball for her pregnancy, Jane Seymour had been talking to the King. At this point she was obviously pregnant, but still 4 months away from going into labour. Anne, instantly jealous and angry that she was eing ignored by the King, went over and started to berate him over his treatment of her. One person watching recounted the incident to George Boleyn, who wrote down the dialogue as he kne it:
“…after all I have done, my Lorde? What do you let this boring tart hang around, when I have never done anything of the like to you?”
The incident, in which Anne spent a while on her husband, eventually turned to Jane. But, instead of going into a huge reprimand to the girl, she simply told her that her services were no longer needed as a Lady in Waiting and to leave the court as soon as possible.
This caused quite a stir amongst the courtiers, who sought information on what, where, when and why. They got every detail though, when an anonymous person (now thought to have been either Anne herself or her brother George) gave out fliers the next week, with every element stated and a very obvious bias towards Anne as the wronged wife. But, instead of sympathy, many older nobles were quick to point out the similarities to her situation and Catherine of Aragon’s.
Over in France, there was an urgency get the dauphin married as quickly as possible. Francis was getting older, Henry Valois wasn’t producing any heirs with his wife, Charles would be able to get actually married until 1546 at the earliest and Eleanor wasn’t producing any heirs either. This was really the first quiet period in the terms of children in a while and the King didn’t like it. So, in a rush not seen before from France, the betrothal between Francis and Christina of Denmark was pushed forward as quickly as possible, with treaties being more vague than usual and the dowry actually downsized by a few estates (only 2, but that was still a lot). But it all paid off when, in April, Christina of Denmark left for France. When she arrived, the wedding preparations were already weeks through. She was only given three days to settle, then the wedding took place. She wore a gown that was previously Queen Eleanor’s, a tiara that was owned by Catherine de Medici and all the other jewellery worn was that of the dead Queen Claude. Still, it as a lavish affair and Christina was supposedly charmed by the quite, bookish charm of her new husband.
But she was not there for fun, she was there to get pregnant. And that she did. Within three months of marriage she said she was feeling sick and had an odd craving for strawberries and fish. This was seen as a sign that she was pregnant and it turned out to be correct. In foresight, it seems that she got pregnant withing a few weeks of marriage, with the baby coming exactly ten months after the wedding. But what was the gender, well that did occur this year, did it?
Back in Cleves, although Mary did not like her husband, they regulary met in their bedchambers and as such, she got pregnant fairly quickly. By March, it was apparent that she was pregnant, with odd cravings and morning sickness. But it ended tragicly when, in late May she miscarried. Worse still, the doctors said that the child was a deformed male. The clincher though was that Catherine Howard come out as pregnant, and it was obvious to the court that it was William’s, as that was who she was always with. At this point Mary had figured out that Catherine had lied to her and as such had tried to send her back to England. But when she tried, her husband had outright refused. Instead, Catherine had been moved into adjoining rooms to William’s. This began a strong relationship that would last a lifetime.
In England, a request came in from France that surprised the royal family. They asked if there was any noblewomen that were acceptable to marry Charles Valois in the place of Elizabeth Tudor, as they felt that the wait would be too long and they wished for Charles to start producing heirs. When this was announced in the court, there was a hush to see how Henry would react. Henry VIII was slowly becoming unstable, with mood swings that could only be settled by Jane Seymour or Princess Anne. But instead of the rush of anger and bile they expected, he instead quickly offered his niece Margaret Douglas, who was meant to have married George Boleyn but had voiced her hesitations on ‘marrying beneath her station’. An agreement came from this and Margaret had a miniature done to send to France, along with Henry bestowing a series of titles and lands onto her to make her a better prospect to the French. It would not be until the next year until they heard back on the subject.
In the wake of the lose of this alliance, two suitors came to the forfront. While Phillip of Spain was already betrothed the ambassadors made it clear that he was willing (reality, Charles V was willing) to break off the engagement to make this one. The other suitor was Emmanuel Philibert, who was set to inherit the Dukedom of Savoy and was also unattached at this time. Both seemed eager (remember, ambitious fathers) and both were extremely elligable. Henry decided that he would wait until the year to come to say who would be the lucky guy.
The year ended with Queen Anne leaving for her birthing chambers aroun the same time as Christina of Denmark and Queen Margaret of Scotland (the title was generally used at this point). In a casual seeming remark to an ambassador, Henry remarked that if the genders of any of the the children were opposite, then they should become betrothed. And with that, 1539 ended.