I only follow the course directed by OP, and I'm looking for plausible way to get his outcome.
What is Sig's daughter personally? I mean how do you imagine her character and how good-looking is she?
Audentes Fortuna Iuvat: A Timeline
- Thread starter pandizzy
- Start date
I only follow the course directed by OP, and I'm looking for plausible way to get his outcome.
What is Sig's daughter personally? I mean how do you imagine her character and how good-looking is she?
Well, I picture her as being very smart, very confident, someone who will fight to get what she wants. In my head, she doesn't like Austrians because of her mother, and is whatever in regards to religion. I don't imagine her being beautiful per se, just an average looking person.
Well, I think that she might genuinely charm Henry de Valois and she'd be active in politics, so it'd be less "actual King Henry and rubber-stamp Queen Jadwiga" but more like "Isabel & Fernando co-reign".
If she is like father she'd be religiously indifferent. And if she inherits standard Jagiellon look (Jagiellons generally were very similar to each other, physically and manthally) she'd be dark haired, dark eyed, would have long and narrow face. May be indeed good looking (her father and paternal grandparents were) and should be humane, like her Jagiellon relatives, who generally lacked cruelty.
Well, considering that dynasty lasted only through three generations it's not an achievement, and most of it's members were brothers, but Louis II Jagiellon was red haired in his childhood and auburn haired in his teen years, he also had blue eyes, so I think she could take after Catherine or Bona, it's hard to guess.
Does this means Francis of Alençon becomes a King? For Francis to become king, either Charles and his son die or Henry of Navarre dies, right?
No no, Charles IX and Francis II rule in France, Henri rules in Poland-Lithuania.
Elisabeth and the other Valois had an older brother called Francis who succeeded their dad, and died at about 17. He was married to Mary Stuart.
You see the problem with this is that most of the Portuguese court outside of it wanted an intervention in Morocco as it benefitted everyone, it was some sort of national project and given Sebastian's education and ideology, I don't see him abdicating from it especially with sons that secure his legacy. What you can do is making him be less stupid and not see the campaign as a feast but for what it is. Perhaps accept Al-Malik's offers or hear his generals' advice.
I have a soft spot for Duarte and I'm sad to see him being sent to Brazil like that but not everything is good.
An interesting scenario in a Valois Poland-Lithuania that should balance Europe and check the Habsburgs...I'm not so sure about the Spanish-Scottish match but it's not an unbelievable one so let's see where all this goes.
Chapter Ten - Brazil
“Today we will be discussing the late sixteenth century and our country’s role in European politics. More importantly, we will learn about Duarte de Guimarães and how he paved the way for Brazilian independence.” - Translated transcript of Professor Maria Vitória Guimarães Lessa’s lecture at the University of São Paulo (USP) in May 2009.
A sixteenth-century map of Colonial Brazil.
Nine months after Duarte, Duke of Guimarães departed for Brazil, Queen Margaret of Portugal delivered twin daughters named Maria and Joana. Although the identical Infantas were not the expected sons, their survival after birth meant that the royal succession was in a more secure place than it had been for the past fifty years since D. Manuel I died. King John III had only two surviving children and neither lived enough to succeed his throne, as his heir became his grandson, the current King Sebastian I.
If Duke Duarte cared about losing the throne, he didn’t show it. When he arrived in Salvador, the then capital of Brazil, in 1572, the two girls weren’t yet born, and the rainy autumn had turned into a hot and unbearable spring. The heat of Portugal couldn’t compare to the suffocating warmth of its American colony and Duarte wasn’t the only one who soon came to question his need there.
Alongside Duarte, fifty Portuguese girls between the ages of thirteen and twenty were sent by King Sebastian to marry the white officials stationed there. Since the beginning of the usage of the colony in 1530, more men had been assigned there than women, meaning those who wished to alleviate their sexual desires had to do so by consorting with, or raping, the native women. Both King João III and Sebastian I felt conflicted about that and started, annually, sending Portuguese women to the colony as brides for the men working there, to ensure their children and the subsequent generations of Brazilian-born Portuguese being white.
Brazilian legend states that one of these prospectives brides was a young girl intended for Duarte himself, who would marry her as soon as he arrived in Salvador, but that the noblewoman died during the journey of scurvy. Portuguese records don’t collaborate with this fact, and all surviving forty women were married to other men in the colony as soon as they arrived.
It’s unknown what Duarte thought of the land upon his arrival. There are some who suggest that he had been upset by the assignment, like his moving to Brazil was a form of an informal exile. Regardless, Duarte strove to make a success of his time in the colony, encouraging the plantation of sugar in the northern capitanies, while sponsoring numeral exploring parties with the objective of founding cities and villages beyond the borders of the Treaty of Tordesillas. His desire was to have fully-complete settlements under the influence of the Portuguese crown, paying taxes to Sebastian and having their loyalty and origins in the other Iberian country.
But to do so successfully meant to have the help and cooperation of the natives, called índios by the colonizers. Since the founding of the first settlement, native brazilians raided the cities, killing and stealing everything they could, and Duarte wished to find a way to stop such raids with peace instead of violence. As such, he searched for Jesuit priests who had long taught the natives about the church, seeking someone who could translate his words to the natives when he eventually found a way to secure a meeting with their leaders.
It’s currently unknown when Duarte first met with the natives, although it’s known that he first encountered those of the Potiguara people, who lived on the coast of northern-east of Brazil, called Nordeste by Brazilians in the region now known as the state of Ceará. Renowned for their warriors and their resistance towards the settlers, the Potiguaras had been allied to the French raiders during the age of french raids on the coast of the colony. It makes sense that Duarte would attempt to form a more stable alliance with them, and, although at first, he only met the leaders, he would eventually be introduced to others among their hundred tribes. This when Duarte met the native brazilian woman called Iracema.
According to reports made later by her contemporaries, Iracema was twenty years old when she first met Duarte, then thirty-one, and was described as being very beautiful. Despite Duarte having the money to do so, she refused to ever sit for a portrait and as such, her face is not known, but, most likely, she resembled the modern Potiguara, with dark hair, eyes, and skin. Iracema was described as being a fisher and a farmer, being responsible for the traditional womanly duties of her tribe. She could speak Portuguese, as she had been taught by the Jesuits, but couldn’t read nor write. It’s unknown if she followed the Christian religion or her tribe’s spiritual beliefs. The Jesuits called her Isabel, after the Holy Roman Empress, and Duarte himself referred to her as such in his letters, but the feminist movement of the 1980s caused the use of her birth name to become more widespread amongst scholars.
Duarte would later describe her as “a perfect creature, made to me by the heavens, and owner of my very being as soon as I laid my eyes on her.” When he returned to Salvador in December after his travels throughout the land, Iracema was with him, heavily pregnant with their first child who was born before the end of the year. The boy was called Duarte, after his father, and would be baptized by the same man whom Duke Duarte would say had married him and Iracema.
Duarte and Iracema would have three more children, two boys, and one girl, but their existence was kept a secret from their royal cousin, whom Duarte feared would attempt to separate their parents. In the following years, Duarte de Guimarães continued his duties as governor of Brazil, sending parrots and an ocelot to the infantes and infantas as gifts, while securing tentative states of peace with the native and trying to find profit in the south of the colony. It’s unknown why the servants and nobles under him didn’t tell Sebastian about Iracema and the children, although some would claim it was out of loyalty for the man who did more for Brazil and them than the king in Europe. Unlike his cousin, Duarte made sure he was seen in his duties, working hard and visiting those under him, finding cause for loyalty among them
Iracema (1884) by José Maria de Medeiros.
It would only be after the birth of Maria Luísa, born in 1574, that Sebastian finally learned about his cousin’s passionate romance with Iracema. Francisco de Mascarenhas, who lived in the Portuguese Indias in Asia under his uncle, the viceroy, since 1554 had decided to return to Portugal. On his way, he visited Brazil, having never been there, and met Duarte and Iracema, who lived together in the same house in Salvador. Scandalized by the way they lived, as husband and wife, Fernando wrote a letter to King Sebastian, letting him known what transpired in his American lands.
His surviving (and translated) letter stated:
My lord,
I have seen your cousin, Duarte, who asks for your health and those of your wife and children. He is well and healthy, governing these lands of yours with a very tight fist, following the teachings of our Heavenly Lord and your shared forefathers. He has shown me the maps of the new cities founded beyond our legal borders, hoping these will allow the growth of our dominion, and I have to admit to being very pleased with the numbers.
The Duke of Guimarães is still searching for gold, which he is certain he will find, and is trying to determine a new possible crop for us to grow and sell to our brothers and sisters in Europe. I have told him that sugar enriches our coffers plenty, but he is very ambitious. He has a dream about this land, and I have never seen a man so confident before in my life. It’s good to see him this way.
But I am worried about something. Most of our meetings stood in the governor’s office, near the center of Salvador, but I was once invited to have supper with the Duke at his house, on the outskirts of the city. When I came inside, I was most shocked to find no servants about and an índia serving food for us, whom Duarte called Isabel. She was dressed in a simple pink dress, unlike those I have been used to, but I could see that the fabric was of high quality, and her face and neck were painted in patterns with black and red paint that I couldn’t understand. Her black hair was bound up in a bun. She ate with us and asked me many questions about where I had been and the world, including Portugal whom I learned she longed to see. I was very shocked to find her a being of eloquent words and good manners, barely noting the point of her sitting by the side of your lordly cousin, who held her hand throughout the meal.
After the meal, Duarte wished to show me some of the books he had brought from Portugal, and, as we walked to his personal library, I saw two young boys sleeping in a room, with their door and window being open to allow the ventilation. When I asked about them to the Duke, I must admit I thought they were the progeny of the índia, whom I still assumed to be a rather bold servant, and wondered why they would be sleeping in the upper floor of the construction.
Isabel followed us to the library and asked me more questions. I then learned that she couldn’t read, but was being taught by Duarte Avis. I wished to ask my own row of questions, finally realizing the woman to be the Duke’s mistress, but we heard an infant crying and Isabel left the library. I asked Duarte about her, wishing to understand everything, and he explained to me that she was his wife, married to him by José Pinto Filho before the birth of their first child.
By then, I felt I had enough and decided to leave, but before I left, I found Isabel in the dining room, with the top of her dress pulled down as she fed a baby herself, without the use of a wet nurse. I left without saying goodbye, utterly disgusted by her depravity of doing such a private thing out in the open, and didn't find the courage to meet with the Duke outside an official manner ever since.
As I write this letter to you, my king and lord, I realize it has never been more clear to me how lost Brazil truly is.
Francisco de Mascarenhas.
A sixteenth-century map of Colonial Brazil.
Nine months after Duarte, Duke of Guimarães departed for Brazil, Queen Margaret of Portugal delivered twin daughters named Maria and Joana. Although the identical Infantas were not the expected sons, their survival after birth meant that the royal succession was in a more secure place than it had been for the past fifty years since D. Manuel I died. King John III had only two surviving children and neither lived enough to succeed his throne, as his heir became his grandson, the current King Sebastian I.
If Duke Duarte cared about losing the throne, he didn’t show it. When he arrived in Salvador, the then capital of Brazil, in 1572, the two girls weren’t yet born, and the rainy autumn had turned into a hot and unbearable spring. The heat of Portugal couldn’t compare to the suffocating warmth of its American colony and Duarte wasn’t the only one who soon came to question his need there.
Alongside Duarte, fifty Portuguese girls between the ages of thirteen and twenty were sent by King Sebastian to marry the white officials stationed there. Since the beginning of the usage of the colony in 1530, more men had been assigned there than women, meaning those who wished to alleviate their sexual desires had to do so by consorting with, or raping, the native women. Both King João III and Sebastian I felt conflicted about that and started, annually, sending Portuguese women to the colony as brides for the men working there, to ensure their children and the subsequent generations of Brazilian-born Portuguese being white.
Brazilian legend states that one of these prospectives brides was a young girl intended for Duarte himself, who would marry her as soon as he arrived in Salvador, but that the noblewoman died during the journey of scurvy. Portuguese records don’t collaborate with this fact, and all surviving forty women were married to other men in the colony as soon as they arrived.
It’s unknown what Duarte thought of the land upon his arrival. There are some who suggest that he had been upset by the assignment, like his moving to Brazil was a form of an informal exile. Regardless, Duarte strove to make a success of his time in the colony, encouraging the plantation of sugar in the northern capitanies, while sponsoring numeral exploring parties with the objective of founding cities and villages beyond the borders of the Treaty of Tordesillas. His desire was to have fully-complete settlements under the influence of the Portuguese crown, paying taxes to Sebastian and having their loyalty and origins in the other Iberian country.
But to do so successfully meant to have the help and cooperation of the natives, called índios by the colonizers. Since the founding of the first settlement, native brazilians raided the cities, killing and stealing everything they could, and Duarte wished to find a way to stop such raids with peace instead of violence. As such, he searched for Jesuit priests who had long taught the natives about the church, seeking someone who could translate his words to the natives when he eventually found a way to secure a meeting with their leaders.
It’s currently unknown when Duarte first met with the natives, although it’s known that he first encountered those of the Potiguara people, who lived on the coast of northern-east of Brazil, called Nordeste by Brazilians in the region now known as the state of Ceará. Renowned for their warriors and their resistance towards the settlers, the Potiguaras had been allied to the French raiders during the age of french raids on the coast of the colony. It makes sense that Duarte would attempt to form a more stable alliance with them, and, although at first, he only met the leaders, he would eventually be introduced to others among their hundred tribes. This when Duarte met the native brazilian woman called Iracema.
According to reports made later by her contemporaries, Iracema was twenty years old when she first met Duarte, then thirty-one, and was described as being very beautiful. Despite Duarte having the money to do so, she refused to ever sit for a portrait and as such, her face is not known, but, most likely, she resembled the modern Potiguara, with dark hair, eyes, and skin. Iracema was described as being a fisher and a farmer, being responsible for the traditional womanly duties of her tribe. She could speak Portuguese, as she had been taught by the Jesuits, but couldn’t read nor write. It’s unknown if she followed the Christian religion or her tribe’s spiritual beliefs. The Jesuits called her Isabel, after the Holy Roman Empress, and Duarte himself referred to her as such in his letters, but the feminist movement of the 1980s caused the use of her birth name to become more widespread amongst scholars.
Duarte would later describe her as “a perfect creature, made to me by the heavens, and owner of my very being as soon as I laid my eyes on her.” When he returned to Salvador in December after his travels throughout the land, Iracema was with him, heavily pregnant with their first child who was born before the end of the year. The boy was called Duarte, after his father, and would be baptized by the same man whom Duke Duarte would say had married him and Iracema.
Duarte and Iracema would have three more children, two boys, and one girl, but their existence was kept a secret from their royal cousin, whom Duarte feared would attempt to separate their parents. In the following years, Duarte de Guimarães continued his duties as governor of Brazil, sending parrots and an ocelot to the infantes and infantas as gifts, while securing tentative states of peace with the native and trying to find profit in the south of the colony. It’s unknown why the servants and nobles under him didn’t tell Sebastian about Iracema and the children, although some would claim it was out of loyalty for the man who did more for Brazil and them than the king in Europe. Unlike his cousin, Duarte made sure he was seen in his duties, working hard and visiting those under him, finding cause for loyalty among them
Iracema (1884) by José Maria de Medeiros.
It would only be after the birth of Maria Luísa, born in 1574, that Sebastian finally learned about his cousin’s passionate romance with Iracema. Francisco de Mascarenhas, who lived in the Portuguese Indias in Asia under his uncle, the viceroy, since 1554 had decided to return to Portugal. On his way, he visited Brazil, having never been there, and met Duarte and Iracema, who lived together in the same house in Salvador. Scandalized by the way they lived, as husband and wife, Fernando wrote a letter to King Sebastian, letting him known what transpired in his American lands.
His surviving (and translated) letter stated:
My lord,
I have seen your cousin, Duarte, who asks for your health and those of your wife and children. He is well and healthy, governing these lands of yours with a very tight fist, following the teachings of our Heavenly Lord and your shared forefathers. He has shown me the maps of the new cities founded beyond our legal borders, hoping these will allow the growth of our dominion, and I have to admit to being very pleased with the numbers.
The Duke of Guimarães is still searching for gold, which he is certain he will find, and is trying to determine a new possible crop for us to grow and sell to our brothers and sisters in Europe. I have told him that sugar enriches our coffers plenty, but he is very ambitious. He has a dream about this land, and I have never seen a man so confident before in my life. It’s good to see him this way.
But I am worried about something. Most of our meetings stood in the governor’s office, near the center of Salvador, but I was once invited to have supper with the Duke at his house, on the outskirts of the city. When I came inside, I was most shocked to find no servants about and an índia serving food for us, whom Duarte called Isabel. She was dressed in a simple pink dress, unlike those I have been used to, but I could see that the fabric was of high quality, and her face and neck were painted in patterns with black and red paint that I couldn’t understand. Her black hair was bound up in a bun. She ate with us and asked me many questions about where I had been and the world, including Portugal whom I learned she longed to see. I was very shocked to find her a being of eloquent words and good manners, barely noting the point of her sitting by the side of your lordly cousin, who held her hand throughout the meal.
After the meal, Duarte wished to show me some of the books he had brought from Portugal, and, as we walked to his personal library, I saw two young boys sleeping in a room, with their door and window being open to allow the ventilation. When I asked about them to the Duke, I must admit I thought they were the progeny of the índia, whom I still assumed to be a rather bold servant, and wondered why they would be sleeping in the upper floor of the construction.
Isabel followed us to the library and asked me more questions. I then learned that she couldn’t read, but was being taught by Duarte Avis. I wished to ask my own row of questions, finally realizing the woman to be the Duke’s mistress, but we heard an infant crying and Isabel left the library. I asked Duarte about her, wishing to understand everything, and he explained to me that she was his wife, married to him by José Pinto Filho before the birth of their first child.
By then, I felt I had enough and decided to leave, but before I left, I found Isabel in the dining room, with the top of her dress pulled down as she fed a baby herself, without the use of a wet nurse. I left without saying goodbye, utterly disgusted by her depravity of doing such a private thing out in the open, and didn't find the courage to meet with the Duke outside an official manner ever since.
As I write this letter to you, my king and lord, I realize it has never been more clear to me how lost Brazil truly is.
Francisco de Mascarenhas.
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Wow! I know that IOTL many conquistadors had 'relations' with native women but the relationship between Duarte and Iracema is truly astounding, in a very good way. I have to wonder though whether their children will be accepted by Portuguese society as Duarte's heirs...
Perhaps Portugal developed a new version of the Morganatic marriage. I doubt that the children of Duarte can inherit their titles and lands, but they could well inherit part of their wealth (very small, because most of the wealth of the nobility is linked to the land) and perhaps some minor noble title of Portugal or maybe a Brazilian noble title. After all, they are still "legitimate" and with real blood in their veins.
At worst, they are raised to go to Faith.
Also Sebastian can negotiate with Duarte to return the Duchy of Guimaraes to the Crown in exchange for allowing his children to inherit his wealth not related to their titles and lands, Sebastián could give Brazilian titles in compensation.
PS: Duarte and Iracema will be the Portuguese / Brazilian version of Romeo and Julieta. In future, the names Duarte and Iracema can be very popular when symbolizing love. Also the amount of poems or works written due to them, could cause a literary renaissance in Portugal, if Sebastian allows it.
At worst, they are raised to go to Faith.
Also Sebastian can negotiate with Duarte to return the Duchy of Guimaraes to the Crown in exchange for allowing his children to inherit his wealth not related to their titles and lands, Sebastián could give Brazilian titles in compensation.
PS: Duarte and Iracema will be the Portuguese / Brazilian version of Romeo and Julieta. In future, the names Duarte and Iracema can be very popular when symbolizing love. Also the amount of poems or works written due to them, could cause a literary renaissance in Portugal, if Sebastian allows it.
I know rather little history before the 18th century so any details are right over my head, but I am absolutely loving this timeline.
There’s not enough Portugal/Brazil timelines on this site
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There’s not enough Portugal/Brazil timelines on this site
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Chapter Eleven - The British Isles
Elizabeth I of England had many reasons to fear the Catholic Church and its creatures. Since her parents married while her father’s wife was still alive, her legitimacy was put into question, as well as her right to rule. Some thought her elder sister’s heir was the catholic Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, while others advocated for the following of her father’s will, which determined the Stuarts and their descendants could never rule England. According to Henry VIII’s last desires, the throne should pass to the Grey and Suffolk families after his children and their heirs, who were English and protestants, excluding his Scottish great-niece. His intention was clearly to prevent a reunion of the Church of England with Rome, attempted by his daughter Mary during her five-year-long reign.
Although the protestants in England were happy with Elizabeth’s rule, many in Catholic Europe thought that her hold on the throne was tyrannical and illegal, exemplified by the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis issued by Pope Pius V in February 1570. In this bull, the pope excommunicated Elizabeth I, calling her the "the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime”, while releasing her subjects from obeying her. At the same time, the Pope excommunicated anyone who obeyed her orders, declaring her a heretic.
Both Philip II of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II disagreed with this approach, thinking it would give cause to those persecuting Catholics at Elizabeth’s court, which happened. Although most English Catholics preferred not to plot against the Queen, some, especially wealthy landowners, rejoiced in the idea of removing Elizabeth for someone who would owe their throne to them.
This was the case of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. He was a second cousin to Queen Elizabeth through her grandmother, Elizabeth Howard, and he was trusted with public offices despite his family’s historical leaning towards Roman Catholicism. Feeling undervalued by Elizabeth, he was involved in a northern rebellion in 1569 that sought to overthrow the Virgin Queen and place her cousin Mary Stuart on the throne, but begged for mercy after his imprisonment and was put under house arrest.
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by Hans Eworth.
In 1571, he was compromised in the Ridolfi plot, where Elizabeth would be either assassinated or detained and Mary Stuart would ascend on the throne, while Thomas Howard’d become the de facto King of England by marrying her. Henry Stuart, Queen Mary’s second husband, had died in early 1571, and she was free to marry Thomas Howard, who by then already outlived three wives.
The plot took its name from Roberto di Ridolfo, an Italian nobleman that hatched and planned it alongside the Pope and King Philip II of Spain. As a banker, his travels throughout Europe didn’t gather much suspicion, including his meetings with the Spanish ambassador at Elizabeth’s court, Guerau de Espés. Through his work and secret meetings, he managed to convince Philip II of Spain, whose daughter Catalina would one day marry the son of Mary Stuart, and Mary Stuart herself. After the death of Lord Darnley, the Queen of Scotland declared that she would only marry again if it was for the need of the realm. As such, marrying Thomas Howard in return for the throne of England certainly seemed like an easy bargain for her.
Before the end of 1571, however, some of Elizabeth’s officials began to suspect a plot against their Queen’s life and worked to discover the traitors in England. John Hawkins gained the confidence of the Spanish ambassador, who named others conspirators while revealing the plan of landing ten thousand men in the Netherlands who were waiting to invade London to place Mary on the throne. Thomas Howard was discovered upon the finding of french gold in his possession, and the torture of his servants, who revealed his involvement.
As a result, Guerau de Espés was expelled from the country and the English involved were executed for treason, including Thomas Howard after a day-long trial. The Ridolfi plot ended before it began, straining the already bad relations between England and Spain, while completely severing the bonds between England and Scotland. Elizabeth sent money and men to the protestant lords threatening rebellion to Mary while beginning to mull over her options.
Due to her advanced age, even if she were to marry on the next morning, Elizabeth would be unable to produce a legitimate heir for her throne. With Mary as the granddaughter of King Henry VIII’s eldest sister, then it would only be a matter of time before the throne passed to another catholic, a time many might attempt to shorten by assassinating her. With Mary’s son promised to a daughter of Philip II, any attempts to follow the will of her father could lead to war against catholic Europe, a war England couldn’t hope to win.
Certainly, it was her desperation, or fear for her life, that made Elizabeth take the next step. In the spring of 1572, she summoned Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp of Hache to court, ostensibly so she could finally meet him. The boy, aged ten, didn’t have the easiest start in life, with his parents’ wedding happening in secret and without the consent of Elizabeth. In fact, his mother, Lady Katherine Grey, died in the Tower of London after the union was discovered after bearing two sons, and the only witness to her wedding ceremony having died before the truth came out. As such, his legitimacy couldn’t be proved and he was, by all intents and purposes, a bastard.
Elizabeth I too had a mother and father wedding in a secret ceremony which later used in a mother dying after a time spent in the tower, which might have led her to feel a sort of kinship towards Edward. Surely, she pitied him and, because of this, made him a page to her, having him serve her wine and deliver her letters. Elizabeth also supplied Edward with an education fit for a royal prince, insisting that he learn how to read and write in Latin and French, and provided for his food, accommodations, and clothes.
Lady Katherine Grey and her son, Lord Edward Beuchamp, by unknown author.
Her kindness and generosity towards the boy led to many rumors at court, with many believing that Elizabeth intended to adopt the boy, ignoring his possible bastardness, and maybe even have him adopt his great-grandmother’s name of Tudor, thereby permitting him to continue the dynasty. The ambassadors at court spread those gossips to their masters and, by the start of 1573, every ruler in Europe was aware of the growing relationship between Elizabeth and young Edward. The rumors of a possible will of Elizabeth naming Edward as her heir were regarded as true by Charles IX of France and Philip II of Spain, although there’s no veracity to this.
The feelings of the person who was affected the most by this possible succession were never put to paper. In fact, Mary Stuart never even commented about Edward Seymour possibly becoming Edward VII Tudor, as, at the time, she was more preoccupied with the Scottish civil war.
Princess Mary Margaret of Scotland by Agnolo Bronzino.
In 1571, a gossip started in the court of Edinburgh that Queen Mary I planned to betroth her two-year-old daughter, princess Mary Margaret, to the Prince of Portugal, infante João Manuel. To many protestants, this signaled the end, for with a catholic sovereign promising her two heirs to catholic superpowers, then surely it would only be a matter of time before the fires were lit.
The choice between rebellion and death was an easy one, and, on July 14, 1571, the War for the Brides was declared. The name, taken from the opposition to the marriages of the heirs, was a later creation of 1800s, while its contemporaries preferred to call it the Liberty War.
The rebels, among them John Knox and James Hepburn, were twenty-six Scottish peers, known as the confederate lords, and declared themselves freed from tyranny in the person of Mary Stuart and the catholic church. More so, they declared the Earl of Moray, Mary’s illegitimate half-brother, as King James VI.
As the two armies gathered, Mary made the decision to send her children away for their safety. Mary Margaret was smuggled to England under the disguise of Isabella Albany, daughter of a poor Scottish noble seeking proper education, where she would live under the protection of her paternal grandmother Margaret Douglas. The Duke of Rothesay, however, was put under the custody of Mary Beaton, a close friend of Mary Stuart, who had a son just two years younger than the prince.
By separating the two children, and sending one out of the country, Mary may have hoped to prevent them from being used against her. But, more importantly, she hoped to gain time to gather her strength before defeating the rebellion. In November, she sent letters to France, Spain, and the Papacy, begging for aid against the heretics who sought to usurp her throne.
She received an answer from King Philip II just before 1573 began. Help was on its way.
Although the protestants in England were happy with Elizabeth’s rule, many in Catholic Europe thought that her hold on the throne was tyrannical and illegal, exemplified by the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis issued by Pope Pius V in February 1570. In this bull, the pope excommunicated Elizabeth I, calling her the "the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime”, while releasing her subjects from obeying her. At the same time, the Pope excommunicated anyone who obeyed her orders, declaring her a heretic.
Both Philip II of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II disagreed with this approach, thinking it would give cause to those persecuting Catholics at Elizabeth’s court, which happened. Although most English Catholics preferred not to plot against the Queen, some, especially wealthy landowners, rejoiced in the idea of removing Elizabeth for someone who would owe their throne to them.
This was the case of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. He was a second cousin to Queen Elizabeth through her grandmother, Elizabeth Howard, and he was trusted with public offices despite his family’s historical leaning towards Roman Catholicism. Feeling undervalued by Elizabeth, he was involved in a northern rebellion in 1569 that sought to overthrow the Virgin Queen and place her cousin Mary Stuart on the throne, but begged for mercy after his imprisonment and was put under house arrest.
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by Hans Eworth.
In 1571, he was compromised in the Ridolfi plot, where Elizabeth would be either assassinated or detained and Mary Stuart would ascend on the throne, while Thomas Howard’d become the de facto King of England by marrying her. Henry Stuart, Queen Mary’s second husband, had died in early 1571, and she was free to marry Thomas Howard, who by then already outlived three wives.
The plot took its name from Roberto di Ridolfo, an Italian nobleman that hatched and planned it alongside the Pope and King Philip II of Spain. As a banker, his travels throughout Europe didn’t gather much suspicion, including his meetings with the Spanish ambassador at Elizabeth’s court, Guerau de Espés. Through his work and secret meetings, he managed to convince Philip II of Spain, whose daughter Catalina would one day marry the son of Mary Stuart, and Mary Stuart herself. After the death of Lord Darnley, the Queen of Scotland declared that she would only marry again if it was for the need of the realm. As such, marrying Thomas Howard in return for the throne of England certainly seemed like an easy bargain for her.
Before the end of 1571, however, some of Elizabeth’s officials began to suspect a plot against their Queen’s life and worked to discover the traitors in England. John Hawkins gained the confidence of the Spanish ambassador, who named others conspirators while revealing the plan of landing ten thousand men in the Netherlands who were waiting to invade London to place Mary on the throne. Thomas Howard was discovered upon the finding of french gold in his possession, and the torture of his servants, who revealed his involvement.
As a result, Guerau de Espés was expelled from the country and the English involved were executed for treason, including Thomas Howard after a day-long trial. The Ridolfi plot ended before it began, straining the already bad relations between England and Spain, while completely severing the bonds between England and Scotland. Elizabeth sent money and men to the protestant lords threatening rebellion to Mary while beginning to mull over her options.
Due to her advanced age, even if she were to marry on the next morning, Elizabeth would be unable to produce a legitimate heir for her throne. With Mary as the granddaughter of King Henry VIII’s eldest sister, then it would only be a matter of time before the throne passed to another catholic, a time many might attempt to shorten by assassinating her. With Mary’s son promised to a daughter of Philip II, any attempts to follow the will of her father could lead to war against catholic Europe, a war England couldn’t hope to win.
Certainly, it was her desperation, or fear for her life, that made Elizabeth take the next step. In the spring of 1572, she summoned Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp of Hache to court, ostensibly so she could finally meet him. The boy, aged ten, didn’t have the easiest start in life, with his parents’ wedding happening in secret and without the consent of Elizabeth. In fact, his mother, Lady Katherine Grey, died in the Tower of London after the union was discovered after bearing two sons, and the only witness to her wedding ceremony having died before the truth came out. As such, his legitimacy couldn’t be proved and he was, by all intents and purposes, a bastard.
Elizabeth I too had a mother and father wedding in a secret ceremony which later used in a mother dying after a time spent in the tower, which might have led her to feel a sort of kinship towards Edward. Surely, she pitied him and, because of this, made him a page to her, having him serve her wine and deliver her letters. Elizabeth also supplied Edward with an education fit for a royal prince, insisting that he learn how to read and write in Latin and French, and provided for his food, accommodations, and clothes.
Lady Katherine Grey and her son, Lord Edward Beuchamp, by unknown author.
Her kindness and generosity towards the boy led to many rumors at court, with many believing that Elizabeth intended to adopt the boy, ignoring his possible bastardness, and maybe even have him adopt his great-grandmother’s name of Tudor, thereby permitting him to continue the dynasty. The ambassadors at court spread those gossips to their masters and, by the start of 1573, every ruler in Europe was aware of the growing relationship between Elizabeth and young Edward. The rumors of a possible will of Elizabeth naming Edward as her heir were regarded as true by Charles IX of France and Philip II of Spain, although there’s no veracity to this.
The feelings of the person who was affected the most by this possible succession were never put to paper. In fact, Mary Stuart never even commented about Edward Seymour possibly becoming Edward VII Tudor, as, at the time, she was more preoccupied with the Scottish civil war.
Princess Mary Margaret of Scotland by Agnolo Bronzino.
In 1571, a gossip started in the court of Edinburgh that Queen Mary I planned to betroth her two-year-old daughter, princess Mary Margaret, to the Prince of Portugal, infante João Manuel. To many protestants, this signaled the end, for with a catholic sovereign promising her two heirs to catholic superpowers, then surely it would only be a matter of time before the fires were lit.
The choice between rebellion and death was an easy one, and, on July 14, 1571, the War for the Brides was declared. The name, taken from the opposition to the marriages of the heirs, was a later creation of 1800s, while its contemporaries preferred to call it the Liberty War.
The rebels, among them John Knox and James Hepburn, were twenty-six Scottish peers, known as the confederate lords, and declared themselves freed from tyranny in the person of Mary Stuart and the catholic church. More so, they declared the Earl of Moray, Mary’s illegitimate half-brother, as King James VI.
As the two armies gathered, Mary made the decision to send her children away for their safety. Mary Margaret was smuggled to England under the disguise of Isabella Albany, daughter of a poor Scottish noble seeking proper education, where she would live under the protection of her paternal grandmother Margaret Douglas. The Duke of Rothesay, however, was put under the custody of Mary Beaton, a close friend of Mary Stuart, who had a son just two years younger than the prince.
By separating the two children, and sending one out of the country, Mary may have hoped to prevent them from being used against her. But, more importantly, she hoped to gain time to gather her strength before defeating the rebellion. In November, she sent letters to France, Spain, and the Papacy, begging for aid against the heretics who sought to usurp her throne.
She received an answer from King Philip II just before 1573 began. Help was on its way.
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Hmm, I think a compromise could be sought where little Mary Margaret stewart marries Edward seymour. Brings peace between England and Scotland and might appease the Scottish rebels if they know that at least one of their queen’s children will be marrying a Protestant.
There will be some explanation for this in the next chapter, but in my head, it's not really about putting James on the throne, and more about taking Mary out