Elizabeth R
- Thread starter marktaha
- Start date
Well, re #1- As there was no heir to the throne, England would have been in a lot of trouble!
Civil war erupts. Protestant nobles install Catherine Grey as Queen while Catholic Nobles, Peasants and Scotland try to make Mary of Scotland Queen. Spain probably supports Mary a little too. Who wins is a toss up.
Assuming this is Dudley, she would never do that because the Dudleys were unpopular because of the whole Nine Day Queen stuff. Assuming she does it and depending when they marry, Dudley gets more power and has some children with Elizabeth who succeed them preventing a Union of the crown (unless the heir is a girl who marries James).
Never happening. Mary was dead set on marrying abroad to a Catholic Royal. If she couldn’t get an abroad a Catholic husband she’s just pick a local Catholic bride such as Edward Courtenay.
Or assuming this is Mary of Scots than, Mary stays Catholic and tries to make Dudley Catholic, has some children and is overthrown as otl and Dudley made regent.
Mary, Queen of Scots, at 20 years old because Mary II of England. She’s not married and Catholic, so England may push for an Protestant English match for her to marry.
As stated above it depends on the P.o.D.
A marriage to a Dudley before 1554, could see the husband executed due to links to Queen Jane Grey. While a marriage after 1558 seems pointless diplomatically and would anger English noblemen.
Mary won’t accept a Protestant match. If she’s marrying an English nobleman rather than a foreign ruler, they will be Catholic and not linked to the Howard.
Firstly the council had pretty much decided that they would proclaim Catherine Grey or failing her they would opt for a domestic nobleman (probably Huntington who had a loose claim through his Plantagenet descent)
Catherine Grey's advantage was that legally she was heiress presumptive under statute. Her disadvantage was that she had married without consent and the Queen had it declared invalid making her son illegitimate - there was a solution a miraculous witness and the Archbishop says all is well.
The claimants:
Under Henry VIII's will
Lady Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford and her son (she is also probably pregnant with her second at this point)
Lady Mary Grey
Margaret Clifford, Countess of Derby and her sons.
Under Primogeniture
Mary Queen of Scots
Margaret Douglas Countess of Lennox
Henry Lord Darnley
Charles Stuart
Then the Grey's etc
----
At this period - the Elizabethan Settlement (in terms of the church) had only narrowly got through and while restoring the royal supremacy it had included many aspects of Catholicism that people would recognize and accept. However, vast swathes of the country were still Catholic, but you also don't have the decades of resentment of an imposed Protestantism that appeared later in Elizabeth's reign. Also at this point she hasn't even been excommunicated by the Pope yet. Also the penalties against Catholics were very light and were not universally or even strictly imposed (as they would in the later reign). The protestant clampdown later was a reaction to the constant and growing Catholic threat to the Queen.
As to Mary Stuart in 1562 she is an unmarried woman, newly returned to Scotland, distrusted by some of her own people - and there is little chance in the short term of outside foreign help for her to take the English throne (and she is unlikely to have the domestic resources to take it by force). English Catholics especially in the north may well support her claim but it's debatable if they have the strength of force to take London and impose her accession.
Catherine Grey's advantage was that legally she was heiress presumptive under statute. Her disadvantage was that she had married without consent and the Queen had it declared invalid making her son illegitimate - there was a solution a miraculous witness and the Archbishop says all is well.
The claimants:
Under Henry VIII's will
Lady Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford and her son (she is also probably pregnant with her second at this point)
Lady Mary Grey
Margaret Clifford, Countess of Derby and her sons.
Under Primogeniture
Mary Queen of Scots
Margaret Douglas Countess of Lennox
Henry Lord Darnley
Charles Stuart
Then the Grey's etc
----
At this period - the Elizabethan Settlement (in terms of the church) had only narrowly got through and while restoring the royal supremacy it had included many aspects of Catholicism that people would recognize and accept. However, vast swathes of the country were still Catholic, but you also don't have the decades of resentment of an imposed Protestantism that appeared later in Elizabeth's reign. Also at this point she hasn't even been excommunicated by the Pope yet. Also the penalties against Catholics were very light and were not universally or even strictly imposed (as they would in the later reign). The protestant clampdown later was a reaction to the constant and growing Catholic threat to the Queen.
As to Mary Stuart in 1562 she is an unmarried woman, newly returned to Scotland, distrusted by some of her own people - and there is little chance in the short term of outside foreign help for her to take the English throne (and she is unlikely to have the domestic resources to take it by force). English Catholics especially in the north may well support her claim but it's debatable if they have the strength of force to take London and impose her accession.