Henry VIII’s heiress - A Tudor TL

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Prologue
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    • isabella

    Anne, Queen of England was dead, together with her stillborn child, a boy who would be Henry’s long waited heir and the King was furious, specially as the doctors had no explanation for what happened as Anne’s pregnancy had gone smooth enough until the day before the tragedy. Some suggested who maybe Her Majesty’s pregnancy had been too close to the previous one and so her body had not yet fully recovered from the birth of their first child, and others do not dared to speak of the possibility who the Queen had been poisoned by supporters of the Dowager Princess of Wales and her daughter.
    The King was grieving for the loss of his most beloved wife and of his heir, who left him with only an infant daughter, Princess Elizabeth, still a month away from her first birthday. Anne had died at only 27 years old, so the King had all the reasons for grieving for his wife, their son, and the future and the children who they could have together if a cruel fate had not taken Anne away from him.
    Henry VIII knew very well who many, starting with his former wife and her damned nephew, had never accepted his wedding to Anne and and believed Catherine to be his only true wife, and now who Anne and their son were dead, they expected him to return to his brother’s widow, but he had no intention to do it. His Anne was lost forever, but she had gifted him freedom from Catherine’s lies and the oppression of the Pope, showing to him the right road to take for give to England the heir who he and the country needed desperately.
     
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    • Part 1
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    • isabella

    Anne, who had been buried in Westminster, at least until the joint tomb in Saint George’s chapel would not be ready, with a magnificent funeral and all the pomp reserved to the sovereigns of England, would remain forever King Henry’s great love and he would take care to remember Anne and preserve her memory, giving her in death the recognition who she had not the time to enjoy in life.
    Still Henry was not free to mourn his beloved as he had many things to do, now who Anne was not anymore able to share his life: first their little Elizabeth was to be confirmed as heiress presumptive to the English crown, until the day, hopefully near, in which a legitimate half-brother would replace her in that role, and then he needed to remarry soon for generating that heir, possibly to a foreign princess. Austria, Spain and Portugal were firmly in the enemy camp now, as they were ruled by Catherine’s nephew, and that mean who his new bride was to be French, unless he married the daughter of a German ruler, but he believed who a Frenchwoman would be better as that would force Francis to give him recognition and support against the pretensions of Catherine, Charles V and the Pope.

    Francis, allied to Rome after the wedding of his second son to Catherine de’ Medici, niece of the Pope, had been initially lukewarm when Henry’s ambassador had asked for a French princess of the blood as new wife for his King, but the death of Clement VII and the election of Paul III as his successor had changed the things as the new Pope refuted to continue the payment of Catherine‘s dowry, breaking also the alliance with France, putting Rome again in the Imperial camp so Francis, relieved who Henry was not interested in marrying his daughter Madeleine as he wanted a bride older and healthier than the 14 years old princess, proposed the 19 years old Marie of Bourbon, eldest daughter of the Duke of Vendôme or her next sister the 18 years old Marguerite, together with their cousin, the 19 years old Marie of Guise, as the elder Bourbon girl had been already offered as bride to the King of Scotland, who had not yet accepted the match as he wanted princess Madeleine as bride. Still Francis hoped to make the two Bourbon princesses Queens of England and Scotlands and was not much interested in what sister married each King or if King Henry’s choose Marie of Guise instead of her cousins.
     
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    • isabella

    I have reposted the TL here as the story looked to be a little too lost in the discussion thread…
    And as I have intention to work on it I ask: what of the French girls you would you like more as Henry VIII’s third wife: Marie of Bourbon, Marguerite of Bourbon or Marie of Guise?
     

    rgroberts

    My vote is for Marie of Guise. She was a fascinating and strong woman historically - seeing how she handled (or didn't) Henry VIII would be interesting!
     
    Part 2
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    • isabella

    Marie of Guise had been close to marry the Duke of Longueville, before the death of Queen Anne, but then King Francis had decided to delay the match and throw Marie among the candidates as Queen of Scotland and shortly after also as Queen of England together with her maternal cousins as Marie was beautiful and tall and with a robust health and when she was chosen by King Henry for that reasons, the French King promised to Longueville a match with either Marie’s next sister Louise or one of the three elder daughters of the Duke of Bourbon, once James V of Scotland had chosen his own bride. Longueville had not been happy to delay his wedding but accepted to give precedence to the political alliances of the Kingdom, asking for the hand of Marie of Bourbon, if her Scottish match would not go ahead.

    Once he had chosen to remarry Henry was not willing to wait long for his bride as he wanted start to generate an heir as soon was possible so Marie of Guise would left France for England in the middle of January 1535, hoping to find happiness in England with her new husband.
     
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    • Broadwoodwidger

    Banned
    One wonders if Marie can do anything at this stage to prevent the imminent destruction of the monasteries and with them so much cultural richness and technological knowledge...
     

    isabella

    FalconHonour said:
    Love the chapter, and am looking forward to the consequences, but am I missing something or have you given Henry two queens here? Which Marie did he actually end up marrying?
    Click to expand...
    Got distracted while checking and forgotten to change Marie’s surname in the last phrase…
     

    isabella

    Broadwoodwidger said:
    One wonders if Marie can do anything at this stage to prevent the imminent destruction of the monasteries and with them so much cultural richness and technological knowledge...
    Click to expand...
    I doubt who monasteries were so great, and in any case like Anne in OTL, Marie will be unable to do anything for stopping Cromwell’s plan on them…
    Still Henry will use at least a part of that revenues in a better way than the OTL one…
     

    Kerney

    isabella said:
    I doubt who monasteries were so great, and in any case like Anne in OTL, Marie will be unable to do anything for stopping Cromwell’s plan on them…
    Still Henry will use at least a part of that revenues in a better way than the OTL one…
    Click to expand...
    She will fill the role that Catherine Parr did (assuming she survives) of being the role model/guide for Elizabeth in addition to any other kids. That could be big long term.
     

    isabella

    Kerney said:
    I like that not beheading your wife so improves your marriage prospects.
    Click to expand...
    True, but he has still little choices as wives because well the Pope and the Emperor aree saying who King Henry’s first wedding is valid and he must return to Catherine of Aragon.
    Kerney said:
    She will fill the role that Catherine Parr did (assuming she survives) of being the role model/guide for Elizabeth in addition to any other kids. That could be big long term.
    Click to expand...
    We will see for that, but Marie will be likely a role model for baby Elizabeth, at least for some time…
    Much will depend from her ability to survive…
     

    isabella

    Starting from next part (who hopefully will arrive soon) the timeline will go back and forth in time. (so do not be surprised if some parts will start again in 1534)…
     
    Part 3
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    • isabella

    Mary of Guise would not have an easy life as Queen of England as she was plagued by the same inability to give a son to King Henry of her predecessors: first she had a girl, called Anne, born in 1536, then a son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall, who would live less than a year in 1537.
    After a miscarriage in 1538, another daughter, called Antonia after her maternal grandmother, would follow in 1539, then Edward, Prince of Wales in 1540, Eleanor, destined to become Queen of Scotland, in 1541 before her death in childbirth with a last daughter, called Margaret, in 1542.
    Queen Mary was unable to take the place of her predecessor in the heart of the King, but she cared little for that or his mistresses, and concentrating her energies in trying to give heirs to England and fulfilling her other duties: she was Catholic, but accepted without fuss the Henrician church with its English bible and ceremonies, she would soon noted for her interest and dedication to charities and to help the less fortunates, things who helped the population to accept the closure of monasteries, together with the many “Queen Anne‘s schools” founded by the King in memory of his late wife, as a system of secular instruction for the population had been one of the greatest wishes of the late Anne Boleyn.
    Mary of Guise also, wisely, kept low her interferences in the English foreign politics, accepting without complaints Henry’s shift of political alliances, who happened after the death of Catherine of Aragon in March 1536 removed the obstacles to a renewal of the alliance with Spain, sealed between the engagement between Princess Elizabeth, Henry’s eldest daughter and heiress presumptive and the second son of the Emperor, John, Count of Charolais and heir of the Burgundian lands and was compensated with matches more of her liking for her daughters as Anne and Antonia were engaged to the heirs of German rulers, while Eleanor was promised to the heir of Scotland, who had also a French mother
     
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    • isabella

    The Professor said:
    Ominous!

    Still, a saner reign of Henry may help things a tad.
    Click to expand...
    She is already dead in childbirth here… the next chapter on England will deal with the wife number 4…
    And yes, both Henry and his reign are much saner than OTL (the fact who he is not killing wives help a lot)
     
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    Part 4
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    • isabella

    At the time of Henry VIII’s remarriage to Marie of Guise, also James V of Scotland was searching a bride in France, but unlike his uncle he was quite unwilling to marry a junior princess, like the English Queen or the Bourbon ladies who King Francis was offering as he wanted marry princess Madeleine, Francis’ elder surviving daughter, who he felt was promised to him by the treaty of Rouen…
    Francis was fearful for his daughter’s frail health and the effect who the harsh climate of Scotland would have on her, so he continued to propose the 18 years old Marguerite of Bourbon, second daughter of the Duke as her elder sister Marie had chosen to marry the Duke of Longueville instead of waiting for a match who was unlikely to happen. Meanwhile James was flirting with the prospective of marrying a niece of Charles V, either Dorothea of Denmark or Maria of Viseu, and that was worrying the French King who in September of 1535 invited the Scottish King to journey in France at the beginning of the next year, for meeting his prospective brides (not only the 19 years old Marguerite of Bourbon but also her next sister Madeleine, who would be the fifteen, and their cousin and sister-in-law of Henry VIII, Louise of Guise, sixteen years old while the fifteen years old Princess Madeleine was excluded by the list of the candidates).
    In April 1536 James V arrived in France as planned and meeting the princesses was instantly smitten by Madeleine, who would soon demonstrate to reciprocate the interest. Francis would try to persuade James to accept one of the other girls, but during the celebration for Madeleine’s 16th birthday in August, he was forced to admit who Madeleine fully reciprocate James’ interest and when his sister Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, observed who denying the match who she wanted to Madeleine was likely to have a worse effect on her health than the Scottish climate, Francis admitted the defeat and resigned himself to give Madeleine’s hand to James, specially as he had no other worth suitor for his daughter as he had half-planned to marry her to Francis of Bar, heir of the Duke of Lorraine, but he had recently married a niece of the Emperor, the 15 years old Dorothea of Denmark.
    So James and Madeleine were betrothed before the departure of the King of Scotland, while the full negotiations for their marriage would continue until the end of the year. James would return in January for marrying Madeleine and so their wedding was celebrated the 10 of January in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, and followed by two months of celebrations in France, so only at the end of April James and Madeleine were able to depart for Scotland, where the welcome celebrations for the new Queen were numerous and enthusiastic. Madeleine would become rather ill at the end of the summer worrying a lot James, but the physician reassured the King on the health of his beloved Queen, who was simply pregnant.
    Madeleine, beautiful and frail, was not destined to have a long life, but she and James would have many years of happiness, and when a bad illness killed both of them, with James dying barely a month after his beloved Madeleine in 1547 they left a secure succession as none of their five children still alive followed them in the grave.

    James V, King of Scotland (1512-1547) married Madeleine of France (1520-1547) in 1537
    1. James, Duke of Rothesay (1538-1543)
    2. Alexander IV, King of Scotland (b. 1540) married Eleanor of England (b. 1541)
    3. Madeleine of Scotland (b. 1541) married ?
    4. Robert, Duke of Albany (b. 1542) married Elizabeth of Orléans (b. 1545)
    5. John, Duke of Ross (b. 1544) married Madeleine d’Orléans (b. 1456)
    6. Arthur of Scotland (1545)
    7. Margaret of Scotland (b. 1546) married ?
     
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  • Index
    • Part 5
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    • isabella

    The matches for his children were a major preoccupation for Francis I of France, since he was forced to accept his own second wedding to Eleanor of Austria, who he hated and often mistreated just because she was Charles V’s sister. First he had married his second son, the Duke d‘Orléans to the heiress Catherine de’Medici, but was rather unhappy about that wedding as he never received the dowry who the Pope had promised to him for Catherine and the girl was not getting pregnant… at least Catherine herself was smart and devoted and the french lands who she had inherited from her mother and aunt were valuable, and that was sufficient to not sign off the match as a failure. Then at the beginning 1536 he had married his heir, the Dauphin and duke of Brittany to princess Isabella of Poland, but his son had died four years later, leaving a little son and a daughter, Francis and Anne, meaning who France would have to be under a regency, unless he lived long enough to see the 14th birthday of his grandson, born in 1538.
    After the wedding of Francis and Isabella he had to deal with the whole Scottish mess, who ended with the marriage of Madeleine to James V (and at least this one had gone well, unlike what he had feared).
    The wedding of his youngest daughter, Margaret, in the previous year, had been another defeat for him as he had been forced to give back the Duchy of Savoy to Charles V’s nephew by marriage, and the wedding between Emmanuel Philibert, barely fourteen, to Margaret, five years older than him, had been the only concession to the claim on Savoy who he had inherited from his mother Louise…
    Charles, Duke d’Angouleme, his youngest legitimate son, was still unmarried at 21 years old and he had still to find a worthy bride for him, and the search was not easy…
     
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