Scenario:
The Lady Margaret Douglas, sister to a king, niece to a king and mother of a king, is primarily known to history as
Margareta de 'Medici, duchessa consorte di Firenze, duchessa consorte di Penne. Wife of
Alessandro de 'Medici, duca di Firenze e Duca di Penne, Margaret Douglas' future became apparent in 1534, when in the service of Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, she was put forward in place of her cousin Mary Tudor as a bride for the Duke of Florence. As the niece of the King of England and the sister to the King of Scotland, her blood was very royal in comparison to the baseborn Medici Duke, and soon the only question was one of dowry. While Henry expected the Lady in question's father to pay, he agreed to provide for her travels to Florence, and the marriage was on.
Arriving in Italy in May of 1535, the new
duchessa di Firenze made a grande impression in her silks and jewels, provided by her uncle. She, however, found her husband much too dark, and privately was to ask if she had married a moor instead of an Italian. Whatever her private feelings, publicly the new couple put forward a strong front. She even seems to have made a point of befriending the Duke's mistress, Taddea Malaspina, gifting her a partictularly brilliant jewel within two months of arriving.
Indeed, the only issue in the first year of her marriage was that she did not immediately fall pregnant. Writing to her cousin Mary in England, Margaret bemoaned that she felt all eyes were on her to have the Medici heir, particularly since her husband was so amorous and already had illegitimate children himself. She also feared poison, and actively shunned the man that will assassinate her husband, his cousin Lorenzino de' Medici. Despite writing a play devoted to her marriage, the
duchessa di Firenze never grew close to the man her husband seemed close to, famously nicknaming him
Giuda di Italia, or in English, Judas of Italy. However, this nickname was more appropriate later.
Finding herself pregnant for the first time in December of 1536, and began to plan a spectacle to announce her state to the Court of Florence, working independently to surprise her husband. However, in early January, her life's trajectory was changed forever with the assassination of her husband by Lorenzino de' Medici, with the help of his sister Laudomia de' Medici, a woman who Margaret had actually recently allowed into her own household.
Margaret Douglas then found herself trapped in Florence for a period of a month. In her own memoirs, she claims that after three weeks, she could not bear to live under the roof of the man who had killed her husband and who she felt would kill her unborn child, thus she escaped through the help of a serving woman, who found herself killed for the crime of helping her mistress. However, contemporary sources indicate that Margaret was actually let go after pretending to miscarry, which is itself a striking tale. Margaret, who in later years seems to have gone out of her way to dramatize her life, also claimed Lorenzino de' Medici attempted to rape her, but considering that this claim was only made in 1570, over 20 years after the event, it remains unlikely that this occurred, although she may have kept this to herself to protect her child's legitimacy.
Margaret, instead, fled back to her uncle's court, arriving in March to a new Queen, a very different King of England and in general a different atmosphere. Whatever the feel of the court, Henry VIII of England welcomed his niece kindly, furious of the Italians and promising to protect her and her child, and to bring them justice. Margaret was immediately given an income by Henry VIII of England as well, and found herself well treated and honoured as a foreign Duchess.
In early May, the Dowager Duchess of Florence went into seclusion, to await the birth of her only child by her first husband. It was in late June, between the 22nd and the 25th, that Margaret Douglas gave birth to a son, named Alexander de 'Medici, who the English court celebrated as the Duke of Florence. By his Italian titles at the time,
Alessandro de 'Medici, duca di Firenze e Duca di Penne was, for a period of 4 months, the only male child of any of the Tudor lines to be born on English soil and the first surviving male child since the current King of England. This being said, the birth of Alexander was overshadowed by October with the double whammy of the birth of Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales and then the death of Jane Seymour.
Thus, when Margaret Douglas was sufficiently recovered from her own difficult labour, she returned to court as the first lady in the court. Indeed, in 1538, the King of England announced a new succession. First, obviously, came his son. Then, however, did not come his daughters, but Margaret Douglas and her heirs, in particular the Duke of Florence, who's Dukedom had been broken in war between Lorenzino de 'Medici, Cosimo de 'Medici and those faithful to the new Duke Alexander. It was then the place of the King's daughters, and then the children of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Frances and Eleanor Brandon, both of whom were beginning their own families. Thus, Margaret Douglas had suddenly moved quite a bit up in the world.
An independent woman, Margaret found herself somewhat stifled under her uncle's thumb. Wanting to remarry, she took it upon herself to look for a husband, at one point apparently considering a precontract between herself and Thomas Howard, an untitled member of the the Howard family that was currently out of favour. The King was furious with his niece, and sent her lover to the Tower of London. For Margaret herself, however, he instead took the initiative to find her a new husband, promising her a match with Sir Thomas Seymour. The new couple were married in April of 1538, and in October of that year, in celebration of the Prince of Wales' birthday, Thomas Seymour was made the Earl of Essex.
I've been writing this up for a while, so I'll give you the highlights:
- Margaret and Thomas have a tumultuous relationship, resulting in a series of stillborn and short lived children and one surviving son.
- Thomas still plays up during the regency and is executed for treason.
- In 1553, following the death of Edward VI of England, Margaret campaigns against Mary Tudor, managing to have her son sit on the throne. However, Northern England continues to stand for their "Queen" until her death in 1558. Elizabeth lacks similar backing, and instead takes the opportunity in 1559 to marry the Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel Philibert.
- Alexander holds on to the title of Duke of Florence and Penne, but doesn't make any real attempt to take the Italian Duchy.
- While he is married to Margaret Howard from 1552, and has a child in 1555, Alexander I of England annuls his marriage in favour of a marriage with Mary I of Scotland following the death of her husband, the King of France.
- Margaret Douglas remarried after the death of Thomas Seymour to Thomas Howard. They have one daughter.
Margaret Douglas (b.1515: d.1578) m. Alessandro de 'Medici, Duke of Florence and Penne (b.1510: d.1537) (a), Thomas Seymour, 1st Earl of Essex (b.1508: d.1549) (b), Lord Thomas Howard (b.1511: d.1562) (c)
1a) Alexander I of England (b.1537: d.1597) m. Margaret Howard (c.1540: d.1621) (a) -annulled 1561-, Mary I of Scotland (b.1542: d.1593) (b)
1a) Elizabeth de' Medici (b.1555)
2b) James de' Medici, Prince of Wales, Duke of Rothesay (b.1563: d.1580)
3b) Charles I of England and Scotland (b.1566)
4b) Mary de' Medici (b.1567: d.1570)
5b) Margaret de' Medici (b.1569)
6b) Alexander de' Medici, Duke of York and Albany (b.1572)
7b) Catherine de' Medici (b.1576: d.1577)
2b) Mary Seymour (b.1539: d.1540)
3b) Margaret Seymoyr (b.1540: d.1540)
4b) Stillborn Son (c.1541)
5b) Catherine Seymour (b.1543: d.1543)
6b) Edward Seymour, 2nd Earl of Essex (b.1545) m. Mary de Vere (c.1550: d.1624) (a)
1a) Thomas Seymour, 1st Duke of Essex (b.1575)
2a) Frances Seymour (b.1582)
7b) Stillborn Daughter (c.1546)
8b) Stillborn Son (c.1548)
9c) Anne Howard (b.1554: d.1599) m. Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b.1549: d.1587) (a)
1a) Charles Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland (b.1574)
2a) Alice Manners (b.1580)