Game of Queens

by Sarah Gristwood

  The son of Mary, Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley, James (like several of his predecessors on the Scottish throne) was crowned while still in his cradle, his mother having been forced to abdicate. Reared in the harsh traditions of the Scottish reformed church, he was taught to see Mary as an example of bad management and perhaps womanly weakness. He was on good terms with Elizabeth I, upon whose death in 1603 he became James I, King of England.

  England

  Henry VII (1457–1509)

  The first Tudor monarch won the crown of England at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. His marriage to the Yorkist heiress Elizabeth united the Yorkist and Lancastrian claims, ending the Wars of the Roses but there seems, even on the Yorkist side, to have been no thought that Elizabeth of York could herself assume the crown. Marrying his heir Prince Arthur to Ferdinand and Isabella’s daughter Katherine was a coup for his fragile new dynasty.

  Katherine of Aragon (1485–1536)

  The youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, she was first married to Henry VII’s oldest son Arthur. After Arthur’s early death, Katherine famously and controversially married Arthur’s younger brother, Henry VIII. It was a love match that endured for over a decade into Henry’s reign but foundered on her failure to give him a son.

  Henry VIII (1491–1547)

  Most widely known for his six wives and for the break with Rome to which his desire for a male heir led him, Henry was a Renaissance monarch. The rival of François I and Charles V, he was anxious to play a role on the wider European stage. His older sister Margaret was already married to the King of Scots when he came to the throne in 1509 but he arranged the marriage of his younger sister Mary (1496–1533) to Louis XII of France and tolerated her second marriage to his favourite Charles Brandon (Lord Lisle, Duke of Suffolk, 1484–1545).

  Wolsey (Thomas, Cardinal 1473?–1530)

  A meteoric rise through the ranks of the church brought Wolsey, a butcher’s son, from humble origins to a pre-eminent position in the government of Henry VIII. Lord chancellor of England, and a cardinal after 1515, he exercised a controlling hand over the diplomacy of much of Henry’s early reign, but fell as dramatically as he had risen over his failure to win Henry his divorce from Katherine of Aragon.

  Cromwell (Thomas, 1485?–1540)

  A protégé of Wolsey, Cromwell survived his master’s fall and, from even more humble origins, rose to have his finger in even more of the nation’s pies. A layman committed to religious reform, he was given unique powers over the nascent Church of England, which he used to mastermind the dissolution of the monasteries. Cromwell first supported and then broke with Anne Boleyn and was instrumental in her downfall. His own downfall came through another of Henry’s wives, when the king turned against his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves whose marriage Cromwell had promoted.

  Anne Boleyn (1501?–1536)

  Anne was born in comparative obscurity. She was brought up, however, first under the tutelage of Margaret of Austria and then at the French court. Despite her disgrace and death on the scaffold, English Protestantism, and the reign of her daughter Elizabeth, are her enduring legacies.

  Edward VI (1537–1553)

  Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour at last gave him the longed-for son but Edward survived only six years after inheriting his father’s throne at the age of nine. The zealous Protestantism of his reign culminated in the boy-king’s attempt to will the throne not to either of his half-sisters, Elizabeth and Mary but to his second cousin Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554), the granddaughter of Henry VIII’s younger sister Mary.

  Mary Tudor (1516–1558)

  The daughter of Katherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, Mary Tudor suffered acutely from the break-up of her parents’ marriage, refusing to follow her father’s move towards the reformed faith. She endured years of real hardship before, in 1553, the death of her younger brother Edward brought her to the throne. Once on it, however, her efforts to restore Catholicism, and her marriage to Philip of Spain, brought her the sobriquet ‘Bloody’ Mary.

  Elizabeth Tudor (1533–1603)

  Anne Boleyn’s daughter had an equally difficult path to the English throne, for all that her long reign has left her remembered as our greatest monarch. History tells of her long rivalry with her kinswoman, Mary Stuart, across the Scottish border but it is less often that we think to see her in relation to other European female rulers.

  Dudley (Robert, first Earl of Leicester, 1532–1588)

  The son of the man who promoted Lady Jane Grey to the throne, Robert Dudley nevertheless became Elizabeth I’s great favourite, some said her lover, and the longest-lasting contender for her hand in marriage. Her reputation and his suffered when his wife Amy Dudley died in suspicious circumstances but he remained her close advisor and friend.

  Burghley (William Cecil, first Baron Burghley, 1520–1598)

  The great statesman of Elizabeth Tudor’s reign, Cecil became principal secretary of state immediately upon her accession and subsequently lord treasurer. Like his rival Dudley he was a committed Protestant, urging the queen to aid her co-religionists in Europe and was a particularly determined enemy to the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots.

  Reformers

  Martin Luther (1483–1546)

  The German theologian and former monk is credited with having launched the Protestant Reformation when, in 1517, he reputedly nailed his Ninety-five Theses, complaints of corrupt practices within the Catholic church, to a church door in Wittenberg. His refusal to recant sparked a great divide in Europe but Luther’s ideas (which still shared some key points of Catholic doctrine) would be superseded in many territories by a new and more severe generation largely made up of Swiss reformers.

  John Calvin (1509–1564)

  Best known as leader of the Protestant church in Geneva, Calvin was born in France but fled after a clampdown in 1534 forced a distinction between those seeking reform of the Catholic church and those at odds with its central tenets. The doctrines of what became known as Calvinism include the belief that the fate of each human soul is predestined and the absolute sovereignty of God in its salvation, without reference to ritual or good works.

  John Knox (1513?–1572)

  The Scottish reformer and firebrand, once sentenced to row the French galleys as a prisoner for his part in a rebellion, found life in English and European exile hardened his virulent anti-Catholicism. An outspoken critic of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, his most famous work, The first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of women, set him also at odds with the Protestant Elizabeth Tudor.

  Chronology

  1474 December 11

  Isabella I becomes Queen Regnant of Castile, succeeding her half-brother whose putative daughter, La Beltraneja, also claimed the throne.

  1479 January 20

  Isabella’s husband Ferdinand becomes King of Aragon, succeeding his father. He and Isabella exercise effective joint rule as the ‘Catholic Kings’ of Spain.

  1482 March 27

  Mary, ruling Duchess of Burgundy, dies, to be succeeded by her young son Philip.

  1483 August 30

  Charles VIII becomes King of France, succeeding his father Louis XI. Charles’s sister Anne de Beaujeu becomes regent in all but name during the thirteen-year-old’s minority.

  1486 February 16

  Maximilian I (Maximilian of Austria), widower of Mary of Burgundy, is elected Holy Roman Emperor.

  1491 December 6

  Anne, the ruling Duchess of Brittany, is forced to marry the French king Charles, beginning what would become a permanent attachment of Brittany to France’s interests.

  1492

  Ferdinand and Isabella conquer Granada (2 January) and end the Moorish rule of southern Spain, expel the Spanish Jews (31 March) at the demand of Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada and (17 April) sign an agreement with Italian navigator Christopher Columbus, allowing him to claim any new lands discovered on their behalf.

  1498 April 7

  Louis XII
becomes King of France, succeeding his kinsman Charles VIII.

  1504 November 26

  Juana ‘the Mad’ becomes titular Queen Regnant of Castile, succeeding her mother Isabella. Her father Ferdinand and husband Philip of Burgundy contest control of the country.

  1506 September 22

  Philip of Burgundy dies, leaving his widow Juana to spend most of her life in incarceration and leaving control of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon. Philip’s Netherlands territories pass to his six-year-old son Charles.

  1507 March 18

  Margaret of Austria appointed Regent of the Netherlands for her nephew Charles.

  1509 April 21

  Henry VIII becomes King of England, succeeding his father Henry VII. He immediately marries Katherine of Aragon.

  1513 September 9

  The Battle of Flodden between England and Scotland. James IV of Scotland dies, to be succeeded by his infant son James V, whose mother Margaret Tudor is left as regent.

  1515 January 1

  François I becomes King of France, succeeding his cousin and father-in-law Louis XII.

  1516 January 23

  The death of Ferdinand leaves Aragon to his grandson Charles, already ruler of the Netherlands. On 14 March it is announced that Charles will assume rule of all Spanish territories, nominally sharing that rule with his incarcerated mother Juana, official Queen Regnant of Castile.

  1517 October 31

  Martin Luther posts Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Palast Church at Wittenberg, condemning corrupt practices in the Catholic church.

  1519 June 28

  Charles V is elected Holy Roman Emperor, succeeding his grandfather Maximilian.

  1521 January 3

  Pope Leo X (the first pope from the Florentine banking family, the Medici) excommunicates Martin Luther.

  April 18

  Luther appears before the Diet of Worms but refuses to recant.

  April 8

  Charles V gives control of his hereditary Habsburg Austrian lands to his brother Ferdinand (also his regent in the Holy Roman Empire) keeping control of his Spanish, New World and Netherlands territories himself.

  1525 February 24

  Battle of Pavia sees the crushing defeat of the French by Charles V’s army and the capture of King François.

  1526 August 29

  Battle of Mohacs; the Ottoman army under Suleiman the Magnificent defeats the Hungarian forces, which causes the subsequent reorganisation of Hungary. The Turkish threat to the east becomes an ever-greater factor in European politics through the following decades.

  1527 May 6

  Rome plundered by imperial troops, Pope Clement VII (a second Medici pope, uncle of Catherine de Medici) is forced to flee. This has serious consequences for the papal inquiry into the validity of the marriage of Henry VIII to Katherine of Aragon.

  1529 August 3

  Ladies’ Peace of Cambrai signed by Margaret of Austria (on behalf of her nephew Charles V) and Louise of Savoy (on behalf of her son François I).

  October 1

  The Marburg Colloquy, a discussion between Martin Luther and the more radical Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli, illustrates important theological differences between different branches of the new Reforming faith. The following year, 1530, sees the ‘Protestant’ princes of Germany form the Schmalkaldic League, a defensive alliance against the overlordship of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

  1531 January 3

  Mary of Hungary requested by her brother Charles V to assume regency of the Netherlands, following the death of their aunt Margaret of Austria.

  1533 ?January?

  Henry VIII of England secretly marries Anne Boleyn, who is crowned queen 1 June before the birth of their daughter Elizabeth on 7 September.

  1534 March 23

  First Act of Succession secures the English succession to King Henry’s children by Anne Boleyn and declares Princess Mary a bastard. In November, the Act of Supremacy declares Henry the ‘only supreme head on earth’ of the English church.

  1536 January 7

  Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, dies.

  May 19

  Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, executed.

  May 30

  Henry VIII marries his third wife, Jane Seymour.

  October 13

  The Pilgrimage of Grace protests against Henry’s break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries but is harshly repressed.

  1542 April 15

  James V of Scotland dies, to be succeeded by his infant daughter Mary, beginning the slow rise to power of James’s widow Marie de Guise.

  1545 December 13

  Pope Paul III convenes the Council of Trent, the twenty-five sessions of which would be held off and on until 1563. The ecumenical council both consolidated the doctrines of the Catholic church and condemned those of Protestantism. This can be seen as the start of the Counter-Reformation.

  1547 January 28

  Henry VIII dies, succeeded as King of England by his son Edward VI.

  March 31

  Henri II becomes king of France, succeeding his father François I.

  1553 July 6

  The early death of Edward VI sees the throne pass for a mere nine days to Lady Jane Grey before being seized by Edward’s half-sister Mary Tudor. Crowned as Mary I, she sets about returning England to the Catholic faith.

  1555 May 25

  Jeanne d’Albret becomes Queen Regnant of Navarre.

  1555 October 25

  Mary of Hungary resigns regency of the Netherlands.

  1556 January 16

  Charles V abdicates the crown of Spain to his son Philip II, to whom he had already handed over the Netherlands the previous October.

  1558 November 17

  Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England, succeeding her half-sister Mary.

  1559 April 3

  Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, orchestrated by Christina of Denmark, ends sixty-five years of intermittent warfare, much of it centring on rival claims to the Netherlands.

  May 2

  John Knox returns to Scotland from exile. In Geneva, where he had worked closely with John Calvin, he published the pamphlet The first blast of the trumpet agaimst the monstrous regiment of women.

  July 10

  François II (husband of Mary, Queen of Scots) becomes King of France, succeeding his father Henri II. Rise to power of the Guise family.

  1560 December 5

  Charles IX becomes King of France, succeeding his brother François II. His mother Catherine de Medici assumes power during his minority, in rivalry with the Guises.

  1561 August 9

  Mary, Queen of Scots returns to her country to assume active rule.

  1562 March 1

  The Massacre of Vassy, the killing of French Protestants by the Duc de Guise’s men, triggers the start of the French Wars of Religion.

  1564 July 25

  Maximilian II becomes Holy Roman Emperor, following his father Ferdinand.

  1567 February 10

  Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered.

  May 15

  Mary marries Lord Bothwell, widely held responsible for Darnley’s murder.

  July 24

  Mary is forced by her rebellious nobles to abdicate in favour of her infant son James VI.

  September 5

  The Duke of Alba, arriving in the Netherlands to put down iconoclastic riots, establishes the ‘Council of Troubles’. Margaret of Parma resigns her regency and Alba’s harshness signals the start of the long Dutch revolt against Spanish rule.

  1568 May 16

  Mary, Queen of Scots flees south over the border into England, to begin almost twenty years of captivity.

  1571 October 7

  The Battle of Lepanto gives a league of European Catholic powers a great naval victory against the Ottoman Turks.

  1572 June 9

  Jeanne d’Albret dies, to be succeeded as ruler of Navarre by her son Henri.
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  August 24

  Celebrations for Henri of Navarre’s marriage to Catherine de Medici’s daughter, intended to heal religious divides, instead herald the terrible anti-Protestant slaughter of the Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day.

  1574 May 30

  Henri III becomes King of France, succeeding his brother Charles IX.

  1581 July 26

  Seven northern (and largely Protestant) provinces of the Netherlands formally declare independence from Spain.

  1587 February 8

  Mary, Queen of Scots is executed at Fotheringhay.

  1588 August 8

  The approach of the Armada fleet, sent by Philip of Spain against England, provokes Elizabeth I’s address to the troops at Tilbury. Much of the fleet is destroyed by adverse weather.

  1589 August 2

  Henri of Navarre becomes Henri IV of France, succeeding his kinsman and brother-in-law Henri III. This ends the line of Valois kings and brings in the Bourbon dynasty.

  1603 March 24

  Elizabeth I dies, leaving the throne of England to James VI of Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scots’s son.

  Preface

  The Queene is queint and quick conceit,