Bloody Mary and the Missing Heir

In late April 1555 London erupted with pleasure on the hearsay that Queen Mary I – ‘Bloody Mary’ – had lastly given delivery to a son. The entire metropolis celebrated. In line with the Venetian ambassador Giovanni Michiel, outlets have been shut, church bells have been rung, inns handed out wine and meals ‘to whoever needed’, and bonfires have been lit on the street.

It was the information everybody had been ready for. Since coming to the throne two years earlier, Mary had been determined for an inheritor. For the Tudors, succession had at all times been a fear. Her father, Henry VIII, had famously struggled to have a son – a lot in order that he had torn England aside within the course of. And even then, it hadn’t been sufficient. Mary was solely queen as a result of her sickly brother, Edward VI, had died in his teenagers. However for her, it had an added significance. Mary wanted a son to safe not simply her throne, but in addition her religion. As a Catholic she was bitterly against Edward’s spiritual reforms and was decided to revive the pope’s authority. Except she produced an inheritor, the crown would move to her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth.

The challenges have been simple. At her accession Mary was 37 years previous, single and – by all accounts – a virgin. The very first thing she wanted was a husband. However who? Mary and her counsellors agreed that she wanted somebody able to defending her. Because the historian David Loades emphasised, the ‘conventional imagery of monarchy’ was nonetheless so sure up with militarism that it was not possible to think about her ruling successfully with out 
a person fulfilling that function. However she couldn’t take the chance of marrying somebody too highly effective or assertive both. She was acutely conscious that the dominion had been entrusted to her, and her alone. She wouldn’t see it wrested from her in marriage. The risks have been clear. There was no precedent for a king consort. Nobody was certain what the function would entail, nor what an formidable man would possibly make of it.

There have been loads of candidates. There was the Infante Luis, brother of King John III of Portugal, an amiable and clever man. There was Edward Courtenay, the dashing earl of Devon. Some courtiers even advised that Cardinal Reginald Pole would possibly make an excellent husband. By far essentially the most interesting, nonetheless, was a Habsburg. Some years earlier than, Mary had been engaged to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He provided a pure defence in opposition to France, England’s conventional enemy, and was a vehement defender of Catholic orthodoxy. Disappointingly, he felt he was now too previous for such a match. However he did have a son, Philip, who was younger, energetic, and – better of all – widowed. Though Charles had been compelled to vow that Philip would by no means be elected emperor, he had settled on his son the dominion of Spain and its territories. Philip would even be named ruler of the Spanish Netherlands. This was a troublesome prospect: the Dutch have been a restive individuals, not averse to revolt. With England in his pocket, Philip can be nicely positioned to place down any risings.

Harmful liaisons

Philip was not with out his opponents. In late 1553 Parliament expressed its opposition to any overseas marriage. The next yr Sir Thomas Wyatt even led a revolt in Kent in an try and power the queen to repudiate her betrothal. Mary was too strong-headed to bow to their calls for. However she was shrewd sufficient to see they might not be ignored. When the wedding contract was drawn up, care was taken to specify that, whereas Philip would ‘take pleasure in collectively with the Queen her model and kingly title, and help her in her administration’, he would haven’t any function within the distribution of places of work or revenues and would haven’t any proper of succession if Mary predeceased him. She granted him no estates in England and appointed no Spanish nobles to her Council. She additionally refused to grant him a coronation – simply in case he used it to grab the throne in his personal proper.

The precedence was to provide an inheritor. This was simpler mentioned than executed. Though Mary was reportedly delighted to lose her virginity (on the age of 38), Philip was much less thrilled. Eleven years youthful than his bride, he had vigorous appetites and located Mary disappointing. However, he did his responsibility. For a time, he even steered away from the ‘bakers’ daughters and different poor whores’ with whom he normally amused himself.    

When Mary fell pregnant in August 1554 the aid was palpable. Any doubts concerning the fecundity of the match have been eliminated, the succession appeared safe, and the bond between husband and spouse was strengthened. However it introduced its personal risks. Philip resented being denied any formal function within the kingdom. He seized on the being pregnant as a possibility to strengthen his hand. His brokers in Parliament pressed for him to have a coronation. They provided a compromise. Philip would repudiate any proper of succession, however within the occasion of the queen’s demise he can be made guardian of any kids – in impact granting him the flexibility to rule England by his offspring.

This was defeated, however the prospect of an inheritor meant that the unresolved problem of Philip’s function couldn’t be ignored. As Mary withdrew from the apply of presidency in preparation for confinement, she left extra day-to-day issues to Philip. Expectation – and hazard – grew.

Phantoms

Regardless of the rumours spreading in London, April 1555 got here and went with out a little one. Mary’s medical doctors swiftly adjusted their calculations. The child would are available June, they declared. Or possibly July. However, in addition to just a few cramps, Mary confirmed no signal of labour. It was not possible to staunch the doubts that swirled across the court docket. Somewhat unkindly, Giovanni Michiel opined that Mary’s being pregnant would ‘finish in wind and nothing else’.

By August, it was clear that Mary’s being pregnant had been a phantom. There can be no inheritor. Her well being – each bodily and psychological – was shattered. The political fallout was much more devastating. As Loades put it, ‘the entire regime had all of a sudden misplaced credibility’. The succession, which solely weeks earlier than had appeared assured, was now broad open.

This put Philip in a bind. It appeared possible that Mary may be unable to conceive. And not using a little one there was no probability that Parliament would formalise his place. Ought to he repudiate the wedding treaty and attempt to seize the throne himself, regardless of the chance? Or ought to he settle for that Elizabeth would rule after Mary, and attempt to handle as greatest he might? Uncertain, he left England to take up his duties within the Spanish Netherlands.

This upset Mary tremendously. Nevertheless low the possibilities, her entire reign hinged on conceiving. Her moods swung violently. Someday, she would write plaintive letters, begging him to return residence. The following, she would kick his portrait in a rage.

Philip knew what he was doing. No matter how unlikely a toddler was, right here was a possibility to enlarge his affect whereas he nonetheless might. Understanding how a lot Mary needed him again, he successfully compelled her to take heed to his views on crown appointments – and even persuaded her to affix the Habsburgs’ conflict in opposition to France.

His return, in March 1557, was transient. He stayed solely so long as was wanted for the ink to dry on the declaration of conflict. By July he was already again on the Continent. What – if something – occurred within the marriage chamber is unclear. However six months later, Mary was satisfied that she was pregnant once more. The signs appeared credible. Everybody held their breath for a supply in February or March.

A misplaced empire

It was in useless. By Might 1558 even the queen needed to admit that there can be no child. It was apparent to her medical doctors that one thing was significantly incorrect. There have been too many signs for a mere phantom being pregnant. It was most probably a pituitary tumour. There was no remedy and little hope.

And not using a little one, Mary had no selection however to recognise Elizabeth as her successor. Nevertheless firmly the queen believed that Elizabeth was a bastard, and thus ineligible to inherit, she was the one life like inheritor. The one various, Mary, Queen of Scots, had simply married the long run king of France, which neither Mary nor Philip might countenance.

This threatened what Mary held dearest of all: the Catholic religion. Though Philip was happy that Elizabeth was religious sufficient to inherit – and should have already got been occupied with marrying her after the queen’s demise – Mary was satisfied that she wouldn’t hesitate to return England to Protestantism. Mary was proper. After her demise, on 17 November 1558, England’s final ties with Rome have been severed, and the final flickering flames of the English Counter-Reformation have been snuffed out.

It’s the nice tragedy of Mary’s life that she died realizing that her religion – and her kingdom – had been misplaced. However her sense of loss was maybe mitigated by her ignorance of what may need come to move had she really had the son she craved. Clearly, the boy would have inherited the English throne. He would have most probably saved England Catholic and – had he lived lengthy sufficient to marry – excluded Elizabeth from the succession. However what Mary couldn’t have guessed is that he might have inherited much more. Philip already had a son, Don Carlos, who was inheritor to Spain. By the point he married Mary, Carlos was already exhibiting indicators of psychological sickness. After he tried to kill Philip’s half-brother Don Juan of Austria in 1568 he was imprisoned. Inside months, he was useless. So, had Philip and Mary had a son, he might have stood to inherit Spain as nicely. He might have gained the entire of the Spanish Empire within the Americas – and the primary English abroad colonies too. The longer term that this may need produced is vertigo-inducing. An empire vaster than any the world had ever seen.

Alexander Lee is a fellow within the Centre for the Research of the Renaissance on the College of Warwick. His newest e-book is Machiavelli: His Life 
and Instances (Picador).