Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

On 26th July 1525, the Duke of Richmond's Household departed for Sheriff Hutton from Rye House, Hertfordshire (shown in the picture). The six year old duke was the illegitimate son of Henry VIII and Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount. Henry had begun to despair of having a legitimate male heir, and whilst his daughter, Mary, was sent to Wales, as de facto Princess of Wales, Richmond was appointed as President of the Council of the North.

The purpose of the Council was to show royal power in a part of the country that was far from London, and often difficult to rule. The man in charge of his household was Sir William Parr, and the Duke’s entourage stayed at Parr’s home at Rye House, where Sir William’s nephew, another William Parr, joined the ducal household. Many of the members of the Duke’s household later became supporters of religious reform. Richmond was to remain in the north for some years, but died young, in 1536, having married Mary Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, but never consummating the match.

On 25th July 1554, Mary I, Queen of England and Philip II of Spain were married at Winchester Cathedral. In subsequent interpretations of Mary’s reign, the marriage has been seen as a mistake, but the situation at the time was more complex than later historians, who were overwhelmingly Protestant and anti-Spanish, reflected.

Whilst female rulers were not unknown (and Mary’s own grandmother, Isabella of Castile was one of the most successful mediaeval monarchs), it was a foregone conclusion that a Queen-regnant would marry, both to carry on her line, and for support, particularly in military matters. In many cases, the husband would effectively oust the wife from her position, as had happened to Mary’s aunt, Juana of Castile.

For Mary, marriage was urgent – she was thirty-seven, not robust, and keen to re-establish the Catholic faith in England. Philip was her cousin, and was also the representative of the traditional Anglo-Burgundian alliance that had been a feature of English politics and economics for at least one hundred years. The plans for the marriage split Mary’s Council, and led to the Wyatt Rebellion. However, the eventual treaty was very favourable to England, and prevented Philip having any claims on Mary’s throne, whilst any children would have inherited his Burgundian territories.

The 25th July is the Feast of St James, the patron saint of Spain, and the date was presumably chosen for that reason.

On 24th July 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots was forced to abdicate by the Scots Lords. Following rebellion, she, and her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell, had raised an army to confront the rebels at Carberry Hill. Battle was never joined, and, in the end, Mary surrendered when the Lords swore that if Bothwell were exiled, she and the Lords could find a compromise. They lied.

Mary was carried through the streets of Edinburgh disgraced and branded as a murderer and harlot. Pregnant, she was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle, where, at the end of her tether after a miscarriage, she was coerced into signing articles of abdication.