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

On 8th July 1553, Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, having heard of the death of her brother, Edward VI, proclaimed herself as Queen at Kenninghall, her home in Norfolk. The Privy Council, which should have proclaimed her in London, was attempting to overturn the succession by installing Lady Jane Grey, Mary’s 16-year-old cousin, as queen instead. Mary was having none of it. With all the courage and determination of her grandmother, the warrior queen, Isabella of Castile, she determined to fight for her inheritance.

On 7th July 1537 Madeleine, Queen of Scots, died at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. The sixteen year old queen had been in Scotland for just two months, having married James V on 1st January 1537 (N.S.) at Notre Dame de Paris. Madeleine had tuberculosis, and her father, Francois I of France, who had already lost two daughters to the disease, had been reluctant for her to marry and leave for the colder climate of Scotland. Madeleine however, had been eager for the match to the 25 year old King of Scots, allegedly saying she wanted to be a queen before she died. The wedding had been celebrated with much ceremony, and Madeleine had received a munificent dowry. James mourned his young bride, and five years later, he was buried beside her.

The picture shows Madeleine with her mother, Claude, Queen of France and Duchess of Brittany, and her siblings. Madeleine is back right.

On 6th July 1560, the Treaty of Edinburgh between Scotland and England was signed by the Lords of the Covenant, and the English government. The Treaty was part of the wider Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis which had finally put an end to the Valois-Hapsburg wars in Italy. By its terms, agreed by England, the French negotiators, and the Lords of the Covenant, the French troops who had been called in by the late Regent of Scotland, Marie of Guise, to put down the rebellion by the Lords of the Covenant, were withdrawn. The Treaty also sought to prevent Mary, Queen of Scots claiming the throne of England. Queen Mary refused to ratify the treaty, which remained a bone of contention between herself and Elizabeth I of England. Read more about the rebellion which resulted in the treaty here