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

On 8th August 1585 Henri of Navarre was excommunicated by Pope Sixtus V. Henri’s mother, Queen Jeanne of Navarre, and her brother-in-law, the Prince of Conde, had been leaders of the Huguenot movement in France. Four years later, Henri became King of France, but there was resistance to him inheriting because of his religion. Dominic Pearce explores this in his article on the Conversion of Henri IV of France here

On 7th August 1514 a peace treaty was signed between England and France. The two countries had been at war, off-and-on, since 1512, when Henry VIII, in the first flush of new kingship had tried to recreate the glories of Agincourt. The first campaign, in 1512, had been led by the Marquess of Dorset, and had ended in disaster for the land forces when they were badly let down by Henry’s father-in-law, Ferdinand of Aragon. The navy, under Sir Edward Howard, had initially had more success. In 1513, Henry set sail for France himself, and achieved some success at the Battle of the Spurs, and the taking of the towns of Tournai and Therouanne.

A wider aspect to the war was the involvement of France’s ally, James IV of Scotland, whose invasion, and subsequent death at Flodden, were the result of his alliance with France. Whilst Louis XII’s allies were loyal to him, Henry was again let down by Ferdinand, and the Emperor, Maximilian I. He turned the tables on them, by negotiating a separate peace with France, which included an agreement for his sister, Mary, to marry the aging Louis (picture).

The details of the treaty were worked out by Henry’s chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey, who had also been responsible for most of the war arrangements.

0n 6th August 1514 Margaret, Dowager Queen of Scots, and sister of Henry VIII of England, married, as her second husband, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus. The reasons for Margaret’s action have been disputed – it has been attributed to love (or lust), to a level of coercion by Angus and his relatives, or to a deliberate decision by Margaret to bolster her position as Governor in the minority of her son, James V, by marrying one of the most important nobles. Whatever her reasons, the marriage spectacularly failed to improve Margaret’s position – instead, she was replaced as Governor by the Duke of Albany, and felt so threatened that she escaped secretly to England, where she bore Angus a daughter, Lady Margaret Douglas. Queen Margaret was thus grandmother to both Mary Queen of Scots, and her husband, Lord Darnley. Read more on the minority of James V here