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

On 5th October 1528 Bishop Richard Foxe, Lord Privy Seal, died. He had been an adherent of Henry VII since before the king’s victory at Bosworth, and was one of his chief advisors through his whole reign, being promoted to a range of ecclesiastical benefices, including the Bishopric of Winchester, as well as secular offices. Foxe’s diplomatic skills were highly valued by Henry VII, and he was involved in negotiations with both the sovereigns of Spain, and also James IV of Scotland. Things did not go quite so well there – James IV besieged Norham Castle with Foxe inside! Foxe was present at Henry VII’s deathbed, and was one of the executors of his will.

Foxe was a dedicated follower of the Humanist school of thought – encouraging education and the searching out of original texts to inform religion. He was the founder of the school at Grantham attended by Sir William Cecil and later, Isaac Newton. Foxe also founded Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Work began in around 1512, and it was completed in 1517. The range and quantity of books the library contained was highly praised – there were books in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and Erasmus called it one of the ‘chief beauties of Britain’. Foxe remained prominent in the early councils of Henry VIII, and worked closely with Thomas Wolsey, who went on to become chief minister to the king.

On 4th October 1539 a treaty was signed for the marriage of Henry VIII of England to Anne, sister of the Duke of Julich-Berg-Cleves. Anne was 24 years old, and her bridegroom 48. Henry’s motives for remarriage (Anne would be his fourth wife) were mixed. He wished to enhance the strength of the Tudor succession by having a second son, and he also wished to build up European alliances in the face of threats of invasion by both France and the Empire, which, for a short space of time in 1539, had made peace with each other. His choice of bride was influenced by the fact that Cleves, whilst not, as is sometimes claimed, a Lutheran state, was something of a thorn in the side of the Emperor Charles V. Anne’s brother-in-law, the Elector of Saxony, a Lutheran state, was head of the Schmalkaldic League, which was in formal opposition to Charles V.

Henry’s previous wives having been personally known to him beforehand, he was keen to find a wife whom he would find attractive. The painting commissioned by Hans Holbein shows a very lovely woman, and Henry was enchanted. The marriage treaty gave Anne a very handsome jointure to the annual value of 4,367 marks 7s. 1¾ d. The lands included several dissolved monasteries, as well as manors in Marlborough, Wiltshire, Southampton and Essex.

On 3rd October 1568, Elisabeth de Valois, Queen of Spain, died, aged only 23. She was the daughter of Henri II and Catherine de Medici, and had been brought up with Mary, Queen of Scots, her future sister-in-law, in the chateaux of the Loire valley. In 1559, when she was 14, Elisabeth was married to Philip II of Spain, as part of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis. This treaty finally brought an end to the Italian Wars that had been intermittent since the 1490s as both France and Spain sought to dominate the Italian peninsula. Elisabeth was Philip’s third wife – his first, Maria Manuela of Portugal, had borne him a son, Don Carlos, before dying young. It was originally mooted that Don Carlos should marry Elisabeth, but a match to the father was then arranged, probably fortunately, as Don Carlos was mentally unstable. Elisabeth and Philip were married by proxy at Notre Dame, before the princess travelled to Spain for her actual wedding. Philip became attached to his young bride, but it seems possible that the marriage was not consummated immediately, as Elisabeth did not fall pregnant until 1564. She then had a miscarriage before giving birth to two daughters in quick succession – Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, later Governess of the Netherlands, and Infanta Caterina Micaela, later Duchess of Savoy. Elisabeth died miscarrying a third daughter and was buried at the Escorial in Madrid.