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

On 31st March 1519, Queen Claude of France bore a second son, Henri. The young prince had a difficult childhood – he was sent to Spain as a hostage in exchange for his father, François I, who was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525. Henri, together with his older brother, remained there for four years, an experience which raised the political rivalry between France and Spain to one of personal hatred. He returned to France and was married to Catherine de Medici, niece of the Pope, as part of a plan to increase French strength against Spain and the Empire.

The marriage was miserable – Henri preferred his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, some twenty years older than both himself and his bride. In 1536, the death of his brother led to Henri becoming his father’s heir. He became King of France in 1547, and maintained the alliance with Scotland, arranging for the marriage of his son to Mary, Queen of Scots. He died in a jousting accident in 1559.

The drawing of Henri II is a preparatory study for his portrait by Clouet in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

On 30th March 1558 Queen Mary I made her will. It opens with the long roll call of her titles 'Queen of England, Spain, France, both Sicilies, Jerusalem and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant, Countess of Hapsburg, Flanders and Tyrol.' Mary believed herself to be pregnant, and in the document she names the 'frewte' of her body as heir to her Imperial Crown of England and Ireland, her title to France, and all the dependencies thereof together with all her other honours, castles, fortresses, manors, lands, tenements, prerogatives and hereditaments. She left large sums for charitable bequests, including the hospital at the Savoy founded by her grandfather, Henry VII, with the additional request that old or indigent soldiers be cared for there. She did not specify a preferred burial location, only asked that the body of her mother, Katharine of Aragon, be moved to join her. In the event, the Queen was not pregnant, and her heir was her half-sister Elizabeth. None of Mary’s bequests were carried out. Read our in-depth feature about Mary’s life here.

Picture of Mary I by Hans Eworth

29th March 1461 was the date of the Battle of Towton. It was Palm Sunday, yet, despite the custom of the time not to fight on a holy day, the battle was joined. It is reputed to be the bloodiest battle ever fought in England, taking place in driving wind and snow. The Lancastrian forces bore the brunt of the weather, the wind blowing straight into them, blinding them with sleet and carrying the Yorkist arrows further than the usual range. Edward of York won the battle and was crowned Edward IV the following June, whilst the Lancastrians fled into exile. More on the Wars of the Roses here