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MARY (1496-1533)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 825 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARY (1496-1533) , See also:queen of See also:France, was the daughter of See also:Henry VII. of See also:England and See also:Elizabeth of See also:York. At first it was intended to marry her to See also:Charles of See also:Austria, the future See also:emperor Charles V., and by the treaty of See also:Calais (Dec. 21, 1507) it was agreed that the See also:marriage should take See also:place when Charles should have attained the See also:age of fourteen, the See also:contract being secured by bonds taken from various princes and cities in the See also:Low Countries. On the 17th of See also:December 15o8 the Sieur de See also:Bergues, who had come over as Charles's representative at the See also:head of a magnificent See also:embassy, married the princess by See also:proxy. The contract, originally made by Henry VII., was renewed on the 17th of See also:October 1513 by Henry VIII. at a See also:meeting with See also:Margaret of See also:Savoy at See also:Lille, the See also:wedding being fixed for the following See also:year. But the emperor See also:Maximilian I., to whom See also:Louis XII. had See also:pro-posed his daughter Renee as wife for Charles, with See also:Brittany for See also:dowry, postponed the match with the See also:English princess in a way that See also:left no doubt of his intention to withdraw from the contract altogether. He was forestalled by the See also:diplomacy of See also:Wolsey, at whose instance See also:peace was signed with France on the 7th of See also:August 1514,. and on the same date a treaty was concluded for the marriage of Mary Tudor with Louis XII., who had recently lost his wife See also:Anne of Brittany. The marriage was celebrated at See also:Abbeville on the 9th of October. The bridegroom was a broken See also:man of fifty-two; the See also:bride a beautiful, well-educated and charming girl of eighteen, whose See also:heart was already engaged to Charles See also:Brandon, See also:duke of See also:Suffolk, her future See also:husband. The See also:political marriage was, however, no See also:long one. Mary was crowned queen of France on the 5th of See also:November 1514; on the 1st of See also:January following See also:King Louis died. Mary had only been induced to consent to the marriage with Louis by the promise that, on his See also:death, she should be allowed to marry the man of her choice.

But there was danger that the agreement would not be kept. In France the See also:

dukes of See also:Lorraine and Savoy were mentioned as possible suitors, and meanwhile the new king, See also:Francis I., was making advances to her, and only desisted when she confessed to him her previous See also:attachment to Suffolk. The duke himself was at the head of the embassy which came from England to congratulate the new king, and to the detriment of his political See also:mission he used the opportunity to win the See also:hand of the queen. Francis See also:good-naturedly promised to use his See also:influence in his favour; Henry VIII. himself was not averse to the match, but Mary feared the opposition of the lords of the See also:council, and, in spite of Suffolk's promise to the king not to take any steps in the See also:matter until after his return, she persuaded him to marry her secretly before he left See also:Paris. On their return to England in See also:April, Suffolk was for a while in serious danger from the king's indignation, but was ultimately pardoned through Wolsey's intercession, on See also:payment of a heavy See also:fine and the surrender of all the queen's jewels and See also:plate. The marriage was publicly solemnized at See also:Greenwich on the 13th of May 1515. Suffolk had been already twice married, and his first wife was still alive. He thought it necessary later on (1528) to obtain a See also:bull from See also:Pope See also:Clement VII. declaring his marriage with his first wife invalid and his See also:union with Mary therefore canonical. Mary's See also:life after this was comparatively uneventful. She lived mainly in the retirement of the See also:country, but shared from See also:time to time in the festivities of the See also:court, and was See also:present at the See also:Field of the See also:Cloth of See also:Gold. She died on the 24th of See also:June 1533. By the duke of Suffolk she had three See also:children: Henry, See also:born on the 11th of See also:March 1516, created See also:earl of See also:Lincoln (1525), who died See also:young; Frances, born on the 16th of See also:July 1517, the wife of Henry See also:Grey, See also:marquess of See also:Northampton, and See also:mother of See also:Lady Jane Grey (q.v.) ; and Eleanor.

See Lettres de Louis XII. et du See also:

cardinal Georges d'See also:Amboise (See also:Brussels, 1712) ; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. (Cal. See also:State Pap.) ; M. A. E. See also:Green, Lives of the Princesses of England (vol. v., 1849--1855) ; Life by See also:James See also:Gairdner in Dict. Nat. Biog.

End of Article: MARY (1496-1533)

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