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

On 31st July 1527, the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, brother of the Emperor Charles V, and his wife, Anne of Bohemia, had a son, named Maximilian for his great-grandfather, Emperor Maximilian I. The young Maximilian was elected as Emperor in 1564. He remained theoretically, if not whole-heartedly, a Catholic, but he frequently sought reconciliation with German Protestants, whilst not always maintaining a warm relationship with his cousin and brother-in-law, Philip II of Spain. As well as being Emperor, Maximilian was King of Hungary and King of Bohemia (both inherited via the maternal line). During his reign, much of his time was taken up with defending his eastern borders from Turkish advances. Maximillian’s main residence was the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, where the block now called the Stallburg (Imperial Stables) was built for him in Renaissance style. By his wife, Maria of Austria (his first cousin), Maximilian had some sixteen children of whom two sons succeeded him as Emperor, and two daughters became Queens of Spain and France. Maximilian was elected as a member of the Order of the Garter in 1567.

On 30th July 1489, Anne Woodville, Viscountess Bourchier, died. Anne was one of the daughters of Sir Richard Woodville and his wife, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, whose clandestine marriage had caused scandal at the Lancastrian court. When Anne’s sister, Elizabeth, became Queen as the wife of Edward IV, her siblings were as advantageously married as possible.

Anne’s husband was William Bourchier, son of the Earl of Essex and first cousin to the King. Anne and William had three children before his death in 1480, after which she married George Grey, later Earl of Kent. Anne became a lady-in-waiting to her sister, on an annual salary of £40.

Anne’s son, Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex, was a solid member of the Tudor establishment. Her granddaughter, Anne Bourchier, Baroness Bourchier, was unhappily married to the William Parr, brother of Katherine Parr.

On 29th July 1567, following the enforced abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots during her imprisonment at Lochleven, her thirteen month old son, James, was crowned at Stirling, to the accompaniment of a sermon from John Knox. James was the third Scots monarch in a row to succeed as a baby, and, as with his grandfather, James V, and his mother, he faced a long minority, whilst the Scots Lords battled for supremacy.

The first Regent was his half-uncle, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, who was determined to hold on to power and spent considerable time and effort in suppressing the Queen’s remaining supporters. Moray was assassinated in 1570. The second Regent was James’ grandfather, Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox, who died (possibly assassinated) in a raid on Stirling in 1571. Third up was John Erskine, Earl of Mar, who was also James’ guardian. Mar died, possibly of natural causes, but conceivably by poisoning, in 1572.

The host of the dinner at which Mar fell ill, the Earl of Morton, became the fourth Regent in five years. He too, had a chequered history as Regent, and was eventually executed on James VI’s orders for complicity in the murder of Lord Darnley. King James, brought up in an atmosphere of power-struggles and intrigue, soon proved himself to be quite as wily as any of his lords.