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

On 10th July 1559, Henri II, King of France, died following a jousting accident. He had been competing in a grand tournament held on 30th June to celebrate the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, which finally put an end to the war with Spain and the Empire that had lasted on-and-off for more than sixty years. His daughter, Elisabeth, was to marry Philip II of Spain. During the joust, Montmorecy, his opponent’s, spear shattered and a splinter entered Henri’s eye. He died in great pain. His wife, Catherine de Medici, refused access to his long-term mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Henri’s death brought his son Francois II and his wife, Mary, Queen of Scots, to the throne of France.

On 9th July 1540, the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves was annulled. The grounds given were that Anne had been pre-contracted to marry Francois, Duke of Lorraine and that Henry, unsure of the legality of the marriage, had been unable to consummate it. In fact, Henry, although he seems later to have got on well with Anne, found her physically unappealing. Anne, perhaps cannier than Henry’s other wives, accepted the annulment with good grace, and received a handsome settlement, including Richmond Palace and Hever Castle. She lived in England for the rest of her life, on good terms with the whole royal family, even attending Mary I’s coronation. She died in 1557 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

On 8th July 1553, Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, having heard of the death of her brother, Edward VI, proclaimed herself as Queen at Kenninghall, her home in Norfolk. The Privy Council, which should have proclaimed her in London, was attempting to overturn the succession by installing Lady Jane Grey, Mary’s 16-year-old cousin, as queen instead. Mary was having none of it. With all the courage and determination of her grandmother, the warrior queen, Isabella of Castile, she determined to fight for her inheritance.