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

On 3rd November 1527, Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria was elected as King of Hungary. Ferdinand was the second son of Juana of Castile and Philip of Burgundy. Born in Alcala de Henares, Spain he spent the majority of his youth in Spain, where he formed a close relationship with his grandfather, Ferdinand of Aragon. On his death in 1516, the older Ferdinand left him 30,000 ducats worth of land in Naples plus 50,000 in cash. Three years later, his other grandfather, Maximilian of Hapsburg, the Holy Roman Emperor, died and was succeeded by Ferdinand’s older brother, Charles. Ferdinand took over management of the Hapsburg lands in Austria.

Ferdinand had married Anna Jagiellon, daughter of the King of Hungary and Bohemia in 1515, in a double marriage between Ferdinand and Anna and their respective siblings, Mary and Louis. When Louis was killed at the Battle of Mohacs on 29th August 1526, Ferdinand was proclaimed his brother-in-law’s successor in Bohemia, with certain conditions. Hungary was an elective monarchy and Ferdinand had a rival – John Zapolya – so although he was elected by one group of the nobility, Zapolya commanded significant support. Eventually, Hungary was split, and Zapolya’s section became a vassal state of the Sultan of Turkey. In 1556, Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor, a position he held until his death in 1564.

On 2nd November 1475, a daughter named Anne was born to Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. She was their sixth child, and fourth daughter. During her childhood, Anne was betrothed to Philip of Burgundy, son of the Emperor Maximilian and his wife, Mary of Burgundy, but her father died before the marriage could take place. Anne was just eight when Edward IV died, and her brother, who was never crowned, disappeared to be replaced by her uncle, Richard III. Anne remained in the sanctuary of Westminster with her mother and sisters, until they were persuaded to emerge on receiving promises that, despite having been branded as illegitimate, they would be treated honourably by their uncle.

Richard III arranged a marriage for Anne with Thomas Howard, the grandson of Richard’s close supporter, John Howard, Duke of Norfolk. The marriage had not taken place by the time of Richard’s death at Bosworth in 1485, but was eventually solemnised in 1495 when Anne was twenty, and her husband a couple of years older. Anne and Thomas had several children, but none survived childhood. Anne was frequently in attendance on her sister, Elizabeth of York, and took part in the christenings of Elizabeth’s children. Anne died in 1511, and was buried in the Howard chapel at Thetford Priory, although, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries implemented by her nephew, Henry VIII, her remains were moved to the church at Framlingham.

In the picture, Anne is shown third from left, her older sister Mary, having died before the window was made for Canterbury Cathedral

On 1st November 1456 Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, died at Carmarthen Castle aged about twenty-three. Edmund was the oldest son of the marriage of Catherine de Valois, Princess of France and Dowager Queen of England, and one of her household, Owain Tudor. The Tudor family was descended from the native Welsh Princes, but, following the conquest of Wales by Edward I, and the suppression of the uprising of Owain Glyndwr at the turn of the fifteenth century, Welshmen were severely handicapped under English law. Edmund, however, was lucky. His half-brother, King Henry VI, recognised his mother’s second marriage in the Parliament of 1453, and treated his half-siblings generously.

Edmund was granted the Earldom of Richmond, and married to one of Henry’s second cousins, the child-heiress Lady Margaret Beaufort. Modern sensibilities are horrified by Edmund’s impregnation of his wife, who was about thirteen, but, although consummation of marriages at such a young age was not widespread, it was legal. Edmund, and his younger brother, Jasper, gave their complete allegiance to King Henry and in 1456, Edmund was captured by William Herbert, a Yorkist, who held him at Carmarthen Castle, where he died of plague.