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

On 6th February 1587, in the Great Hall at Fotheringhay Castle, the warrant for her execution was read aloud to Mary, Queen of Scots. It bore the flamboyant signature of her cousin, Elizabeth I, Queen of England, and was the culmination of nearly 20 years of captivity. Mary had come to England as a supplicant, following the defeat of her forces at the Battle of Langside in 1568. She hoped the English Queen would support her in regaining the throne that she had lost following the tumult that erupted after the assassination of her husband. Elizabeth, strongly influenced by her Secretary, Sir William Cecil, who had an implacable distrust of the Catholic Mary, had held her captive in a series of locations across the north and midlands of England. Numerous plots to free her and put her on the English throne, some undoubtedly with Mary’s support, had finally culminated in a trial that Mary refused to recognise and a death sentence.

On 5th February 1557, another round of the Italian Wars came to an end with signing of the Treaty of Vaucelles, between Philip II of Spain and Henri II of France. By its terms, which were to last five years, it was agreed that both sides would retain the territories they were holding at the time. The French had been allied with Pope Paul IV, who hated the Spanish with a passion. He undermined the Treaty by provoking the Spanish Duke of Alba to invade the Papal States, thus obliging the French King to retaliate in accordance with a prior treaty between them.

Picture of the Spanish Duke of Alba, by Titian

On 4th February 1495, Anne of York, daughter of Edward IV, and sister of Queen Elizabeth of York, was married to Lord Thomas Howard. The pair had been betrothed during the reign of Anne’s uncle, Richard III, as a reward for the support of Lord Thomas’ grandfather, John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk. Following Richard’s defeat at Bosworth, the Howards were out of favour, and Thomas’ father spent some time in the Tower. Nevertheless, by the 1490s, they had shown their loyalty to the new regime and the marriage to Anne was a mark of royal favour. Read more on the Howards here.

The only known representation of Anne is in this stained glass window, where she is second from the right.