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

On 3rd October 1568, Elisabeth de Valois, Queen of Spain, died, aged only 23. She was the daughter of Henri II and Catherine de Medici, and had been brought up with Mary, Queen of Scots, her future sister-in-law, in the chateaux of the Loire valley. In 1559, when she was 14, Elisabeth was married to Philip II of Spain, as part of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis. This treaty finally brought an end to the Italian Wars that had been intermittent since the 1490s as both France and Spain sought to dominate the Italian peninsula. Elisabeth was Philip’s third wife – his first, Maria Manuela of Portugal, had borne him a son, Don Carlos, before dying young. It was originally mooted that Don Carlos should marry Elisabeth, but a match to the father was then arranged, probably fortunately, as Don Carlos was mentally unstable. Elisabeth and Philip were married by proxy at Notre Dame, before the princess travelled to Spain for her actual wedding. Philip became attached to his young bride, but it seems possible that the marriage was not consummated immediately, as Elisabeth did not fall pregnant until 1564. She then had a miscarriage before giving birth to two daughters in quick succession – Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, later Governess of the Netherlands, and Infanta Caterina Micaela, later Duchess of Savoy. Elisabeth died miscarrying a third daughter and was buried at the Escorial in Madrid.

On 2nd October 1536, a rising began in Lincolnshire that was the precursor to the most widespread and potentially destabilising rebellion of Henry VIII’s reign. The motives of the rebels were mixed, partially fear of taxation, but also concerns over the succession and the religious changes of the previous years. An inflammatory sermon had been preached in Louth, and the commons were determined to make their voices heard in government. The rebels tried to engage the local gentry as leaders, and, while some joined in willingly, many were forced into involvement under duress. Others, such as Sir Thomas Burgh of Gainsborough, refused to have anything to do with it. By the end of the month the main action in Lincolnshire had been suppressed, but trouble flared up into a full scale armed revolt in Yorkshire, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace.

On 1st October 1553 Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon, was crowned in Westminster Abbey. In her thirty-seven years, Mary had lurched from petted child, to de facto Princess of Wales, then to humiliated illegitimate daughter, forced to take a secondary position to her baby half-sister, then friend and companion of her later stepmothers, before being restored to her place in the succession in 1544. During her brother’s reign, Mary had been treated sometimes with respect as the heir, and other times as a recalcitrant and disobedient subject for her refusal to accept the religious changes of Edward’s reign. Finally, she overcame an attempt to bypass her in favour of her cousin, Lady Jane Grey, emerging triumphant as the first woman crowned in her own right in England. Female rule was looked upon with suspicion, but Mary proved that a queen could be just as effective as a king. Her policies, both good and bad, were enacted and effected with all the force of any king’s.