Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon Dowry of Despair
On 13 October 1514, Louis XII had signed letters of obligation
to allow all the gifts given to his wife, and Queen Mary Tudor,
including jewels, furniture, this set to a value of
400,000 golden crowns, which were promised as her dowry.
A refund to the King would only need to be paid on
what she brought into France, along with expenses of passage.
According to the marriage contract of Mary, now queen dowager,
she was to have full
use of the plate and furniture that once belonged to the late King.
However, Francis I now the new monarch said
this was unreasonable for him to allow this property to be taken
into the hands of Mary, more so if she then decided to leave France.
For Mary, she was content in the knowledge that all the gifts given to her
were her's and she could do whatever she wanted with them.
Francis, still not happy, said the gifts should be used to make payments
for the late Kings debts and that if Mary kept the property,
she would also agree to the debt and pay it off accordingly
as she had little to no rights on the said objects.
Suffolk took a back-row seat for this engagement;
he had little in the way of knowledge on the legalities of this request
and was quoted as saying, "I can't actually tell if she's right or not
because I'm not educated enough."
A further word from Francis assured
Mary that she must give up, in some way, to his demand.
Suffolk sent a letter to Wolsey stating that Francis would be content
with half the gold plate, which had been valued at 50,000 crowns.
He said he'd be happy for her to receive 50,000 crowns
for the jewels, again roughly half of what had been given to her.
But Suffolk had already sent the King a gift, a peace offering.
It was called the Miroir de Naples, and this was one gift
that would remain in England, although begrudgingly to Francis.
Mary did acknowledge the jewels Francis had given, which included the Miroir
de Naples a large diamond with a large pearl attached.
There was also Twenty diamonds to a chain that had gold edging
and would serve as a headdress.
Eight large pearls as buttons for the sleeves; 8 others for a headband;
a large emerald; a large ruby, and two large diamonds set in 4 " golden kittens
": which she inherited from her late lord and husband, Louis XII.
The arrival of the jewel seemed to pacify Henry,
and he sent letters to Francis demanding his sister's return immediately.
Henry wanted the couple home and for them to be married legitimately in England.
However, Suffolk had openly asked if the marriage could take place before
leaving France, this was agreed, and a ceremony took place on 30 March.
Henry was unhappy at this new development, but his anger was short-lived.
You see, Henry and Suffolk had history, and it was good history at that!
A lifelong friendship between the two did have meaning to the King,
although Suffolk had been treading on eggshells over the last few months.
Henry knew how to handle Francis, so he wasn't seen as a problem, and he knew
Suffolk could still do a job for him while awaiting his return.
Suffolk received news that he could take up the role of mediator
in peace discussions with Francis, information
which certainly put a smile back on his face.
It was then and only then would the couple be allowed to return to England.
One stumbling block to this was that Francis wanted the Duke of Albany
to enter Scotland, Yet this would not be allowed
unless the Franco-Scottish alliance was broken.
Francis, as expected, would have none of this and declared
that if Albany were not able to go to Scotland,
as he was currently being held by Henry for three months.
In this scenario, Francis would keep Suffolk as a hostage
and prevent him from returning to England for the same length of time.
It was literally tit for tat; ambassadors said they would not permit
nor have any authority to allow this.
If Albany were to go to Scotland, the King would undoubtedly send help
to his sister Queen Margaret.
On 5 April, Mary and Suffolk were in church; when Francis entered,
he gave little to no attention to Mary passing her swiftly to confront Suffolk.
His strategy was to talk down the current arguments
and give his Scottish friends new hope that he was, in fact, still with them.
This gesture worked, and a new peace treaty was declared,
but this didn't solve how Mary and Suffolk would still be able to go home.
the niggling issue of money was always on the agenda, yet
one significant sum could make all the difference.
Francis knew he had little chance of getting everything back from Mary.
However, on 14 April, Mary signed a receipt giving 200,000 gold crowns
which included 20,000 towards her travel expenses, returned from her dowry.
Yet, Francis was convinced that Mary had not received
these as a right but as a gift from Louis.
But Mary was now free to go and set off back to England.
Her feelings were joyous; it was like being released
from prison and leaving Paris with its mud and smells far behind.
Francis was still incensed, there was only one way
to resolve the matter, and that would be with Henry and Francis
meeting in person to get to the bottom of this eternal issue of money.
The one thing they both seemed to place in higher esteem than any other matter.
Mary and Suffolk arrived in Calais.
Suffolk would now write a letter to Henry asking for his forgiveness and pardon.
So it is that I am informed that all your whole Council,
my lord of York excepted,
with many others are clearly determined to tempt your Grace that I may
either be put to death or be put in prison and so to be destroyed.
For, Sir, your Grace is he that is my sovereign lord and master,
and he that has brought me up out of nought,
and I am your subject and servant and he that has offended your Grace in
breaking my promise that I made your Grace touching the Queen, your sister.
For which, with the most humble heart, I will yield myself unto your Grace's
hands to do with my poor body your gracious pleasure,
not fearing the malice of them, for I know your Grace of such nature that
it cannot lie in their powers to cause you to destroy me for their malice.
As knows our Lord, who send your Grace your most honorable heart's desire
with long life, and me, most sorrowful wretch, your gracious favour, what sorrows
soever I endure therefor.
Your most humble subject and servant,
Charles Suffolk."
The silence was deafening from Wolsey, Suffolk had heard nothing from him
for the last two weeks which led him to writing his letter,
however the most telling' was the one of Mary.
She knew she could not just stand back and do nothing.
Her reminder to Henry of his promise held back no punches,
and although she remains humble there is a distinct taste of, well,
you started it, but I would like to finish it!
"Dearest brother, I doubt not that you have in your good remembrance
that whereas, for the good of peace and for the furtherance of your affairs,
you moved me to marry
with my lord and late husband, King Louis of France, whose soul God pardon.
I was contented to conform myself to your said motion,
so that if I should fortune to survive the said late King
I might with your good will marry myself at my liberty without your displeasure.
Whereunto, good brother, you condescended and granted, as you well know, promising
unto me that in such case you would never provoke nor move me
but as mine own heart and mind should be best pleased, and that where-
soever I should dispose myself you would wholly be content with the same.
And I am at my liberty, dearest brother, remembering the great virtues
which I have seen and perceived heretofore
in my lord of Suffolk, to whom I have always been of good mind,
as ye well know, I have affixed and clearly determined myself to marry him,
and the same I assure you hath proceeded only of mine own mind, without any request
or labour of my lord of Suffolk or of any other person.
And to be plain with your Grace, I have so bound myself unto him
that for no cause earthly I will or may vary or change from the same.
Wherefore my good and most kind brother,
I now beseech your Grace to take this matter in good part,
and to give unto me and to my said lord of Suffolk your good will herein,
ascertaining you that upon the trust and comfort
which I have for that you have always honourably regarded your promise, and
besides this I shall, rather than fail, give you as much yearly part of my dower
to as great a sum as shall stand with your will and pleasure.
And of all the premises
I promise upon knowledge of your good mind to make unto you sufficient bonds.
Trusting verily that
in fulfilling your said promise to me made,
you will show your brotherly love, affection and good mind to me
in this behalf, which to hear of I abide with most desire,
and not to be miscontented with my said lord of Suffolk, whom of mine inward
good mind and affection to him I have in manner
enforced to be agreeable to the same, without any request of him made.
As knoweth our Lord, whom
I beseech to have your Grace in his merciful governance."
The letters are fascinating, with Mary's letter
providing an argument that Henry could do little about
after his initial promise to her before her marriage to Louis.
However, Henry's anger was more towards Suffolk and his broken word.
Although the King rumbled and mumbled about the ongoing event,
it was Wolsey who was getting tired of Suffolk's pleas.
Mary crossed the channel on 2 May, and according to the official account,
she did not stay long in Calais, "but within a few short days, the weather
being fine, good, and suitable, took her passage and arrived at Dover,
from which she set sail when she went abroad." Upon arrival back,
she was met by many honourable people, as well lords and ladies.
Mary met and received
the Archbishop of York, and from Dover, she would set out to Barking.
There the King accompanied by many other lords greeted her home,
not quite the most pleasant of meetings, but done with the usual
cordial style of Henry.
There are no official documents about what happened to Suffolk
on this return journey, and we must surmise that he was too greeted.
Maybe Henry patted him on the back!
On 11 May, final declarations were set
first to forgive the couple and secondly arrange a good marriage.
Although the cost was high for the pair, with a sum
of 24,000 to be paid in yearly instalments of 1,000 pound.
not only that Mary gave up her complete
collection of jewels and plate to the King estimated to be worth around 200,000.
Greenwich was the venue for this highly anticipated marriage.
However, for the likes of Norfolk
and his entourage, it was nothing more than a gloomy affair,
with many men feeling disgruntled at the outcome of this story.
There was only one thing left now to complete the saga, that was to erase
any trace of the secret marriage Mary and Suffolk had held in France.
Francis was asked to conceal any entries made of the event.
It was a safeguard to the legitimacy of any children
the couple may have as Mary at the time was heir to the throne.
Over the coming days, Mary opened up about her
relationship, realising at first it was disparaging to the King,
her brother, but reiterated the words of
Henry in allowing such a provision on the back of the death of Louis.
Although Henry was now appeased, and life
went back to normal, well, as normal as life could get in the Tudor times.
Mary would recede into obscurity, the clouds lifted occasionally,
and she would enjoy the sunnier times at court,
but only for that to soon revert to a more tepid approach of everyday life.
There is little in the way of information about how Suffolk
and Mary continued throughout married life.
This is a story of love, whether it was true love is open to debate,
but Mary knew what she wanted, and maybe Suffolk was too soft to disagree.
Suffolk feared, above all else, losing his true best friend Henry,
but he found himself in a significant predicament.
He was being hemmed in on both sides, the King could easily
have had him dispensed with,
and Mary would also have been a word away with resolving Suffolks life too.
Although little remains of the entire story, the letters give us
all a fascinating insight into a truly remarkable set of events.
One that lovers of Tudor history are never likely to forget.