On This Day in Tudor History

On this day in Tudor history 1536 Princess Mary (known at this time as the Lady Mary) was the recipient of a visit by members of her father's council. Their intentions were to try and force her by way of threats to acknowledge her father as Supreme Head of the Church in England as well as making her admit that she was not the legitimate heir to the throne. For many years Mary had remained staunch in her assertions that her mother Catherine of Aragon was Henry's only legally wedded wife and therefore she was the only heir to the throne. The Second Act of Succession had recently been enacted declaring both Mary AND Elizabeth bastards. This was Henry's way of clearing the way for the inheritance of the children he hope to have by his newest wife Jane Seymour. Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote of the visit in a letter to Charles V, uncle to the Lady Mary, saying,

"...to induce her to obey his commands and accede to his wishes, the King send to her a deputation composed of the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Sussex, the bishop of Chester, and several others, whom she literally confounded by her very wise and prudent answers to their intimation [intimidation]. Upon which, finding that they could not persuade her, one of them said that since she was such an unnatural daughter as to disobey completely the King’s injunctions, he could hardly believe that she was the King’s own bastard daughter. Were she his or any other man’s daughter, he would beat her to death, or strike her head against the wall until he made it as soft as a boiled apple, in short that she was a traitress, and would be punished as such. Many other threats of the same sort did the said deputies utter on the occasion, assisted in their task by the Princess’ governess, who happens to be the same as before, having then and there received orders not to allow the Princess to speak a word to any one, and to watch over her so that she should never be left alone by night or day."

The ambassador was previously convinced that Lady Mary's position would now be safe with the death of Anne Boleyn, obviously he was very mistaken. The king's actions and words revealed much about who had actually been responsible for the mistreatment in Mary's life over the past years. Chapuys was now more worried than ever about Mary's physical safety and encouraged her to acquiesce to her father, ensuring her that she would be spiritually forgiven by the Pope himself at a later date and that her survival and eventual accession to the throne was necessary for a return of England into the fold of Roman power and religion. Mary relented, finally, and signed the paperwork declaring herself a bastard and her mother an incestuous liar. Chapuys wrote again to the Emperor saying, "...it appears, however, that after signing the paper as above said, the Princess fell suddenly into a state of despondency and sorrow…”

The lady Mary must have felt as if she betrayed everything her mother had fought for and died believing. It is no wonder that she felt a sort of depression and self disgust.

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