'Bloody' Mary. Part three.: Re: Mary 1 and relationship to her mother Catherine of Aragon

» Gwenda - Re: Mary 1 and relationship to her mother Catherine of Aragon

In response to message posted by Isabel27:

Hi Isabel27!

But then history would have missed out on Elizabeth!

I wonder though about Castile being a special case...Isabel had a younger brother, so she didn't expect to be Queen until his death (from the plague) at 15. It was only after his death that she began to prepare herself to rule Castile. The Grandees of Castile were not that happy at all to be faced with a rule of a Queen- but at least they felt sure that Isabel was daughter of Juan II. While with the daughter of his son, the current King, many believed her to be the child of her mother's lover. Though I suppose Castile's history did have examples of women as good rulers, while England still remembered what happened when Henry II's mother tried for the throne.

After Isabel's coronation, some years after the birth of her first daughter, she disputed with her husband about disbarring their daughters from the Aragon throne. Isabel believed this practice presented a danger to both dynasties. (Nancy Rubin, Isabella of Castile, 1992, page 93) (Isabel's my bedside reading at the moment!)

With regards to Mary...King Hal did have other choices available to him. At one time they even thought seriously about marrying Mary to her cousin, the King of Scotland, and uniting the two kingdoms.

But I really think when King Hal fell in love with Anne Boleyn it changed everything for him. Not only had he convinced himself by then that his marriage to Catherine of Aragon was unclean, but he also wanted Anne Boleyn, and the sons a new marriage could give him.

It didn't go down too well with him that Wolsey would have found it easier to dissolve his marriage to Catherine if there was a French Princess in the picture, rather than the Lady Anne.

Thank you for your post!
Wendy

-- posted by Gwenda