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MARY (1496-1533)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 825 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARY (1496-1533)  , See also:queen of See also:France, was the daughter of See also:Henry VII. of See also:England and See also:Elizabeth of See also:York . At first it was intended to marry her to See also:Charles of See also:Austria, the future See also:emperor Charles V., and by the treaty of See also:Calais (Dec . 21, 1507) it was agreed that the See also:marriage should take See also:place when Charles should have attained the See also:age of fourteen, the See also:contract being secured by bonds taken from various princes and cities in the See also:Low Countries . On the 17th of See also:December 15o8 the Sieur de See also:Bergues, who had come over as Charles's representative at the See also:head of a magnificent See also:embassy, married the princess by See also:proxy . The contract, originally made by Henry VII., was renewed on the 17th of See also:October 1513 by Henry VIII. at a See also:meeting with See also:Margaret of See also:Savoy at See also:Lille, the See also:wedding being fixed for the following See also:year . But the emperor See also:Maximilian I., to whom See also:Louis XII. had See also:pro-posed his daughter Renee as wife for Charles, with See also:Brittany for See also:dowry, postponed the match with the See also:English princess in a way that See also:left no doubt of his intention to withdraw from the contract altogether . He was forestalled by the See also:diplomacy of See also:Wolsey, at whose instance See also:peace was signed with France on the 7th of See also:August 1514,. and on the same date a treaty was concluded for the marriage of See also:Mary Tudor with Louis XII., who had recently lost his wife See also:Anne of Brittany . The marriage was celebrated at See also:Abbeville on the 9th of October . The bridegroom was a broken See also:man of fifty-two; the See also:bride a beautiful, well-educated and charming girl of eighteen, whose See also:heart was already engaged to Charles See also:Brandon, See also:duke of See also:Suffolk, her future See also:husband . The See also:political marriage was, however, no See also:long one . Mary was crowned queen of France on the 5th of See also:November 1514; on the 1st of See also:January following See also:King Louis died . Mary had only been induced to consent to the marriage with Louis by the promise that, on his See also:death, she should be allowed to marry the man of her choice .

But there was danger that the agreement would not be kept . In France the See also:

dukes of See also:Lorraine and Savoy were mentioned as possible suitors, and meanwhile the new king, See also:Francis I., was making advances to her, and only desisted when she confessed to him her previous See also:attachment to Suffolk . The duke himself was at the head of the embassy which came from England to congratulate the new king, and to the detriment of his political See also:mission he used the opportunity to win the See also:hand of the queen . Francis See also:good-naturedly promised to use his See also:influence in his favour; Henry VIII. himself was not averse to the match, but Mary feared the opposition of the lords of the See also:council, and, in spite of Suffolk's promise to the king not to take any steps in the See also:matter until after his return, she persuaded him to marry her secretly before he left See also:Paris . On their return to England in See also:April, Suffolk was for a while in serious danger from the king's indignation, but was ultimately pardoned through Wolsey's intercession, on See also:payment of a heavy See also:fine and the surrender of all the queen's jewels and See also:plate . The marriage was publicly solemnized at See also:Greenwich on the 13th of May 1515 . Suffolk had been already twice married, and his first wife was still alive . He thought it necessary later on (1528) to obtain a See also:bull from See also:Pope See also:Clement VII. declaring his marriage with his first wife invalid and his See also:union with Mary therefore canonical . Mary's See also:life after this was comparatively uneventful . She lived mainly in the retirement of the See also:country, but shared from See also:time to time in the festivities of the See also:court, and was See also:present at the See also:Field of the See also:Cloth of See also:Gold . She died on the 24th of See also:June 1533 . By the duke of Suffolk she had three See also:children: Henry, See also:born on the 11th of See also:March 1516, created See also:earl of See also:Lincoln (1525), who died See also:young; Frances, born on the 16th of See also:July 1517, the wife of Henry See also:Grey, See also:marquess of See also:Northampton, and See also:mother of See also:Lady Jane Grey (q.v.) ; and Eleanor .

See Lettres de Louis XII. et du See also:

cardinal Georges d'See also:Amboise (See also:Brussels, 1712) ; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII . (Cal . See also:State Pap.) ; M . A . E . See also:Green, Lives of the Princesses of England (vol. v., 1849--1855) ; Life by See also:James See also:Gairdner in Dict . Nat . Biog .

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