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1ST DUKE OF CHARLES BRANDON SUFFOLK (...

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 26 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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1ST See also:

DUKE OF See also:CHARLES See also:BRANDON See also:SUFFOLK (c. 1484–'545)  , was the son of See also:William See also:Brandon, See also:standard-See also:bearer ot See also:Henry VII., who was slain by See also:Richard III. in See also:person on See also:Bosworth See also:Field . See also:Charles Brandon was brought up at the See also:court of Henry VII . He is described by See also:Dugdale as "a person comely of stature, high of courage and conformity of disposition to See also:King Henry VIII.," with whom he became a See also:great favourite . He held a See also:succession of offices in the royal See also:household, becoming See also:master of the See also:horse in 1513, and received many valuable grants of See also:land . On the 15th of May 1513 he was created See also:Viscount See also:Lisle, having entered into a See also:marriage See also:contract with his See also:ward, See also:Elizabeth See also:Grey, Viscountess Lisle in her own right, who, how-ever, refused to marry him when she came of See also:age . He distinguished himself at the sieges of Terouenne and See also:Tournai in the See also:French See also:campaign of 1513 . One of the agents of See also:Margaret of See also:Savoy, See also:governor of the See also:Netherlands, See also:writing from before Terouenne, reminds her that See also:Lord Lisle is a second king and advises her to write him a See also:kind See also:letter . At this See also:time Henry VIII. was secretly urging Margaret to marry Brandon, whom he created See also:duke of See also:Suffolk, though he was careful to disclaim (See also:March 4, 1514) any complicity in the project to her See also:father, the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian I . The See also:regent herself See also:left a curious See also:account of the proceedings (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. vol. i . 4850-4851) . Brandon took See also:part in the jousts which celebrated the marriage of See also:Mary Tudor, Henry's See also:sister, with See also:Louis XII . of See also:France .

He was accredited to negotiate various matters with Louis, and on his See also:

death was sent to congratulate the new king See also:Francis I . An See also:affection between Suffolk and the See also:dowager See also:queen Mary had subsisted before her marriage, and Francis roundly charged him with an intention to marry her . Francis, perhaps in the See also:hope of Queen See also:Claude's death, had himself been one of her suitors in the first See also:week of her widowhood, and Mary asserted that she had given him her confidence to avoid his importunities . Francis and Henry both professed a friendly attitude towards the marriage of the lovers, but Suffolk had many See also:political enemies, and Mary feared that she might again be sacrificed to political considerations . The truth was that Henry was anxious to obtain from Francis the See also:gold See also:plate and jewels which had been given or promised to the queen by Louis in addition to the reimbursement of the expenses of her marriage with the king; and he practically made his acquiescence in Suffolk's suit dependent on his obtaining them . The pair cut See also:short the difficulties by a private marriage, which Suffolk announced to See also:Wolsey, who had been their fast friend, on the 5th of March . Suffolk was only saved from Henry's anger by Wolsey, and the pair eventually agreed to pay to Henry £24,000 in yearly instalments of £r000, and the whole of Mary's See also:dowry from Louis of £200,000, together with her plate and jewels . They were openly married at See also:Greenwich on the 13th of May . The duke had been twice married already, to Margaret See also:Mortimer and to See also:Anne See also:Browne, to whom he had been betrothed before his marriage with Margaret Mortimer . Anne Browne died in 1511, but Margaret Mortimer, from whom he had obtained a See also:divorce on the ground of See also:consanguinity, was still living . He secured in 1528 a See also:bull from See also:Pope See also:Clement II. assuring the See also:legitimacy of his marriage with Mary Tudor, and of the daughters of Anne Browne, one of whom, Anne, was sent to the court of Margaret of Savoy . After his marriage with Mary, Suffolk lived for some years in retirement, but he was See also:present at the Field of the See also:Cloth of Gold in 1520, and in 1523 he was sent to See also:Calais to command the See also:English troops there .

He invaded France in See also:

company with See also:Count de Buren, who was at the See also:head of the Flemish troops, and laid See also:waste the See also:north of France, but disbanded his troops at the approach of See also:winter . Suffolk was entirely in favour of Henry's divorce from See also:Catherine of See also:Aragon, and in spite of his obligations to Wolsey he did not See also:scruple to attack him when his fall was imminent . The See also:cardinal, who was acquainted with Suffolk's private See also:history, reminded him of his ingratitude: " If I, See also:simple cardinal, had not been, you should have had at this present no head upon your shoulders wherein you should have had a See also:tongue to make any such See also:report in despite of us . " After Wolsey's disgrace Suffolk's See also:influence increased daily . He was sent with the duke of See also:Norfolk to demand the great See also:seal from Wolsey; the same noblemen conveyed the See also:news of Anne See also:Boleyn's marriage to Queen Catherine, and Suffolk acted as high steward at the new queen's See also:coronation . He was one of the commissioners appointed by Henry to dismiss Catherine's household, a task which he found distasteful . He supported Henry's ecclesiastical policy, receiving a large See also:share of the See also:plunder after the suppression of the monasteries . In 1544 he was for the second time in command of an English See also:army for the invasion of France . He died at See also:Guildford on the 24th of See also:August in the following See also:year . After the death of Mary Tudor on the 24th of See also:June 1533 he had married in 1534 his ward Catherine (1520-1580), Baroness See also:Willoughby de Eresby in her own right, then a girl of fifteen . His daughters by his marriage with Anne Browne were Anne, who married firstly See also:Edward Grey, Lord Powys, and, after the See also:dissolution of this See also:union . Randal Harworth; and Mary (h .

1510), who married See also:

Thomas See also:Stanley, Lord See also:Monteagle . By Mary Tudor he had Henry See also:earl of See also:Lincoln (1516—1634); Frances, who married Henry Grey, See also:marquess of See also:Dorset, and became the See also:mother of See also:Lady Jane Grey; and Eleanor, who married Henry See also:Clifford, second earl of See also:Cumberland . By Katherine Willoughby he had two sons who showed great promise, Henry (1535—1551) and Charles (c . 1537—1551), See also:dukes of Suffolk . They died of the sweating sickness within an See also:hour of one another . Their See also:tutor, See also:Sir Thomas See also:Wilson, compiled a memoir of them, Vita et obitus duorum fratrum Suffolcensium (1551) . There is abundant material for the history of Suffolk's career in the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII . (ed . See also:Brewer in the Rolls See also:Series) . See also Dugdale, Baronage of See also:England (vol. ii . 1676) ; and G . E .

C., See also:

Complete See also:Peerage . An account of his matrimonial adventures is in the See also:historical appendix to a novel by E . S . See also:Holt entitled The See also:Harvest of Yesterday .

End of Article: 1ST DUKE OF CHARLES BRANDON SUFFOLK (c. 1484–'545)
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