Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minkie. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: When Mary Tudor was seventeen years old, she was summoned
Speaker 1: back to court after years of exile. Her letters to
Speaker 1: her father, the King, had been going unanswered or given
Speaker 1: kurt reply by one of his courtiers. Mary was forbidden
Speaker 1: to even write to her mother, Catherine, who had obediently
Speaker 1: accepted exile at the hands of her husband, but who
Speaker 1: still refused to accept that their marriage had not been
Speaker 1: valid in the eyes of God. Young Mary, their teenage daughter,
Speaker 1: had been sent to live in the dreary palace of
Speaker 1: Hudson House in Hertfordshire, isolated her staff, and her connections
Speaker 1: to the outside world slowly diminishing. Her mother, Catherine had
Speaker 1: been sent even further to a drearier, colder and lonelier place.
Speaker 1: They said her health was failing, and so while a
Speaker 1: letter inviting Mary back to court might have seemed promising
Speaker 1: a return to prominence for the young girl who had
Speaker 1: grown up as England's only princess, Mary was well aware
Speaker 1: that she was coming back only as an exercise in humiliation.
Speaker 1: Even though the Pope had it dissolved Henry the Eighth's
Speaker 1: first marriage, Henry had broken from Rome and declared himself
Speaker 1: head of the Church of England. With that, he proclaimed
Speaker 1: that his marriage to Catherine had never been valid, and
Speaker 1: then he privately married the woman with whom he had
Speaker 1: already been infatuated with for years, Anne Boleyn. The creation
Speaker 1: of the Church of England is one of the major
Speaker 1: seismic events of European history, with massive ramifications across the globe,
Speaker 1: but one of its first victims was the young teenage
Speaker 1: Mary Tudor. The princess was informed by her father's men
Speaker 1: that she was retroactively a bastard, that she was no
Speaker 1: longer Princess Mary, but Lady Mary. Mary was being summoned
Speaker 1: to Hatfield, not to reconcile with her father, but to
Speaker 1: serve as a maid for her new infant half sister, Elizabeth. King.
Speaker 1: Henry believed that isolating and humiliating his former wife Katherine
Speaker 1: and their daughter Mary would be the way to get
Speaker 1: the proud Catholic women to renounce their positions. They were
Speaker 1: stones in his shoe, popular both domestically and with allies abroad,
Speaker 1: and they were guilty reminders that his gambit with Anne
Speaker 1: Boleyn was becoming a desperate one. Mary Tudor would outlast
Speaker 1: Anne Boleyn and go on to become England's first female
Speaker 1: monarch in her own right, bar during the questionable claims
Speaker 1: of twelfth century Empress Matilda and the nine day attempted
Speaker 1: coup that crowned Jane Gray. The conflict between Mary's mother
Speaker 1: Catherine and Anne Boleyn, and the larger conflict in England
Speaker 1: between Catholicism and Protestantism would define not only Mary's teenage
Speaker 1: years but also her brief reign as queen. Today she's
Speaker 1: most commonly known as Bloody Mary, but in her lifetime,
Speaker 1: Princess Mary Tudor was a girl whose life was torn
Speaker 1: out from under her. I'm Danish Schwartz and this is
Speaker 1: noble blood. Princess Mary was born in fifteen sixteen beneath
Speaker 1: the four poster bed with a golden canopy, on a
Speaker 1: day bed with red silk embroidered with the coats of
Speaker 1: arms for her father, King Henry the Eighth and her mother,
Speaker 1: Queen Catherine of Arragon. Mary was christened with the name
Speaker 1: of Henry's favorite sister and The chapel was lushly decorated
Speaker 1: for her baptism with jewel incrusted tapestries. Mary was baptized
Speaker 1: Catholic and a fond used exclusively for royalty. Her birth
Speaker 1: was a source of joy, but it was also a
Speaker 1: source of tension and disappointment. She wasn't the son her
Speaker 1: parents had so desperately been praying for. The couple had
Speaker 1: been trying for seven years to produce an heir, ever
Speaker 1: since Henry, then just eighteen years old, had chosen to
Speaker 1: marry the pretty Spanish princess Katherine, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Speaker 1: Catherine had originally been married to Henry's older brother, Arthur
Speaker 1: the Boy, who was supposed to be king, but he
Speaker 1: was sickly and mere months after he and Katherine wedd
Speaker 1: Arthur was dead and Catherine was stranded in England, all
Speaker 1: but a prisoner of King Henry the Seven, who didn't
Speaker 1: want to return her generous dowry but also didn't want
Speaker 1: to pay for her household. She was alone in a
Speaker 1: foreign country with no husband and no prospects until Henry
Speaker 1: the Seventh died and the young, dashing Henry the Eighth
Speaker 1: came in as her Knight in Shining Armor to marry her.
Speaker 1: She was twenty three. Because she had been married to
Speaker 1: Henry's older brother, this marriage required a special papal dispensation
Speaker 1: from Rome, which they received. Catherine swore before God and
Speaker 1: a court that her marriage with Arthur had never been consummated.
Speaker 1: The people and Henry rejoiced they had a beautiful, patient,
Speaker 1: virtuous queen and a virile young king. Young Henry the
Speaker 1: Eighth had saved the Spanish dowry and the alliance with
Speaker 1: the important country. Within weeks of the wedding, Catherine was pregnant,
Speaker 1: but the months continued and no baby appeared. She had miscarried,
Speaker 1: though her belly had remained swollen with an infection, a
Speaker 1: constant mocking reminder of her own failure. Because, of course,
Speaker 1: in the sixteenth century, a woman unable to have a
Speaker 1: child was considered her failure. The miscarriages continued, the cycle
Speaker 1: of breathless hope and then bitter disappointment. Finally, one bright
Speaker 1: New Year's Day, Catherine gave birth to a living child,
Speaker 1: a son. Henry rode out to a shrine, where he
Speaker 1: sank to his knees and gave thanks, and he began
Speaker 1: organizing a festival joust in honor of his new son,
Speaker 1: whom he of course named Henry. But their joy was
Speaker 1: short lived. The infant lived for only three weeks, and
Speaker 1: so the pregnancy and birth of the future Princess Mary
Speaker 1: was an event of tremendous superstition and anxiety. The birthing
Speaker 1: room was transformed into a cocoon for the mother, the
Speaker 1: floor lined with carpet, the walls hung with tapestries, though
Speaker 1: no tapestries with any specific or literal imagery lest the
Speaker 1: mother be provoked into bad dreams. In the room, crucifixes, candlesticks,
Speaker 1: and relics were carefully placed on an altar for Catherine
Speaker 1: to pray to. For the entire period leading up until
Speaker 1: the birth, no men were allowed into the chamber. Male
Speaker 1: servants bearing food or fresh laundry had to leave it
Speaker 1: at the door. The baby girl was born healthy, but
Speaker 1: she was born a girl. If Henry was disappointed, and
Speaker 1: of course he was disappointed, well, Henry hit it well. Already.
Speaker 1: The ambassadors were making snyde remarks about how we would
Speaker 1: have announced the sex of the infant already if it
Speaker 1: had been a boy. When one ambassador congratulated him on
Speaker 1: the birth. Henry replied that he and Katherine were still young.
Speaker 1: If it be a daughter this time, God willing sons
Speaker 1: may follow. In the meantime, the young Princess Mary was
Speaker 1: spoiled and pampered. As an infant. She had a full household,
Speaker 1: a mistress ahead of staff, a wet nurse, a laundress
Speaker 1: just for her own clothing, and three rockers to soothe her.
Speaker 1: She had an everyday cradle and another cradle, a cradle
Speaker 1: of a state with an embossed canopy, and an ear
Speaker 1: mean quilt that Mary would be put in when she
Speaker 1: was expect acting visitors. She was given a princely education,
Speaker 1: taught music and languages, a specialty curriculum that her mother
Speaker 1: had drawn up just for her. One of the most
Speaker 1: important figures in her young life, her godmother, the Countess
Speaker 1: of Salisbury, was assigned the role of her governess, and
Speaker 1: the two became so close that Mary came to see
Speaker 1: her almost as a second mother. Salisbury was one of
Speaker 1: the most fascinating women of the era in her own right,
Speaker 1: a distinguished noblewoman, niece of King Edward the fourth and
Speaker 1: Richard the third, and one of only two women to
Speaker 1: be a Purist in England at the time, in her
Speaker 1: own right, without a titled husband, and the fifth richest
Speaker 1: peer in all of England. When Mary was a toddler,
Speaker 1: Henry would parade through court with her riding on his shoulders.
Speaker 1: He called her his pearl, and he frequently delighted in
Speaker 1: inviting her to perform music for visiting dignitaries. This child
Speaker 1: never cries, Henry bragged to an ambassador. He knelt down
Speaker 1: and kissed the young Mary's extended hand. She was a
Speaker 1: pretty child, with red hair like her father, and talented
Speaker 1: in all of her lessons. In other words, she was
Speaker 1: incredibly valuable as a diplomatic pawn when it came to
Speaker 1: her future marriage. When Mary was two, she was engaged
Speaker 1: to the Daufin of France, Francis. Only four years later
Speaker 1: she was engaged to her cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor
Speaker 1: Charles five, an alliance against the French. The relationship between
Speaker 1: England and the Holy Roman Empire was essential in Henry's
Speaker 1: ambitions to reclaim his ancient birthright the French throne. Charles
Speaker 1: agreed that with marrying Mary, he would back an English
Speaker 1: force invading France, but the time finally came for an invasion,
Speaker 1: and the English troops were slowed both by bad weather
Speaker 1: and unexpectedly strong French resistance, and Charles the Fifth failed
Speaker 1: to initiate an offensive. Henry, disappointed and distrustful, considered breaking
Speaker 1: the betrothal and marrying Mary to some one else, maybe
Speaker 1: James the fifth of Scotland. Those rumors reached Charles, who
Speaker 1: was equally skittish now about the future match. But Cardinal Wolseley,
Speaker 1: the King's adviser, quelled their anxieties. He had Young Mary
Speaker 1: sent her cousin in emerald ring as a sign of
Speaker 1: her devotion and love for young Mary. Those feelings weren't
Speaker 1: just courtly politeness. She was infatuated with her older Spanish cousin,
Speaker 1: her mother's nephew, a dashing boy in his twenties, who
Speaker 1: wore black velvet and always treated her kindly. Looking at
Speaker 1: portraits of him now with a modern eye, you might
Speaker 1: not understand why she was so enthused. Charles has what
Speaker 1: is generously referred to as a habsburg chin, But Charles
Speaker 1: the Fifth shared the fondness for his young cousin. When
Speaker 1: he received the ring, he put it on his pinky
Speaker 1: finger and promised he would never take it off. But
Speaker 1: it was still years before Mary would be old enough
Speaker 1: for marriage, and Charles was getting impatient. The lands he
Speaker 1: inherited were vast, and he wanted to get married sooner
Speaker 1: rather than later, so that he could set his wife
Speaker 1: up ruling Spain while he toured and consolidated his power elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Tantalizingly close was Isabella of Portugal, already of marrying age.
Speaker 1: Rather than break up his engagement with Mary outright, Charles
Speaker 1: the Fifth insisted that Mary be handed over to him
Speaker 1: immediately so she could begin to learn Castilian and the
Speaker 1: habits of his court, so that when she did finally
Speaker 1: get her period, there would be no time wasted. Henry refused,
Speaker 1: and so the betrothal was broken. Almost immediately, Charles married
Speaker 1: Isabella of Portugal. Mary was heart broken, her first love
Speaker 1: no longer destined to become her husband. Her mother, Catherine
Speaker 1: was heartbroken as well. The end of the betrothal meant
Speaker 1: the end of the Spanish Anglo alliance, a strong link
Speaker 1: between her homeland and her married home, But soon the
Speaker 1: loss of that engagement would be the least of their worries.
Speaker 1: Henry was nervous. The War of the Roses the devastating
Speaker 1: civil war between the Yorks and the Lancasters was still
Speaker 1: within living memory. Some still suggested that Henry's father, Henry
Speaker 1: the seventh, was a usurper. Without an air and a
Speaker 1: clear line of succession, the country was at risk of
Speaker 1: descending once more into civil war. Someone with an older
Speaker 1: families than Henry's could easily swoop in and overpower the
Speaker 1: claim of a young girl. Though Henry treated Princess Mary
Speaker 1: as his heir, informally positioning her as the Princess of Wales,
Speaker 1: there was no indication that the country would accept a
Speaker 1: female ruler, at least not unanimously until he had a
Speaker 1: legitimately born son. The tutor line was vulnerable. Henry was nervous,
Speaker 1: and he was nervous that he didn't have a son
Speaker 1: yet because he was being punished. In Leviticus, the Bible says,
Speaker 1: if a man marries his brother's wife, it is an
Speaker 1: act of impurity. He has dishonored his brother. They will
Speaker 1: be childless. He had married his brother's wife, hadn't he,
Speaker 1: And sure they weren't childless, but not having a son
Speaker 1: was as good as being child lost for a king.
Speaker 1: There were rumors that Queen Catherine had stopped menstruating. It
Speaker 1: had been years even since a failed pregnancy, and a
Speaker 1: woman named Anne Boleyn had arrived at court, dazzling wit
Speaker 1: and a preternatural grace at the Chateau There Pageant, the
Speaker 1: new lady maid, just arrived from a childhood in French Court,
Speaker 1: played the part of perseverance in the evening's play, wearing
Speaker 1: a white satin gown. Henry's infatuation became an obsession. Anne
Speaker 1: represented everything that Catherine wasn't. Flirtatious where she was pious,
Speaker 1: dark haired, where she was fair, young, where she was old.
Speaker 1: Anne represented the promise of a new dynasty of sons.
Speaker 1: Their flirtation became an open secret. Catherine turned a blind eye.
Speaker 1: Henry had had affairs before he had even borne a son,
Speaker 1: with a woman named Bessie Blunt. She didn't know how
Speaker 1: determined Henry was to make Anne the queen. Henry had
Speaker 1: sent his personal secretary to Rome to appeal to the
Speaker 1: Pope for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine. To
Speaker 1: overthrow the ruling of the previous pope. Henry and Anne
Speaker 1: appeared together in public as a couple for the first
Speaker 1: time at the Greenwich Ball in May of fifty seven.
Speaker 1: Just twelve days later, Henry secretly met before a tribunal
Speaker 1: led by Cardinal Wolsey to discuss the religious problems with
Speaker 1: a marriage to a dead brother's wife. Catherine had had
Speaker 1: no idea that the threat to her position had become
Speaker 1: so serious until Henry came to her chambers one evening
Speaker 1: and gave a rehearsed speech about how his conscience had
Speaker 1: been troubling him that he wanted their marriage annulled. She
Speaker 1: and Mary would be cared for, of course, not as
Speaker 1: queen and princess, but provided for Nonetheless, Henry didn't happen
Speaker 1: to mention his intention to marry Anne Boleyn, but he
Speaker 1: didn't have to. Catherine, in her shock and fear, began
Speaker 1: to weep. Henry lost his nerve. He mumbled that everything
Speaker 1: was going to be done for the best, and he
Speaker 1: quickly told her to keep what he had said a secret.
Speaker 1: If Henry had been expecting Catherine to go quietly to
Speaker 1: live a dignified retirement in a position as the king's sister,
Speaker 1: he could not have been more wrong. Catherine was a
Speaker 1: deeply religious Catholic woman who had sworn that her marriage
Speaker 1: with Arthur had never been consummated. She knew that her
Speaker 1: marriage with Henry was valid, and she didn't want her
Speaker 1: daughter married to become a mastard. If Henry wanted their
Speaker 1: marriage to end, it would take the Pope. Unfortunately for Henry,
Speaker 1: his appeals to the Pope were not going to make
Speaker 1: much progress thanks to the sacking of Rome, where the
Speaker 1: Imperial army had pillaged the city. Pope Clement the seventh
Speaker 1: was basically a prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor, the
Speaker 1: Holy Roman Emperor Charles, the Holy Roman Emperor. Catherine of
Speaker 1: Argan's nephew. Catherine wrote to her nephew, who immediately wrote
Speaker 1: to Henry in defense of the queen. Charles wrote that
Speaker 1: he couldn't believe quote that having as they have, so
Speaker 1: sweet a princess of their daughter, that the king would
Speaker 1: consent to have her or her mother dishonored a thing
Speaker 1: so monstrous of itself and holy without precedent in ancient
Speaker 1: or modern history. The pope was stuck between a rock
Speaker 1: and a hard place. He didn't want to dis appoint Henry,
Speaker 1: and he couldn't disappoint Charles, and so his strategy was
Speaker 1: just to deflect and delay. So for the time being
Speaker 1: twelve year old Princess Mary. She was still Princess Mary
Speaker 1: for the time being. Henry and Catherine were living together
Speaker 1: at Court, an uneasy period of distrust and anger on
Speaker 1: Henry's part and growing fear on Catherine and Mary's. Catherine
Speaker 1: continued to hope that Henry's feelings for Anne Boleyn would
Speaker 1: fade in fight. When the sweating sickness broke out in London,
Speaker 1: Court was dispersed to protect themselves. Anne left the city
Speaker 1: to the seclusion of the Bowlin residents at Heaver Castle,
Speaker 1: but the sickness caught her. Princess Mary was nearly as
Speaker 1: religious as her mother, but I think the young girl
Speaker 1: could be forgiven if she had ill thoughts towards Anne's recovery.
Speaker 1: Anne was the other woman, threatening not just her parents marriage,
Speaker 1: but the very shape of her own life. Unfortunately for Mary,
Speaker 1: Henry sent his own personal physician to Hubert to take
Speaker 1: care of band, and she recovered. The Pope had punted
Speaker 1: the issue of Henry's marriage back to England, and so
Speaker 1: in fifteen twenty nine, the first public trial of the
Speaker 1: King's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was held in the
Speaker 1: Parliament chambers of the Dominican Friary at Blackfriars in London.
Speaker 1: Though Henry sent proxies, Catherine surprisingly arrived in person. She appealed,
Speaker 1: protesting that the trial was happening at all, saying that
Speaker 1: as a foreigner she couldn't expect a fair trial in England.
Speaker 1: The court adjourned, and when they reconvened the next week,
Speaker 1: the King was present in person too. He argued that
Speaker 1: Catherine expecting their case to be settled in Rome was
Speaker 1: unreasonable as well, considering the whole her nephew holding the
Speaker 1: pope hostage thing, but that she would definitely get a
Speaker 1: fair trial and that she could choose her lawyers the
Speaker 1: best lawyers whoever she wanted. At this Catherine came over
Speaker 1: to her husband and knelt at his feet. She begged
Speaker 1: him in broken English to consider the honor of her,
Speaker 1: her daughter, of him, and of her family abroad. At
Speaker 1: several times during her impassioned speech, Henry, visibly uncomfortable, tried
Speaker 1: to get her to rise. She didn't. She set her peace,
Speaker 1: and then, without waiting for reply, stood and left the
Speaker 1: court room. The legate upon whom the decision rested, Campeggio,
Speaker 1: said that he couldn't make a decision, and that the
Speaker 1: court would continue up again in a few months. It
Speaker 1: never did. Meanwhile, Mary found that her father was dodging her,
Speaker 1: becoming more reluctant to see her, not inviting her to
Speaker 1: the events that she used to attend. Her father, who
Speaker 1: had once adored and praised and cherished her, now ignored
Speaker 1: her all at the behest of the paranoid Anne Boleyn,
Speaker 1: who believed that if Princess Mary was alone with her father,
Speaker 1: she might turn him against her. Mary was sent away
Speaker 1: from court to Richmond without her mother. King Henry. Separating
Speaker 1: Mary and her mother Catherine was a strategic move, intending
Speaker 1: to make them unhappy and docile, hoping that then they
Speaker 1: would agree to his terms, agreeing that the marriage was illegitimate,
Speaker 1: then they would be able to see each other again.
Speaker 1: Henry demanded that Catherine choose between his company and that
Speaker 1: of their daughters, implying that if she left court to
Speaker 1: visit Mary, she wouldn't be allowed back. Catherine replied, saying,
Speaker 1: I won't leave you for my daughter, nor for anyone
Speaker 1: else in the world, breaking her own heart, her loyalty
Speaker 1: to Henry, and her self sacrifice would ultimately be for nothing.
Speaker 1: Mary would never see her mother again. From fifty one,
Speaker 1: Mary became frequently sick to her stomach, sweating and pale,
Speaker 1: her cramps so bad she could sometimes scarcely leave the bed.
Speaker 1: Historians aren't sure if they were symptoms of her regular menstruation,
Speaker 1: or of the stress or depression at being kept from
Speaker 1: both of her parents, the stress of her entire life
Speaker 1: being pulled out from under her, maybe all of the above.
Speaker 1: The girl, who was the only legitimate child of the
Speaker 1: King of England was living in a distant palace and
Speaker 1: then given word that she was being sent to an
Speaker 1: even further palace, one with a dampness that even her
Speaker 1: loyal servants and the fires they let couldn't keep out.
Speaker 1: Though Mary was of marriageable age, there were no more
Speaker 1: talks of prospects for her betrothal. Her only company was
Speaker 1: her ladies and her Governess Salisbury, but her staff was
Speaker 1: slowly disappearing. Henry was attempting to starve his daughter out.
Speaker 1: Queen Catherine was similarly isolated, sent to her own distant palace,
Speaker 1: and forbidden from contacting the King in any way. When
Speaker 1: she tried to send him a gold cup, Henry scolded
Speaker 1: the servant who presented it to him, and the cup
Speaker 1: was sent back for the first time in their lifetimes.
Speaker 1: Henry didn't send Mary or Catherine presents for the New
Speaker 1: Year's and he insisted that his counsel do the same. Anne,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, was gifted a room of gold
Speaker 1: and silver cloth and crimson satin beautifully embroidered. She was
Speaker 1: living in the rooms that the queen used to occupy,
Speaker 1: and accompanied by as many ladies as if she were
Speaker 1: already the Queen. While Mary and Catherine were still isolated,
Speaker 1: stranded in the countryside with fewer and fewer servants and
Speaker 1: no kindness, Henry declared himself head of the Church of
Speaker 1: England and he married Anne Boleyn. Workmen removed Catherine of
Speaker 1: Arragon's arms from Westminster and from the royal barge. Catherine's
Speaker 1: new title was Dowager Princess of Wales, the titles she
Speaker 1: had only from being married to Henry's older brother, and
Speaker 1: Catherine was kept under house arrest at Buckton Palace. The
Speaker 1: rumors came to Mary about her father's remarriage, her mother's
Speaker 1: banishment and then subsequently diminishing health. Mary wasn't allowed to
Speaker 1: even write letters to her mother, not even simple letters,
Speaker 1: just to ask about how she was feeling. She begged
Speaker 1: her father, saying that he could have someone vet the
Speaker 1: letters just to make sure that she was only asking
Speaker 1: about Catherine's health, or the King could himself read all
Speaker 1: of their correspondence. Just please please let her contact her mother.
Speaker 1: Henry refused. Anne Boleyn, the new Queen of England, openly
Speaker 1: bragged that she would have the former Princess Mary serving
Speaker 1: as her lady's maid, or that she would marry marry
Speaker 1: off to some common varlet. Her stereotypical evil stepmother. Cruelty
Speaker 1: came from a place of fear. She knew that Catherine
Speaker 1: and Mary both remained popular throughout England. People had hissed
Speaker 1: at Anne's barge when it came down the Thames. Catherine
Speaker 1: and Mary were still the Queen and princess in the
Speaker 1: people's minds, and Mary still being eligible for prominent marriage
Speaker 1: made her a threat. Anne Boleyn was pregnant immediately, but
Speaker 1: in September she gave birth not to the long promised
Speaker 1: son that Henry had up ended all of Christendom for,
Speaker 1: but to a daughter. Courtiers and ambassadors loyal to Catherine
Speaker 1: and Mary murmured that it was God's punishment, but it
Speaker 1: was still a legitimate child. Henry was married to Anne.
Speaker 1: Now she was queen and her children were the ones
Speaker 1: in line for the throne. Mary was swiftly demoted, told
Speaker 1: that she was no longer Princess Mary but Lady Mary.
Speaker 1: Her household was dissolved, and her loyal companion, the Countess
Speaker 1: of Salisbury, Margaret Pole, was dismissed. Even as the Countess
Speaker 1: begged to stay on, stating that she would pay for
Speaker 1: the household and all expenses, she was refused. Henry couldn't
Speaker 1: risk eating Mary as a princess any longer. There must
Speaker 1: be no appearances that indicated that Henry's marriage to Catherine
Speaker 1: was or ever had been valid. All loyalty to Mary
Speaker 1: and Catherine needed to be quashed. Symbolism would be effective,
Speaker 1: particularly having the new quote Lady Mary serve as Princess
Speaker 1: Elizabeth's lady maid. When Mary was informed that she was
Speaker 1: no longer a princess by an apologetic courtier, Mary wrote
Speaker 1: to her father, quote, this morning, my chamberlain came and
Speaker 1: showed me that he had received a letter from Sir
Speaker 1: William paula comptroller of your household, wherein it was written
Speaker 1: that the quote Lady Mary, the King's daughter, should remove
Speaker 1: to the place afort said, leaving out the name of Princess,
Speaker 1: which when I heard, I could not a little marvel,
Speaker 1: trusting verily that your race was not privy to the
Speaker 1: same letter as concerning the leaving out of the name
Speaker 1: of princess for us so much I doubt not in
Speaker 1: your goodness, but that your grace doth take me for
Speaker 1: his lawful daughter born in true matrimony. Wherefore, if I
Speaker 1: were to say to the contrary, I should, in my
Speaker 1: conscience run to the displeasure of God, which I hope
Speaker 1: assuredly your grace would not that I should. And in
Speaker 1: all other things your grace should have me always as
Speaker 1: humble and obedient daughter and handmaid, as ever was child
Speaker 1: to the father. Mary signed the letter your most humble daughter,
Speaker 1: Mary Comma Princess. Was it bravery, stubbornness, pride self preservation?
Speaker 1: Surely she had to know that she would be treated
Speaker 1: with more kindness and mercy if she just accepted the
Speaker 1: King's decision and a agreed to live happily as his
Speaker 1: bastard daughter. But she couldn't. Her love for her mother
Speaker 1: was greater than her fear, her dignity greater than her vanity.
Speaker 1: The King didn't write back personally, but she received a
Speaker 1: letter from court. The King is surprised to be informed,
Speaker 1: both by Lord Hughcy's letter and by his daughter's own,
Speaker 1: delivered by one of her servants, that she, forgetting her
Speaker 1: filial duty and allegiance, attempts, in spite of the commandment
Speaker 1: given to her, arrogantly to usurp the title of princess,
Speaker 1: pretending to be heir apparent, declaring that she cannot in
Speaker 1: conscious think that she is but the King's lawful daughter,
Speaker 1: born in true matrimony, and believes that the King and
Speaker 1: his conscious thinks the same. The rebuke was sharp. In
Speaker 1: December thirty three, Mary was forced to join Princess Elizabeth's household.
Speaker 1: It had field. Mary refused to denounce her own status
Speaker 1: or give in to her father's demands, and she wasn't
Speaker 1: allowed to see or speak to her mother, even via messenger,
Speaker 1: Even as rumors of Catherine's deteriorating health continued to swirl.
Speaker 1: Catherine was clearly ill. Some said that she was dying
Speaker 1: of heartbreak, but some said that the King or his
Speaker 1: men were poisoning Catherine to get her out of the way.
Speaker 1: Catherine died in January of fifteen thirty six. Mary never
Speaker 1: got to say goodbye to her mother. Just four months later,
Speaker 1: Anne Boleyn was beheaded. Their downfalls had coincided in the end.
Speaker 1: Two weeks after Anne Boleyn's death, Mary had a new stepmom,
Speaker 1: Jane Seymour, who helped foster a reconciliation between Mary and
Speaker 1: her father. At the urging of Mary's longtime ally, her cousin,
Speaker 1: Charles five, Mary eventually signed documents agreeing to the King's
Speaker 1: terms and her new position at court. From that point on,
Speaker 1: at least, she was given her own household and her
Speaker 1: own expenditures. It would remain a long journey for Mary
Speaker 1: until she became queen in her own right. Her loyalty
Speaker 1: to her mother, her fervent dedication to Catholicism, they were
Speaker 1: the keys to protecting her title, but in the end
Speaker 1: they might also have been the factors that contributed to
Speaker 1: her downfall. Mary's younger half sister would also become queen,
Speaker 1: of course, the future Elizabeth, the first. The two of them,
Speaker 1: Mary and Elizabeth would be in their lifetimes both allies
Speaker 1: and enemies, but that's a story for a later episode.
Speaker 1: That was the story of young Princess Mary Tutor. But
Speaker 1: keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a
Speaker 1: little bit more about one of the main side characters
Speaker 1: in this story. It's at this point in the show
Speaker 1: that I usually offer a tidbit about where the story
Speaker 1: went from there. But I'm so fascinated about Mary's life,
Speaker 1: and there's so much to say about her after she
Speaker 1: became queen that I'm going to give her rein its
Speaker 1: own entire episode. But do you remember Mary's beloved governess,
Speaker 1: the wealthy Countess Salisbury, Margaret Pole, Well, she had her
Speaker 1: own wild story that could have merited its own episode.
Speaker 1: After King Henry's death during the reign of his son
Speaker 1: Edward the sixth, Salisbury gets implicated in a plot of
Speaker 1: Catholic loyalty orchestrated by one of her sons. She's locked
Speaker 1: in the Tower of London and eventually beheaded. Famously, Henry
Speaker 1: the Ape had fired a French swordsman to expertly remove
Speaker 1: Anne Boleyn's head. The Countess of Salisbury, Margaret Pole, was
Speaker 1: offered no such grace. She was given an inexperienced axemen
Speaker 1: who required so many thrusts to cut through Salisbury spine
Speaker 1: that her neck and shoulders were hacked to pieces before
Speaker 1: she was dead. Sorry to leave you on such a
Speaker 1: gruesome bummer of a note, but this is, after all,
Speaker 1: a podcast called Noble Blood. Noble Blood is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky.
Speaker 1: The show was written and hosted by Dana Schwartz and
Speaker 1: produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and Trevor Young.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales,
Speaker 1: and you can learn more about the show over at
Speaker 1: Noble blood tails dot com. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit at the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M M