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133-692: Isabella Clara Eugenia (Spanish: Isabel Clara Eugenia ; 12 August 1566 – 1 December 1633), sometimes referred to as Clara Isabella Eugenia , was sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands , which comprised the Low Countries and the north of modern France with her husband, Archduke Albert VII of Austria . Their reign is considered the Golden Age of the Spanish Netherlands, which saw a revival of its economy and arts after

266-664: A Catholic candidate in the succession to Elizabeth I as she was a legitimate descendant of John of Gaunt (unlike the Tudors ) and her father had been jure uxoris King of England. As Infanta of Spain and Portugal, Isabella was quite eligible on the political marriage market, though she ended up marrying late for her time. At the age of two, Isabella was promised to marry her cousin Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612), son of her aunt Maria . However, Isabella had to wait for more than 20 years before

399-557: A Protestant, and former secretary to Lord Protector the Duke of Somerset and then to the Duke of Northumberland . Under Mary, he had been spared, and often visited Elizabeth, ostensibly to review her accounts and expenditure. Elizabeth also appointed her personal favourite, the son of the Duke of Northumberland Lord Robert Dudley , her Master of the Horse , giving him constant personal access to

532-485: A companion than a king. He was tall, handsome and cultured and generous in his gifts and affection and was said to be easy to get along with. The Henry that many people picture when they hear his name is the Henry of his later years, when he became obese, volatile, and was known for his great cruelty. Catherine did not bear Henry the sons he was desperate for; her first child, a daughter, was stillborn, and her second child,

665-612: A daughter in 1568 and died the same day. Isabella and Catherine grew up beloved by their father and stepmother, Anna of Austria , Philip's fourth wife. The sisters developed a close relationship. Their father ultimately fathered five children by Anna, all of whom died in early childhood except his heir, Philip . Isabella and Catherine were raised under the care of Margarita de Cardona , their stepmother's lady-in-waiting, and some of their mother's own ladies-in-waiting, such as Claude de Vineulx. Both sisters were described as intelligent and well aware of their high social status. Isabella had

798-443: A daughter, Elizabeth , named in honour of Henry's mother. Anne had two further pregnancies which ended in miscarriage. In 1536, Anne was arrested, along with six courtiers. Thomas Cromwell , Anne's former ally, stepped in again, claiming that she had taken lovers during her marriage to Henry, including her own brother, George Boleyn , and she was tried for high treason and incest . These charges were most likely fabricated, but she

931-517: A flattering portrait of her. She arrived in England in December 1539, and Henry rode to Rochester to meet her on 1 January 1540. Although the historian Gilbert Burnet claimed that Henry called her a Flanders Mare , there is no evidence that he said this; in truth, court ambassadors negotiating the marriage praised her beauty. Whatever the circumstances were, the marriage failed, and Anne agreed to

1064-506: A foreign match with a man that she had never seen before, so that also eliminated a large number of suitors. Despite the uncertainty of Elizabeth's – and therefore the Tudors' – hold on England, she never married. The closest she came to marriage was between 1579 and 1581, when she was courted by Francis, Duke of Anjou , the son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici . Despite Elizabeth's government constantly begging her to marry in

1197-431: A good relationship between her and Edward. Henry died on 28 January 1547. His will had reinstated his daughters by his annulled marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn to the line of succession . Edward, his nine-year-old son by Jane Seymour , succeeded as Edward VI of England . Unfortunately, the young King's kingdom was usually in turmoil between nobles who were trying to strengthen their own positions in

1330-423: A good relationship with his sister Elizabeth , who was a Protestant, albeit a moderate one, but this was strained when Elizabeth was accused of having an affair with the Duke of Somerset's brother, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley , who had married Henry VIII's widow, Catherine Parr . Seymour had invaded Edward's apartments and had killed his dog in a scheme to forcefully gain control over him. Elizabeth

1463-522: A group of Earls led by Charles Neville , the sixth Earl of Westmorland , and Thomas Percy , the seventh Earl of Northumberland attempted to depose Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots . In 1571, the Protestant-turned-Catholic Thomas Howard , the fourth Duke of Norfolk , had plans to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, and then replace Elizabeth with Mary. The plot , masterminded by Roberto di Ridolfi ,

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1596-543: A marriage to an unattractive, obese man over 30 years her senior, had never wanted to marry Henry, and allegedly conducted an affair with the King's favourite, Thomas Culpeper , while Henry and she were married. During her questioning, Catherine first denied everything but eventually she was broken down and told of her infidelity and her pre-nuptial relations with other men. Henry, first enraged, threatened to torture her to death but later became overcome with grief and self-pity. She

1729-646: A moderate Protestant; she was the daughter of Anne Boleyn , who played a key role in the English Reformation in the 1520s. She had been brought up by Blanche Herbert Lady Troy . At her coronation in January 1559, many of the bishops – Catholic, appointed by Mary, who had expelled many of the Protestant clergymen when she became queen in 1553 – refused to perform the service in English. Eventually,

1862-586: A modest increase of the population (and thus workers) after decades of demographic losses. Industry and in particular the luxury trades likewise underwent a recovery, bringing considerable economic stability and prosperity to the Southern Netherlands . However, international trade was hampered by the closure of the River Scheldt . The archducal regime had plans to bypass the blockade with a system of canals linking Ostend via Bruges to

1995-551: A new will repudiating the 1544 will of Henry VIII. This gave the throne to his cousin Lady Jane Grey , the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary Tudor , who, after the death of Louis XII of France in 1515 had married Henry VIII's favourite Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk . Edward VI died on 6 July 1553, at the age of 15. With his death, the direct male line of the House of Tudor ended. The dying Edward VI, under

2128-421: A new, Catholic Habsburg line was finished, and her popularity further declined when she lost Calais — the last English territory on French soil — to Francis, Duke of Guise , in January 1558. Mary's reign, however, introduced a new coining system that would be used until the 18th century, and her marriage to Philip II created new trade routes for England. Mary's government took a number of steps towards reversing

2261-495: A peace was concluded with the break-away Dutch Republic . Isabella was one of the most powerful women in 16th- and 17th-century Europe. Isabella Clara Eugenia of Austria was born in the Palace of Valsain , Segovia on 12 August 1566. She was the first surviving daughter of King Philip II of Spain and his third wife, Elisabeth of Valois . Her father was reportedly overjoyed at her birth and declared himself to be happier on

2394-625: A peaceful annulment, assumed the title My Lady, the King's Sister , and received a large settlement, which included Richmond Palace , Hever Castle , and numerous other estates across the country. Although the marriage made sense in terms of foreign policy, Henry was still enraged and offended by the match. Henry chose to blame Cromwell for the failed marriage, and ordered him beheaded on 28 July 1540. Henry kept his word and took care of Anne in his last years alive; however, after his death Anne suffered from extreme financial hardship because Edward VI's councillors refused to give her any funds and confiscated

2527-444: A protracted legal battle followed. Wolsey fell from favour in 1529 as a result of his failure to procure the annulment, and Henry appointed Thomas Cromwell in his place as chief minister c.  1532 . Despite his failure to produce the results that Henry wanted, Wolsey actively pursued the annulment (divorce was synonymous with annulment at that time). However, Wolsey never planned that Henry would marry Anne Boleyn , with whom

2660-589: A separate South Netherlandish identity. However, Albert and Isabella's children died at a very young age and as the years passed, it became clear that they would have no more offspring and thus independence wouldn't be possible. After that, Albert and Isabella's goal became the reincorporation of the Southern Provinces into the Spanish monarchy. They consolidated the authority of the House of Habsburg over

2793-453: A son named Henry, Duke of Cornwall , died 52 days after birth. A further set of stillborn children followed, until a surviving daughter, Mary , was born in 1516. When it became clear to Henry that the Tudor line was at risk, he consulted his chief minister Cardinal Wolsey about the possibility of annulling his marriage to Catherine. Along with Henry's concern that he would not have an heir, it

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2926-473: A very good education. Her studies presumably included good manners, mathematics, and the languages Dutch , French and Italian besides her native Spanish. Famous artist Sofonisba Anguissola , who served as court painter at the time, influenced the Infanta's artistic works. Isabella was the only person whom King Philip permitted to help him with his work, sorting his papers and translating Italian documents into

3059-642: A very young age, in 1605, 1607, and 1609. Beginning in 1601, the Archduke and Archduchess ruled the Spanish Netherlands together. Their reign is a key period in the history of the Spanish Netherlands. After Albert's death, Isabella was appointed Governor of the Netherlands on the King of Spain 's behalf. She was succeeded as Governor by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria , the third son of her half-brother in 1633. The first half of Albert and Isabella's reign

3192-509: A year. Mary married Philip at Winchester Cathedral , on 25 July 1554, and he thereby became king jure uxoris until her death. Philip found her unattractive, and only spent a minimal amount of time with her. Despite Mary believing she was pregnant numerous times during her five-year reign, she never bore children. Devastated that she rarely saw her husband, and anxious that she was not bearing an heir to Catholic England, Mary became bitter and resentful. In her determination to restore England to

3325-479: Is symbolised by the heraldic emblem of the Tudor rose , a combination of the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. Henry VII and Elizabeth of York had seven children, four of whom survived early childhood: Henry VII's foreign policy had an objective of dynastic security: he formed an alliance with Scotland with the marriage in 1503 of his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland, and with Spain through

3458-517: The Parlement of Paris , in power of the Catholic party, gave verdict that Isabella was "the legitimate sovereign" of France. The Huguenot leader, Henry III of Navarre , the actual heir by traditional French inheritance laws, ultimately made his claim to the throne, converted to Catholicism and was crowned in 1594. Following the 1587 execution of Mary, Queen of Scots , Isabella was suggested as

3591-571: The Capture of Breda in 1625, with failures and setbacks, such as the losses of Den Bosch in 1629 and Maastricht in 1632. She died in Brussels in 1633. Isabella and Albert were very supportive of the arts. In their patronage, they selected artists who were able create works that would promote the chief political goals of the Archdukes: to show that their reign was a continuation of the rule of

3724-567: The House of Lancaster , during the civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses . However the descent from the Beauforts did not necessarily render Henry Tudor (Henry VII) heir to the throne, nor did the fact that his paternal grandmother, Catherine of Valois , had been Queen of England due to her first marriage to Henry V (although, this did make Henry VII a nephew of Henry VI). The legitimate claim

3857-585: The House of Plantagenet as rulers of the Kingdom of England, and were succeeded by the Scottish House of Stuart . The first Tudor monarch, Henry VII, descended through his mother from the House of Beaufort , a legitimised branch of the English royal House of Lancaster , a cadet house of the Plantagenets. The Tudor family rose to power and started the Tudor period in the wake of the Wars of

3990-626: The Tower of London saved him from the public humiliation and inevitable execution he would have suffered upon his arrival at the Tower. In order to allow Henry to dissolve his marriage and marry Anne Boleyn, the English parliament enacted laws breaking ties with Rome, and declaring the king Supreme Head of the Church of England (from Elizabeth I the monarch is known as the Supreme Governor of

4123-467: The Tower of London . Her father was pardoned, but his participation in Wyatt's rebellion led to his execution shortly after. Jane and her husband Lord Guildford were sentenced to death and beheaded on 12 February 1554. Jane was only 17 years old, and the cruel way in which her life had been lost for a throne she never desired aroused much sympathy among the public. Mary soon announced her intention to marry

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4256-567: The Treaty of London . The return to peace was severely hampered by differences over religion. Events such as the Gunpowder Plot caused a lot of diplomatic tension between London and Brussels, but the relations between the two courts tended to be cordial on the whole. Anne of Denmark wore her portrait in a locket as a public token of friendship and kinship. The threat of diplomatic isolation and General Ambrogio Spínola 's campaigns induced

4389-473: The Treaty of Perpetual Peace , paving the way for the marriage of his daughter Margaret. One of the main concerns of Henry VII during his reign was the re-accumulation of the funds in the royal treasury. England had never been one of the wealthier European countries, and after the Wars of the Roses this was even more true. Through his strict monetary strategy, he was able to leave a considerable amount of money in

4522-453: The 'handmaiden of the Lord'. She never let anyone challenge her authority as queen, even though many people, who felt she was weak and should be married, tried to do so. The popularity of Elizabeth was extremely high, but her Privy Council , her Parliament and her subjects thought that the unmarried queen should take a husband; it was generally accepted that, once a queen regnant was married,

4655-644: The Archdukes enjoy a well-merited reputation as patrons of the arts. By far, the best preserved ensemble of art from the archducal period is to be found at Scherpenheuvel , where Albert and Isabella directed Cobergher, Theodoor van Loon , and the de Noles to create a pilgrimage church in a planned city. For a month in 1598 Isabella had lived in the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid , alongside her mother-in-law Maria. She continued to take an active interest in

4788-412: The Beauforts legitimate by way of a papal bull the same year, confirmed by an Act of Parliament in 1397. A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt's son by his first wife Blanche of Lancaster , King Henry IV , also recognised the Beauforts' legitimacy but declared the line ineligible for the throne. Nevertheless, the Beauforts remained closely allied with Gaunt's descendants from his first marriage,

4921-567: The Belgian Nobles. Brussels became a vital link in the chain of Habsburg Courts and the diplomatic conduits between Madrid , Vienna, Paris, London, Lisbon , Graz , Innsbruck , Prague , and The Hague could be said to run through there. The accession of James VI of Scotland as James I in England had paved the way for a separate peace with England . On 24 July 1604, England, Spain and the Archducal Netherlands signed

5054-683: The Burgundian inheritance in the Low Countries. Charles V was born and raised in the Low Countries and often stayed at the Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels. By the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 , Charles V declared the Seventeen Provinces a united and indivisible Habsburg dominion. Between 1555 and 1556, the House of Habsburg split into an Austro-German and a Spanish branch as a consequence of Charles's abdications:

5187-452: The Catholic faith and to secure her throne from Protestant threats, she had over 280 Protestants burnt at the stake in the Marian persecutions , between 1554 and 1558. Protestants came to hate her as "Bloody Mary." Charles Dickens stated that "as bloody Queen Mary this woman has become famous, and as Bloody Queen Mary she will ever be remembered with horror and detestation". Mary's dream of

5320-444: The Catholic religion in England. Henry called her his "rose without a thorn", but the marriage ended in failure. Henry's infatuation with Catherine started before the end of his marriage with Anne when she was still a member of Anne's court. Catherine was young and vivacious, but Henry's age made him less inclined to use Catherine in the bedroom; rather, he preferred to admire her, which Catherine soon grew tired of. Catherine, forced into

5453-621: The Church of England ( Supreme Head , the title used by her father and brother, was seen as inappropriate for a woman ruler). These acts, known collectively as the Elizabethan Religious Settlement , made it compulsory to attend church services every Sunday; and imposed an oath on clergymen and statesmen to recognise the Church of England , the independence of the Church of England from the Catholic Church, and

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5586-533: The Church of England ), thus severing the ecclesiastical structure of England from the Catholic Church and the Pope. The newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury , Thomas Cranmer , was then able to declare Henry's marriage to Catherine void . Catherine was banished from court, and she spent the last three years of her life in various English houses under "protectorship", similar to house arrest. This allowed Henry to marry Anne Boleyn. She gave birth on 7 September 1533 to

5719-509: The Duke of Anjou away. Elizabeth knew that the continuation of the Tudor line was now impossible; she was forty-eight in 1581, and too old to bear children. By far the most dangerous threat to the Tudor line during Elizabeth's reign was the Spanish Armada of 1588, launched by Elizabeth's old suitor Philip II of Spain and commanded by Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno , the seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia . The Spanish invasion fleet outnumbered

5852-501: The Duke of Norfolk, had lost all their power and influence. Norfolk himself was still a committed Catholic, and he was nearly persuaded to arrest Catherine for preaching Lutheran doctrines to Henry while she attended his ill health. However, she managed to reconcile with the King after vowing that she had only argued about religion with him to take his mind off the suffering caused by his ulcerous leg. Her peacemaking also helped reconcile Henry with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth and fostered

5985-766: The Dutch Republic to accept a ceasefire in April 1609. The subsequent negotiations between the warring parties failed to produce a peace treaty, but led to the Twelve Years' Truce , agreed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609. Under the Truce's terms, the United Provinces were to be regarded as a sovereign power for the duration of the truce. After four decades of war, the treaty brought a period of much-needed peace to

6118-827: The Elder , Jacob Franquart , Pieter Brueghel the Younger , the De Nole family, Otto van Veen , and stimulated the growth of the artistic movement of Flemish Baroque painting , sculpture and architecture. However, virtually nothing remains of Albert and Isabella's palace on the Coudenberg in Brussels, their summer retreat in Mariemont , or their hunting lodge in Tervuren . Their magnificent collections were scattered after 1633, and considerable parts of them have been lost. Still,

6251-747: The Low Countries and the Free County of Burgundy in the Holy Roman Empire. The Habsburgs often used the term Burgundy to refer to their hereditary lands (e.g. in the name of the Imperial Burgundian Circle established in 1512), actually until 1795, when the Austrian Netherlands were lost to the French Republic . The Governor-general of the Netherlands was responsible for the administration of

6384-871: The Netherlandish fiefs, centered in the Duchy of Brabant , already existed under the rule of the Burgundian Duke Philip the Good with the implementation of a stadtholder and the first convocation of the States General of the Netherlands in 1464. His granddaughter Mary had confirmed a number of privileges to the States by the Great Privilege signed in 1477. After the government takeover by her husband Archduke Maximilian I of Austria ,

6517-657: The Netherlands under Habsburg rule was repeatedly invaded by the French and an increasing portion of the territory came under French control in successive wars. By the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 the French annexed most of Artois , and Dunkirk was ceded to the English. By the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (ending the War of Devolution in 1668) and Nijmegen (ending the Franco-Dutch War in 1678), further territory up to

6650-521: The Netherlands were left to his son Philip II of Spain , while his brother King Ferdinand I succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor . The Seventeen Provinces, de jure still fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, from that time on de facto were ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs as part of the Burgundian heritage. Philip's stern Counter-Reformation measures sparked the Dutch Revolt in

6783-424: The Roses (1455–1487), which left the main House of Lancaster (with which the Tudors were aligned) extinct in the male line. Henry VII (a descendant of Edward III , and the son of Edmund Tudor , a half-brother of Henry VI ) succeeded in presenting himself as a candidate not only for traditional Lancastrian supporters, but also for discontented supporters of their rival Plantagenet cadet House of York , and he took

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6916-967: The Scheldt in Ghent and joining the Meuse to the Rhine between Venlo and Rheinberg . To combat urban poverty , the government supported the creation of a network of Monti di Pietà based on the Italian model. The archducal regime ensured the triumph of the Catholic Reformation in the Habsburg Netherlands. Most Protestants had by that stage left the Southern Netherlands. After one last execution in 1597, those that remained were no longer actively persecuted. Under

7049-410: The Southern Netherlands depended wholly on the personal initiative of the archducal couple and bore witness to the Spanish orientation of their spirituality. The reign of Albert and Isabella Clara Eugenia saw a strengthening of princely power in the Habsburg Netherlands. The States General of the loyal provinces were only summoned once in 1600. Thereafter, the government preferred to deal directly with

7182-434: The Southern Netherlands. The period of the Truce brought the Habsburg Netherlands a much-needed peace, mainly because the fields could be again worked in safety. The archducal regime encouraged reclamation of land that had been inundated in the course of the hostilities and sponsored the impoldering of De Moeren , a marshy area that is presently astride the Belgian–French border. The recovery of agriculture led in turn to

7315-404: The Spanish language for him. After her maternal uncle, Henry III of France , was assassinated by the fanatical young monk Jacques Clément on 2 August 1589, Philip II claimed the French crown on Isabella's behalf despite France's Salic law , which forbade cognatic succession. At any rate, her mother had ceded any claim to the French crown with her marriage to the Spanish king. However,

7448-493: The Spanish prince, Philip , son of her cousin Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor . The prospect of a marriage alliance with Spain proved extremely unpopular with the English people, who were worried that Spain would use England as a satellite, involving England in wars without the popular support of the people. Popular discontent grew; a Protestant courtier, Thomas Wyatt the younger , led a rebellion against Mary aiming to depose and replace her with her half-sister Elizabeth . The plot

7581-404: The Spanish sphere of influence. With Albert's death in 1621 they returned to formal Spanish control, although the childless Isabella remained on as governor until her death in 1633. The failing wars intended to regain the 'heretical' northern Netherlands meant significant loss of (still mainly Catholic) territories in the north, which was consolidated in 1648 in the Peace of Westphalia , and given

7714-455: The States insisted on their privileges, culminating in a Hook rebellion in Holland and Flemish revolts . Maximilian prevailed with the support of Duke Albert III of Saxony and his son Philip the Handsome , husband of Joanna of Castile, could assume the rule over the Habsburg Netherlands in 1493. Philip as well as his son and successor Charles V retained the title of a " Duke of Burgundy " referring to their Burgundian inheritance, notably

7847-527: The Treasury for his son and successor, Henry VIII . Although it is debated whether Henry VII was a great king, he certainly was a successful one if only because he restored the nation's finances, strengthened the judicial system and successfully denied all other claimants to the throne, thus further securing it for his heir. The new King Henry VIII succeeded to the throne on 22 April 1509. He married Catherine of Aragon on 11 June; they were crowned at Westminster Abbey on 24 June. Catherine had previously been

7980-515: The Tudor era, as did the English Reformation in religion, impacting the future of the Crown. Elizabeth I was the longest serving Tudor monarch at 44 years, and her reign- known as the Elizabethan Era - provided a period of stability after the short, troubled reigns of her siblings. When Elizabeth I died childless, her cousin of the Scottish House of Stuart succeeded her, in the Union of the Crowns of 24 March 1603. The first Stuart to become King of England ( r.  1603–1625 ), James VI and I ,

8113-401: The Welsh form of Theodore , but Modern Welsh Tudur , Old Welsh Tutir is originally not a variant but a different and completely unrelated name, etymologically identical with Gaulish Toutorix , from Proto-Celtic *toutā "people, tribe" and *rīxs "king" (compare Modern Welsh tud "territory" and rhi "king" respectively), corresponding to Germanic Theodoric . Owen Tudor was one of

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8246-425: The authority of Elizabeth as Supreme Governor. Elizabeth made it clear that if they refused the oath the first time, they would have a second opportunity, after which, if the oath was not sworn, the offenders would be deprived of their offices and estates. Even though Elizabeth was only twenty-five when she came to the throne, she was absolutely sure of her God-given place to be the queen and of her responsibilities as

8379-402: The authority of the House of Habsburg reconciling previous anti-Spanish sentiments. In the early 17th century, there was a flourishing court at Brussels . Among the artists who emerged from the court of the "Archdukes", as they were known, was Peter Paul Rubens . Under Isabella and Albert, the Spanish Netherlands actually had formal independence from Spain, but always remained unofficially within

8512-424: The bodyguards for the queen dowager Catherine of Valois , whose husband, Henry V , had died in 1422. Evidence suggests that the two were secretly married in 1428. Two sons born of the marriage, Edmund and Jasper , were among the most loyal supporters of the House of Lancaster in its struggle against the House of York. Henry VI ennobled his half-brothers: Edmund became Earl of Richmond on 15 December 1449 and

8645-522: The cheers of both the ruling class and the common people. When Elizabeth came to the throne, there was much apprehension among members of the council appointed by Mary, because many of them (as noted by the Spanish ambassador) had participated in several plots against Elizabeth, such as her imprisonment in the Tower, trying to force her to marry a foreign prince and thereby sending her out of the realm, and even pushing for her death. In response to their fear, she chose as her chief minister Sir William Cecil ,

8778-402: The convent, and donated major artworks to it, including a famous series of Brussels tapestries, designed by Rubens . These depict Isabella as the order's patron saint, " Clare of Assisi with Monstrance ". Spanish Netherlands The Imperial fiefs of the former Burgundian Netherlands had been inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg from the extinct House of Valois-Burgundy upon

8911-498: The council, led by his chief rival, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick , who created himself Duke of Northumberland shortly after his rise. Northumberland effectively became Lord Protector, but he did not use this title, learning from the mistakes his predecessor made. Northumberland was furiously ambitious, and aimed to secure Protestant uniformity while making himself rich with land and money in the process. He ordered churches to be stripped of all traditional Catholic symbolism, resulting in

9044-441: The current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including Cambrai , Walloon Flanders , as well as half of the County of Hainaut (including Valenciennes ). Later, in the War of the Reunions and the Nine Years' War , France annexed other parts of the region that were restored to Spain by the Treaty of Rijswijk 1697. During the War of the Spanish Succession , in 1706 the Habsburg Netherlands became an Anglo-Dutch condominium for

9177-415: The death of Mary of Burgundy in 1482. The Seventeen Provinces formed the core of the Habsburg Netherlands , which passed to the Spanish Habsburgs upon the abdication of Emperor Charles V in 1556. When part of the Netherlands separated to form the autonomous Dutch Republic in 1581, the remainder of the area stayed under Spanish rule until the War of the Spanish Succession . A common administration of

9310-515: The decision to execute an anointed queen. Finally, she was persuaded of Mary's (treasonous) complicity in the plotting against her, and she signed the death warrant in 1586. Mary was executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8 February 1587, to the outrage of Catholic Europe. There are many reasons debated as to why Elizabeth never married. It was rumoured that she was in love with Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester , and that on one of her summer progresses she had birthed his illegitimate child. This rumour

9443-413: The early years of her reign, it was now persuading Elizabeth not to marry the French prince, for his mother, Catherine de' Medici, was suspected of ordering the St Bartholomew's Day massacre of tens of thousands of French Protestant Huguenots in 1572. Elizabeth bowed to public feeling against the marriage, learning from the mistake her sister, Mary I , made when she married Philip II of Spain , and sent

9576-404: The eccentric Rudolf declared that he had no intention of marrying anybody. Meanwhile, she served as her father's primary caretaker during the last three years of his life, when he was plagued by gout and frequent illness. Philip decided to cede the Spanish Netherlands to Isabella on condition that she marry her cousin, Albert VII, Archduke of Austria . He was her former fiancé's younger brother,

9709-425: The first time. Had she lived a little longer, Catholicism, which she worked so hard to restore into the realm, might have taken deeper roots than it did. However, her actions in pursuit of this goal arguably spurred on the Protestant cause, through the many people she killed. Mary died on 17 November 1558 at the age of 42. Elizabeth I, who was staying at Hatfield House at the time of her accession, rode to London to

9842-428: The former viceroy. They were to reign over the Netherlands jointly and be succeeded by their descendants according to the male-preference cognatic primogeniture but should a female succeed, she was required to marry the King of Spain or the person chosen by the King of Spain. It was stipulated that, should they have no children, the Netherlands would revert to the King of Spain upon the death of either spouse. As Albert

9975-684: The full union of England and the Principality of Wales in 1542 ( Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 ), and successfully asserting English authority over the Kingdom of Ireland (proclaimed by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 ). They also maintained the nominal English claim to the Kingdom of France ; although none of them made substance of it, Henry VIII fought wars with France primarily as a matter of international alliances but also asserting claim to

10108-676: The growing unpopularity of Richard III (King of England from 1483), she was able to forge an alliance with discontented Yorkists in support of her son. Two years after Richard III was crowned, Henry and Jasper sailed from the mouth of the Seine to the Milford Haven Waterway and defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485. Upon this victory, Henry Tudor proclaimed himself King Henry VII. Upon becoming king in 1485, Henry VII moved rapidly to secure his hold on

10241-500: The home of Lord Herbert , a leading Yorkist. Following the murder of Henry VI and death of his son, Edward , at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, Henry became the person upon whom the Lancastrian cause rested. Concerned for his young nephew's life, Jasper Tudor took Henry to Brittany for safety. Lady Margaret remained in England and remarried, living quietly while advancing the Lancastrian (and her son's) cause. Capitalizing on

10374-580: The homes she had been given. She pleaded to her brother to let her return home, but he only sent a few agents who tried to assist in helping her situation and refused to let her return home. Anne died on 16 July 1557 in Chelsea Manor . The fifth marriage was to the young Catherine Howard , niece of the Catholic Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk . Catherine was promoted by Norfolk in the hope that she would persuade Henry to restore

10507-411: The husband would relieve the woman of the burdens of head of state . Also, without an heir, the Tudor line would end; the risk of civil war between rival claimants was a possibility if Elizabeth died childless. Numerous suitors from nearly all European nations sent ambassadors to English court to put forward their suit. Risk of death came dangerously close in 1564 when Elizabeth caught smallpox ; when she

10640-416: The illegitimate children of the 14th century English prince John of Gaunt , the third surviving son of Edward III. Beaufort's mother was Gaunt's long-term mistress, Katherine Swynford . The descendants of an illegitimate child of English royalty would normally have no claim on the throne, although Gaunt and Swynford eventually married in 1396, when John Beaufort was 25. The church then retroactively declared

10773-471: The inflation, budgetary deficits, poverty, and trade crisis of her kingdom. She explored the commercial potential of Russian, African, and Baltic markets, revised the customs system, worked to counter the currency debasements of her predecessors, amalgamated several revenue courts, and strengthened the governing authority of the middling and larger towns. Mary also welcomed the first Russian ambassador to England , creating relations between England and Russia for

10906-637: The king had become enamoured while she served as a lady-in-waiting in Queen Catherine's household. It is unclear how far Wolsey was actually responsible for the English Reformation , but it is very clear that Henry's desire to marry Anne Boleyn precipitated the schism with Rome. Henry's concern about having an heir to secure his family line and to increase his security while alive would have prompted him to ask for an annulment sooner or later, whether Anne had precipitated it or not. Only Wolsey's sudden death at Leicester on 29 November 1530 on his journey to

11039-538: The king's favour when he designed and pushed through the Laws in Wales Acts , uniting England and Wales. In 1540, Henry married for the fourth time to the daughter of a Protestant German duke, Anne of Cleves , thus forming an alliance with the Protestant German states. Henry was reluctant to marry again, especially to a Protestant, but he was persuaded when the court painter Hans Holbein the Younger showed him

11172-559: The kingdom by using the Regency in their favour. Although Henry had specified a group of men to act as regents during Edward's minority, Edward Seymour , the young king's uncle, quickly seized control and created himself Duke of Somerset on 15 February 1547. His domination of the Privy Council , the king's most senior body of advisers, was unchallenged. Somerset aimed to unite England and Scotland by marrying Edward to his cousin,

11305-482: The last attempt a female made at ruling in her own right had resulted in disaster when Henry II's mother, Empress Matilda , and her cousin, Stephen of Blois , fought bitterly for the throne in the 12th century. Dukes (except Aquitaine ) and Princes of Wales are noted, as are the monarchs' reigns.   † =Killed in action;   [REDACTED] =Executed See also Family tree of English monarchs Sources: Henry Tudor had, however, something that

11438-675: The mainly Calvinist Netherlandish provinces, which led to the outbreak of the Eighty Years' War in 1568. In January 1579 the seven northern provinces formed the Protestant Union of Utrecht , which declared independence from the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands by the 1581 Act of Abjuration . The Spanish branch of the Habsburgs could retain the rule only over

11571-539: The marriage of his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragon , cementing an alliance with the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile . The newlyweds spent their honeymoon at Ludlow Castle , the traditional seat of the Prince of Wales . However, four months after the marriage, Arthur died, leaving his younger brother Henry as heir apparent. Henry VII acquired a papal dispensation allowing prince Henry to marry Arthur's widow; however, Henry VII delayed

11704-748: The marriage. Henry VII limited his involvement in European politics. He went to war only twice: once in 1489 during the French–Breton War and the invasion of Brittany, and in 1496–1497 in revenge for Scottish support of Perkin Warbeck and for the Scottish invasion of northern England. Henry VII made peace with France in 1492 and the war against Scotland was abandoned because of the Cornish rebellion of 1497 . Henry VII made peace with James IV in 1502 with

11837-603: The mayor. The rebellion worried Somerset, now Lord Protector , and he sent an army to impose a military solution to the rebellion. The rebellion hardened the Crown against Catholics. Fear of Catholicism focused on Edward's elder half-sister, Mary , who was a pious and devout Catholic. Although called before the Privy Council several times to renounce her faith and stop hearing the Catholic Mass, she refused. Edward had

11970-798: The most diverse media. Visual art, in the baroque style popularized in the wake of the Counter-Reformation , was the perfect tool. This, coupled with the political configuration of the period, made the Archduke's court at Brussels one of the foremost political and artistic centers in Europe of that time. It became the testing ground for the Spanish Monarchy's European plans, a boiling pot full of people of all sorts: from artists and diplomats to defectors, spies and penitent traitors, from Spanish confessors, Italian counselors, Burgundian functionaries, English musicians, German bodyguards to

12103-519: The news, was made queen on 10 July. However, despite the efforts of the Duke of Northumberland and Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, the public's support was with Lady Mary, the rightful heir according to Henry VIII's will. On 19 July Suffolk persuaded his daughter to relinquish the throne, which she had never wanted, to Mary. Mary's supporters joined her in a triumphal procession to London, accompanied by her younger sister Elizabeth . Lady Jane and her father were arrested for high treason and imprisoned in

12236-482: The occasion than he would have been at the birth of a son. He already had a male heir, Carlos, Prince of Asturias , but due to the Prince’s mental illness and emotional instability, father and son had never developed a close rapport and frequently lived in conflict with one another. Isabella was baptized by Juan Bautista Castaneo, apostolic nuncio , later Pope Urban VII . Her godfather was her uncle John of Austria . She

12369-789: The others did not. He had an army which defeated the last Yorkist king, Richard III , in the field of battle and the support of powerful nobles to take the crown by right of conquest . Richard III's accession to the throne had proved controversial, even among the Yorkists. Henry Tudor, as Henry VII, and his son by Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII eliminated other claimants to the throne, including his first cousin once removed, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury , and her son Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu , as well as Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter . On 1 November 1455, John Beaufort's granddaughter, Margaret Beaufort , married Henry VI 's maternal half-brother Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond . It

12502-476: The partly Catholic Southern Netherlands , completed after the Fall of Antwerp in 1585. Better times came, when in 1598 the Spanish Netherlands passed to Philip's daughter Isabella Clara Eugenia and her husband Archduke Albert VII of Austria . The couple's rule brought a period of much-needed peace and stability to the economy, which stimulated the growth of a separate South Netherlandish identity and consolidated

12635-477: The peculiar inferior status of Generality Lands (jointly ruled by the United Republic, not admitted as member provinces): Zeelandic Flanders (south of the River Scheldt ), the present Dutch province of North Brabant and Maastricht (in the present-day Dutch province of Limburg ). As the power of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs waned in the latter decades of the 17th century, the territory of

12768-468: The population. New and reformed religious orders enjoyed the particular support of the rulers. Although the Archduke had certain reservations about the order, the Jesuits received the largest cash grants, allowing them to complete their ambitious building programmes in Brussels and Antwerp. The Capuchins were given considerable sums as well. The foundation of the first convents of Discalced Carmelites in

12901-489: The pressure of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, named his cousin and Northumberland's daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey , as his successor due to her Protestant beliefs. Edward's reluctance to follow the line of succession, which named his half-sister Mary as next in line, stemmed from his knowledge that Mary, firmly Catholic, would restore England to the Vatican. Lady Jane Grey was consistently at court after her father

13034-419: The previous Burgundian and Habsburg rulers as well as to promote the ideals of the revitalized Catholic Church of which they were the staunch defenders. Their favorite artists created new iconography and genres that captured the devoutness and splendor of the archducal court. Their patronage of such artists and architects as Peter Paul Rubens (their court painter since 1609), Wenceslas Cobergher , Jan Brueghel

13167-403: The provinces. The years of the Truce allowed the archducal regime to promulgate legislation on a whole range of matters. The so-called Eternal Edict of 1611 , for instance, reformed the judicial system and ushered in the transition from customary to written law. Other measures dealt with monetary matters, the nobility, duels, gambling, etc. The actions of the two rulers stimulated the growth of

13300-497: The queen. Elizabeth had a long, turbulent path to the throne. She had a number of problems during her childhood, the main one being after the execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn . When Anne was beheaded, Henry declared Elizabeth illegitimate and she would, therefore, not be able to inherit the throne. Henry returned her to the line of succession in the Third Succession Act of 1543. After the death of her father, she

13433-546: The relatively minor Bishop of Carlisle , Owen Oglethorpe , performed the ceremony; but when Oglethorpe attempted to perform traditional Catholic parts of the coronation, Elizabeth got up and left. Following the coronation, two important acts were passed through Parliament: the Act of Uniformity 1558 and the Act of Supremacy 1558 , establishing the Protestant Church of England and creating Elizabeth Supreme Governor of

13566-507: The remainder of the conflict. By the peace treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt in 1713/14 ending the war, the Southern Netherlands returned to the Austrian Habsburg monarchy forming the Austrian Netherlands . From 1581 the Habsburg Netherlands consisted of the following territories, all part of modern Belgium unless otherwise stated: House of Tudor The House of Tudor ( / ˈ tj uː d ər / TEW -dər )

13699-544: The simplicity often seen in Church of England churches today. A revision of the Book of Common Prayer was published in 1552. When Edward VI became ill in 1553, his advisers looked to the possible imminent accession of the Catholic Lady Mary, and feared that she would overturn all the reforms made during Edward's reign. Perhaps surprisingly, it was the dying Edward himself who feared a return to Catholicism, and wrote

13832-492: The terms of legislation passed in 1609, their presence was tolerated, provided they did not worship in public or engage in religious activities. The resolutions of the Third Provincial Council of Mechlin of 1607 were likewise given official sanction. Through such measures and by the appointment of a generation of committed bishops, Albert and Isabella laid the foundation of the Catholic confessionalisation of

13965-553: The territory of the Southern Netherlands and largely succeeded in reconciling previous anti-Spanish sentiments. As a result, the States of the loyal provinces swore to accept the Spanish king as heir of the Archduke and Archduchess in a number of ceremonies between May 1616 and January 1617. After Albert's death in 1621, Isabella joined the Third Order of St Francis but continued to rule on behalf of her nephew, Philip IV . As Governess, Isabella alternated successes, such as that of

14098-534: The throne by right of conquest . Following his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field (22 August 1485), he reinforced his position in 1486 by fulfilling his 1483 vow to marry Elizabeth of York , daughter of King Edward IV and the heiress of the Yorkist claim to the throne, thus symbolically uniting the former warring factions of Lancaster and York under the new dynasty (represented by the Tudor rose ). The Tudors extended their power beyond modern England, achieving

14231-430: The throne, he had very little interest in actually ruling; rather, he preferred to indulge in luxuries and to partake in sports. He let others control the kingdom for the first two years of his reign, and then when he became more interested in military strategy, he took more interest in ruling his own realm. In his younger years, Henry was described as a man of gentle friendliness, gentle in debate, and who acted as more of

14364-423: The throne. On 18 January 1486 at Westminster Abbey , he honoured a pledge made three years earlier and married Elizabeth of York , daughter of King Edward IV. They were third cousins, as both were great-great-grandchildren of John of Gaunt. The marriage unified the warring houses of Lancaster and York and gave the couple's children a strong claim to the throne. The unification of the two houses through this marriage

14497-554: The title. After him, his daughter Mary I lost control of all territory in France permanently with the Siege of Calais in 1558. In total, the Tudor monarchs ruled their domains for 118 years. Henry VIII ( r.  1509–1547 ) was the only son of Henry VII to live to the age of maturity, and he proved a dominant ruler. Issues around royal succession (including marriage and the succession rights of women) became major political themes during

14630-458: The wife of Henry's older brother Arthur (died 1502); this fact made the course of their marriage a rocky one from the start. A papal dispensation had to be granted for Henry to be able to marry Catherine, and the negotiations took some time. Despite the fact that Henry's father died before he was married to Catherine, he was determined to marry her anyway and to make sure that everyone knew he intended on being his own master. When Henry first came to

14763-403: The young Mary, Queen of Scots , and aimed to forcibly impose the English Reformation on the Church of Scotland . Somerset led a large and well equipped army to Scotland, where he and the Scottish regent James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran , commanded their armies at the Battle of Pinkie on 10 September 1547. The English won the battle, and after this Queen Mary was smuggled to France, where she

14896-460: Was a great-grandson of Henry VII's daughter Margaret Tudor , who in 1503 had married James IV of Scotland in accordance with the 1502 Treaty of Perpetual Peace . A connection persists to the present 21st century, as Charles III is a ninth-generation descendant of George I , who in turn was James VI and I's great-grandson. The Tudors descended from King Edward III on Henry VII 's mother's side from John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset , one of

15029-402: Was a talented writer. She was supposedly a very skilled musician as well, in both singing and playing the lute. After the rebellion of Thomas Wyatt the Younger in 1554, Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London . No proof could be found that Elizabeth was involved and she was released and retired to the countryside until the death of her half-sister, Mary I of England . Elizabeth was

15162-581: Was accused of treason and was executed on 13 February 1542, destroying the English Catholic holdouts' hopes of a national reconciliation with the Catholic Church. Her execution also marked the end of the Howard family's power and influence within the English court. By the time Henry conducted another marriage with his final wife Catherine Parr in July 1543, the old Roman Catholic advisers, including

15295-474: Was also obvious to his court that he was becoming tired of his aging wife, who was six years older than he was. Wolsey visited Rome, where he hoped to get the Pope's consent for an annulment. However, the Holy See was reluctant to rescind the earlier papal dispensation and felt heavy pressure from Catherine's nephew, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , in support of his aunt. Catherine contested the proceedings, and

15428-473: Was an English and Welsh dynasty that held the throne of England from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd , a Welsh noble family, and Catherine of Valois . The Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and the Lordship of Ireland (later the Kingdom of Ireland ) for 118 years with five monarchs: Henry VII , Henry VIII , Edward VI , Mary I and Elizabeth I . The Tudors succeeded

15561-498: Was betrothed to the Dauphin , the future King Francis II of France . Despite Somerset's disappointment that no Scottish marriage would take place, his victory at Pinkie made his position appear unassailable. Edward VI was taught that he had to lead religious reform. In 1549, the Crown ordered the publication of the Book of Common Prayer , containing the forms of worship for daily and Sunday church services. The controversial new book

15694-407: Was declared illegitimate after her parents' marriage was annulled , Mary was the strongest legitimate claimant. Despite this, Elizabeth would not name Mary her heir; as she had experienced during the reign of her predecessor Mary I, the opposition could flock around the heir if they were disheartened with Elizabeth's rule. Numerous threats to the Tudor line occurred during Elizabeth's reign. In 1569,

15827-731: Was discovered and Howard was beheaded . The next major uprising was in 1601, when Robert Devereux , the second Earl of Essex , attempted to raise the city of London against Elizabeth's government. The city of London proved unwilling to rebel; Essex and most of his co-rebels were executed. Threats also came from abroad. In 1570, Pope Pius V issued a Papal bull , Regnans in Excelsis , excommunicating Elizabeth, and releasing her subjects from their allegiance to her. Elizabeth came under pressure from Parliament to execute Mary, Queen of Scots, to prevent any further attempts to replace her; though faced with several official requests, she vacillated over

15960-417: Was discovered, and Wyatt's supporters were hunted down and killed. Wyatt himself was tortured, in the hope that he would give evidence that Elizabeth was involved so that Mary could have her executed for treason. Wyatt refused to implicate Elizabeth, and he was beheaded in April 1554. Elizabeth spent two months imprisoned at the Tower of London , and then was placed under house arrest at Woodstock Palace for

16093-587: Was dominated by war. After overtures to the United Provinces and to Queen Elizabeth I of England proved unsuccessful, the Habsburg policy in the Low Countries aimed at regaining the military initiative and isolating the Dutch Republic. The strategy was to force its opponents to the conference table and negotiate from a position of strength. In pursuit of that goal and to get their political agenda to all Flemish social classes, Albert and Isabella used

16226-506: Was found guilty and executed in May 1536. Henry married again, for a third time, to Jane Seymour , the daughter of a Wiltshire knight, and with whom he had become enamoured while she was still a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne. Jane became pregnant, and in 1537 produced a son, who became King Edward VI following Henry's death in 1547. Jane died of puerperal fever only a few days after the birth, leaving Henry devastated. Cromwell continued to gain

16359-452: Was his father, Owen Tudor ( Welsh : Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur ap Goronwy ap Tudur ap Goronwy ap Ednyfed Fychan ), who abandoned the Welsh patronymic naming practice and adopted a fixed surname. When he did, he did not choose, as was generally the custom, his father's name, Maredudd, but chose that of his grandfather, Tudur ap Goronwy , instead. This name is sometimes given as Tewdwr ,

16492-417: Was interviewed by one of Edward's advisers, and she was eventually found not to be guilty, despite forced confessions from her servants Kat Ashley and Sir Thomas Parry . Thomas Seymour was beheaded on 20 March 1549. Lord Protector Somerset was also losing favour. After forcibly removing Edward VI to Windsor Castle , with the intention of keeping him hostage, Somerset was removed from power by members of

16625-507: Was just one of many that swirled around the two's long-standing friendship. However, more important to focus on were the disasters that many women, such as her mother Anne Boleyn , suffered due to being married into the royal family. Her sister Mary's marriage to Philip brought great contempt to the country, for many of her subjects despised Spain and Philip and feared that he would try to take complete control. Recalling her father's disdain for Anne of Cleves , Elizabeth also refused to enter into

16758-502: Was made Duke of Suffolk in October 1551. Her mother, Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk , was the daughter of Mary Tudor , the sister of Henry VIII. On 21 May 1553, Jane was married to Northumberland's son, Lord Guildford Dudley . This was a political move organised by the Duke to ensure that Protestantism stayed the national religion if Jane were to become queen. Edward died on 6 July 1553 and 16-year-old Jane, who fainted when she heard

16891-449: Was married to Lady Margaret Beaufort , the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, the progenitor of the house of Lancaster; Jasper became Earl of Pembroke on 23 November 1452. Edmund died on 3 November 1456. On 28 January 1457, his widow Margaret, who was only 13 at the time, gave birth to a son, Henry Tudor, at her brother-in-law's residence at Pembroke Castle . Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII, spent his childhood at Raglan Castle ,

17024-485: Was most at risk, she named Robert Dudley as Lord Protector in the event of her death. After her recovery, she appointed Dudley to the Privy Council and created him Earl of Leicester , in the hope that he would marry Mary, Queen of Scots . Mary rejected him, and instead married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley , a descendant of Henry VII , giving Mary a stronger claim to the English throne. Although many Catholics were loyal to Elizabeth, many also believed that, because Elizabeth

17157-444: Was named after her mother, the day of her birth, and the devotion to St. Eugenio , whose body her father had transferred the year before from Saint Dionysius of Paris to Toledo with her mother's help through her brother, King Charles IX of France . A year later, Isabella's younger sister, Catalina , was born. Their parents were very close to their daughters, buying them jams, dolls, toys, and more. However, their mother miscarried

17290-565: Was not welcomed by either reformers or Catholic conservatives; it was especially condemned in Devon and Cornwall , where traditional Catholic loyalty was at its strongest. In Cornwall at the time, many of the people could only speak the Cornish language , so the uniform English Bibles and church services were not understood by many. This caused the Prayer Book Rebellion , in which groups of Cornish non-conformists gathered round

17423-581: Was raised by his widow, Catherine Parr and her new husband Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley . Seymour may have groomed and sexually abused her, but their relationship was seen instead as an affair and caused scandal. During the interrogations, she answered truthfully and boldly and all charges were dropped. Seymour, however, was executed on 20 March 1549. Elizabeth was an excellent student, well-schooled in Latin, French, Italian, and somewhat in Greek, and

17556-409: Was that of Henry Tudor's wife, Elizabeth of York , as daughter to Edward IV, and descendant of the second son of Edward III, Lionel, Duke of Clarence , and also his fourth son, Edmund, Duke of York . As she had no surviving brothers , Elizabeth had the strongest claim to the crown as de facto heiress of the House of York , but while she became queen consort , she did not rule as queen regnant ; for

17689-566: Was the Archbishop of Toledo , he had to be released from his religious commitments by Pope Clement VIII before the wedding could take place. Shortly before Philip II died on 13 September 1598, he resigned the thrones of the Netherlands in favor of Isabella and her fiancé. The Pope celebrated the union by procuration on 15 November at Ferrera. On 18 April 1599, 33-year-old Isabella married Albert in Valencia . They had three children who died at

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