Melanie Clegg - Scourge of Henry VIII: The Life of Marie De Guise

Scourge of Henry VIII

The Life of Marie de Guise

Melanie Clegg

First published in Great Britain in 2016 by PEN AND SWORD HISTORY

an imprint of Pen and Sword Books Ltd

South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Melanie Clegg, 2016

ISBN 978 1 47384 838 2

eISBN 978 1 47384 839 9

Mobi ISBN 978 1 47384 840 5

The right of Melanie Clegg to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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FRANCE

The Lorraines

Philippa de Guelders, Dowager Duchesse de Lorraine (Maries paternal grandmother, matriarch of the family) Antoine de Lorraine, Duc de Lorraine (Maries paternal uncle) Rene de Bourbon, Duchesse de Lorraine (Antoines wife, Maries aunt) Franois de Lorraine (Maries cousin and betrothed of Anne of Cleves) Anna de Lorraine (Maries cousin)

Jean de Lorraine, Cardinal de Lorraine (Maries paternal uncle, King Franois closest friend) Louis de Lorraine, Comte de Vaudmont (Maries paternal uncle) Franois de Lorraine, Comte de Lambesc (Maries paternal uncle) Claude de Lorraine, Duc de Guise (Maries father) Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise (Maries mother) Marie de Guise (eldest daughter of the Duc de Guise) Louis dOrlans, Duc de Longueville (Grand Chamberlain of France and first husband of Marie de Guise) Franois dOrlans (eldest son of Marie and Louis) Louis dOrlans (second son of Marie and Louis) Franois de Guise, Duc de Guise (Maries eldest brother) Charles de Guise, Cardinal de Lorraine (Maries brother) Claude de Guise, Duc dAumale (Maries brother) Louis de Guise, Cardinal de Guise (Maries brother)

Ren de Guise, Marquis dElbeuf (Maries brother) Louise de Guise, Duchess of Arschot (Maries eldest sister) Rene de Guise (Maries sister)

Antoinette de Guise (Maries sister)

The Bourbons

Marie de Luxembourg, Dowager Comtesse de Vendme (Maries maternal grandmother) Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Vendme (Maries maternal uncle) Marie de Bourbon (his eldest daughter, Maries cousin, prospective bride of James V) Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Bourbon (Constable of France and brother of Maries aunt Rene) Suzanne de Bourbon, Duchesse de Bourbon (his wife, a relative of Maries mother and niece of Charles VIII of France) The Valois

Louise de Savoie, Dowager Duchesse dAngoulme (a relative of Maries mother) Marguerite dAngoulme, Queen of Navarre (her daughter) Franois I (Louises son, King of France and close friend of Maries father and uncle Jean) Claude de France (his first wife, daughter of Louis XII of France) Eleanore of Austria (his second wife, sister of Emperor Charles) Princesse Madeleine (King Franois eldest surviving daughter, first wife of James V of Scotland) Princesse Marguerite (King Franois younger daughter) The Dauphin Franois (King Franois eldest son) Henri, Duc dOrlans (King Franois second son, later to become Henri II)

Catherine de Medici, Duchesse dOrlans (Henris wife, cousin of Pope Clement VII) Franois de Valois (son of Henri and Catherine, future husband of Mary Queen of Scots, later to become Franois II) Elisabeth de Valois (eldest daughter of Henri and Catherine, best friend of Mary Queen of Scots, prospective bride of Edward VI.) Charles de Valois (second son of Henri and Catherine, godson of Marie de Guise and future Charles IX.) Diane de Poitiers, Madame de Brz (mistress of Henri II and friend of the Guise family) Louise de Brz (Dianes daughter and future wife of Maries brother Franois de Guise) SCOTLAND

James V (King of Scotland, Maries second husband and nephew of Henry VIII of England) James Stuart, Duke of Rothesay (eldest son of James and Marie) Robert Stuart, Duke of Albany (second son of James and Marie) Mary Stuart (daughter of James and Marie, Queen of Scots and France, wife of Franois II of France) James Stewart, Earl of Moray (illegitimate son of James V) Queen Margaret Tudor (James mother and sister of Henry VIII) Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus (Margarets second husband, James Vs former regent and a terrible trouble maker) Lady Margaret Douglas (daughter of Margaret and Archibald, half sister of James V and favourite niece of Henry VIII)

ENGLAND

The Tudors

Henry VIII (King of England, uncle of James V, prospective bridegroom of Marie and a thorn in everyones side) Anne Boleyn (his second wife and mother of his daughter Elizabeth) Jane Seymour (his third wife and mother of his son Edward) Anne of Cleves (his fourth wife, former betrothed of Maries cousin Franois) Catherine Howard (his fifth wife)

Edward VI (Henry VIIIs son by Jane Seymour and a prospective husband for Maries daughter) Mary I (Henry VIIIs daughter by Catherine of Aragon) Elizabeth I (Henry VIIIs daughter by Anne Boleyn) Edward Seymour, Earl of Somerset (Jane Seymours brother and Lord Protector of her son Edward VI)

The windows of Linlithgow Palace, an imposing royal residence with the look of a French chteau about 17 miles to the west of Edinburgh, were shrouded in darkness as the messenger, dressed in the scarlet and gold livery of the Stuart royal family, rode through the gates and dismounted from his horse in the courtyard. He had ridden through the snow and sleet of a wintry night from Falkland Palace, another royal residence over 40 miles away, and was in no mood to do anything other than bark an order to be taken directly to the Queen, who was recovering from childbirth and asleep in her sumptuous rooms overlooking the loch.

As he raced up the stone staircase to the royal apartments, the messenger would have been aware of the shocked faces of the courtiers and servants who had tumbled out of bed as soon as word went round that news had arrived from Falkland, where the King lay mortally ill. After his resounding defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss by the forces of his uncle Henry VIII twenty days earlier, the King had either been felled by dysentery or by an emotional breakdown. The arrival of an official messenger so late at night was not suggestive of good news and they would have watched him nervously as he made his way through the rooms of the royal apartments, with their tapestry covered walls, intricately painted ceilings and polished and gilded wood panelling, to the Queen.

Marie de Guise, Queen of Scotland, an unusually tall woman in her late twenties, with long chestnut red hair and clear grey eyes, would have been woken by her ladies-in-waiting as soon as news of the messengers arrival reached her rooms, and it is likely that she hastily dressed and received him beside the blazing fire in her closet, surrounded by her household and with her infant daughter, just 6 days old and named Mary after both her mother and the Virgin Mary, upon whose feast day she had been born.