The Tudor Society
  • #OTD in Tudor history – 22 February

    Madonna and Child by Michel Sittow, and a portrait of Marie de Guise

    On this day in Tudor history, 22nd February, little Henry Duke of Cornwall, son of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, died suddenly, and Marie de Guise was crowned Queen of Scotland, rather than England, which had apparently been an option for her…

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  • May 9 – James V and Marie de Guise marry by proxy

    On this day in Tudor history, 9th May 1538, King James V of Scotland married Marie de Guise, or Mary of Guise, by proxy.

    James V was the son of King James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of King Henry VII, and Marie was the daughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, and Antoinette of Bourbon. They’d both been married before. Marie had been married to Louis II of Orléans, Duke of Longueville, who died after less than 3 years of marriage, and James had been widowed just months after his marriage to Madeleine of France.

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  • May 7 – An English assault on Leith

    On this day in Tudor history, 7th May 1560, in the reign of Elizabeth I, English troops charged the wall of Leith at the siege of Leith.

    In 1548, during the War of the Rough Wooing, which had broken out over Scotland’s refusal to marry Mary Queen of Scots off to Edward VI, Scotland had invited French troops to protect the port of Leith. They set up a garrison and were still there 12 years later. Protestant reformers turned to England to help them remove these French Catholics.

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  • 9 May – A proxy wedding for Marie de Guise and James V

    On this day in Tudor history, 9th May 1538, Marie de Guise, or Mary of Guise, got married to King James V of Scotland. However, the groom was not present.

    Find out more in this #TudorHistoryShorts video…

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  • 7 May – Bodies make a tapestry

    On this day in Tudor history, 7th May 1560, English troops suffered a heavy defeat at the siege of Leith.

    What was this siege all about?

    And who described their dead bodies as a fair tapestry?

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  • 23 July – Baby Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes with her mother

    On this day in Tudor history, 23rd July 1543, or 24th according to some sources, Marie de Guise and her baby daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Linlithgow Palace, helped by Cardinal David Beaton, and taken to Stirling Castle.

    Why? What was going on in Scotland at this time?

    Find out all about Mary’s early months as Queen of Scots, and why Beaton helped her and her mother to move to Stirling, in today’s talk.

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  • 22 February – Marie de Guise, who avoided marrying Henry VIII!

    On this day in Tudor history, 22nd February 1540, twenty-four-year-old Marie de Guise, or Mary of Guise, queen consort of King James V of Scotland, was crowned queen at Holyrood Abbey.

    Did you know that Henry VIII was keen on making Marie de Guise his fourth wife? She declined, saying that her neck was small! Instead, she married James V.

    Marie was, of course, the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and you can find out more about her in today’s talk.

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  • The coronation of Mary of Guise

    Thank you to Heather R. Darsie for this article on Mary of Guise (Marie de Guise), who was crowned Queen Consort of Scotland on this day in 1540.

    Mary of Guise was born on 22 November 1515 to Claude of Lorraine, the Duke of Guise, and Antoinette of Bourbon. She was the eldest of twelve children. Mary was first made a wife in 1534 at the age of eighteen when she married the Duke of Longueville. She had two sons with her first husband, the second of whom died young. The Duke of Longueville passed away in 1537 when Mary was only twenty-one. She was then courted by both Henry VIII of England and James V of Scotland.

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