Mary I’s Marriage

Portrait miniature of Mary Tudor, later Mary I of England

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the birth of Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon. To mark the occasion, I am posting a three-part series about Mary I’s marriage to Philip II of Spain written by Tudor historian, John A. Murphy.

Here is the first instalment!

Mary I’s Marriage
1553-1554

In July 1554 an Armada sailed from Corunna. Unlike the later Armadas from Spain, this was a peaceful flotilla, carrying a Spanish groom to his English bride.

Bound by a promise to his father – the reluctant groom was bound to try to impress. Bound by oath (betrothed) the Infante was bound by honour. Both bride and groom were bound by treaty to unite Tudor and Hapsburg dynasties. Both were also bound upon an enterprise that would reunite England with See of Rome. All in all this Spanish Armada was bound to make history.

The flagship was resplendent in scarlet and crimson and gold. The Espiritu Santo, a galley of twenty four oars, like the groom himself, was decked-out in all its finery. The fleet carried a retinue of grandees and nobles of Castile and Aragon. The decks were crowded with gentlemen of Infante Felipe’s privy chamber and retainers of this royal household. Hundreds of carved chests were filled to busting with a wardrobe of a scale that Henry VIII or Francois I in their pomp might have blushed to own. The Infante in his younger years wasn’t the dull blade he was later painted  in his old age.

Continue reading here.