Mary Tudor

8 Pages 2113 Words

Mary Tudor was born in 1516. She was the only surviving child of King Henry VIII of England and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Mary was a pretty, intelligent child, who was highly educated in languages, science, music, philosophy, and theology. She was also taught the skills that noble women of the time were expected to have, including dancing and fine needlework. As Princess of Wales, she had her own court at Ludlow Castle, where the Countess of Salisbury essentially brought her up, the mother of Cardinal Pole.
After several miscarriages, three stillborn children, and two who died in early infancy, Catherine of Aragon went through menopause, and King Henry knew for certain that she would never provide him with the male heir he so desperately needed. Eighteen years of marriage and so many pregnancies had cost Catherine her figure and her looks. Henry had become infatuated with one of her ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn, and wanted to have his marriage to Catherine annulled so that he could marry Anne, who he hoped would give him more children, especially sons.
Henry petitioned Pope Clement VII to have his marriage to Catherine annulled on the grounds that it violated the biblical order against a man’s marrying his brother’s widow. The punishment specified in Leviticus for violating that law was that the marriage would be childless. Henry convinced himself that Catherine’s inability to give him sons, or any children at all other than their somewhat sickly daughter Mary, was a fulfillment of Leviticus.
Clement delayed his ruling on Henry’s petition, because he was the prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was Catherine’s nephew. After nearly seven frustrating years, Henry achieved his objective by breaking altogether with Rome and declaring himself the “only supreme head” (www.newadvent.org/cathen/09766a.htm) of the Church of England, a claim later enacted into law by Parliamen...