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The wedding itself was relatively uneventful, but the marriage was
a pretty serious affair. Since England’s break with
Rome, the Catholic cause in England had been slowly
bubbling away – repression and an increasingly hostile Protestant
community meant that England was in a troublesome time. When Mary
ascended to the throne in July 1553, England found
itself once again under a devout Catholic monarch. This frustrated
a number of people who had embraced the English
Church’s break with Rome and the Reformation, although many
others embraced the restoration of the Catholic faith.
Mary, whose reign saw the burning of nearly
300 Protestants, was thoroughly aware that to
solidify her reign she needed strong backing from an influential
Catholic power. This alliance was found on the Iberian Peninsula in
the guise of the slightly gangly and hot tempered Prince Philip
(soon to be Philip II) of Spain. Philip was a
scourge of Protestantism and the staunch defender of the Catholic
faith. At this time, Spain was at the height of its powers and
both Mary and Philip saw the possibilities that a marriage between
them could bring. Through this marriage, Mary believed she would
be able to assert her legitimacy and restore what she saw to
be the ‘true’ faith back to England, while Philip saw this as an
opportunity to expand his vast empire even further and
strengthen his influence on the European political scene.
However, the possibility of this match created fears that Philip
would attempt to become King of England in his own right, rather
than being a consort. Owing to sixteenth century values, it was
natural for a wife’s property to become that of her husband’s
upon marriage, thus this stirred ideas that Philip could
technically inherit Mary’s title and therefore her Kingdom. It is
also worth remembering that Mary was England’s first Queen
Regnant (this depends if you count Empress Matilda and
Lady Jane Grey of course…), so this created even more unease as the
idea of a woman ruling in her own right was alien to the
male-dominated society at the time. One thing was for definite, no
one wanted England to be sucked into the vast Spanish
Empire, be catapulted into costly wars and be
ruled by the increasingly erratic Habsburgs.
Although there were protests against this match, the marriage
documents were drawn up and parliament agreed that Philip would be
styled ‘King of England’. However, parliament insisted that
Philip would not wield any true power over government;
legislation would have both Mary and Philip’s name on it, the
coinage would show both of their faces, Philip could not elevate
foreigners to high office and England wouldn’t be bound to defend
Spain in a state of war. All of this was only relevant while Mary
was alive; in other words, parliament was ensuring that England
would remain as English as possible with a Spanish King-Consort on
the throne.
The marriage was purely political at first, although there is
evidence that Mary grew to love her husband and became
increasingly dependent upon Philip as her short reign developed. A
confidante of Philip’s wrote about the marriage stating:
“The marriage was concluded for no fleshly consideration, but
in order to remedy the disorders of this kingdom (Spain) and to
preserve the Low Countries”. Such a romantic sentiment – maybe
they should have included that in the marriage vows…
The marriage, much to Mary’s distress, did not produce the heir she
so desperately wanted and needed. She had at least two
phantom pregnancies, and when it became
clear that Mary was not going to successfully produce an heir it
was assumed that Mary’s half-sister, Elizabeth, would come to the
throne after The Queen’s death. In May
1558 Mary died, most probably from some form of
cancerous tumour. Philip, who was abroad at the time of his
wife’s death, is known to have said: “I felt a reasonable
regret for her death”…such sentimentality.
Photo credit: Lisby via photopin cc]]>
