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Mary was the sole surviving child of Henry VIII and his
first wife, Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain.
Catherine was sent to England to marry the Tudor heir, Prince Arthur, but his
sudden demise left her a widow. Catherine claimed the marriage had never been
consummated, and her impoverished isolation in the years that followed stoked
the ardor of the new heir, Henry, who, upon his coronation, wed Catherine
despite a six-year difference in their ages. Catherine and Henry were married
for twenty-four years; stalwart and devout, indubitably in love with her
husband, Catherine endured numerous miscarriages and the death of an infant son
before finally giving birth to Mary in February of 1516.
As Henry’s sole heir (for despite his later obsessive quest
for a son, a daughter could inherit his crown) Mary was adored by her parents.
Historical sources recount numerous occasions when the handsome king displayed
his fair-haired daughter to his court, showing off her skill with music and
graceful charm. But Henry’s disillusion with his aging, now-barren wife
catapulted him into a tumultuous affair with one of Catherine’s ladies in
waiting, the ambitious Anne Boleyn, who would settle for nothing less than
marriage. Thus, at the age of fifteen, Mary’s entire world was turned upside
down, her status yanked out from under her as she watched her mother, clinging
to her title and rights, exiled to a remote manor, where Catherine died in
appalling conditions and in fear for the safety of the daughter she’d been
forbidden to see. Anne Boleyn also vented her spleen, forcing Mary to serve
Anne’s infant daughter by Henry, Princess Elizabeth, and even, sources claim,
plotting to have Mary killed. The cataclysm unleashed by Henry’s passion for
Anne changed England forever, resulting in a nascent reformation that would in
time make Protestantism the official faith, even as Anne waged desperate battle
to protect herself and her child. In 1536, Anne lost her battle and was
executed on trumped-up charges; within weeks Elizabeth joined her half-sister
Mary as a bastard daughter of the king.
Mary’s struggles continued while Henry married four more
times. Steadfast in her Catholicism, the faith in which she’d been reared and
which her mother had exhorted her to uphold, she finally gave into her father’s
demands to acknowledge him as Head of the Church—an act that haunted her for
the rest of her life, as she felt she’d betrayed her mother’s trust and her own
belief that the only true church was the Catholic one. In those years, she
developed an often uneasy relationship with her half-siblings, Elizabeth and
their brother Edward, born of Henry’s third wife, both of whom had imbued the
radical spirit of the Reformation.
Various suitors for Mary’s hand came and went; at the age of
thirty-seven, when many women were considered unmarriageable, she found herself
in the hunter’s snare once more when John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland,
usurped her claim to the throne upon Edward VI’s death and set his daughter-in-law,
Jane Grey, in her place. Often neglected and ignored, prematurely aged by
self-imposed seclusion, Mary displayed her innate Tudor ferocity, eluding her
pursuers to amass an army and march on London. She may have been a Catholic
spinster but the people cheered her as the rightful queen and rallied to her
cause. She was crowned in the summer of 1553, sending Jane Grey, Northumberland
and his sons to the Tower. Many of the new queen’s advisors, including the wily
Imperial ambassador, Renard, urged Mary to execute her prisoners but she
consented only to Northumberland’s death, promising release in time for Jane
and the Dudley sons. Even in questions of religion she expressed caution,
citing her people’s hearts could only be won back in stages. Nevertheless, one
of her first acts was to overturn the annulment of her mother’s marriage to
Henry VIII, casting further doubt on Elizabeth’s legitimacy.
The advent of her marriage to Philip of Spain, son of the
Hapsburg emperor and Mary’s cousin, Charles V, who had long been a scion of
support, if not actual assistance, changed everything. Suddenly, Mary saw the
possibility of happiness bloom before her: the chance to be love and be loved,
to become a wife and mother. As Renard pressured her to deal with all remaining
threats to her faith and crown, including Elizabeth, whom he believed was the
active figurehead of Protestant opposition, the deep-seated wounds inflicted on
Mary since adolescence flared anew. She remembered her hatred of Anne Boleyn,
her helpless horror over her father’s zeal to amass the Church’s wealth and
abolish its power, her heartrending sorrow at the separation from, and death
of, her mother, and the long years of humiliation. The past could be absolved,
she believed. Everything that had gone wrong could be put to right, if only she
roused the strength that Catherine of Aragon had shown; the unstinting fervor
that her maternal grandmother, Queen Isabella, had employed to unite Spain. She
saw herself as a savior, who must do whatever was required to bring about her
people’s return to the Catholic fold.
Caught in a maelstrom of her own convictions, Mary
precipitated her tragedy.
It is too simple to condemn her as a monster, though she
behaved in a monstrous way. Her execution of Jane Grey and subsequent burning
of over two hundred Protestants, among who were Cranmer, archbishop of
Canterbury, and Bishops Ridley and Latimer, blackened her name and left her
country in chaos, the smoke of the pyres only clearing once she took to her
deathbed after a false pregnancy that may have been uterine cancer. She left
behind a realm ravaged by political and religious dissension, widespread famine
and penury. The loss of England’s last possession in France, the city of
Calais, was a blow Mary declared would be found engraved on her heart. Even in
her final hours, she was beset by those who implored her to condemn
Elizabeth—an act she refused. In doing so, Mary unwittingly accomplished in
death what she had failed to do in life: She gave England back its hope, in the
form of a virgin queen, whose unparalleled grandeur and longevity would define
an era.
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About the Author: C.W. Gortner is the author of The Last Queen, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, The Queen’s Vow and The Tudor Secret. He holds an MFA in Writing, with an emphasis in Renaissance Studies. Raised in Spain and half Spanish by birth, he currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He welcomes readers and is always available for reader group chats. Please visit him at www.cwgortner.com for more information.
About the Book: Hunted by a shadowy foe in Bloody Mary’s court, Brendan Prescott plunges into London’s treacherous underworld to unravel a dark conspiracy that could make Elizabeth queen—or send her to her death in C.W. Gortner’s The Tudor Conspiracy. England, 1553: Harsh winter encroaches upon the realm. Mary Tudor has become queen to popular acclaim and her enemies are imprisoned in the Tower. But when she’s betrothed to Philip, Catholic prince of Spain, putting her Protestant subjects in peril, rumors of a plot to depose her swirl around the one person whom many consider to be England’s heir and only hope—the queen’s half-sister, Princess Elizabeth. Haunted by his past, Brendan Prescott lives far from the intrigues of court. But his time of refuge comes to an end when his foe and mentor, the spymaster Cecil, brings him disquieting news that sends him on a dangerous mission. Elizabeth is held captive at court, the target of the Spanish ambassador, who seeks her demise. Obliged to return to the palace where he almost lost his life, Brendan finds himself working as a double-agent for Queen Mary herself, who orders Brendan to secure proof that will be his cherished Elizabeth’s undoing. Plunged into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a mysterious opponent who hides a terrifying secret, Brendan races against time to retrieve a cache of the princess’s private letters, even as he begins to realize that in this dark world of betrayal and deceit, where power is supreme and sister can turn against sister, nothing—and no one—is what it seems.
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Check out all the stops on C.w. Gortner's TheTudor Conspiracy virtual book tour
Wednesday, July 17
Review at The Maiden’s Court
Review at Diary of a Book Addict
Interview at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!
Review at The Maiden’s Court
Review at Diary of a Book Addict
Interview at Oh, for the Hook of a Book!
Friday, July 19
Review at The Broke and the Bookish
Review & Giveaway at Enchanted by Josephine
Interview at The Tudor Book Blog
Review at The Broke and the Bookish
Review & Giveaway at Enchanted by Josephine
Interview at The Tudor Book Blog
Monday, July 22
Review at A Bookish Affair
Review at Jenny Loves to Read
Review at A Muse in the Fog Book Reviews
Review at A Bookish Affair
Review at Jenny Loves to Read
Review at A Muse in the Fog Book Reviews
Wednesday, July 24
Review at Confessions of an Avid Reader
Review at A Writer’s Life: Working with the Muse
Review at Confessions of an Avid Reader
Review at A Writer’s Life: Working with the Muse
Thursday, July 25
Guest Post at Confessions of an Avid Reader
Feature & Giveaway at Ramblings From This Chick
Guest Post at Confessions of an Avid Reader
Feature & Giveaway at Ramblings From This Chick
Friday, July 26
Review at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Interview at A Writer’s Life: Working with the Muse
Review at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Interview at A Writer’s Life: Working with the Muse
Monday, July 29
Review at Books in the Burbs
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Review at Writing the Renaissance
Review at Books in the Burbs
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Review at Writing the Renaissance
Thursday, August 1
Review at JulzReads
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews
Guest Post at A Chick Who Reads
Review at JulzReads
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews
Guest Post at A Chick Who Reads
Monday, August 5
Review at Historical Tapestry & Adventures of an Intrepid Reader
Review & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages
Review at Historical Tapestry & Adventures of an Intrepid Reader
Review & Giveaway at Peeking Between the Pages
Tuesday, August 6
Review at From L.A. to LA
Review & Giveaway at Luxury Reading
Guest Post at Historical Tapestry
Review at From L.A. to LA
Review & Giveaway at Luxury Reading
Guest Post at Historical Tapestry
