Mary Tudor

     Today is the anniversary of the 1514 marriage of Mary Tudor to King Louis XII of France.

     This “Mary Tudor” is not the queen saddled for posterity with the moniker “Bloody Mary,” but rather her aunt.  This Mary Tudor was one of the two daughters (the other was Margaret) of King Henry VII and was therefore as well the sister of King Henry VIII.  The Queen Bloody Mary was a daughter of Henry VIII.

     The marriage was not to be of long duration; Louis would die on January 1.

     For those of you who watched “The Tudors” and are thinking to yourselves “Oh yeah, I remember that,” well, not so much.  The series significantly departed from the history on this and many other points.  In the series only one sister of Henry is identified, there named Margaret.  The actual Margaret married King James IV of Scotland.  The sister portrayed in the series is shown marrying (and later suffocating) a King of Portugal.  Suffice it to say that it never happened.  

     Still, it was true that the actual Mary Tudor did, after the death of Louis XII, marry Charles Brandon, likely the closest friend of Henry VIII.  The marriage took place against the explicit instructions of Henry VIII.   Given Henry’s propensity for shortening those around him by a head, although his descent into true brutality would not being until the 1530’s, this was a rash act.  Henry did extract his punishment in the way of a large financial penalty.