The Marriage of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor by Sarah Bryson

On 14th January 1515, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was sent to France under orders from Henry VIII to bring back Henry's sister, the newly widowed Mary Tudor. Brandon would see to Mary's safe return, but she would not be a widow on her return but, instead, a newly married woman.

To understand this story we must go back to 13th August 1514. On this day, eighteen year-old Mary Tudor was married via proxy to King Louis XII, with the Duke of Longueville standing in for the French King. The wedding had been negotiated by Henry VIII and Louis XII to secure an alliance between France and England. However, it was not until 2nd October that Mary left for France, where she married Louis XII in a lavish ceremony in the great hall of the Hôtel de la Gruthuse at 9am on 9th October 1514.

Before Mary agreed to the marriage between herself and King Louis XII she extracted a promise from Henry VIII that should the aging French King die before her she would be free to choose her second husband. She reminded Henry of this in a letter stating "that if I shulde fortune to survive the said late king I mygt with your good wil marye my self at my libertie withoute your displeasor." Further in the letter she also stated that "as ye wel knowe I have always bornn good mynde towardes my lorde of Suffolk [...]". It may very well be that Mary, even before her marriage to the French King, had an eye on Charles Brandon; after all, Mary and Charles would have been familiar with one another. Mary was an ever-present part of the pageantry and celebrations at court and Charles was an active member and participant in jousting and courtly dances. It is most likely at these events that Mary's eyes turned to Charles. He was an extremely attractive man for the age, well-built, strong, physically fit, well-dressed and very handsome. Mary was said to be one of the most beautiful princesses in all of Christendom and it would not be a stretch to think that Charles's eyes would have turned more than once to the young, beautiful Princess.

On 1st January 1515, less than three months after their marriage, King Louis XII died. He had been sick for several weeks and his death came as no surprise, although it was reported that when Mary was told she fainted. Mary was sent to the Hôtel de Cluny, where she wore white, the French colour of mourning. She was to stay in seclusion for forty days to see if she was pregnant. If she was pregnant and gave birth to a son then he would be the next King of France. However, no one really believed this and Francis, husband of Louis XII's daughter Claude, was quickly accepted as the next King.

Once the news of the French King's death reached England, Brandon was sent to France to return the Dowager Queen and hopefully to retrieve as much of Mary's coin, plate and jewels as possible. Before Brandon left, Henry VIII made him swear not to act foolishly and marry the young Mary until after the pair had returned to England. It is interesting that Henry VIII should make Brandon make such a promise. Clearly the King was aware of either Brandon's affections for his sister or quite likely that Henry was aware of his own sister's affections towards the duke. With the promise that Mary had made her brother swear, Henry probably had a good idea that his sister would choose Brandon for her second husband. The King's statement also suggests that he may have been willing to agree to the marriage, but as long as it was on English soil and under his conditions.

It is important to note that just before Brandon arrived in Paris to meet with Mary, two friars met with the Dowager Queen in an attempt to turn her mind against Brandon. They informed Mary that the English council would never let her marry Brandon and, worse, that Brandon and Thomas Wolsey performed witchcraft to turn Henry VIII's mind towards their will. They even went so far as to suggest that Brandon's witchcraft caused a disease in William Compton's leg, Henry VIII's Groom of the Stool. When Brandon heard of this later he proposed that the Duke of Norfolk had been coaching the friars. It is interesting that if it was Norfolk that sent the friars to meet with Mary then Norfolk must have been aware of some feelings from Brandon towards Mary or vice versa. Clearly at this stage their feelings towards one another were becoming well-known to those at court.

Brandon finally arrived in Paris on 31st January 1515. When he met with Francis I, the new French King, Francis was under the impression that Brandon had come to marry Mary. This very statement in itself shows that it was becoming common knowledge that at least one member of the party, Mary or Brandon, had strong feelings for the other. Brandon met with Mary the same day and he reported that Mary was eager to return home so that she may see her brother. Mary was only eighteen years of age, young, beautiful and available to marry again. While in France she was left vulnerable as Francis I could use her as a bargaining tool. He could have her married to another French nobleman to continue the alliance with England or even have her married to another member of nobility from another country to form an alliance. There was also speculation that Francis I worried that if Mary returned to England Henry VIII would once more seek a treaty with the Holy Roman Empire, and negotiate a marriage between Mary and Prince Charles, with whom she had previously been betrothed. There was also the fact that if Mary remained in France Francis I could keep her jewels and other travelling expenses. It was rumoured that Francis I even had an interest in marrying the beautiful young Mary. However, that seems unlikely has he would have had to divorce his current wife, the late King's daughter, to do so.

With such uncertainty, stress and fear surrounding her, Mary Tudor decided to take matters into her own hands. The Dowager Queen proposed marriage to Brandon and he accepted. Whether this was a spontaneous decision to marry, right then and there, or was considered for several days remains unknown. However, it was clear that the pair had strong feelings towards one another.

Mary and Brandon married in secret without Henry VIII's permission. Although the exact date of their wedding remains unknown it has been suggested that the couple married sometime between the 15th and 20th February before approximately ten witnesses. The newlyweds then naturally consummated their marriage to make it legally binding. Brandon had just committed treason by marrying a member of the royal family without first gaining permission from the king. The penalty for such a crime was death. Both Brandon and Mary wrote to the king to confess what they had done. Brandon laid his soul bare to Henry VIII confessing what he had done and reminding the king of their long friendship and acknowledging that everything he had, every position he had gained, was because of the king. For her part, Mary reminded Henry of his promise made to her before she left for France - that should the French King die she could choose a man of her own for her next marriage. After many letters back and forth, and with Thomas Wolsey having to intervene to help smooth things over, Henry VIII consented to the marriage. Charles and Mary were married for a second time in a more public wedding in France on 31st March. They returned home to England on 2nd May 1515.

There has been a great deal of debate over the centuries as to just how angry Henry VIII was with Mary and Brandon. In return for the king's blessing, Brandon and Mary were ordered to not only return Mary's full dowry, as well as all her plate and jewels, but to also pay £24,000 in yearly instalments of £1000. Brandon was also required to give up the wardship of Lady Lisle, to whom he had previously been contracted to marry. While this was a staggering sum that would have certainly seen Brandon close to poverty, records show that by 1521, six years after their marriage, the couple had only repaid £1324. For a king who was so furious over the marriage, Henry VIII certainly did not try very hard to enforce the repayments. It would seem that the fine was more for show, to show the king's displeasure, rather than being indicative of any actual resentment towards the couple.

Brandon and Mary were formally married at Greenwich on 13th May 1515 in front of Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon. Having the wedding attended by the king and queen was a public way to show those at court that the king gave his blessing for the marriage. Despite what stories have been concocted over Brandon's marriage to Mary Tudor, it would seem that Henry VIII did not hold any lasting anger towards his favourite sister and beloved friend.

While there is a train of thought that Brandon was banished from court after his marriage to the king's sister, there does not seem to be any basis for this. Brandon and Mary did remove themselves from court for a short time after their wedding but this appears only to be for them to spend some time together as a newly married couple. In fact, it was during this time away that Mary conceived the couple's first child. Both Brandon and Mary were very aware that their favour, especially Brandon's, relied heavily on the king, and both were back at court by the end of 1515.

Despite committing treason, Brandon remained high in the king's favour. He continued to receive grants from the king and was a regular member of council meetings, and even had the great honour of jousting against the king as his equal opponent.

Charles and Mary were married for eighteen years and had four children together. Their marriage only ended with Mary's untimely death, between seven and eight o'clock in the morning on 25th June 1533. Despite the great difference in rank, and all that was happening around them at the time, it would appear that the marriage of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor was a true love match.

Sarah Bryson is the author of Mary Boleyn: In a Nutshell. She is a researcher, writer and educator who has a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education with Honours and currently works with children with disabilities. Sarah is passionate about Tudor history and has a deep interest in Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn, the reign of Henry VIII and the people of his court. Visiting England in 2009 furthered her passion and when she returned home she started a website, queentohistory.com, and Facebook page about Tudor history. Sarah lives in Australia, enjoys reading, writing, Tudor costume enactment and wishes to return to England one day. She is currently working on a biography of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.

Sources

• Gunn, Steven (2015) Charles Brandon, Amberley Publishing, Gloucestershire, UK.
• Harris, Barbara (1989) ‘Power, Profit, and Passion: Mary Tudor, Charles Brandon, and the Arranged Marriage in Early Tudor England’, Feminist Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 59-88.
• Hutchinson, Robert (2011) Young Henry: The Rise of Henry VIII, Orion Books, London.
• Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, 1509-47, ed. J.S Brewer, James Gairdner and R.H Brodie, His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1862-1932.
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• Sadlack, Erin (2001) The French Queen's Letters, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.