Unhappy Tudor Marriages Quiz - The Tudor Society

Unhappy Tudor Marriages

Q1) Mary I was very much in love with her husband but her feelings appear to have been unrequited. Who was she married to?

Charles V

Philip of Spain

Francois, Dauphin of France

Henri, duc d'Orléans

Correct! They got married on 25th July 1554.

Wrong! She was married to Philip of Spain.

Q2) Mary Talbot sought an annulment of her marriage in 1532 claiming that her husband had been precontracted to marry Anne Boleyn - who was her husband?

Thomas Wyatt

Francis Weston

Henry Norris

Henry Percy

Correct!

Wrong! Her husband was Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland.

Q3) Which Tudor gentleman accused his wife Anne Cecil (daughter of William Cecil, Baron Burghley) of adultery and refused to recognise their first daughter as his?

William Parr, Marquis of Northampton

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

Sir Walter Hungerford

Sir Nicholas Bacon

Correct! The couple were later reconciled and he recognised their daughter Elizabeth as his.

Wrong! It was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. The couple were later reconciled and he recognised their daughter Elizabeth as his.

Q4) It was once thought that Lord Protector Edward Seymour's first marriage, to Catherine Fillol, had broken down because...

She had an affair with his brother Thomas Seymour

She was very pious and would not consummate the marriage

She had an affair with the family butler

She had an affair with his father

Correct. There is, in fact, no contemporary evidence to support this claim.

Wrong! It was said that she had had an affair with his father Sir John Seymour, but here is, in fact, no contemporary evidence to support this claim.

Q5) Elizabeth Stafford, Duchess of Norfolk, claimed that her husband, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, had...

Dragged her out of bed by her hair

Wounded her on the head with a dagger

Ordered women to pinnacle her and sit on her chest until she spit up blood

Done all of the above

Correct! She made these claims in letters to Thomas Cromwell.

Wrong! She claimed in letters to Thomas Cromwell that Norfolk had abused her doing all of the things mentioned.

Q6) Penelope Devereux, daughter of Lettice Knollys and Walter Devereux, had a very unhappy marriage to which Tudor courtier?

Robert Rich

Philip Sidney

Richard Rich

Charles Blount

Correct! She had an affair with Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, and married him in the reign of James I, although their marriage caused them to be banished from court.

Wrong! She was married to Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich. She had an affair with Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, and married him in the reign of James I, although their marriage caused them to be banished from court.

Q7) Which Tudor poet had an unhappy marriage to Elizabeth Brooke (sister of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham), who was mentioned in Spanish dispatches as a lady Henry VIII was considering as his sixth wife?

George Boleyn

Thomas Wyatt

Francis Bryan

Thomas Vaux

Correct!

Wrong! It was Thomas Wyatt the Elder

Q8) Thomas Wyatt's niece, Elizabeth Brooke, had a long-term affair with which Tudor courtier because he was unable to obtain an annulment from his unhappy marriage to Anne Bourchier?

Francis Drake

Francis Bryan

William Parr

Thomas Parr

Correct! The couple eventually married after Parr was granted a divorce, but then Parr's divorce was rescinded in Mary I's reign. In Elizabeth I's reign, the divorce was recognised once more.

Wrong! It was William Parr, Marquis of Northampton. The couple eventually married after Parr was granted a divorce, but then Parr's divorce was rescinded in Mary I's reign. In Elizabeth I's reign, the divorce was recognised once more.

Q9) Why did Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, seek a divorce from her second husband, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus?

She was in love with another man

Douglas was impotent

Because he had been precontracted to marry another woman

Because of his infidelity

Correct! Margaret had found out that Douglas was living with Lady Jane Stewart after she had fled to England.

Wrong! It was due to his infidelity. Margaret had found out that Douglas was living with Lady Jane Stewart after she had fled to England.

Q10) Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, married for love after being forced to marry Louis XII of France and then being widowed, but who did she marry?

William Compton

Charles Brandon

Anthony Denny

Henry Norris

Correct!

Wrong! She married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.