Mary’s Miracles, the Tiny Tudors Challenge

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Mary's Miracles
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    April 1555

    Mary I of England's pregnancy was derided as a pipe dream of a middle-aged woman who longed for the glory days of her youth. She was nearing the age of forty and was considered by everyone to be too old to conceive. Yet she never lost hope that God had blessed her after decades of devotion and this hope was vindicated when she gave birth successfully to not one but four children: Katherine, Margaret, Joanna and Mary, princesses of England (also infantas of Spain and archduchesses of Austria). And thus, the world spun on its axis and history changed forever...

    Yes, this was initially going to be a collaborative timeline, but I have changed it...
     
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    To say this was the shock of all of Europe would not be an exaggeration. Philip II of Spain, father of the four girls, had reportedly fainted when he heard the news. Although his marriage to Mary would never be the warm romance that she had dreamed of, they both doted on their daughters and he jousted wearing her favor once. Charles V, too, congratulated his daughter-in-law on her successful pregnancy and he became the godfather of the oldest, Katherine. In another break with tradition, Mary had her eldest daughter created Princess of Wales in her own right and openly stated she wished that her late father had done so for her. We have no record of the feelings of Elizabeth, Mary I's half-sister, but the fact that she was not asked to be godmother for any of the girls said volumes (especially as Catherine de' Medici was chosen instead). The girls continued the wholly female line of claimants to the English crown, and with four new granddaughters, Charles V could possibly divide up his empire with some slices for them. This prospect excited many courtiers, although the fury of the French king could be felt all the way across the ocean...
     
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    • Happiness
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    Letters of congratulations flooded in that needed replies, as well as other pressing matters of state, and Mary was the happiest she had ever been in her adult life. Her husband's feelings towards her had finally softened, even if she didn't have the all-consuming passionate love that her mother had always described. She was proving her father wrong every single day she woke up with the crown on her head and the country wasn't embroiled in a civil war. Sure, France was being a pain, but the thought of their youngest prince possibly becoming king consort of England (not that Mary had ANY intention to allow that, even if Philip was more open to that idea than she had hoped) would at least bring them to heel. She was thinking of some of her other cousins for her daughters: the archduke Charles of Austria was a fair bit older, but he didn't seem to have any betrothals tying him to another woman and he not only had good royal blood but was unlikely to inherit much at all....
     
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    • ranichi17

    ranichi17

    But are all the girls healthy?

    Also, I don't think Mary would immediately name her eldest daughter Princess of Wales until Mary reaches menopause and it's clear no sons will be forthcoming.
     
    ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    ranichi17 said:
    But are all the girls healthy?
    Click to expand...
    This is the question which will haunt a lot of people! The answer is that they will be of various states in health throughout their lives
    ranichi17 said:
    Also, I don't think Mary would immediately name her eldest daughter Princess of Wales until Mary reaches menopause and it's clear no sons will be forthcoming.
    Click to expand...
    She had quadruplets at age thirty-nine. I think it's clear enough that she won't have a son
     
    Motherhood
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    Motherhood suited Mary. She spent nearly all of her time with her daughters, never allowing them out of her sight if she could help it. Thus, most state business was conducted with four infants nearby, which disconcerted quite a lot of seasoned men who had lived through the tumultuous court politics of the Tudors. Since she saw her daughters as the blessing of God, she even seemed more inclined to show some mercy to the prouder Protestants who refused to renounce their faith. Instead of burning, she opted for exile. After the marriage of her half-sister, Elizabeth, to the Duke of Savoy, there was no convenient figure for the people whom she would only think of as heretics to rally behind. With a much more stable reign (although it greatly amused her to think that anyone could think they would control her girls as puppets) since the harvest had even improved, she indulged in the pasttime of playing with her little girls, which pleased her more than anything else in the world.
     
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    • Divisions of the Empire
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    Mary could have wept with joy when her cousin and father-in-law, Charles V, delivered to her his personal book of hours. For my granddaughters, and the woman who helped to make them possible, he had written. She corresponded frequently with him, negotiating a good bargain to this unexpected flourishing branch of her family. Sovereignty over the Americas, as well as Burgundy, and perhaps the Netherlands, could be given to one of her younger daughters who would not inherit England and Ireland. Maybe even the empire itself, if she could get the King of the Romans to agree with her on this. Mary liked the idea of all of her girls ruling over her own land, not needing to rely on her sister for maintenance - and, thankfully, all four seemed to be stronger than she had been told she was as a child. It was a shame that her own dear mother could not have lived to see her grandchildren....
     
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    • aoifeloveskhoward

    aoifeloveskhoward

    When I was ten I did a tiny Tudors for my English story with her twins Edward and Catherine but Catherine was my favorite so all of edwards descendants kept dying..
    ordinarylittleme said:
    April 1555

    Mary I of England's pregnancy was derided as a pipe dream of a middle-aged woman who longed for the glory days of her youth. She was nearing the age of forty and was considered by everyone to be too old to conceive. Yet she never lost hope that God had blessed her after decades of devotion and this hope was vindicated when she gave birth successfully to not one but four children: Katherine, Margaret, Joanna and Mary, princesses of England (also infantas of Spain and archduchesses of Austria). And thus, the world spun on its axis and history changed forever...

    Yes, this was initially going to be a collaborative timeline, but I have changed it...
    Click to expand...
     
    aoifeloveskhoward

    aoifeloveskhoward

    ranichi17 said:
    But are all the girls healthy?

    Also, I don't think Mary would immediately name her eldest daughter Princess of Wales until Mary reaches menopause and it's clear no sons will be forthcoming.
    Click to expand...
    Yes because most women, especially woman at an old (for that time!) or young (Margaret Beaufort) coudnt conceive again a lot and having quadruplets would be a strain
     

    Kellan Sullivan

    ordinarylittleme said:
    ure, France was being a pain, but the thought of their youngest prince possibly becoming king consort of England (not that Mary had ANY intention to allow that, even if Philip was more open to that idea than she had hoped)
    Click to expand...
    actually, Mary was one of the main drivers of the "my son/daughter by Felipe" to Mary, QoS "daughter/son by François II". A sort of uniting the claims of the Tudors and the Stuarts. Obviously it would be a second son.

    ordinarylittleme said:
    the archduke Charles of Austria was a fair bit older, but he didn't seem to have any betrothals tying him to another woman and he not only had good royal blood but was unlikely to inherit much at all....
    Click to expand...
    false. France had recently offered Élisabeth de Valois for him, Kristina of Lorraine was looking at him as a potential husband for her eldest daughter (which was why France offered Élisabeth). There were a few other girls being considered I think, but as a third son and only 16yo, that's still pretty "decent"
     
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