Comments by "RenShiWu" (@renshiwu305) on "The Tudors: England, Spain u0026 The Habsburgs" video.

  1. Why was Henry VIII so enamored of Philip the Fair of Burgundy (grandfather and namesake of Mary's husband Philip II)? Could it be because the elder Philip was a handsome, spoiled fashion plate, in thrall to courtiers and flatterers? A case of like calling to like, perhaps?
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  2. There is probably no one who Mary could have chosen to marry that would have been genuinely acceptable to the populace. England had never had a queen regnant before (the Empress Matilda was never really in charge during her time). A female ruler was uncharted territory, and the people (men) were not comfortable with the thought of a man potentially governing the queen. Opposition to the consort would have replicated itself in the counterfactual reigns of other queens. Had Jane Grey held onto power, no doubt the Dudleys would have caused animosity among the nobles and the people. Elizabeth ran into grief in her dalliances with Leicester and Essex, and neither of them were politically acceptable husbands to the Virgin Queen (also, consider the real example of the Duke of Anjou). Mary, Queen of Scots' husband, Lord Darnley, was not well-received in Scotland, either. Mary II's husband, William III (who was the real monarch), was acceptable because he was Charles I's eldest grandchild and also the ruler of a comparable and allied Protestant state. Prince George of Denmark was acceptable because he was a pacific non-entity. The case of the Stuart queens followed 100 years after the inaugural example of the Tudor queens. By that point, the monarchy was not as powerful as it had been. The past example of the Tudor queens acclimated the English people to the notion of female rule. Mary did not have the benefit of any prior example. It should also be noted that Mary's Privy Council was inherited from Jane Grey, and virtually the entirety of that Council had initially supported Jane Grey's claim to the throne. Therefore, Mary's government was filled with unreliable, self-interested wafflers. This fact is, I think, the other reason Mary chose Philip to be her husband: she needed a pillar of support, and it was her Hapsburg relations who protected her during that time when she was being pressed to consent to the Supremacy and also Edward's determination to enforce Protestant conformity. Mary consulted and accorded with the Imperial Ambassador, Simon Renard, probably more than any of her domestic advisors, Stephen Gardiner excepted.
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  3. Mary was a triple-dose Lancastrian, because her father was a double-dose Lancastrian and her mother was a descendant of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, as well. Edward IV, Mary's father's grandfather, was a descendant of not only Lionel, Duke of Clarence (hence the Yorkist claim to superior birth status over the House of Lancaster), and Edmund, Duke of York (hence the name of the royal house), but also John, Duke of Lancaster. Edward's mother was Cecily Neville. Cecily was the daughter of Joan Beaufort, the natural daughter of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford. Mary's paternal grandfather was a son of Margaret Beaufort, who was descended from Joan Beaufort's brother - another child of John and Katherine Swynford. Numerous of Philip II's ancestors were descended from John of Gaunt, as well: Joan the Mad and her husband, Philip the Fair; Margaret of Burgundy and her husband, the Emperor Maximilian.
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