Today in 1536 the Lady Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, wrote to Thomas Cromwell to see if he could help her relationship with her father now that Anne Boleyn – who she saw as the source of all the troubles, was dead.
She writes: “Master Secretary, I would have been a suitor to you before this time to have been a mean for me to the King’s Grace to have obtained his Grace’s blessing and favor; but I perceived that nobody durst speak for me as long as that woman lived, which is now gone; whom I pray our Lord of His great mercy to forgive.” She now feels bold enough to write to him for the love of God to be a suitor for her to the King, to have his blessing and leave to write to his Grace.
Cromwell would be one of the people who helped bring Mary back into the fold, explaining to her that her issue wasn’t just with Anne Boleyn, and her father wasn’t going to become a good Catholic again now that she was gone.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Melita Thomas at the Tudor Summit on Mary
Episode 23 Mary Tudor (Mary I)
From the shop:
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
