Today in 1558 Mary I made her will. She believed she was pregnant and would soon give birth, yet another of her phantom pregnancies. But her will is an interesting window into her thinking at the time. She requested that her mother, Catherine of Aragon’s remains to be moved from Peterborough Cathedral to Westminster Abbey, and it also made her unborn child her heir, leaving Philip of Spain as regent. Mary had several phantom pregnancies, and never went into labor, and died later that year, possibly of some kind of uterine cancer.
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:
Tudor Summit: Melita Thomas on Mary Tudor
Episode 23 Mary Tudor (Mary I)
Episode 024: Pregnancy and Childbirth in Renaissance England
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).
