#i'm just glad by the end mary had accepted it and their relationship was semi-healed

[queenmarytudor]

Elizabeth in Mary’s reign

There’s a wide assumption that the two Tudor sisters hated each other. It’s well known Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower during Mary’s reign... and that’s about it for their whereabouts and relationship until the former becomes Queen in 1558. I was curious to see how much time the two sisters actually spent together during Mary’s 5 year rule; here’s what I discovered.

1553

On the 3rd of August, a triumphant Mary rode into London. By this time her sister Elizabeth and her household had joined her, though how many days the pair had been reunited is unknown.

Elizabeth had sent a letter to Mary c.22nd of July to “congratulate her on her accession, and to beg her to let her know in what dress she desires to see her when she goes to salute her: whether her garb shall be mourning or not.”

It is clear she had arrived at least a day before the 3rd, as the Spanish ambassador Simon Renard notes  “Her estate has been increased since the Queen's accession.”

On the 19th October Renard writes “Elizabeth is soon leaving Court, as she told me herself last Tuesday.”.

On the 28th, it is confirmed “The Lady Elizabeth has left Court.”, but despite officially leaving the court, Elizabeth still appears to be frequently around Mary.

She is recorded on the 4th of November as being in “the house in town that the Queen gave her (Somerset Place); [and] not gone into the country as I [Renard] had been told”.    

It seems that while Elizabeth wasn’t living at court at the time, she spent most of her time there; almost a month later on the 3rd of December, Renard writes that “The Queen told me that Elizabeth had asked leave to depart for her house next Wednesday.”

In the same dispatch he mentions of an incidence on the 30th of November involving Elizabeth on the way to Mass, indicating Elizabeth was virtually a courtier but living in her own, separate household nearby at Somerset Place. As mentioned earlier her household/estate was increased upon Mary becoming Queen (likely to emphasise her new position as heir) so this makes logical sense to avoid overcrowding.

By the 8th of December, Elizabeth had left for Ashridge, “a place thirty miles away on the road to Scotland. She very courteously took leave of the Queen, who also dissembled well and gave her sister a rich coif of sable.”

1554

In the beginning of 1554 Wyatt’s rebellion broke out with serious consequences for Elizabeth. Suspected to be working with the rebels, the relationship between the two sisters soured and Mary immediately summoned Elizabeth back to court.

The first mention of Elizabeth returning is on the 23rd of February. She is recorded as being “dressed all in white and followed by a great company of the Queen's people and her own."

Despite ordering Elizabeth to come, “the Queen would not see her and had her lodged in a part of her house out of which neither she nor any of her suite can pass without crossing the guard.”

The situation quickly became worse for Elizabeth. In March it was decided she would be moved to the Tower of London, and 2 months later, on the 20th of May, “the Lady Elizabeth was taken out of the Tower and conducted to Richmond. Thence she has been conveyed to Woodstock, there to be kept.”

Elizabeth would be kept on virtual house arrest for the remainder of the year.

1555

While Elizabeth remained at Woodstock, Mary married Philip II of Spain and believed herself to be pregnant. As the suspected due date for the new heir to England approached, around the 25th of April “it was decided to bring Elizabeth here to Court in a few days, before the Queen's confinement takes place”.

By the 6th of May Elizabeth was at court. She had arrived “very privately, accompanied by three or four of her women, and as many more [male] servants, but was neither met nor received by any one, and was placed in the apartment of the Duke of Alva, where she lives in retirement, not having been seen by any one save once or twice by their Majesties, by private stairs.”

On the 25th, James Basset wrote to Edward Courtenay that “My Lady Elizabeth is at her full liberty, yet she remaineth still at the court. She hath seen the Queen's highness twice.”

At the beginning of August, Mary retired to Oatlands Palace, and “leave was given to “Miladi” Elizabeth to withdraw with all her attendants to a house distant three miles from her Majesty's; and on the Queen's expected return to Hampton Court in eight or ten days, it is supposed that said “Miladi” will not come back again, but either remain where she is, or go to another of her palaces, as she is completely free.”

On the 27th, Mary and Philip went to Greenwich “where the Queen will remain during the whole time of the King's stay beyond sea.”

Mary and Elizabeth’s relationship, severely damaged from the last year and a half, seems to improve over this summer. Perhaps Mary wanted comfort after her false pregnancy and Philip’s departure, and genuinely missed her little sister. Perhaps she was once again showing England that for now Elizabeth remained her heir. Whatever the reason, the two sisters were now enjoying a close, if not entirely comfortable, relationship again.

Though not stated at the time, we know Elizabeth stayed with Mary for the next 2 months.

On the 21st of October, Mary opened Parliament after “coming from St. James', whither she retired on her return from Greenwich. The Lady Elizabeth, who resided permanently with the Queen at Greenwich, has had permission to proceed to a house of her own 17 miles hence.”

1556

The first half of 1556 was dominated by the Dudley conspiracy, where suspicion was once again cast on Elizabeth. Though not meeting physically, the sisters sent letters to each other. In June:

“the Queen was induced to send to her [Elizabeth] in the country [at Hatfield] yesterday, Sir Edward Hastings, Master of the Horse, and Sir H. Englefield, one of the Lords of the Royal Council, to console and comfort her on behalf of her Majesty, knowing, as may well be supposed, that this circumstance had distressed and dejected her; and to present her, as a token of loving salutation, and of a message of good will, according to the custom here, with a ring worth 400 ducats [...] using in short loving and gracious expressions, to show her that she is neither neglected nor hated, but loved and esteemed by her Majesty.”

The sisters reunited in person later in the year; on the 23rd of November it is reported that “The Lady Elizabeth is expected here in four days from the country, nor is it yet known whether she will lodge in the palace with the most Serene Queen, or in her own house [Somerset Place], with her attendants”.

On the 1st of December, the Venetian ambassador Giovanni Michiel writes that

“Three days ago Miladi Elizabeth arrived from the country, 15 miles off, with a handsome retinue, having with her, including lords and gentlemen, upwards of 200 horsemen clad in her own livery, and dismounted at her own house [Somerset Place], where she has remained ever since, to the infinite pleasure of this entire population, though she was not met by any of the lords or gentlemen of the court, but many visited her subsequently. Three days afterwards she went to the Queen, and according to report was received very graciously and familiarly. [...] It cannot yet be ascertained whether she came for any other purpose than that of visiting the Queen, she having with great earnestness solicited to come, and not having been called.”

A week later on the 7th, he is disappointed that “The Lady Elizabeth departed so suddenly that I had not time to pay her my visit, which will be reserved for another occasion.”

It is unknown whether Elizabeth had planned to have such a short visit, or left after an argument with Mary, though it is worth noting that the French King heard:

“that the Queen sent for the Lady Elizabeth to the Court, and proposed to her to marry her to the Duke of Savoy, to which she replied that the afflictions suffered by her were such that they had not only ridded her of any wish for a husband, but that they had induced her to desire nothing but death, and then by a flood of tears she brought them also to the eyes of the Queen, who seeing that she still persisted in this opinion of not choosing to marry, dismissed her from the Court, and purposed assembling Parliament to have her declared illegitimate and consequently incapable of succeeding to the Crown.”

Though this report contradicts Michiel’s account of Elizabeth being the one to initiate a visit, it is well known Philip urged Mary to marry Elizabeth to the Duke.

Whatever the reason, the sisters were in each others company for around a week before separating once more.

1557

At the time of writing this post I’ve found no evidence that Elizabeth visited Mary throughout 1557. On the 13th of May the Venetian ambassador Michiel wrote his infamous report about the two sisters, stating:

“It cannot be denied that she [Queen Mary] displays in many ways the scorn and ill will she bears her [Elizabeth]; the Queen, whenever she sees her, fancying herself in the presence of the affronts and ignominious treatment to which she was subjected on account of her mother, from whom in great part the divorce from Queen Katherine originated.

[...]

Having no suitable cause to proceed against her she dissembles her hatred and anger as much as she can, and endeavours when they are together in public to receive her with every sort of graciousness and honour, nor does she ever converse with her about any but agreeable subjects.”

1558

Henry Machyn writes in his diary that “The xxv [25th] of February came riding to London my lady Elizabeth the queens sister with a great company of lords and noble men and women, to her place called Somerset Place.”

Elizabeth stayed for around a week, with Machyn later writing “the 3rd day of March a’for-non my lady Elizabeth’s grace took her horses and rode to her place at [?] With many lords, knights and ladies, and gentlewoman, with a goodly company of horses.”

This is the last recorded meeting of Mary and Elizabeth seeing each other in person. Though I have yet to find a source detailing a visit to court during this time, it is easy to assume that like previous occasions Elizabeth visited Mary whilst staying at Somerset Place.  

The sisters continued to correspond through letters throughout the year until Mary’s death, and in the last days of Mary’s life the two sisters seemed to have finally made peace with each other.

“She [Mary] was moved to send two gentlemen to that lady [Elizabeth], to let her know that, as it had pleased the Lord God to end her days, she was content that she as her sister should become Queen, and prayed her to maintain the kingdom and the Catholic religion, in words replete with much affection; to which she [Elizabeth] sent a most gracious reply by two of her attendants, who visited the Queen in her name, condoling with her on her malady.”

#i was surprised elizabeth stayed 2 months in 1555 #it's longer then i thought #anyway the ebb and flow of their relationship is so interesting #i'm just glad by the end mary had accepted it and their relationship was semi-healed #i may do another of these of elizabeth in edward's reign #and mary in his too #elizabeth i #mary i