#Mary of guise

[cesareeborgia]

↳ Historical Ladies Name: Mary/Marie/Maria

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

9 Royal Mary’s of history - Reigning and Consorting: -> 1. Mary of Burgundy: Consort of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1457–1482). -> 2. Mary of Hungary (Mary of Habsburg): Queen consort of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (1505–1558). -> 3. Mary I of England: Reigned 1553–1558 (1516–1558). -> 4. Mary of Guise: Queen consort of James V of Scotland, regent for Mary, Queen of Scots (1515–1560). -> 5. Mary, Queen of Scots: Reigned 1542–1567 (1542–1587). -> 6. Mary II of England: Reigned 1689–1694 (1662–1694). -> 7. Mary of Modena: Queen consort of James II of England, regent for James Francis Edward Stuart (1658–1718). -> 8. Mary of Teck (Queen Mary): Consort of George V of UK, reigned 1910–1936 (1867–1953). -> 9. Mary Elizabeth Donaldson (Queen Mary): current Queen consort of Frederick X of Denmark since 14th January 2024 (1972-).

[scotianostra]

On 11th June 1560, Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland, died.

A longer post than I am used to, but I think it is necessary to set the scene for the reign of Mary Queen of Scots and why she had such a torrid time as Queen.

Mary is perhaps best known as the Mother of Mary Queen of Scots but there was a lot more to her than this, she was a very powerful woman. From her description you can tell where her daughter got her looks and height, Mary at age of eighteen was tall and attractive with auburn hair, was married to Louis II of Orleans, Duke of Longueville, who held extensive estates in Normandy and the valley of the Loire. The marriage produced two sons unfortunately the Duke died of smallpox in 1537 leaving her a widow at twenty one.

Enter James V King of Scots who had also lost his spouse Madeleine of Valois, if you remember from a previous post Madeleine was a fragile woman prone to sickness, the harsh Scottish climate was blamed for her early demise aged just 16 but she had been a sickly child before moving to Scotland.

Also in the frame for Mary’s hand was a certain Henry VIII of England, Henry by now, he was now looking for wife number 4. An exchange between the two is said to have gone something like this, he remarked on her fine stature she retorted with the witty repartee that although her body was big, she had a very small neck, perhaps alluding to Anne Boleyn’s neck having the misfortune of connecting with and axe severing her head from her body!!

Mary was married to James of Scotland by proxy in Paris in May 1538 and at in person at St Andrews after her arrival in Scotland. The couple had two sons James born in 1540 and Robert a year later, the two died within a few days of each other in April 1541.

Meanwhile relations between James and Henry were at a low, Henry called James to meet him at York, Henry even sent his tapestries there in preparation of the meeting in September 1541, James snubbed him, saying his wife was pregnant and he did not want to leave her. The snub  might have been part of the reason that the armies of Scotland and England met at Solway moss the following year, it was a crushing defeat by the English and James died the following month, on his deathbed he would hear that his wife had given birth to Mary Queen of Scots. Although there were few soldiers killed at Solway Moss, more than 1200 of James’ army were taken prisoner, amongst them some of our top nobles. Henry was determined to impose his will on the weakened Scottish kingdom and permanently end its alliance with catholic France.The Treat of Greenwich was signed agreeing that the young Queen would be taken to England and brought up in the English court of Henry, then married to his son, it was largely agreed to by those nobles who were prisoners of the English, although not entirely.

The Scottish Parliament dissmissed the treaty out of hand and big bad Henry sent an army to lay waste to Scotland and force the treaty through, the phrase “I lyke not thys wooyng.” is said have derived from historian, Patrick Abercromby’s account of the war that followed, although it would not be popularised till many years later by Walter Scott, since then it was used regularly.

After a Scottish defeat at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in September 1547, French military aid weakened English resolve and increased the power base of Mary of Guise, who remained in Scotland, but to protect the young Queen Mary Stewart was sent to France in 1548.

The government of Scotland was first entrusted to James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, as Regent, like many before and after him he would change sides over the years, first being firmly encamped as a protestant before becoming a catholic and in 1554, he surrendered the regency to Mary of Guise. The Guises had trained her well in the craft of Government, but little could have prepared her to deal with the unreliable Scots, the reformation was in full swing and the Protestant Lords did not trust a catholic Regent. She had no confidante to turn to and communication with France took time. She had to rely on her family’s recognition of the strategic importance of a Scottish alliance for both France and the Catholic Church. Of course the Protestant Lords were unhappy that ties with the Catholics of France were becoming stronger but were encouraged by the crowning of Elizabeth I in 1548 and they hoped to gain advantage through this. The country was more or less in a state of Civil war as events leading to the Reformation took hold.

Among the Regent’s ambassadors were the Earl of Argyll and Lord James Stewart, Earl of Moray, both professed Protestants. When the Mary of Guise stationed French mercenaries in Perth, both abandoned her and joined the Lords of the Congregation at St Andrews, where they were also joined by John Knox. Even Edinburgh soon fell to them in July, as Mary retreated to Dunbar. On 25 July 1559 a truce and treaty promised religious tolerance, the truce did not last long.

The Lords of the Congregation had established a provisional government. However, Mary of Guise was reinforced by professional French troops, strengthening her hand and it looked at one stage as if she had the upper hand, victory was in her grasp. Fighting continued in Fife. All seemed lost for the Protestant side until an English fleet arrived in the Firth of Forth in January 1560, which caused the French to retreat to Leith. The following month the Scottish Lords of the Congregation signed The Treaty of Berwick and the Queen of England, sent an English land army into Scotland to join their Scottish allies in besieging the French at Leith.

She died of dropsy on 11th June 1560. Her body was wrapped in lead and kept in Edinburgh Castle for several months. In March 1561, it was secretly carried from the castle at midnight and shipped to France. Mary, Queen of Scots attended her funeral at Fécamp in July 1561. Mary of Guise was interred at the church in the Convent of Saint-Pierre in Reims, where Mary’s sister Renée was abbess. A marble tomb was erected with a bronze statue of Mary, in royal robes, holding a sceptre and the rod of justice in one hand. The tomb was destroyed during the French revolution.

Of Mary’s five children, only her daughter Mary survived her, and we all know what happened to her……..

This blog post here gives more detail on Marie here https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2012/10/01/marie-of-guise-queen-of-scotland/

Pics are of the Lady and plaques remembering her at Edinburgh Castle and South Leith Parish church, the stained glass is at The Magdalen Chapel in The Cowgate, the only the only stained glass that survived the Scottish Reformation in its original location.

[aquitainequeen]

My truly, only regret with Six is that during the Haus of Holbein number when Christina of Denmark is being considered as Henry's next wife, they didn't find a way to have her say 'If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal.' And also they didn't have Mary of Guise show up and say (in response to Henry saying to the French ambassador that he had need of a big wife) 'I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck.' Yes, it might well be that neither of the real women in question actually said those things, but look me in the eye and tell me you care.

[historicconfessions]

[internationalroyals]

𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍/𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉:

𝑾𝒆𝒆𝒌 1: 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏/𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑫𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔

𝑫𝒂𝒚 3: 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑫𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅

[valkyries-things]

MARY OF GUISE // QUEEN OF SCOTLAND

“She was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560.”

[famousdeaths]

Mary of Guise, also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the...

Link: Mary of Guise

[fionamccall]

Flemish oak carvings belonging to Mary of Guise, Traquair House

These beautiful Flemish oak panels use a great deal of craft to appear deceptively primitive in order to heighten their power. They belonged to Mary of Guise, the mother of Mary Queen of Scots. There are twelve in total, telling the story of the life of Christ. They survived religious persecution by being whitewashed, and were purchased by the Catholic Earl of Traquiar in the 1700s.

[fallbabylon]

Examples of Hooden Horses and Mari Lwyd’s at Maidstone Museum’s Animal Guising exhibition- Maidstone, UK 

[scotlandsladies]

♕ Queens Dowager of Scotland (1093-1560)

[cycas]

Since Tumblr embraces the Mari Lwyd, I thought you might enjoy some photos of some of her Cornish relatives the 'Obby Osses at the revival Montol festival.

[scotianostra]

On May 18th 1538 King James V was married to Marie de Guise by proxy at Notre-Dame de Paris.

James's first wife, the fragile french princess, Madeleine of Valois had died within two months of her arrival in Scotland and for the sake of The Auld Alliance it was imperative a new bride bride was found by the French for the Scottish King. While the Scottish reformation was not yet in full swing, unlike in England where his uncle Henry VIII in had swept away the Catholic church and proclaimed himself as head of the Church of England James V avoided major structural and theological changes to the church and used it as a source of income and for appointments for his illegitimate children and favourites. France looked on afraid that the reformation could affect the bond between themselves and Scotland.

And so it was that less than a year after his young bride died in his arms, Robert Maxwell, 4th Lord Maxwell stood in for the groom. Maxwell was a member of James V of Scotland's royal council and served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1524, 1527 and 1535. He was also an Extraordinary Lord of Session in 1533. In 1537, and was one of the ambassadors sent to the French Court to negotiate the marriage.

James V’s second bride was Marie of Guise, the eldest daughter of Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, head of the House of Guise, and his wife Antoinette de Bourbon. Marie had been previously married to Louis II d’Orléans, Duke of Longueville for three years before he died. Marie had one surviving son, three-year-old François, whom she was forced to leave in France as he had succeeded his father as Duke of Longueville. James V and Marie married in person at St. Andrews on June 12th later in the year.

The pic is a contemporary 16th Century portrait of the couple, displayed in the Long Gallery of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. A later copy is on display at Falkland Palace in Fife.

[tiktaalic]

How dean Winchester’s definition of a wire mother (Mary) looks when a REAL wire mother comes at her (naomi)

[historicconfessions]

[unabashedqueenfury]

Reign 2013-17

Mary and Francis