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7 | <title>Tudor Relatives - Margaret Tudor, queen of Scotland</title>
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10 | <img SRC="margaretb.gif" ALT="Margaret Tudor" height=50 width=296>
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11 | <blockquote>Margaret Tudor's life was in many respects as contrary and
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12 | tempestuous as that of her granddaughter, Mary queen of Scots. Certainly
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13 | the parallels between their second marriages are the most obvious and entertaining.
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14 | Both women married handsome younger earls with powerful fathers who embroiled
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15 | them in conflict with the notoriously fractious Scottish lords and the
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16 | English monarch. And though both women married those earls for love,
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17 | without regard for any effect upon their rule and reputation, they came
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18 | to bitterly regret their hasty decisions.
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19 | <p><img SRC="margsket.jpg" ALT="sketch of Margaret Tudor" BORDER=2 height=329 width=200 align=LEFT>
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20 | They also entered Scotland as foreigners who found their new home backward
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21 | and unsettling. Margaret was the eldest daughter of Henry VII of
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22 | England and Elizabeth of York, born on 28 November 1489 at the Palace of
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23 | Westminster, a year and a half before her famous brother, Henry VIII.
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24 | The elaborate and costly preparations for her birth were recorded by contemporary
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25 | chroniclers; Elizabeth of York had officially retired from court life in
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26 | October 1489 and, when labor began, the queen was accompanied by the earls
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27 | of Oxford and Derby to Mass. Afterwards she entered the state bedchamber
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28 | where she presided over a meal of spiced wines and sweet cakes. The
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29 | queen's chamberlain then asked all present to pray for a successful labor.
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30 | The noblemen then left and Elizabeth, attended by twenty ladies and their
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31 | various attendants, entered the inner chamber where she would actually
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32 | give birth. Her bed was a magnificent creation with a gold canopy
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33 | and embroidered red roses for her husband's house of Lancaster. At
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34 | nine o'clock that night Princess Margaret Tudor was born. She was
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35 | christened by John Morton, the archbishop of Canterbury, at the chapel
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36 | in Westminster two days later; her godparents were her grandmother Lady
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37 | Margaret Beaufort for whom she was named, the duchess of Norfolk, Lady
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38 | Berkeley and the earl of Shrewsbury. After the celebrations, she
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39 | was returned to her room where four nurses (her two head nurses were Alice
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40 | Davy and Alice Bywimble) and six rockers, along with their various attendants,
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41 | waited to serve their new charge.
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42 | <p> Her first year was spent mostly in an oak cradle
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43 | lined with ermine and draped in cloth of gold, an ornate setting to which
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44 | she became accustomed and sorely missed later in life. As the first
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45 | Tudor princess, Margaret was immediately placed on the European marriage
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46 | market since Henry VII was eager to strengthen foreign support for his
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47 | new dynasty. She spent her first fourteen years in England and was
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48 | imbued with a self-righteous belief that England was meant to control Scotland,
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49 | if not subjugate it entirely, and that Tudor rule was as valid as any other
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50 | European dynasty. Despite the general view that the Tudors were upstarts
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51 | and her father's claim to the throne was rather dubious, Margaret embraced
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52 | her royal title and lineage with passion.
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53 | <p> The atmosphere of those early years in England was
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54 | still medieval, and she lived in Gothic palaces with ornate decoration
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55 | and rituals. All of Henry VII's children came to participate publicly
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56 | in court life while still children. Before the age of five, Margaret
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57 | attended court ceremonies and played her part with aplomb. She had
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58 | an early love of pomp and pageantry which was never lost, and her father's
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59 | court was rather extravagant considering Henry's reputation as a shabby
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60 | miser. As a child, Margaret shared a household with her older brother,
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61 | Prince Arthur. Born on 20 September 1486, barely nine months after
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62 | his parents' marriage, Arthur was the hope and joy of the Tudors.
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63 | He and Margaret traveled with their own households from Eltham to Westminster
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64 | to Windsor and back again, visiting their parents as often as possible.
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65 | Their education was guided by their formidable grandmother, Lady Margaret
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66 | Beaufort, who was a shining example of female piety and learning.
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67 | Lady Beaufort's impact upon Margaret ensured her a thorough education but
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68 | Margaret never shared her grandmother's love of scholarship. Henry
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69 | VII was a busy and oft-distracted king whose reign was a constant struggle
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70 | in the early years of Margaret's life; he loved his daughter, but had little
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71 | time for any of his children. Her mother, Elizabeth of York, was
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72 | a quiet and gentle woman whose motto 'Humble and Reverent' aptly summarized
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73 | her way of life. She was a loving mother but spent most of her marriage
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74 | either pregnant or recovering from increasingly difficult births.
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75 | Her ill health often forced her into confinement and her role at court
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76 | functions was filled by her mother-in-law.
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77 | <p> Margaret reveled in court life and enjoyed her position
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78 | as princess to the full; she began a lifelong love affair with beautiful
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79 | clothes, delighted in dancing and music as well as archery and playing
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80 | cards. She had no responsibilities other than to fulfill her public
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81 | duties as princess and, as a result of her privileged position, developed
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82 | a very stubborn personality. It was Margaret's lot to be impatient
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83 | and disappointed when things did not go her way. In this, however,
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84 | she can be forgiven; most royal children were equally stubborn and certainly
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85 | the two siblings who survived childhood with her shared this trait.
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86 | It is worth remembering, too, that her acute awareness of her position
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87 | included the knowledge that she would one day leave England, perhaps forever.
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88 | It was not the fate of princesses to live and die in their own countries.
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89 | But as Margaret's later actions make clear, those early years in England
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90 | left an indelible mark upon her; she always put English interests first,
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91 | even when it was not the sensible thing to do.
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92 | <p> Her fifth birthday coincided with Henry's elevation
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93 | to the dukedom of York in 1494. There was a grand celebratory tournament
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94 | in Westminster which lasted three days and the appearance of the 'right
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95 | high and excellent Princess, the Lady Margaret' was recorded for posterity.
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96 | She wore a gown of buckram and velvet trimmed in gold lace with a winged
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97 | white cap, an unflattering but popular style from the Low Countries.
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98 | Her best features were her clear complexion and fair hair, both inherited
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99 | from her mother. But her temperament was that of her maternal grandfather,
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100 | Edward IV, a trait she shared with her brother Henry. While Prince
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101 | Arthur was a reserved and thoughtful boy dedicated to scholarship, Margaret
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102 | and Henry were gregarious and energetic. They danced at the tournament,
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103 | to the amusement of the adults, and Margaret presented the prizes to the
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104 | jousters.
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105 | <p> Traveling with a great retinue from one palace to
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106 | another, she was hardly aware of the struggles her father faced; plague,
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107 | rebellion, and war marked Henry's years on the throne as he constantly
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108 | struggled to fill his treasury and placate his people. One of the
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109 | more serious struggles led to Margaret's betrothal in 1496 to James IV,
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110 | king of Scotland. Henry wanted an alliance with Scotland for two
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111 | pressing reasons. First, James was following the old Scottish tradition
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112 | of angering the English by supporting Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the
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113 | English throne who claimed to be Prince Richard of York. This debacle
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114 | lasted from 1491 to 1497, but was made more pressing by Prince Arthur's
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115 | engagement to Princess Katharine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and
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116 | Isabella of Spain. At the time, only Spain recognized Henry's rule
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117 | and he was desperate to secure a marriage alliance between the two countries.
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118 | But the Spanish would not send Katharine to England unless Henry was secure
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119 | on the throne and their daughter could arrive safely and peacefully in
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120 | England. In 1493, they brokered an agreement between Scotland and
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121 | England which ended Scottish support of Warbeck and gave hope for a more
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122 | comprehensive peace in the future. Second, Scotland had long been
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123 | allied with France in what was termed the 'Auld Alliance', essentially
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124 | the partnership of two English enemies. French money and troops had
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125 | often threatened the English-Scots border and Henry was desperate to avoid
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126 | further unrest. He and his councilors thought a marriage between
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127 | James and Margaret would create a bond between England and Scotland which
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128 | would allow England some desperately needed peace and tranquility.
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129 | <p> James IV of Scotland was amenable to the idea as
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130 | well. He was sixteen years older than Margaret, but such differences
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131 | in age were common enough in royal marriages. For the security of
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132 | his own realm, as well as an impressive dowry, he was content to marry
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133 | Margaret. James's own life had been tempestuous and unhappy. <img SRC="jamesiv.jpg" ALT="King James IV of Scotland" BORDER=2 height=230 width=199 align=LEFT>Born
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134 | on 17 March 1473, he was barely sixteen years old when disaffected Scottish
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135 | lords led by the Humes and Hepburns forced him to ride in battle against
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136 | his own father, James III. At the climactic battle of Sauchieburn
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137 | in the summer of 1488, James III was murdered by a man pretending to be
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138 | a priest and his son was crowned king of Scotland. James IV was traumatized
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139 | by his role in his father's death; for the rest of his life he wore an
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140 | iron chain around his waist as penance and made frequent pilgrimages to
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141 | the shrine of his patron St Ninian. His personality was both charismatic
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142 | and melancholy and he was quite brilliant. His varied interests included
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143 | dentistry, golf, and hunting; he was also very energetic, and exhausted
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144 | his nobles with his ceaseless traveling across his kingdom. He was
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145 | quite dedicated to the ideal of the chivalrous knight and admired the tales
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146 | of King Arthur. This romantic notion led him to numerous love affairs
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147 | (by the time of his betrothal to Margaret, he already had five healthy
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148 | illegitimate children) and a lifelong desire to lead a Crusade. His
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149 | people loved him and his court attracted a number of brilliant poets, including
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150 | William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas and David Lindsay. Also, Scotland had
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151 | three universities while England had only two, a fact which few historians
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152 | have noted when dismissing any evidence of Scottish learning in the late
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153 | 15th century. But the country remained fractious and dangerous, largely
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154 | because of its squabbling nobility. Certainly James's reign was marked
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155 | by increased prosperity and the flowering of the arts, but he could not
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156 | subdue the clans or even intimidate them much. And the lesson of
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157 | his father's reign haunted him as he attempted to provide some order and
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158 | stability for his people. He was more successful at this than most
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159 | Scottish kings, but not successful enough. In Scotland, the nobles
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160 | controlled far more land than the king and were savage opponents of royal
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161 | authority. The burgeoning middle class was terrified of warfare and
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162 | also susceptible to English bribes. Shifting loyalties and simmering
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163 | resentment marked relations between the king and his nobles. Poor
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164 | James did not have an easy life as king.
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165 | <p> But his prolific romantic life was legendarily successful.
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166 | James cut quite a swath through the common and noble women of Scotland,
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167 | eventually losing his heart to Lady Margaret Drummond. James had
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168 | earlier attempted to marry a Spanish princess himself (much as Henry VII
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169 | secured a Spanish bride for Prince Arthur) but, when that failed, his love
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170 | for Margaret Drummond was such that he seriously considered marrying her.
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171 | His councilors were understandably aghast; any marriage to a subject would
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172 | necessarily elevate that subject's family to pre-eminence in the realm.
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173 | They would not allow it and did their utmost to persuade James to reconsider.
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174 | The king began negotiations for Margaret Tudor's hand even as Margaret
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175 | Drummond gave birth to their daughter. James moved mother and child
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176 | to his palace of Linlithgow and showed them every favor. Rumors of
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177 | a secret marriage between the two were rampant but the Scots successfully
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178 | concluded the marriage treaty with Henry VII. Still, James's ministers
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179 | were concerned that Henry VII would learn of Margaret Drummond and it might
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180 | complicate relations. But the problem was solved when Margaret Drummond
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181 | and her two sisters were poisoned in spring 1502. The king was devastated.
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182 | No one was arrested for the crime, for which most of his councilors were
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183 | secretly grateful. James almost immediately began another affair
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184 | with Lady Janet Kennedy, but his grief for Margaret Drummond did not lessen.
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185 | She was the great love of his life and he never forgot her.
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186 | <p> But Margaret Drummond's death freed him to openly
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187 | plan his marriage to Margaret Tudor, who until then had been merely a bargaining
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188 | chip with the English. James was determined that his marriage would
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189 | restore Scottish pride which had suffered much from English harassment
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190 | along its borders. He ordered a grand trousseau from Paris, as well
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191 | as presents for Margaret and new clothing for his courtiers. His
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192 | own clothes included several pairs of scarlet hose, robes of black velvet
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193 | trimmed in fur, a crimson jacket lined with cloth of gold, and a truly
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194 | grand wedding outfit of white damask embroidered with silver and gold thread.
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195 | To Margaret he sent a gown worth almost 160 pds and his courtiers received
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196 | sumptuous clothes and jewelry. His spending grew so extravagant that
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197 | he was forced to acknowledge his penury to Henry VII; the English king
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198 | had written to find out the salaries of Margaret's ladies-in-waiting who
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199 | would accompany her to Scotland. James was forced to prevaricate
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200 | on that matter, replying only that they would receive 'competent fees'.
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201 | <p> In England, meanwhile, preparations for Katharine
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202 | of Aragon's marriage to Prince Arthur consumed far more time and energy
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203 | than Margaret's betrothal. The Spanish princess was married to the
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204 | Tudor heir in the autumn of 1501 and Margaret attended the wedding feast
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205 | at Westminster Hall; she wore a gown of crimson velvet trimmed in fur and
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206 | sat, along with Prince Henry, on a wooden stool covered with scarlet cloth
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207 | beside their parents. Prince Henry had apparently flown into a rage
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208 | when told that his sister would soon be known as queen of Scots and thus
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209 | accorded precedence over him in public ceremonies. This essentially
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210 | meant that Margaret would be announced before him at court functions, a
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211 | relatively trivial matter, but observers noted the young prince's love
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212 | of his own high position. The tantrum resolved itself and Henry was
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213 | on perfect behavior during the wedding festivities which followed.
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214 | <p> The earl of Bothwell, the bishop of Moray, and the
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215 | archbishop of Glasgow were sent as ambassadors from Scotland. They
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216 | were also present at Westminster during those celebratory days, under orders
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217 | to observe Margaret and report on her appearance and behavior. If
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218 | they found it 'most convenient and advisable' they were to marry her at
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219 | once by proxy. Many of the intricacies of the marriage negotiation
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220 | had already been decided upon and Pope Alexander VI had given the necessary
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221 | dispensation, though he advised Margaret to remain in England for another
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222 | year so she would be ready for child-bearing upon her arrival in Scotland.
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223 | The matter of dower lands was soon settled as well. James was to
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224 | be responsible for 'the apparatus of her body, the ornamenting of her residences,
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225 | her vehicles, stud, furniture, dress, private and domestic affairs, and
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226 | all other things whatsoever necessary and becoming the honour, state and
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227 | dignity of the said Lady Margaret.' Margaret's dowry was 30,000 gold
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228 | nobles to be paid over three years.
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229 | <p> Once Prince Arthur and his new wife had left for
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230 | Ludlow Castle, their seat as Prince and Princess of Wales, Margaret's betrothal
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231 | was celebrated at Richmond Palace. There everyone gathered in Queen
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232 | Elizabeth's official presence chamber and the archbishop of Glasgow conducted
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233 | the proxy marriage ceremony. He asked Margaret and her parents, 'Doth
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234 | Your Grace know of any impediment other than there is dispensed withal?
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235 | Doth the Queen likewise? Or the Princess?' In their turn, the
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236 | three said, 'There is none.' Then Henry VII asked, 'Is it the very
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237 | will and mind of the king of Scotland that the said earl Bothwell should
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238 | in his name assure the said Princess?' Both archbishop and earl gave
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239 | assent and then Margaret was asked, 'Are you content without compulsion,
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240 | and of your own free will?' The princess answered composedly, 'If
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241 | it please my lord and father the king, and my lady mother the queen.'
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242 | Her father said, 'It is my will and pleasure' and Margaret knelt for her
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243 | parents' blessing. Bothwell took her hand and repeated his marriage
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244 | vows. He did so easily enough; soon all eyes were upon Margaret,
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245 | who spoke clearly and with no noticeable nervousness, 'I, Margaret, the
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246 | first begotten daughter of the right excellent, right high and mighty prince
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247 | and princess, Henry by the Grace of God king of England, and Elizabeth
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248 | queen of the same, wittingly and of deliberate mind, having twelve years
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249 | complete in age in the month of November last past, contract matrimony
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250 | with the right excellent, right high and mighty prince, James king of Scotland,
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251 | and the person of whom, Patrick earl of Bothwell, procurator of the said
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252 | prince, represents, and take the said James king of Scotland into and for
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253 | my husband and spouse, and all other for him forsake, during his and mine
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254 | lives natural, and thereto I plight and give to him, in your person as
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255 | procurator aforesaid, my faith and troth.' And then, continues the
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256 | herald's account, 'the trumpets....blew up, and the loud noise of the minstrels
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257 | played in the best and most joyful manner.'
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258 | <p> The king then led the Scots to his rooms while Elizabeth
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259 | of York took Margaret's hand and led her to the royal dais. The mother
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260 | and daughter sat side by side now, equal in title and precedence.
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261 | The next few days were spent in celebratory tournaments and banquets at
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262 | Westminster Hall, all of which had Margaret's participation. And
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263 | yet, just as it seemed that Henry VII's most fervent ambitions were being
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264 | realized, news soon arrived from Wales that Arthur and his bride had fallen
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265 | ill. The young prince died while his new bride recovered. Henry
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266 | and Elizabeth were devastated; accounts of their grief can be read at the
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267 | <a href="../primary.html">Primary
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268 | Sources</a> section. The court was thrown into mourning and a few
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269 | weeks after the death Elizabeth of York became pregnant yet again.
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270 | It did not help her delicate health. A son was born prematurely and
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271 | christened Edward, but died soon after. The queen's strength never
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272 | recovered and, upon yet another stillbirth on 2 February 1503, she became
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273 | deathly ill. She died on 11 February 1503, her thirty-seventh birthday,
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274 | having given birth nine times and leaving three surviving children.
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275 | An account of Elizabeth's death, which coincided with Margaret's departure
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276 | for Scotland, can also be read at <a href="../primary.html">Primary
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277 | Sources</a>.
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278 | <p> Margaret's feelings on her brother's death and mother's
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279 | ill
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280 | health are not recorded. She was obviously closer in temperament
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281 | to Henry, but also she was consumed with preparations for her departure
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282 | to Scotland. And for a young woman with Margaret's great love of
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283 | expensive gifts, pageantry, and magnificent gowns, the preparations were
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284 | a delightful diversion. She also enjoyed being queen of Scotland.
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285 | Since she had to wait a year before going to Scotland, she was given her
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286 | own establishments at Windsor and Westminster where she was served from
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287 | golden plates engraved with the Scottish arms. Scores of footmen
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288 | served her, dressed in the white and green Tudor livery while her litter
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289 | bearers wore green and black. The litter which would carry her on
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290 | progress north was itself a grand creation lined with blue velvet and cloth
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291 | of gold; her state carriage was lined with bearskin, the horses hung with
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292 | black and crimson velvet and her own saddle lavishly embroidered with red
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293 | roses.
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294 | <br>
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295 | <br>
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296 | <br>
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297 | <center>
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298 | <p><font size=-1>The rest of this article will be published</font>
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299 | <br><font size=-1>as soon as I finish scanning color portraits of Margaret.</font></center>
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300 | </blockquote>
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301 |
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302 | <center>
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303 | <p><br><font size=-1>written by <a href="mailto:[email protected]">Marilee</a></font></center>
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304 |
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