Queen Mary I and Philip II
"Queen Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and of his queen Catherine, daughter of Ferdinand, the Catholic king of Aragon, is a princess of great worth. In her youth she…
From: 1553 C.E. To: 1558 C.E.
Location: St James's Palace, City of Westminster, United Kingdom
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Readings in European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources by James Harvey Robinson, 1906.
The Venetian ambassador, Giovanni Michele, made a report to his government in 1557 on the state of England. He thus describes Queen Mary and her husband, Philip II:
Queen Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and of his queen Catherine, daughter of Ferdinand, the Catholic king of Aragon, is a princess of great worth. In her youth she was rendered unhappy by the event of her mother's divorce; by the ignominy and threats to which she was exposed after the change of religion in England, she being unwilling to unbend to the new one; and by the dangers to which she was exposed by the duke of Northumberland, and the riots among the people when she ascended the throne.
She is of short stature, well made, thin and delicate, and moderately pretty; her eyes are so lively that she inspires reverence and respect, and even fear, wherever she turns them; nevertheless she is very shortsighted. Her voice is deep, almost like that of a man. She understands five languages,—English, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian, in which last, however, she does not venture to converse. She is also much skilled in ladies' work, such as producing all sorts of embroidery with the needle. She has a knowledge of music, chiefly on the lute, on which she plays exceedingly well.
As to the qualities of her mind, it may be said of her that she is rash, disdainful, and parsimonious rather than liberal. She is endowed with great humility and patience, but withal high-spirited, courageous, and resolute, having during the whole course of her adversity not been guilty of the least approach to meanness of deportment; she is, moreover, devout and stanch in the defense of her religion.
Some personal infirmities under which she labors are the causes to her of both public and private affliction; to remedy these recourse is had to frequent bloodletting, and this is the real cause of her paleness and the general weakness of her frame. These have also given rise to the unfounded rumor that the queen is in a state of pregnancy. The cabal she has been exposed to, the evil disposition of the people toward her, the present poverty and the debt of the crown, and her passion for King Philip, from whom she is doomed to live separate, are so many other causes of the grief with which she is overwhelmed.
She is, moreover, a prey to the hatred she bears my Lady Elizabeth, and which has its source in the recollection of the wrongs she experienced on account of her mother, and in the fact that all eyes and hearts are turned towards my Lady Elizabeth as successor to the throne….
King Philip is of short stature, but his person appears to advantage both when armed and in common attire. Though of great affability and politeness, his character is marked with gravity. His understanding is good and his judgment correct. Besides Spanish, he knows Latin, French, and Italian. He is also liberal and religious, but without possessing either the dignity or the ambition of his father….
As to his authority in England, your Serene Highness may be assured that in all affairs of importance, whether public or private, he is made to act precisely the same part as if he were the natural king of England, and this on account of the great respect and love with which he is treated by the queen and Cardinal Pole. Sensible, however, that he is new in this kingdom, he modestly, and wisely too, leaves everything to the management of the queen and the cardinal [Pole]. He receives petitions, but more in the character of mediator than as a patron, letting justice take its course in criminal cases, but frequently stepping forward to procure pardon or mitigation of punishment after conviction….
Religion, although thriving in this country, is, I apprehend, in some degree the offspring of dissimulation. The queen is far from being lukewarm; she has already founded ten monasteries, and is about to found more. Generally speaking, your Serene Highness may rest assured that with the English the example and authority of the sovereign is everything, and religion is only so far valued as it inculcates the duty due from the subject to the prince. They live as he lives, they believe as he believes, and they obey his commands, not from any inward moral impulse, but because they fear to incur his displeasure; and they would be full as zealous followers of the Mohammedan or Jewish religions did the king profess either of them, or command his subjects to do so. In short, they will accommodate themselves to any religious persuasion, but most readily to one that promises to minister to licentiousness and profit.
Robinson, James Harvey. Readings in European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources. Vol. 1. Ginn and Co. 1906.
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