Tudor Power Couples and their Contribution to the Age
History books frequently credit Elizabeth I with establishing the theatre, or Henry VIII for his war-like approach to rule. But what about the partners – spouses, lovers and companions – who stood alongside while the more well-known Tudors postured in front of their people and ‘made history’?
It is time to re-evaluate the contributions of some of these lesser well-known partners of famous figures. No public Tudor figure lived in isolation from those around them, and even the most stubborn (Henry VIII, I’m looking at you) was influenced and swayed by his advisors and loved ones. As a historian of ‘forgotten’ stories and people, I headed for the state papers and chronicles to see if I could restore the balance and investigate couples’ achievements together, as well as try to understand, where possible, the dynamics of their personal relationships.
The first thing I discovered was that often, Tudor ‘power couples’ had to grapple with different types of power. Henry VII and Elizabeth of York – the founders of the Tudor dynasty – found themselves struggling to enforce rule with the queen’s claim to the throne greater than that of her husband. Men held all the legal power in a marriage during the Tudor age, and so Henry worked to emphasise his own royal claim, in a bid to stabilise the new dynasty from its roots. Henry and Elizabeth’s granddaughter Mary I also navigated life as England’s first queen regnant, governing solely in her own right. For the first time in the 1550s a new role had to be carved out for a man at the head of Tudor England, as her consort.
Not all Tudor power couples, though, were royal. Courtier couples worked together to side-step the uncertainty and violence of the age, using their gender roles to appease and calm increasingly irrational Tudor monarchs. Some rose to highly influential positions and dictated major sixteenth century events, while others fled the realm to survive persecution. Taking steps to control and consolidate their combined wealth, others faced jealous competition, scandalous allegations and set in motion an event which had the potential to prematurely end the Tudor dynasty. Some power couples, like Henry and Gertrude Courtenay or Anne and Edward Seymour, were imprisoned in the Tower of London for mismanagement and alleged plotting. However, Margaret Douglas and Thomas Howard were thrown into captivity simply for falling in love. Their story is one of defiance, and had a marked effect on the later Tudor era.
Tackling adversity, partners endured one another’s deaths, the loss of their homes and forced separation imposed by the state. For some, these difficulties spelled the end of their union. For others, it led to further success. In some cases this can be explained by the existence of a mutual bond between them, but Tudor power couples rarely married for love. Monarchs wed for political gain and the promise of greater security, although we know that Henry VIII was motivated by love on at least three occasions. There is strong evidence that, unlike her first marriage to the courtier Charles Brandon, Katherine Willoughby’s second marriage to the administrator Richard Bertie was formed out of a love match, and Bess of Hardwick and her fourth husband George Talbot also corresponded with playful affection in the earlier years of their marriage. The relationship between Elizabeth I and her courtier Robert Dudley has been the subject of romance novels, television adaptations and film. It has been fascinating to explore their personal correspondence, as well as their arguments and disputes, written during a partnership that lasted almost five decades.
Regardless of how these couples came to be united, they all strongly impacted the lives of their contemporaries. They jointly patronised and led new trends in art, science, literature and mechanics. Women within these relationships were warlike, ambitious and politically agile, using their sex as a way of saving their partners and putting any errors down almost playfully, to feigned naïve judgement. Lesser-known partners in these relationships shaped political, social and religious change and the lives of Tudor men and women were altered as a result of it. Tudor England became more culturally diverse, well-read and opinionated, and for the first time engaged in overseas exploration. It is down to the power couples of the sixteenth century and their joint contribution that the Tudor age existed as we know it today.
Find out more about these power couples in Power Couples of the Tudor Era – Influential Duos That Shaped the History of Their Time, by Jo Romero and available at the Pen and Sword website.
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Jo Romero is a freelance writer who reads way too many books and is fascinated by women’s history. She also works as a watercolour artist and Urban Sketcher and lives in Berkshire.
