Mary of Modena
Mary of Modena | |
---|---|
Scotland and Ireland | |
Tenure | 6 February 1685 – 11 December 1688 |
Coronation | 23 April 1685 |
Born | Ducal Palace, Modena, Duchy of Modena and Reggio | 5 October 1658
Died | 7 May 1718 Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Paris, France | (aged 59)
Burial | Convent of the Visitations, Chaillot , France |
Spouse | |
Catholicism | |
Signature |
Mary of Modena (
Born a princess of the northwestern Italian
Mary went into exile in France, being known as the "Queen over the water" among the Jacobites. She lived with her husband and children at
Early life (1658–1673)
Maria Beatrice
Mary was described by contemporaries as "tall and admirably shaped", and was sought as a bride for
Modena was within the sphere of influence of
Duchess of York (1673–1685)
Household
James, an avowed Catholic, was twenty-five years older than his bride, scarred by
The Duchess of York received £5,000 spending money annually and her own household, headed by Carey Fraser, Countess of Peterborough; it was frequented by ladies of her husband's selection: Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond and Anne Scott, 1st Duchess of Buccleuch.[12][27][28][29] That Mary loathed gambling did not stop her ladies compelling her to do so almost every day.[30] They believed that "if she refrained, it might be taken ill".[30] Consequently, Mary incurred minor gambling debts.[30]
The birth of Mary's first child, Catherine Laura, named after Queen Catherine, on 10 January 1675 OS represented the beginning of a string of children that would die in infancy.[31] At this time the Duchess of York was on excellent terms with Lady Mary, and visited her in The Hague after the younger Mary had married William of Orange. She travelled incognito and took Lady Anne with her.[32]
Popish plot and exile
The Duchess's Catholic secretary,
A report that King Charles was very sick sent the Yorks hastily back to England.
The Exclusionist reaction that followed the Popish plot had died down by May 1682.
Queen consort (1685–1688)
Despite all the furore over Exclusionism, James ascended his brother's thrones easily upon the latter's death – which occurred on 6 February 1685 OS – possibly owing to the risk that the said alternative might provoke another civil war.[56] Mary sincerely mourned Charles, recalling in later life, "He was always kind to me."[57] Mary and James's £119,000 coronation, occurring on 23 April OS, Saint George's day, was meticulously planned.[58][59] Precedents were sought for Mary because a full-length joint coronation had not occurred since the coronation of Henry VIII and Catherine.[58]
Queen Mary's health had still not recovered after the death of Lady Isabella. So much so, in fact, that the Tuscan envoy reported to
In February 1687, Mary, at the time irritated by James's affair with Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester, moved into new apartments in Whitehall; Whitehall had been home to a Catholic chapel since December 1686.[63][64] Her apartments were designed by Christopher Wren at the cost of £13,000.[65] Because the palace's renovation was thus far unfinished, James received ambassadors in her rooms, much to Mary's chagrin.[66] Five months later, shortly after the marriage talks with Tuscany collapsed, the Queen's mother, Duchess Laura, died.[67] Therefore, the whole English court went into mourning.[67] Duchess Laura left Mary "a considerable sum of cash" and some jewellery.[68] William III of Orange, James's nephew and son-in-law, sensed popular discontent with James's government; he used the death of Mary's mother as a guise to send his cousin Count Zuylestein, to England, ostensibly to condole the Queen, but in reality as a spy.[69][70]
Having visited
Issued by seven leading
Queen over the water (1688–1701)
Reception at Louis XIV's court
James was formally deposed on 11 December 1688 OS in England and on 11 May 1689 OS in Scotland, and his daughter Mary II and her husband, William III, were made joint monarchs.[78] James, however, backed by Louis XIV of France, still considered himself king by divine right, and maintained it was not within parliament's prerogative to depose a monarch.[79] Louis gave the exiled royal couple the use of Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where they set up a court-in-exile.[77][80]
Mary quickly became a popular fixture at Louis XIV's court at
Initially supported by Irish Catholics in his effort to regain the thrones, James launched an expedition to Ireland in March 1689.
Estensi succession
The collapse of James's invasion of Ireland in 1691 upset Mary. Her spirits were lifted by news of the marriage of her brother, the Duke of Modena, to
A bone of contention, however, arose over the Queen's inheritance and
Regency (1701–1704)
In March 1701, James suffered a stroke while hearing mass at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, leaving him partially paralysed.[99] Fagon, Louis XIV's personal physician, recommended the waters of Bourbon-l'Archambault, to cure James's paralysis.[100] The waters, however, had little effect, and James died of a seizure on 16 September 1701.[101] Louis, contravening the Peace of Ryswick and irritating William, declared James Francis Edward King of England, Ireland and Scotland as James III and VIII.[102] Mary acted as nominal regent for her minor son.[103] She presided over his regency council, too, although she was uninterested in politics.[103] Before his death, James II expressed his wish that Mary's regency would last no longer than their son's 18th birthday.[104]
Dressed in mourning for the remainder of her life, Mary's first act as regent was to disseminate a manifesto, outlining James Francis Edward's claims.[105] It was largely ignored in England.[105] In Scotland, however, the confederate Lords sent Lord Belhaven to Saint-Germain, to convince the Queen to surrender to them custody of James Francis Edward and accede to his conversion to Protestantism.[105] The conversion, said Belhaven, would enable his accession to the English throne upon William's death.[106] Mary was not swayed by Belhaven's argument, so a compromise was reached: James Francis Edward, if he became king, would limit the number of Catholic priests in England and promise not to tamper with the established Church of England.[106] In exchange, the confederate Lords would do all in their power to block the passing of the Hanoverian succession in Scottish parliament.[106] When, in March 1702, William died, Lord Lovat declared for James Francis Edward at Inverness.[107] Soon after, Lovat travelled to the court-in-exile at Saint-Germain, and begged Mary to allow her son to come to Scotland.[107] Lovat intended to raise an army of 15,000 soldiers in Scotland to seize the throne for James Francis Edward.[107] Mary refused to part with James Francis Edward, and the rising failed.[107] Mary's regency ceased with her son's reaching of the age of 16.[108]
Later life
Having wished to become a nun in her youth, Mary sought refuge from the stresses of exile at the Convent of the Visitations, Chaillot, near Paris, where she befriended Louis's penitent mistress,
Following her death from
Issue
Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Unnamed child | March or May 1674 | stillbirth[116] | |
Catherine Laura | 10 January 1675 | 3 October 1675 | died of convulsions.[116] |
Unnamed child | October 1675 | stillbirth[116] | |
Isabel (or Isabella) | 28 August 1676 | 2 or 4 March 1681 | buried in Westminster Abbey on 4 March (Old Style) as "The Lady Isabella, daughter to the Duke of York"[117] |
Charles, Duke of Cambridge
|
7 November 1677 | 12 December 1677 | died of smallpox[116] |
Elizabeth | c. 1678 | ||
Unnamed child | February 1681 | stillbirth[116] | |
Charlotte Maria | 16 August 1682 | 16 October 1682 | died of convulsions[116] and buried in Westminster Abbey on 8 October (Old Style) as "The Lady Charlotte-Marie, daughter to the Duke of York"[118] |
Unnamed child | October 1683 | stillbirth[116] | |
Unnamed child | May 1684 | stillbirth[119] | |
James, Prince of Wales "the Old Pretender" | 10 June 1688 | 1 January 1766 | married 1719, Clementina Sobieska; had issue |
Louisa Maria Teresa
|
28 June 1692 | 18 April 1712 | died of smallpox[120] |
Ancestry
Ancestors of Mary of Modena | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Notes
- ^ Modena and France used the Gregorian calendar, indicated by modern historians with the initials "NS" (for "New Style"), while England and Scotland (and some of central Protestant Europe, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland) still used the older Julian calendar (designated by initials "OS" for "Old Style"). Therefore, for the duration of the 17th century, English/"Julian" dates were ten days behind Modena and France's Gregorian dates, with most of the rest of continental Catholic Europe. From 29 February 1700 to 14 September 1752, the difference was eleven days.
- ^ This is equivalent to £1355568 in present-day terms.[17]
References
Citations
- ^ Harris, p. 1
- ^ Oman, p. 30
- ^ a b Oman, p. 40
- ^ Oman, p. 14
- ^ Haile, p. 16
- ^ Oman, p. 15
- ^ a b c Waller, p. 22
- ^ Waller, p. 23
- ^ Haile, p. 18
- ^ Fea, p. 70
- ^ Oman, p. 19
- ^ a b c Waller, p. 15
- ^ Oman, p. 10
- ^ Haile, p. 17
- ^ Haile, p. 24
- ^ Oman, p. 27
- ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ a b Fraser, King Charles II, p. 418
- ^ a b Oman, p. 28
- ^ Haile, p. 40
- ^ Waller, p. 135
- ^ Waller, p. 149
- ^ Haile, p. 41
- ^ Turner, p. 114
- ^ Oman, p. 31
- ^ a b Chapman, p. 33
- ^ Waller, p. 24
- ^ Oman, p. 46
- ^ Oman, p. 38
- ^ a b c Oman, p. 45
- ^ Oman, p. 48
- ^ Marshall, p. 172
- ^ Fraser, King Charles II, p. 463
- ^ Fraser, King Charles II, p. 470
- ^ Haile, p. 76
- ^ Chapman, p. 67
- ^ Brown, pp. 10–12
- ^ Fea, p. 83
- ^ Oman, p. 56
- ^ Haile, p. 88
- ^ a b c Oman, p. 63
- ^ Fea, p. 85
- ^ Haile, p. 92
- ^ Turner, p. 171
- ^ Oman, p. 67
- ^ Fea, p. 96
- ^ Waller, p. 35
- ^ Haile, pp. 99–100
- ^ a b c d Oman, p. 71
- ^ Waller, p. 36
- ^ Waller, p. 37
- ^ Haile, p. 109
- ^ Oman, p. 75
- ^ Oman, pp. 75–76
- ^ Fraser, King Charles II, p. 569
- ^ Waller, pp. 143–144
- ^ Oman, plate no. VII
- ^ a b Oman, p. 85
- ^ Haile, p. 129
- ^ a b Haile, p. 124
- ^ Waller, p. 40
- ^ Oman, p. 96
- ^ Fea, p. 138
- ^ Haile, p. 142
- ^ Oman, p. 98
- ^ Oman, p. 99
- ^ a b Haile, p. 159
- ^ Oman, p. 99
- ^ a b c Chapman, p. 144
- ^ Haile, p. 163
- ^ Waller, p. 11
- ^ Harris, p. 239
- ^ Waller, p. 12
- ^ a b c d Oman, pp. 108–109
- ^ Harris, pp. 239–240
- ^ a b c d e Waller, p. 216
- ^ a b c d Fraser, Love and Louis XIV, p. 270
- ^ Harris, p. 325
- ^ Starkey, p. 190
- ^ Uglow, p. 523
- ^ a b c d e f Fraser, Love and Louis XIV, p. 271
- ^ Fraser, Love and Louis XIV, pp. 270–271
- ^ Edward T. Corp: A Court in Exile: The Stuarts in France, 1689–1718 (2004)
- ^ Oman, p. 148
- ^ a b Fea, p. 235
- ^ Oman, p. 158
- ^ Oman, pp. 158–159
- ^ Oman, p. 173
- ^ Oman, p. 207
- ^ Haile, p. 357
- ^ Haile, p. 282
- ^ Haile, p. 311
- ^ a b Haile, p. 312
- ^ Haile, p. 314
- ^ a b Oman, p. 184
- ^ a b Oman, p. 185
- ^ Maclagan, Michael; Louda, Jiří, p. 27
- ISBN 0-900455-25-X.
- ^ Gregg, p. 127
- ^ Oman, p. 190
- ^ Fea, p. 285
- ^ Fraser, Love and Louis XIV, p. 322
- ^ a b Oman, p. 196
- ^ Oman, p. 197
- ^ a b c Haile, p. 358
- ^ a b c Haile, p. 359
- ^ a b c d Haile, p. 363
- ^ Oman, plate xiv.
- ^ Haile, p. 229
- ^ a b Oman, p. 221
- ^ a b Oman, p. 225
- ^ Oman, p. 242
- ^ Fraser, Love and Louis XIV, p. 383
- ^ Oman, p. 245
- ^ Oman, p. 247
- ^ ISBN 0-7126-7448-9. p. 260.
- ^ Chester, J. L. (1876). The Marriage, Baptismal, and Burial Registers of the Collegiate Church or Abbey of St. Peter, Westminster. Vol. 10. Harleian Society. p. 201.
- ^ Chester (1876), p. 206.
- ^ Weir, 261
- ^ Fraser, Love and Louis XIV, p. 329
- ^ a b c de Saint-Évremond, Charles (1728). The works of Monsieur de St. Evremond. Translated by des Maizeaux. London: J. and J. Knapton, J. Darby, A. Battesworth. p. 106.
- ^ a b c Biografia universale antica e moderna [Universal ancient and modern biography] (in Italian). Vol. XIX. presso Gio. Battista Missiaglia. 1824. p. 61.
- ISSN 0993-3964.
- ^ Farnese Family at the Encyclopædia Britannica
- ISBN 978-0-19-151090-8.
- ISBN 978-1-892941-21-3.
Bibliography
- Allan Fea (1909). James II and His Wives. Meuthon and Co.
- Brown, Beatrice Curtis (1929). Anne Stuart: Queen of England. Geoffrey Bles.
- Chapman, Hester (1953). Mary II, Queen of England. Jonathan Cape.
- ISBN 978-0-7538-1403-1
- Fraser, Antonia (2007). Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King. Phoenix. ISBN 978-0-7538-2293-7
- Gregg, Edward (1980). Queen Anne. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- Haile, Martin (1905). Queen Mary of Modena: Her Life and Letters. J.M. Dent & Co.
- Harris, Tim. (2007). Revolution: The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy 1685–1720. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-101652-8
- Maclagan, Michael; Louda, Jiří (1999). Line of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe. Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 1-85605-469-1
- Marshall, Rosalind (2003) Scottish Queens, 1034–1714. Tuckwell Press.
- Oman, Carola (1962). Mary of Modena. Hodder & Stoughton.
- ISBN 978-0-00-724766-0.
- Turner, FC (1948). James II. Eyre & Spottswoode.
- ISBN 978-0-571-21733-5
- Waller, Maureen (2002). Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses Who Stole Their Father's Crown. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-79461-5
External links
- Mary of Modena from the online Encyclopædia Britannica.
- Media related to Mary of Modena at Wikimedia Commons
- Portraits of Mary of Modena at the National Portrait Gallery, London