Framlingham Castle in Suffolk once belonged to Mary Tudor, the eldest daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. She was also the only child of the couple who survived into childhood.
How Mary Tudor Gained Framlingham Castle
In 1552, the castle became hers after the death of Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk. She had already been granted most of the Howard estates in East Anglia in Henry VIII's will of 1547. It was also stated in Henry's will that should Edward VI die childless then Princess Mary should succeed to the throne.
The castle soon played a major part in her bid to secure the throne. It is from here that Mary Tudor proclaimed herself queen, and rallied up support against Lady Jane Grey who was only queen for nine days.
John Dudley's Attempts to Stop Mary Tudor Becoming Queen
Mary was known for her strong Catholic beliefs which conflicted with the new Church of England. This worried John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, who was the leader of the Privy Council. Dudley feared that he would lose his power once Mary became queen.
He believed that the king would not be happy with Mary succeeding him as he was aware of Princess Mary's Catholic views and the desire to establish the Papal authority, and to return England to the Catholic faith.
To stop this, Dudley made plans to convince the king to disinherit Mary and her half-sister Elizabeth in favour of the Suffolk family. Frances, the Duchess of Suffolk was considered too old, as she had passed childbearing age and the eldest daughter Lady Jane Grey was chosen to succeed Edward instead.
John Dudley married his eldest son Guildford to Lady Jane, who was in line to the throne after Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. This was done to strengthen Dudley's position in power. The change to succession was given some legality by a 'Letters Patent', which was signed by Edward VI on the 21st June 1553.
Even though her father named her as Edward's heir in his will, the young king tried to surrender the Tudor line in favour of the protestant Lady Jane Grey. When Edward died the Duke of Northumberland moved to secure the succession of his daughter-in-law, after he convinced the young king that his crown should be left to Lady Jane and not to Mary.
Mary Tudor's Struggle for the Throne
This was dangerous for Mary and when she found out about Dudley's intentions to capture her, she quickly fled in secret to Cambridgeshire and then to Kenninghall in Norfolk. She subsequently moved to Framlingham on the evening of 12th July 1553.
It has been stated that Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen during the late King Edward's funeral, as John Dudley believed that she could easily be controlled but Jane was not happy about this.
However, Mary had proclaimed herself queen whilst at Framlingham and raised her standard and rallied her troops together. Thousands came to the castle, of all classes. Defections increased in her favour, troops arrived with the earls of Sussex and Bath, and elsewhere in Suffolk, ships in Ipswich harbour mutinied in her support.
Her standards were unfurled and military colours were set up. Everyone was armed and ready to fight with pikes, lances and bows. Mary rode out from Framlingham Castle at about four o'clock on a Thursday to muster and inspect her loyal army.
John Dudley's Struggles and How Princess Mary Became Queen Mary
On the 19th July, the Duke of Northumberland had surrendered and Mary soon heard that the Privy Council in London had accepted her as queen on the 1st October1553.
Dudley had made two mistakes which had eventually contributed to his downfall. First, he failed to appreciate the support among the people for Mary to be ruler and secondly, before he announced Lady Jane to become queen, he had failed to secure Mary. This left her free to rally her supporters.
The Duke of Northumberland plus two thousand soldiers marched to Framlingham to arrest Mary. However, most of the soldiers deserted Dudley on the way. They were totally aware of the duke's and their own weak position.
Soon afterwards, the Privy Council announced Mary as queen. John Dudley was arrested in Cambridge, was tried and executed on the 22nd August 1553. Lady Jane Grey was beheaded along with her husband on the 12th February 1554, after she was found guilty of treason. It has even been said that she saw her husband's headless body being driven past her after his execution.
How Mary Tudor Remembered Those who Supported Her
Mary did not forget the East Anglians who had supported her. As soon as she became queen she released Thomas Howard from the Tower of London and restored his estates and dukedom which included Framlingham. The duke died at Kenninghall the following year and the castle was passed on to his grandson Thomas Howard, who became the 4th Duke of Norfolk.
Read about King Henry VIII's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy.
Sources:
Framlingham Castle by Nicola Stacey. English Heritage Guidebooks. 2009.
Tracey White - A photojournalist and history writer who specialises in UK/ Scottish history and travel especially of the Tudor era.
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