Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/340

Mary I a diamond ring on Mary's finger, and Wolsey celebrated mass. The ceremony was, according to the treaty, to be repeated when the dauphin was fourteen, and Mary was then to be sent to Abbeville with a dowry of 330,000 crowns (, ii. 225-6, 234;, xiii. 624, 631; , i. 194-201).

But within a twelvemonth Wolsey and his master changed their view of foreign policy. The attentions they had paid to Francis they transferred to his rival, the young Emperor Charles V, Queen Catherine's nephew, and they at once suggested a marriage between Charles and his cousin Mary (, i. 326-7). Through the next two years Charles, who had at least two other matrimonial alliances in view, dallied with the suggestion. At length, on 29 July 1521, Wolsey, in order to bring the matter to an issue, met the envoys of the emperor at Calais, and it was finally arranged that Charles, who was already twenty-three years old, should marry the princess by proxy when she was twelve, that is, in six years' time. In June 1522 Charles V arrived on a visit to the English court, and the terms were signed at Windsor. According to Hall, Charles showed much interest in his future bride, his 'young cosyn germain,' and his attendants declared that she was likely to prove handsome. For three years this engagement continued, and at first there seemed every likelihood of its fulfilment. But difficulties arose. The emperor desired that his bride should be brought up in Spain. Henry hesitated to comply. In 1524 James IV of Scotland opened negotiations for a marriage between Mary and himself (, xiv. 27), and although Wolsey had no intention of accepting such a plan, he gave it diplomatic consideration. Rumours were also circulated abroad that the French king had renewed proposals on the same subject. But as late as 1525 Charles affected to accept assurances that Henry still regarded him as Mary's sole suitor. In March of that year commissioners from the Low Countries paid their respects to Mary and her mother, and the former made a short speech in Latin. In April, under Wolsey's guidance, she sent the emperor a ring with an emerald, the symbol of constancy, and a message attesting her affection, The emperor said he would wear the ring for the sake of the princess. But in August he announced that since Henry had sent him neither the princess nor her dowry, he had changed his plans, and was about to marry Isabella, daughter of Emanuel, king of Portugal. In September Henry, after much diplomatic wrangling, released him from his engagement, and Charles married Isabella in March 1526.

Mary was little more than ten, but it seemea unlikely that Catherine would bear the king other children, and it became desirable to increase her prestige as heiress to the throne. In September 1525, when the rupture of the engagement with Charles V grew imminent, she was sent to Ludlow Castle, the seat of the Welsh government, with power to hold courts of oyer and determiner and to supervise the administration of law in Wales. A house at Tickenhill, Worcestershire, built by Henry VII for his heir, Arthur, was also repaired for her use ; a large retinue of courtiers was bestowed on her, and a council was constituted for her under the presidency of John Voysey [q. v.] It does not appear that she was formally created Princess of Wales, although her removal to Ludlow was clearly intended to endow her with all the rights attaching to that title, and outside purely legal documents she was so designated. A nearly contemporary inscription in the chapel at Ludlow set forth that John Voysey was 'sent to be L. President in the tyme of the Ladye Mary, Princess of Wales, A° 17 H. 8. her father' (Lansd. MS. 255, f. 476 ; II. R. C[live], Hist. of Ludlow, p. 156). Similarly Linacre, when dedicating his 'Rudiments' (1523) to Mary, had addressed her as 'Princess of Cornwall and Wales.' The Christmas of 1525 Mary kept at Ludlow with befitting pomp.

Her parents had no wish that her entrance into political life should hinder her general education. Catherine had given her her earliest instruction in Latin. In 1523 Linacre wrote a Latin grammar, 'Rudimenta Grammatices,' for her use, and in the dedication he commended herlove of learning; while William Lily added some verses in which he described her as 'Virgo, qua nulla est indole fertilior.' The queen also sought the advice of Johannes Ludovicus Vives, a Spaniard, who prepared early in 1523, for the guidance of Mary, his 'De Institutione Fœminæ Christianæ,' Antwerp, 1524, 4to, and dedicated it to Catherine. In accordance with Vives's rigid curriculum, Latin and Greek were her chief subjects of study, but her reading included the 'Paraphrases' of Erasmus, the 'Utopia' of Sir Thomas More, Livy, Aulus Gellius, and the tale of 'Griselda.' In the autumn of 1523 Vives visited England and continued his counsels in his 'De Ratione Studii Puerilis,' When Mary left for Ludlow, Richard Fetherston [q. v.] accompanied her as her school-master, and royal instructions to her council dwelt on the need of allowing her moderate exercise and wholesome food, and of insisting