Today in 1558 Mary I made her will. She believed she was pregnant and would soon give birth, yet another of her phantom pregnancies. But her will is an interesting window into her thinking at the time. She requested that her mother, Catherine of Aragon’s remains to be moved from Peterborough Cathedral to Westminster Abbey, and it also made her unborn child her heir, leaving Philip of Spain as regent. Mary had several phantom pregnancies, and never went into labor, and died later that year, possibly of some kind of uterine cancer.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Tudor Summit: Melita Thomas on Mary Tudor
Episode 23 Mary Tudor (Mary I)
Episode 024: Pregnancy and Childbirth in Renaissance England
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.