Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk

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Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk : biography

– 1545

Ancestry

Ancestors of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk

Wives and issue

First marriage

Before February 1506 he married the widowed, Margaret Mortimer (née Neville), daughter of John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu and Isabel Ingaldesthorpe. The marriage was annulled in 1507. There was no issue.

Second marriage

About 1508, he married Margaret’s niece, Anne Browne (d. 1511), daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, Standard Bearer of England 1485 and Lady Lucy Neville, daughter of the Marquess of Montagu.Maria Perry. The Sisters of Henry VIII: The Tumultuous Lives of Margaret of Scotland and Mary of France, Da Capo Press, 2000. pg 84; Charles Mosley, editor, Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke’s Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1103.

Issue
  1. Anne Brandon (1507–1557); she married firstly Edward Grey, 4th Baron Grey of Powis, and, after the dissolution of this union, Randal Harworth
  2. Mary Brandon (1510 – c. 1542); she married Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baron Monteagle

Contract

He contracted to marry Elizabeth Grey, 5th Baroness Lisle (1505–1519). He was thus created 1st Viscount Lisle of the third creation in 1513, but the contract was annulled and he surrendered this title before 1519 or in 1523. There was no issue.

Third marriage

In May 1515 he married Mary Tudor, Queen Dowager of France (18 March 1496 – 25 June 1533).

Issue
  1. Lord Henry Brandon (11 March 1516 – 1522)
  2. Lady Frances Brandon (16 July 1517 – 20 November 1559); she married Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset and was the mother of Lady Jane Grey
  3. Lady Eleanor Brandon (1519 – 27 September 1547); she married Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland
  4. Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln (c. 1523 – 1 March 1534)

Fourth marriage

On 7 September 1533 he married Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby (1 April 1520 – 19 September 1580); after widowing she remarried Richard Bertie.

Issue
  1. Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (18 September 1535 – 14 July 1551); sweating sickness
  2. Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk (1537/1538 – 14 July 1551); sweating sickness

Illegitimate children

  1. Sir Charles Brandon, married Elizabeth Pigot
  2. Frances Brandon, married firstly William Sandon, then Andrew Bilsby
  3. Mary Brandon, married Robert Ball of Scottow, Norfolk’The Ducal Family’ In: Gunn, Steven J.: Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, c. 1484–1545 Blackwell Publishing, Williston 1988, p. 94

Marriage to Mary Tudor

Suffolk took part in the jousts which celebrated the marriage of Mary Tudor, Henry’s sister, with Louis XII of France. He was accredited to negotiate various matters with Louis, and on Louis’ death was sent to congratulate the new King, Francis I, and to negotiate Mary’s return to England.

Love between Suffolk and the young Dowager Queen Mary had existed before her marriage, and Francis roundly charged him with an intention to marry her. Francis, perhaps in the hope of Queen Claude’s death, had himself been one of her suitors in the first week of her widowhood, and Mary asserted that she had given him her confidence to avoid his importunities.

Francis and Henry both professed a friendly attitude towards the marriage of the lovers, but Suffolk had many political enemies, and Mary feared that she might again be sacrificed to political considerations. The truth was that Henry was anxious to obtain from Francis the gold plate and jewels which had been given or promised to the Queen by Louis in addition to the reimbursement of the expenses of her marriage with the King; and he practically made his acquiescence in Suffolk’s suit dependent on his obtaining them. The pair cut short the difficulties by a private marriage on 5 March 1515. Suffolk announced this to Thomas Wolsey, who had been their fast friend.