ROYAL OPPORTUNITY: NOBLE MARRIAGES IN THE REIGNS OF ELIZABETH I AND JAMES VI/I, 1558–1625 BY CHRISTIANNA FLOYD KAY A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2020 Front matter Abstract This thesis explores Queen Elizabeth I’s and King James VI/I’s management of and involvement in noble marriages from 1558 to 1625 by merging two methodologies: an analysis of an extensive, custom-made database of 380 noble marriages with an examination of primary sources like state papers, personal correspondence, diaries, and ambassadorial reports. This study demonstrates that “noble-marriage management” was a single but efficient method for the implementation of many facets of early modern rule—this made it an important apparatus of the monarchical office and a significant conduit of power. Illuminated within this thesis are Queen Elizabeth’s and King James’s tactics for handling noble marital alliances which included participation and support, avoidance and opposition. They applied their exclusive crown privileges like plural prerogatives of wards’ and widows’ marriages and in loco parentis rights in attempts to control marital unions and they inaugurated new monarch-noble bonds through their patronage of weddings. They communicated religious, succession, and Anglo- Scottish union policies, brought peace, and cultivated a crown-supportive aristocracy by means of their noble marriage involvement. Both monarchs employed multiple aspects of the royal prerogative to manage marriages which, at times, involved manipulating courts, bypassing Parliament, and prolonging punishments. Elizabeth and James also used the royal prerogative to forge their respective legacies of a Protestant kingdom and a unified England and Scotland. By utilising their exclusive privileges, both monarchs secured the freedom and power to intervene in noble marital alliances which preserved the hierarchical system of monarchy, achieving a pro-monarch balance of power and internal stability. In particular, it was through supportive involvement in marriages that Elizabeth and James perpetuated the patronage system and established all- important monarch-noble connections which upheld royal authority. Monarch- noble links became especially important as parliamentary debates on the legitimacy and use of crown privileges increased in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, exposing both monarchs’ absolutist tendencies. Table of contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... iii List of tables ................................................................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... viii Abbreviations and conventions .......................................................................................................... ix Chapters 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Background ................................................................................................................................. 11 Historiography ........................................................................................................................... 18 Sources .......................................................................................................................................... 29 Database........................................................................................................................................ 31 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 34 2 “By me princes rule, and nobles”: the power behind noble-marriage management ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Religiopolitical and legal backgrounds .......................................................................... 41 Plural prerogatives ........................................................................................................... 44 The royal prerogative ..................................................................................................... 48 Database........................................................................................................................................ 55 Crown policies ........................................................................................................................... 60 Religion .................................................................................................................................. 62 Succession ............................................................................................................................ 67 Anglo-Scottish union ....................................................................................................... 73 Arran-Grey, 1560 ...................................................................................................................... 79 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 81 3 “Fêtes and banquets”: monarchical support for noble marriages .......................... 83 Database........................................................................................................................................ 88 Elizabethan case studies Warwick-Russell, 1565 .................................................................................................. 95 Oxford-Cecil and Herbert-Hastings, 1571 ............................................................. 97 Cumberland-Russell and Wharton-Clifford, 1577 .......................................... 102 Jacobean case studies Huntly-Stewart, 1588.................................................................................................... 107 Mar-Stewart, 1592.......................................................................................................... 111 Essex-Howard, 1606...................................................................................................... 112 Hay-Denny, 1607............................................................................................................. 118 Buckingham-Manners, 1620 ..................................................................................... 122 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................. 126 4 “Silent indecision”?: monarchical non-participation in noble marriages .......... 129 Database...................................................................................................................................... 133 Elizabethan case studies Norfolk-Audley, 1558.................................................................................................... 134 Westmorland-Howard, 1564 .................................................................................... 138 Norfolk-Leybourne, 1567 ........................................................................................... 144 Arundel-Dacre, 1571 ..................................................................................................... 148 Strange-Spencer, 1579 ................................................................................................. 150 Jacobean case study Argyll-Cornwallis ............................................................................................................ 156 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................. 160 5 Nemo me impune lacessit: monarchical opposition to noble marriages ............. 165 Database...................................................................................................................................... 171 Elizabethan case studies Hertford-Grey, 1560 ...................................................................................................... 174 Keys-Grey, 1565 .............................................................................................................. 181 Lennox-Cavendish, 1574 ............................................................................................. 184 Jacobean case studies Lennox-Ruthven, 1591 ................................................................................................. 192 Seymour-Stuart, 1610................................................................................................... 196 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................. 205 6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 208 Appendix: Imputed noble-marriage involvement, 1558-1625 ...................................... 219 Bibliography............................................................................................................................................