Birth and christening of Elizabeth I

The birth and christening of Elizabeth I in September 1533 mark a turning point in Margaret Pole’s account of the succession crisis: the birth of a daughter briefly seems to open a path back for Katherine of Aragon and Princess Mary Tudor, but the christening makes plain that Henry VIII will not reverse course. At Beaulieu, Margaret first receives the news with relief that Anne Boleyn has not borne a son. That hope gives way to a more consequential fact: the royal ceremony proceeds, and the child’s place in the new order is publicly affirmed.

Background and Stakes

The birth came amid a dispute over whether Henry VIII’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon was valid. Katherine maintained that her earlier marriage to Prince Arthur had not been consummated, while Henry’s effort to set Katherine aside depended on that question. Margaret Pole had been caught in the conflict years earlier: Margaret Beaufort demanded that she attest to the arrangements made for the young couple, and Margaret Pole later remembers having obeyed those instructions. Her refusal to say that Katherine’s marriage to Prince Arthur had been consummated brought Margaret Beaufort’s anger and a lasting rupture between the women.

By 1533, the question had grown beyond the status of a marriage. The Pope had ruled that Henry and Katherine’s marriage was lawful and that Henry should live with his wife. Margaret therefore interprets the birth of a girl as a chance for the king to return to Katherine and recognize Princess Mary Tudor as his heir. In her view, a son would have strengthened Henry’s claim that his new marriage had brought divine approval; a daughter leaves that claim, and the succession it was meant to secure, unsettled.

Birth and Initial Expectations

Margaret places the birth at Beaulieu in September 1533. The child is a girl, named Elizabeth. Margaret sees this as a reversal for Anne Boleyn’s family and as evidence, in the eyes of those around her, that God has turned away from the king. She expects Henry to restore Katherine to court and confirm Princess Mary Tudor’s position, since he has no legitimate son to displace her. The birth seems to Margaret to turn the wheel of fortune toward the mother and daughter who had been pushed aside.

That expectation does not come to pass. Henry makes no move to reconcile with Katherine. Anne Boleyn remains at court, and arrangements are made to christen Elizabeth. Margaret’s confidence that the Pope’s ruling and the absence of a male child will compel a political reversal gives way to the recognition that events are not following the outcome she regards as just. The infant’s sex changes the prospects Margaret imagines for the succession, but it does not change the king’s conduct.

The Christening and Its Participants

The christening gives the birth a public and institutional dimension. Lord John Hussey returns to Beaulieu after attending the ceremony. Anne Hussey explains that he carried the canopy because he had been commanded to do so, while insisting that his participation did not mean his affection for Princess Mary Tudor had changed. Margaret adds that Gertrude Courtenay, her cousin’s wife, stood as godmother, despite her devotion to Katherine. In Margaret’s account, the ceremony shows how people loyal to the displaced queen must still perform their assigned roles within the new court order.

The christening also becomes a point of contact between court ceremony and political unease. Anne Hussey reports that Lord John Hussey has met a northern lord and that the North may rise in Katherine’s defense if Henry does not obey the Pope. She withholds the lord’s name and asks whether he should come to Margaret. The report does not establish that a rising follows; it shows instead how quickly the christening’s public affirmation of Elizabeth is set against the possibility of resistance to the king’s religious and dynastic choices.

Aftermath and Significance

The birth does not restore Katherine or Princess Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth’s christening proceeds despite Margaret’s expectation that the Pope’s judgment will prevail. After the ceremony, Thomas Cromwell instructs Lord John Hussey, on the king’s command, to make an inventory of the princess’s jewels. The request places the child’s possessions under royal administrative scrutiny; the account reports an inventory order, not what became of the jewels.

The subsequent political changes deepen the significance of the event without making them consequences of the birth alone. Margaret later learns that the Church has surrendered to Henry, who will rule it in England while the Pope is disregarded. Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor. In spring 1534, Thomas Cromwell administers the succession oath to the peers at Westminster Palace. Margaret understands the oath against the Pope’s ruling: Henry’s government requires the nobility to affirm the marriage and succession arrangements that the king has declared. The christening thus stands between a failed expectation of reversal and a more consolidated royal order. Elizabeth’s birth supplies no male heir, but her public recognition continues all the same.