Read Online Fairy Tale Queens: Representations of Early Modern Queenship by Jo Eldridge Carney - Free Book Online
Authors: Jo Eldridge Carney
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Mary’s prolonged false pregnancy caused, she again believed herself to be pregnant in January 1558. This time, the news was not publicly proclaimed and when Mary realized by April that she was not with child, the news was allowed to quietly disappear. It may seem odd that after the traumatic disappointment of the first failed pregnancy the experience would be repeated. Mary’s second false pregnancy could be read as a sign of increased desperation for an heir, but it could also be that she again experienced some of the same physical symptoms that had led her and those around her to believe that she had been pregnant the first time. Mary’s phantom pregnancies have generally diminished assessments of her character and queenship, but she was not alone in falsely believing herself to be pregnant. Lady Honor Lisle, wife of the governor of Calais, was another highborn woman who experienced a false pregnancy even though she had already successfully delivered several children, and thus presumably understood the physical manifestations of the pregnant state. In November 1536, Lady Lisle told her servant, John Husee, that she was pregnant with her eighth child, though her first with Lisle. She relied on Husee to procure all of the necessary furnishings for her lying-in; their detailed correspondence reveals fascinating details about childbirth preparations as well as her false pregnancy. When it eventually appeared that the pregnancy might not happen, Husee attempted to console her: “And yet, though your ladyship should chance to miss of your purpose, you should not be the first noble woman that hath been so by God’s work visited. For if it be his pleasure he spareth neither Empress, Queen, Princess ne Duchess.” 92 Husee’s words are notable for their tender sympathy as well as his acknowledgement that false pregnancy was not such an unusual condition, particularly for women of high rank. Another royal example of false pregnancy is thoroughly documented in the letters of Marguerite de Navarre, sister of François I.
Marguerite became queen in her own right in 1527 when she married Henri d’Albret, ruler of the small but politically strategic kingdom of Navarre. With Henri, she had two children; her son, Jean, died when he was five months old but her daughter, Jeanne, survived. Over a decade later, when she was fifty years old, Marguerite again believed herself to be pregnant. The ambivalent attitudes Marguerite experienced toward her pregnancies are revealed in her letters with remarkable candor and detail; on the one hand, she was grateful to no longer be “sterile” and “useless” in her ability to help populate the royal family, but on the other hand, she was also frustrated that her “big belly” and her condition hindered her from writing and attending court functions. “If I were only twenty,” she wrote to her brother, “I would not dare to announce what at fifty I would prefer to keep quiet.” 93 But her pride in her pregnant state overcame her reluctance and she became hopeful about her condition. When she eventually realized that she was not pregnant, she wrote to Francois again, “All the signs that a pregnant woman can have made me hold fast to the belief that I was with child... That is why I dreaded to announce to you that, contrary to my expectation that God would give me something to serve you and your family, it has pleased him to do otherwise.” 94 Like so many women, Marguerite was reliant upon “all the signs that a woman can have” to verify her condition; that she was mistaken is understandable, particularly given the impulse to produce a child that would “serve” the royal family.
In this discussion of false pregnancies, another queen deserves mention: Mary Tudor’s mother, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine’s own fertility problems became the tragic centerpiece of her reign as Henry’s consort: although she was able to conceive multiple times, her pregnancies resulted in
Marguerite became queen in her own right in 1527 when she married Henri d’Albret, ruler of the small but politically strategic kingdom of Navarre. With Henri, she had two children; her son, Jean, died when he was five months old but her daughter, Jeanne, survived. Over a decade later, when she was fifty years old, Marguerite again believed herself to be pregnant. The ambivalent attitudes Marguerite experienced toward her pregnancies are revealed in her letters with remarkable candor and detail; on the one hand, she was grateful to no longer be “sterile” and “useless” in her ability to help populate the royal family, but on the other hand, she was also frustrated that her “big belly” and her condition hindered her from writing and attending court functions. “If I were only twenty,” she wrote to her brother, “I would not dare to announce what at fifty I would prefer to keep quiet.” 93 But her pride in her pregnant state overcame her reluctance and she became hopeful about her condition. When she eventually realized that she was not pregnant, she wrote to Francois again, “All the signs that a pregnant woman can have made me hold fast to the belief that I was with child... That is why I dreaded to announce to you that, contrary to my expectation that God would give me something to serve you and your family, it has pleased him to do otherwise.” 94 Like so many women, Marguerite was reliant upon “all the signs that a woman can have” to verify her condition; that she was mistaken is understandable, particularly given the impulse to produce a child that would “serve” the royal family.
In this discussion of false pregnancies, another queen deserves mention: Mary Tudor’s mother, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine’s own fertility problems became the tragic centerpiece of her reign as Henry’s consort: although she was able to conceive multiple times, her pregnancies resulted in
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