Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk

His Grace The Duke of Suffolk KG
The Duke of Suffolk, detail of a double wedding portrait attributed to Jan Gossaert, c. 1516.
Lord President of the Council
In office 14 August 1530 – 14 August 1545
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	The Lord St John
Personal details
Born	c. 1484
Died	1545 (aged 60–61) Guildford, Surrey Kingdom of England
Resting place	St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Spouse(s)	Margaret Mortimer Anne Browne Mary Tudor, Queen Dowager of France Catherine Willoughby
Children	Anne Brandon, Baroness Grey of Powis Mary Brandon, Baroness Monteagle Lord Henry Brandon Frances, Duchess of Suffolk Eleanor, Countess of Cumberland Henry Brandon, Earl of Lincoln Henry Brandon, Duke of Suffolk Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG (c. 1484 – 22 August 1545) was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (later King Henry VII) and was slain by Richard III in person at the battle of Bosworth Field. Suffolk died of unknown causes at Guildford.

Political career

Charles Brandon was brought up at the court of Henry VII. He is described by Dugdale as "a person comely of stature, high of courage and conformity of disposition to King Henry VIII, with whom he became a great favourite". Brandon held a succession of offices in the royal household, becoming Master of the Horse in 1513, and received many valuable grants of land. On 15 May 1513, he was created Viscount Lisle, having entered into a marriage contract with his ward, Elizabeth Grey, suo jure Viscountess Lisle, who, however, refused to marry him when she came of age.^{[citation needed]}

He distinguished himself at the sieges of Thérouanne and Tournai in the French campaign of 1513. One of the agents of Margaret of Savoy, governor of the Netherlands, writing from before Thérouanne, reminded her that Lord Lisle was a "second king" and advised her to write him a kind letter.

At this time, Henry VIII was secretly urging Margaret to marry Lisle, whom he created Duke of Suffolk, although he was careful to disclaim (on 4 March 1514) any complicity in the project to her father, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

After his marriage to Mary, Suffolk lived for some years in retirement, but he was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. In 1523 he was sent to Calais to command the English troops there. He invaded France in company with Floris d'Egmont, Count of Buren, who was at the head of the Flemish troops, and laid waste the north of France, but disbanded his troops at the approach of winter.

After Wolsey's disgrace, Suffolk's influence increased daily. He was sent with Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, to demand the Great Seal from Wolsey; the same noblemen conveyed the news of Anne Boleyn's marriage to King Henry, after the divorce from Queen Catherine; and Suffolk acted as High Steward at the new Queen's coronation. He was one of the commissioners appointed by Henry to dismiss Catherine's household, a task he found distasteful.^{[citation needed]}

His family had had a residence on the west side of Borough High Street, London, for at least half a century prior to his building of Suffolk Place at the site.^[1]

He supported Henry's ecclesiastical policy, receiving a large share of the lands after the dissolution of the monasteries. In 1544, he was for the second time in command of an English army for the invasion of France. He died at Guildford, Surrey, on 24 August in the following year. At Henry VIII's expense he was buried at Windsor in St George's Chapel.

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, which Suffolk announced to Thomas Wolsey, who had been their fast friend, on 5 March 1515.

Suffolk was saved from Henry's anger only by Wolsey, and the pair eventually agreed to pay to Henry £24,000 in yearly instalments of £1000, and the whole of Mary's dowry from Louis of £200,000, together with her plate and jewels. They were openly married at Greenwich Hall on 13 May. The Duke had been twice married already, to Margaret Neville (the widow of John Mortimer) and to Anne Browne, to whom he had been betrothed before his marriage with Margaret Mortimer. Anne Browne died in 1511, but Margaret Mortimer, from whom he had obtained a declaration of nullity on the ground of consanguinity, was still living. He secured in 1528 a bull from Pope Clement VII assuring the legitimacy of his marriage with Mary Tudor and of the daughters of Anne Browne, one of whom, Anne, was sent to the court of Margaret of Savoy.

Mary Tudor died on 25 June 1533 and in September of the same year Suffolk married his ward Catherine Willoughby (1520–1580), suo jure Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, then a girl of fourteen. She had been betrothed to his son Henry Brandon, Earl of Lincoln, but the boy was too young to marry and Suffolk did not wish to risk losing Catherine's lands, so he married her himself.^[2][3] By Catherine Willoughby he had two sons who showed great promise, Henry (1535–1551) and Charles (c. 1537 – 1551), Dukes of Suffolk. They died of the sweating sickness within an hour of one another.

Wives and issue

First marriage

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

Second marriage

About 1508 he married Anne Browne (d. 1511) daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, Standard Bearer of England 1485 and Eleanor Oughtred.

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. 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, widow of Sir James Strangways
2. Frances Brandon, married firstly William Sandon, then Andrew Bilsby
3. Mary Brandon, married Robert Ball of Scottow, Norfolk^[4]

Fictional portrayals

• The romance between Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon is fictionalised in When Knighthood Was in Flower, by American author Charles Major written under the pseudonym, Edwin Caskoden. It was first published by The Bobbs-Merrill Company in 1898 and proved an enormous success. At least three movies have been based on this novel, the most successful being The Sword and the Rose, below.
• The Reluctant Queen by Molly Costain Haycraft presents another fictionalised version of the relationship between Brandon and Mary Tudor.
• Brandon is briefly fictionalised in the historical fiction novel The Last Boleyn by author Karen Harper.
• He is portrayed by Richard Todd in The Sword and the Rose, an account of his romance with Mary Tudor in 1515.
• Brandon is portrayed by actor Henry Cavill in the Showtime series The Tudors.
• He is a character in the novel Mary, Queen of France by author Jean Plaidy.
• He also appears as a character in the Man Booker Prize winning novel Wolf Hall by author Hilary Mantel.
• He is portrayed as an attempted rapist in the novel Dear Heart, How Like You This? based on the life of Sir Thomas Wyatt
• In the novel The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley, Brandon is portrayed as an immensely strong but rather dimwitted noble with a poor sense of spelling.

Further reading

• The life and career of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, c.1484–1545 by S. J. Gunn
• Catherine Willoughby by Evelyn Read (primarily on his wife, Catherine)
• Sisters to the King by Maria Perry (primarily on his wife, Mary Tudor)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk

16.

8.

17.

4. Sir William Brandon of Wangford and of Soham Court

18.

9.

19.

2. Sir William Brandon

20. Sir Robert Wingfield

10. Sir Robert Wingfield of Letheringham

21. Elizabeth Russell

5. Elizabeth Wingfield

22. Sir Robert Goushill or Gousell of Hoveringham

11. Elizabeth Goushill or Gousell

23. Elizabeth FitzAlan

1. Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk

24. Sir Ingram Bruyn of South Ockendon

12. Sir Maurice Bruyn of South Ockendon

25. Elizabeth de la Pole

6. Sir Henry Bruyn of South Ockendon

26. Sir Henry Retford of Killingholme, of Irby upon Humber and of Carlton Paynell

13. Elizabeth Retford

27.

3. Elizabeth Bruyn

28.

14. Sir Robert Darcy of Maldon

29.

7. Elizabeth Darcy

30.

15. Alice FitzLangley

31.

References

1. ^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=65441
2. ^ [1] „On Sunday next the duke of Suffolk will be married to the daughter of a Spanish lady named lady Willoughby. She was promised to his son, but he is only ten years old...“ Letter by the Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor In: 'Henry VIII: September 1533, 1–10', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6: 1533 1882)
3. ^ "...Lincoln was sickly [...] and Suffolk did not wish to gamble on his son's survival and risk losing Catherine's lands. So he married her himself." In: "Starkey, David (Hg): Rivals in Power: Lives and Letters of the Great Tudor Dynasties Macmillan, London 1990, p. 178
4. ^ 'The Ducal Family' In: Gunn, Steven J.: Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, c. 1484–1545 Blackwell Publishing, Williston 1988, p. 94

• "Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/571765/Charles-Brandon-1st-duke-of-Suffolk-Viscount-Lisle>.
• Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, C.1484–1545 by [S.J. Gunn] ISBN 0-631-15781-6
• The Project Gutenberg EBook of Henry VIII., by A. F. Pollard [2]
• s:Brandon, Charles (DNB00)

Political offices
Preceded by —	Lord President of the Council 1530–1545	Succeeded by The Lord St John
Preceded by The Earl of Shrewsbury	Lord Steward 1541–1544
Legal offices
Preceded by The Marquess of Dorset	Justice in Eyre South of the Trent 1534–1545	Succeeded by The Lord St John
Peerage of England
New creation	Duke of Suffolk 2nd creation 1514–1545	Succeeded by Henry Brandon
	Viscount Lisle 3rd creation 1513–1523	Surrendered

Persondata
Name	Suffolk, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke Of
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	1545
Place of death	Guildford, Surrey Kingdom of England