Full bibliography

Nearly every biography of Mary Tudor mentions her acquisition of the Kingdom of Naples and the Spanish kingdoms through her marriage to Philip Habsburg, later Philip II of Spain, but they say little about her role as queen consort, primarily because she failed to control the narrative of her reign. She made little effort to patronize writers, disperse her symbols, send images of herself, use masculine terminology like her grandmother Isabel of Castile, or involve herself in the governance of her Mediterranean kingdoms. Her real and symbolic absence in the south, and the presence of Doña Juana, Philip’s sister and the capable regent of the Spanish kingdoms in his absence, led to her marginalization. This has had long-lasting consequences for the historiography of her reign, as historians have generally confined themselves to studying her in her English context using the gendered language of early Spanish writers while omitting her entirely from Naples.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-95132-0_5 Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender Collaborative Project Award (for books: Writing Mary I & Mary I in Writing)