Birth Locations – Page 120 – The Exasperated Historian

193) Mary Stuart

193: Mary Stuart

And It All Had to do With Religion

Born: 8 December 1542, Linlithgow, Scotland (Present-day United Kingdom)

Died: 8 February 1587, Fotheringhay, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

Also Known As: Mary Queen of Scots

(And before you ask—the 2018 Film depicting the rivalry and dynamic between her and Elizabeth I is about 99.8% inaccurate).

She was the Queen of Scotland and Queen Consort of France during her first husband’s lifetime.

Despite being queen of the Scots, her primary language was French since she was raised in France from the age of five until she was nineteen.

Mary’s first husband died when she was eighteen and the marriage was most likely never consummated.

When her cousin Elizabeth I came to the English throne the people of England who believed her illegitimate wanted Mary to be their queen (she had Tudor blood through her grandmother and was next in line to the throne anyway).

By the time the Roman Catholic Mary returned to Scotland her people resented her for being French and a Catholic ruling the now forcibly Protestant Scotland.

Her first few years were largely uneventful until she married her cousin Henry Earl of Darnley (the aforementioned movie got a lot of things wrong but from the sounds of it the depictions of him were mostly accurate).

After their son James was born Mary wasn’t all that shocked when Darnley wound up dead (though no one can agree on whether she planned his death or not).

Three months after Darnley’s death she married again to an even worse a******. Mary would miscarry his twins during the time they were separated and imprisoned with her one-year old son James being raised up as the King—forcing Mary to abdicate.

Mary fled to England and spent the last eighteen years of her life imprisoned by Elizabeth before being executed. She was killed after being found guilty of trying to usurp Elizabeth’s throne.

After Elizabeth’s death in 1603, Mary’s son James (who until then had been James VI of Scotland) became James I of England and Scotland. In 1612, he had his mother’s body reinterred in Westminster Abbey, only feet from where Elizabeth herself is buried.

As I’ve said, the movie is inaccurate, but I’ll link the trailer to it in any case because if you watch it for purely entertainment it isn’t horrible. Watch it to the left.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Bad Days in History by Michael Farquhar

Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses by Sarah Gristwood

Daughters of the Winter Queen: Four Remarkable Sisters, the Crown of Bohemia, and the Enduring Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots by Nancy Goldstone

History of Scotland: A Captivating Guide to Scottish History, the Wars of Scottish Independence, and William Wallace by Captivating History

The Other Tudors by Philippa Jones

The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte

Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser

The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

Mary Queen of Scots: An Accidental Tragedy by Roderick Graham

Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman

Scottish Queens 1034-1714 by Rosalind K Marshall

National Geographic History Magazine Article "Mary Stuart: The Tragic Queen" by Pedro Garcia Martin (March/April 2026 Edition)

Sources:

https://englishhistory.net/tudor/relative/mary-queen-of-scots/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-queen-of-Scotland

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4171/mary-stuart

192) Jane Grey

192: Jane Grey

Proclaimed Queen of England for All of Nine Days When she was Fifteen or Sixteen Years Old

Born: 1537, Leicestershire, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

Died: 12 February 1554, Tower Green, Tower of London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

Jane had strong ties to the Tudor throne and was educated as such—having knowledge in English, Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew, and Italian.

When she was nine years old, she was sent to live with the Dowager Queen Katherine Parr--widow of Henry VIII.

After Katherine’s death Jane became a ward of Katherine’s new husband Thomas Seymour who attempted to marry Jane off to her cousin the King Edward VI.

His plan failed and Thomas was beheaded—sending Jane back to her abusive parents’ home.

She was extremely strong in her Protestantism and so the king’s advisers persuaded him to make the heirs of Jane’s body the heirs to his throne once it became clear he was dying. By then Jane had been married off to Lord Guildford Dudley.

Four days after Edward’s death Jane was proclaimed Queen (even though she fainted the first time the idea was brought up to her). Though she had no time to doing anything effectual long term, it is known that Jane refused to name her husband king, thoroughly pissing off her in-laws.

Nine days after the announcement, Jane stepped down after Mary was declared queen. Wehther or not Jane was happy to move aside is still debated to this day, but what is known is that Jane continued to denounce Catholicism, and even went as far as to claim Catholic Mass was "wicked".

Despite the fact that they were cousins and had liked each other for years, Mary signed the death warrants of both Jane and her husband, sealing their fates.

Jane was beheaded on the tower green soon after, with some claiming she thought to the very end Mary would save her.

Badges Earned:

Find A Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Bad Days in History by Michael Farquhar

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

The Other Tudors by Philippa Jones

The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey by Ann Rinaldi (Historical Fiction)

The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen by Susan Bordo

The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers' Journey Through Curiosities of History by Oliver Tearle

The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lady-Jane-Grey

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tragic-story-englands-nine-day-queen-180964042/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1971/jane-grey

191) Elizabeth I

"When I think of marriage, it is as though my heart were being dragged out of my vitals."

191: Elizabeth I

Queen of England and Ireland and the Final Tudor Monarch

Born: 7 September 1533, Greenwich, London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

Died: 24 March 1603, Richmond, London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

She came to the throne after the death of her older half-sister Mary.

Elizabeth’s mother was Anne Boleyn—famous for the being the first of Henry VIII’s wives to be executed (before Elizabeth was even three years old).

Elizabeth was also declared illegitimate after her father managed to get the government to declare his marriage to her mother invalid.

However, she was still third in line to the throne behind her younger brother Edward VI and older sister Mary.

Elizabeth was also given many distinguished tutors and educated like any other heir, male or female.

After her father’s death Elizabeth lived with her stepmother Katherine Parr and her new husband Thomas Seymour. Numerous accounts from the era describe Thomas’s inappropriate nature in bursting into her rooms while she was dressing and that she might have developed feelings for him because of his attention (and this then leads to the rumor that a red headed woman around the time gave birth to a baby in secret and…).

After Katherine died Thomas was executed and one of the many reasons for this was because of his plan to marry Elizabeth and seize the throne.

She spent some time in the Tower of London following her sister Mary’s ascension to the throne and then a year of house arrest.

Elizabeth refused to marry or have children of her own despite her counsel’s hopes—however it was known that she was in love with her favorite Robert Dudley—and even after his wife’s mysterious death they still did not wed.

Elizabeth is remembered for being an effective queen and one of her shining moments is her Speech to the Troops at Tilbury before the failed invasion of the Spanish Armada.

After her death James, son of Mary Queen of Scots, was proclaimed her heir and made King James I of England (of King James’ Bible fame).

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Bad Days in History by Michael Farquhar

Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses by Sarah Gristwood

The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier

The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen by Susan Bordo

Daughters of the Winter Queen: Four Remarkable Sisters, the Crown of Bohemia, and the Enduring Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots by Nancy Goldstone

Elizabeth Virgin Queen? by Philippa Jones

The Encyclopedia of Ugly Fashion: A Hilarious Introspective of History’s Best Worst Fashion Trends by Karolina Żebrowska

History’s Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg

In the Shadow of Quetzalcoatl: Zelia Nuttall and the Search for Mexico's Ancient Civilizations by Merilee Grindle

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

Lost Bodies by Jenni Davis

The Other Tudors by Philippa Jones

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History Edited By Bonnie G Smith

Magic and Witchcraft: An Illustrated History by Ruth Clydesdale

Modowe Rewolucje (Fashion Revolutions) by Karolina Żebrowska

National Geographic History Magazine Article "From Allies to Enemies, Queen Versus King" (July/August 2018 Edition)

National Geographic History Magazine Article "Mary Stuart: The Tragic Queen" by Pedro Garcia Martin (March/April 2026 Edition)

Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey by Ann Rinaldi (Historical Fiction)

Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas by Laura Sook Duncombe

The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman

Scottish Queens 1034-1714 by Rosalind K Marshall

A Short History of the World in 50 Lies by Natasha Tidd

Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki Leon

Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

Who Knew? Women in History: Questions That Will Make You Think Again by Sarah Herman

Who was Queen Elizabeth? June Eding

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-I

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1973/elizabeth_i

190) Catherine Howard

190: Catherine Howard

English Queen and the Fifth Wife of Henry VIII

Born: c.1522, London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

Died: 13 February 1542, Tower Green, Tower of London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

She was Henry’s second of three Catherines and served as Queen Consort for one year.

Henry first started to consider her for marriage after he decided to end his marriage to Anne of Cleves—Catherine was one of her maids of honor.

She lost everything when the king realized she’d had relations before he married her and though unproven to this day—that she might have had a relationship with another man while they were married.

The king was so angry he had Parliament pass a new edict saying it was illegal for an “unchaste” woman to marry the king and had her beheaded two days later. Sickeningly enough Catherine was the cousin of Anne Boleyn and twenty-five years younger than the king—he was forty-three and she was eighteen-ish when they wed.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman

The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte

A Short History of the World in 50 Lies by Natasha Tidd

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-Howard

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1968/catherine-howard

189) Catherine de Medici

189: Catherine de Medici

Queen of France, Serving as Consort, Regnant, and Dowager (Depending on the Year)

Born: 13 April 1519, Florence, Italy

Died: 5 January 1589, Blois, France

She was the wife of Henri II of France and subsequent Regent of France after his death.

Three of her sons would reign as king of France and she was very influential in the Catholic-Huguenot Wars.

Catherine was born of Italian nobles and orphaned within a few days; and was subsequently raised by nuns.

She married in 1533 and in 1547 her husband became king of France making her queen consort.

Despite her husband’s attachment to his mistress Diane de Poitiers their marriage produced ten children of whom seven survived.

Catherine’s reign was monopolized by civil wars and extremists trying to take the crown. She has also been accused of being responsible for the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, but concrete evidence does not survive.

By the time she died France was sinking into chaos and her third son Henri III was murdered eight months after her death. However, Henri IV stepped in just in time to save the monarchy until the Revolution ended the monarchy in France for good.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser

History’s Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

Modowe Rewolucje (Fashion Revolutions) by Karolina Żebrowska

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman

A Short History of the World in 50 Lies by Natasha Tidd

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-de-Medici

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21049/catherine-de_medici

188) Mary I

188: Mary I

English Queen dubbed “Bloody Mary” by Some of Her Subjects

Born: 18 February 1516, Greenwich, London, England (Present-day London, United Kingdom)

Died: 17 November 1558, St. James, Westminster, London, England (Present-day London, United Kingdom)

She is remembered as the first queen to rule England in her own right (despite Jane Grey and Matilda ruling before her—but that’s possibly because they didn’t have a coronation).

Mary was given her Bloody Mary nickname because of her persecution of Protestants and her tyrannical efforts to restore the Roman Catholic Faith to the land.

She was the oldest surviving child of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon.

Mary was strung along to say the least after her father decided to marry five additional women after divorcing her mother; after the divorce Mary was stripped of her princess title and forced to act as a lady-in-waiting to her infant sister Elizabeth despite the fact she was seventeen at the time her sister was born.

Mary would also never see her mother again.

She suffered for years before finally giving in and agreeing to admitting that her parents’ marriage was incestuous (which she would always regret) and then her life improved slightly. Proposition after proposition for her hand in marriage were denied.

After her brother Edward died and Jane gave up the throne after nine days, Mary made her return to London and became Queen in her own right. Sadly, by that time she was already thirty-seven and unwed—she quickly secured a marriage to Philip II of Spain (a man eleven years younger than her and the king of a rival country). Still however she was unable to get pregnant and never produced an heir.

In three years, she burned around 300 heretics at the stake and killed in other ways as well—earning her nickname. Mary was extremely unpopular to the point of being hated for those reasons and for losing Calais—the last English foothold in Europe.

When she passed away, her younger half-sister Elizabeth became Queen.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

History’s Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

The Other Tudors by Philippa Jones

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

One Bloody Thing After Another by Jacob F Field

Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey by Ann Rinaldi

The Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser

The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier

The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen by Susan Bordo

The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte

Magic and Witchcraft: An Illustrated History by Ruth Clydesdale

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-I

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1972/mary_i

187) Anne of Cleves

187: Anne of Cleves

German Born English Queen and the Fourth Wife of Henry VIII

Born: 22 September 1515, Present-day Düsseldorf, Germany

Died: 16 July 1557, Chelsea, London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

They married after Henry decided he needed to form a political alliance with her brother who was a leader of Protestants in Western Germany.

Anne and Henry married five days after meeting despite Henry not liking her for a variety of reasons—including the fact he thought she was ugly and resented her for not speaking English perfectly (she had literally been speaking German for twenty-four years and was still learning English!).

Seven months later the political threat that Henry married Anne for never materialized and Henry and Anne agreed to an annulment.

Anne lived out the rest of her life with a large dowry in the English countryside, surviving the bloodthirsty wrath of Henry VIII unlike some of his other wives.

In 2019 the author Alison Weir published a book indicating that Henry had divorced Anne because she’d already given birth to another man’s child. Not only is that rumor highly unlikely (read about 99.99% impossible to be true) it is also scary that people might read her fiction book and think it is true.

So here is the biggest evidence for how we know it’s not true: there are written accounts from the time period of Anne asking her maids to explain what sex was and how she could get pregnant—the king would say goodnight to her then go to bed, and in the morning say good morning and leave and she wanted to know if that could get her pregnant! Enough said. Don’t believe everything you read, even if it is in a published book format.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

History’s Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

The Other Tudors by Philippa Jones

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman

A Short History of the World in 50 Lies by Natasha Tidd

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-of-Cleves-queen-of-England

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historians-new-novel-controversially-theorizes-henry-viii-divorced-anne-cleves-because-shed-already-given-birth-180972415/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1967/anne_of_cleves

186) Katherine Parr

"I am so vexed that I am utterly weary."

186: Katherine Parr

English Queen and the Sixth and Final Wife of Henry VIII

Born: August 1512, London, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

Died: 5 September 1548, Gloucestershire, England (Present-day United Kingdom)

Alternate Spelling: Catherine Parr

She also holds the distinction of being the only of his wives to become Dowager Queen, after Henry’s death and the ascension of his son Edward VI.

Katherine was already twice widowed by the time she married Henry and she would go on to be married a fourth time after him—unfortunately to the disastrously idiotic Thomas Seymour.

Katherine befriended all three of Henry’s surviving children, as well as Jane Grey, and focused on their education. To Jane, Edward, and Elizabeth, she was the only true and steady mother figure they had ever known.

Katherine died from complications of childbirth (and her daughter died soon after as well). Sadly, by the time she died she realized just what an a** her fourth and final husband was, and some reports say she cursed him from her deathbed.

Katherine was deeply religious in the Protestant Faith and wrote A Lamentacion or Complaynt of a Sinner (her spelling) in the final year of her life.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

The Other Tudors by Philippa Jones

The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki Leon

Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey by Ann Rinaldi

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catherine-Parr

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6942094/katherine-parr

185) Jane Seymour

185: Jane Seymour

English Queen and Third Wife of Henry VIII

Born: c.1509, England, Present-day United Kingdom

Died: 24 October 1537, Hampton Court Palace, England, Present-day United Kingdom

She has the distinction of giving birth to his only surviving son Edward VI—unfortunately she died from complications of childbirth and Edward was sickly his whole life dying aged fifteen.

Jane served as a lady-in-waiting to both Catherine and Anne—Henry’s two previous wives.

Jane was a lot like Anne in that she refused to become Henry’s mistress and only his wife. They married in a private ceremony eleven days after Anne was beheaded.

Jane is seen as responsible for helping restore Mary—Catherine’s daughter—to the king’s favor. After the divorce, which for all intents and purposes made Mary an illegitimate princess, Mary and Henry had had a strained relationship to the say the least. However, Jane’s sunny disposition and overall positive attitude helped Mary, and the newly motherless baby Elizabeth, from being ousted entirely.

Jane’s brother Edward served as his nephew’s regent during Edward VI’s reign and one of her other brother’s was the complete a****** Thomas Seymour—Katherine Parr’s fourth husband. Thomas became entangled in the lives of not only Katherine Parr, but also Jane Grey and Elizabeth I as well.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

History’s Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

The Other Tudors by Philippa Jones

The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman

The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen by Susan Bordo

The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte

A Short History of the World in 50 Lies by Natasha Tidd

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-Seymour

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1966/jane-seymour

184) Anne Boleyn

A silly meme I found on Facebook that is a TERRIBLE pun-- "Anne Boleyn" sounds an awful lot like "Anne Bowling." Ahhhh

184: Anne Boleyn

English Queen and the Second Wife of Henry VIII—She Also Holds the Distinction of Being the First Wife He Beheaded (the Second was Her Cousin Catherine Howard)

Born: c.1501, Blickling, England (Modern-day United Kingdom)

Died: 19 May 1536, The Tower Green, Tower of London, England (Modern-day London, United Kingdom)

She was the mother of Elizabeth I.

The creation of the church of England and Henry tearing England away from the Catholic Church happened literally because Henry wanted to get under Anne’s skirts, and she refused to be his mistress and would only sleep with him once she was his wife.

Her sister Mary had already been one of Henry’s mistresses—so Anne used her ambition to ensure she was more than just another footnote in the history of the king.

However, Henry soon lost interest in Anne after the wedding, and began other affairs. The marriage ultimately failed after Anne suffered a miscarriage and then gave birth to a stillborn baby boy—leaving Henry to get rid of her.

Five months after she had her stillborn son Henry had her committed to the Tower of London on charges of adultery with various men and incest with her own brother.

Seventeen days later she was found guilty and beheaded on the tower green.

There is no evidence to support she ever committed adultery (yet there’s ample evidence on the side of the king). Her death would mark her daughter Elizabeth for the rest of her life.

Badges Earned:
Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Bad Days in History by Michael Farquhar

The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Wier

The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen by Susan Bordo

Ghosts by Mary Pope Osborne

History’s Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

How They Choked by Georgia Bragg

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

National Geographic History Magazine Article "Anne Boleyn, From Queen of England to the Scaffold" (April/May 2015 Edition)

One Bloody Thing After Another by Jacob F Field

The Other Tudors by Philippa Jones