Jewels of Mary I of England
[10] Mary's royal status varied during her childhood, as her father divorced her mother Catherine of Aragon and made other marriages.
[11] In July 1533, her chamberlain, John Hussey, and a lady in waiting, Frances Aylmer, were ordered to deliver her jewels to Thomas Cromwell.
[19] In April 1553, Lady Mary was given a table diamond with a pendant pearl which had belonged to Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset.
[20] Mary got custody of jewels which had belonged to her father and mother, Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, in 1553 when she became queen.
According to Hugues Cousin le Vieux, an Imperial courtier and quartermaster, Henry Dudley had taken some jewels and rings from the royal treasury to reward potential supporters of the Duke of Northumberland and Lady Jane Grey in France.
[22] Some manuscript inventories of jewels from 1553, and published versions or derivatives, appear to be connected with Lady Jane Grey, Andrew Dudley and Arthur Stourton, Keeper of Westminster Palace, or with the Duchess of Somerset, but the evidence is unclear.
[27] She gave pairs of billiments of "goldsmith work" to the ladies and gentlewomen in her coronation procession, including Mistress Anne Poyntz, mother of the maids.
[36] In July 1546, Henry gave Mary a brooch with the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, which had a large diamond table and four rubies, and a girdle of gold friar's knots.
[40] A list of jewels requested by Lady Jane Grey as Queen on 14 July 1553 (and delivered by Arthur Stourton) includes a tablet, made book fashion, with the story of David and three sapphires on the other side.
The other garment is a gown and bodice, with wide hanging sleeves (con lo maniche larghe rovesciate) in the French fashion, which she wears on state occasions.
[44]In addition to the inventory of jewels requested by Lady Jane Grey held by New College, Oxford and related items in the British Library and Cecil papers,[45] the British Library has an inventory of jewels received by Mary in the first years of her reign, with some items received from Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset.
In his portraits of Mary, based on a sitting in the winter after her coronation, a Tau cross may be possibly be identified as a piece formerly belonging to Catherine of Aragon, and large brooch with its central stones flanked by antique figures, as a jewel belonging to Katherine Parr, and one of her finger rings may be her spousing or engagement ring.
[51] When Mary married Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral on 25 July 1554, she wore a "diamond mounted on a setting in the form of a rose, with a huge pearl hanging down onto the chest",[52] described in an Italian account of the wedding as "jewellery on the breast with a diamond in the centre, which the Prince had sent from Spain as a present, worth 60,000 scudi, sparkling on all sides, to which was attached a pearl pendant, estimated to be worth 5,000 scudi".
[56] Mary is sometimes said to have worn a gold collar set with diamonds and pearls and the initials "P" and "M" at her wedding, but her will states this piece was Philip's gift to her at Epiphany.
[60][61][62] It appears in Anne of Denmark's jewellery inventory as:Item a rich coller of 18 pieces, whereof 9 with Cyphers of the letters P: M: and 9. of diamonds, 8 of them poynted and one a table; which was brought out of the Tower by his Majesties direction and geven to her Majestie, agaynst the maske at twelfnyght 1607. every piece havinge a pearl pende[63]Mary's gentlewomen were also given jewels with pictures and insignia of Philip.
[76] The list includes a tablet with an Imperial spread eagle of diamonds on one side and two diamond pillars and the Emperor's word on the other, with a closed crown and the toison d'or, with three pendant pearls; with a "picture of Queen Marie in golde with a boxe of wood"; and a "little tablet of ten pearls which was one of the Queen's majesty's that now is (Elizabeth's), as Mistress Parry says".
[80] The Greman traveller Lupold von Wedel saw a red velvet-covered chest with some of Mary's jewels on display at Whitehall Palace in 1584.
[81] One item in Elizabeth's collection in 1587 was a miniature case, "a tablet with a story on the one side and a table balas ruby in the midst, and on the other side a city having in the top thereof five little diamonds and nineteen little rubies and a great square diamond underneath and within the tablet is the picture of King Philip".
[82] Mary's abillments or billiments for wearing on her headdress seem to have still been in the Secret Jewel House at the Tower of London in 1605 when Francis Gofton made an inventory for James VI and I.
[85] Mary gave Jane Seymour (died 1561), her maid of honor, a balas ruby with a little diamond and three small pendant pearls.
[87] Mary sent her brother New Year's Day gifts,[88] and in 1546 he received a locket from Catherine Parr with miniature portraits of herself and Henry VIII.
[89] Mary gave jewels to Cecily Dabridgecourt, Lady Mansel, a member of her household since 1525, including three brooches, a "pointed diamond", and several other pieces recorded in the Harley MS 7376 inventory.
[92] On 21 September 1553, Mary gave Elizabeth the brooch of Pyramus and Thisbe and a pair of white coral prayer beads, with a number of other jewels recorded in Harley 7376.
[99] The executor of the Countess of Lennox, Thomas Fowler brought some of her jewels to Scotland, the inheritance of Arbella Stuart,[100] possibly including gifts from Mary, and they were obtained by the Earl of Bothwell in 1590.
