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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1999-05 > 0927653466


From: John Carmi Parsons <>
Subject: Re: Inbreeding
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:31:06 -0400 (EDT)


On Tue, 25 May 1999, Todd A. Farmerie wrote:

> Michelle.Murphy% wrote:

> Weren't Mary II and WIlliam III first cousins? Also, I seem to recall a
> close marriage involving one of the Hanoverian kings. Mary I married
> her first cousin, once removed. At one point there was talk of a
> Richard III/Elizabeth of York marriage, but it never happened. Finally,
> I have seen it written that Henry VIII had given consideration to
> marrying two of his children, his illegitimate son Henry FitzRoy to
> daughter and heiress Mary (I), but those plans didn't last long, and he
> ended up divorcing and shooting for a legitimate son.

Todd is entirely right, of course, about William III and Mary II.

I believe, perhaps wronglyl, that the only evidence for a Richard III/
Elizabeth of York marriage comes from Richard's denial that he intended to
marry his niece. Which might indicate that it was only a popular rumor,
not a project Richard was seriously entertaining.

I am fairly certain, however, that the suggestion regarding the marriage of
Mary Tudor to Henry fitzRoy came, incredibly enough, from Rome; the pope
indicated such a marriage might be feasible, but it struck so many people as
grotesque (including I think Katharine of Aragon--not surprisingly) that Henry
decided not to investigate the possibility any further.

John Parsons

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