Henry Brandon, Earl of Lincoln (c. before 18 June 1523 – 1 March 1534) was the youngest child and second son born to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and

Mary Tudor, Queen of France Mary Tudor ( ; 18 March 1496 – 25 June 1533) was an English princess who was briefly Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII. Louis was more than 30 years her senior. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth ...

, who was a daughter of Henry VII, King of England. Thus Henry Brandon was nephew to

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

. His older sisters were Lady Frances Brandon and Lady Eleanor Brandon. He and his older brother (1516–1522) are often mistakenly thought to be the same person because both died as children and bore the same name. It was not unusual in Tudor times to name a child after a deceased sibling.

Earl of Lincoln

Brandon was created

Earl of Lincoln Earl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the peerage of England, most recently in 1572. The Hereditary peerage, earldom was held as a subsidiary title by the Duke of Newcastle, Dukes of Newcastle-under-Lyne, from 1768 to 1 ...

by Henry VIII on 18 June 1525 at the age of only two. He was "so young that Sir John Vere was appointed to carry him" during the elaborate ceremony. His father planned a marriage for him with Catherine Willoughby, a peeress in her own right and daughter of Maria de Salinas, who had been one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting.

Role in the line of succession

Throughout Brandon's life, there was a small but real possibility that he would one day become king of England. At the time of his birth,

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

was Henry VIII's only child, and the king's wife,

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

, was already thirty-eight and had little prospect of having any more children. Next in line after the king's children was his sister

Margaret Tudor Margaret Tudor (28 November 1489 – 18 October 1541) was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to exte ...

, and her children, but their place in the succession was not secure – Henry would later exclude them by the

Second Succession Act The Second Succession Act or the Succession to the Crown Act 1536 (28 Hen. 8. c. 7) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of England passed in June 1536, during the reign of Henry VIII. Provisions The Second Succes ...

(1536), and by his will. Next in line after that came the Duchess of Suffolk and her son Henry Brandon, who during his own lifetime (he died before Henry's son

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

was born), was the only person in the line of succession who had the twin qualifications of being male and English. However, he died at the age of ten or eleven, in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

. Brandon's mother predeceased him, and his own death created royal ambitions in his sister Frances. After the death of the Duchess of Suffolk, the Duke married Catherine Willoughby himself. Though his son was betrothed to her, at ten he was too young for marriage and also sickly."...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 Henry Brandon's niece

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...

eventually, and briefly, succeeded to the throne on 10 July 1553.

External links

Sculpture of Henry Brandon at Wingfield College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln, Henry Brandon, 1st Earl Of Brandon 1523 births 1534 deaths

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

People from Southwark 16th-century English nobility

Heirs apparent who never acceded Royalty and nobility who died as children