HE was the son of Sir William Brandon, by Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Bruyn, and widow of one Mallory. Sir William had been a zealous adherent of Henry Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., one of the first assertors of that Prince’s right to the throne of England, and so much attached to his person, that he forfeited a good fortune to join his royal friend in Brittany. Brandon returned in Henry’s suite to England, and sealed his fidelity with his life-blood, dying on the field of Bosworth by the hand of Richard III. himself. The favour which could not be awarded to the father was extended to the son, and King Henry became friend and guardian to the young orphan, who was bred up at Court, and made the companion and playfellow of the royal Henry, afterwards the eighth of that name, on whose accession to the throne Charles Brandon was appointed Esquire of the body, and Chamberlain of the Principality of Wales.
In 1513 Lord Herbert thus makes mention of him:—‘The gallants of the Court, finding the King’s favour shine manifestly on Cardinal Wolsey, applied themselves much to him, and Charles Brandon especially, who for his goodly person, courage, and conformity of disposition, was noted to be most acceptable to Henry in all his exercises and pastimes.’
In these pursuits indeed he rivalled his royal master.
The year in which he attracted the notice of Lord Herbert, Brandon first served with distinction, in an engagement with a French squadron, off Brest. On his return he was raised to the Peerage by the title of Viscount L’Isle.
Later on, Lord L’Isle made the French campaign with the King, and fought at the battle of the Spurs, the siege of Terouenne, etc. etc., holding a high command in the English army. Thence they marched into Flanders, reduced Tournay, and were received with splendour and sumptuously entertained by the Emperor Maximilian. The goodly person and other noble gifts of Charles Brandon appear to have made an impression on the heart of the Archduchess Margaret, the Emperor’s daughter. Herbert says: ‘Find some overtures of a match between Lord L’Isle and the Princess Margaret, which, though they took no effect, were not yet without much demonstration of outward grace and favour on her part.’
But Brandon was reserved for a still happier fate. In the early part of the year 1514, having been created Duke of Suffolk, he formed one of the band of noble ‘jousters’ who graced the nuptials of Mary Princess of England, (the King’s sister,) with Louis XII. of France. Historians differ as to the time at which the germ of a deep attachment sprang up in the heart of Princess Mary for the captivating young noble. By some it is maintained that before political considerations had compelled her to consummate a union with the already aged and feeble King, she had nourished a tender feeling for her brother’s early playmate; while others affirm that it was on the occasion of her ill-assorted marriage that the courage, skill, and grace which he displayed in the chivalrous exercises, to which we have alluded, captivated her fancy. Be this as it may, the French King only survived his marriage a few months, and a day or two after his death the young widow secretly espoused the man she dearly loved. We have again recourse to Lord Herbert’s testimony. Speaking of the treaty of peace then pending with France, he says:—‘Together with the proposing of this treaty, our King sent a letter to the Queen, his sister, desiring to know how she stood affected as to her return to England, and desiring her not to match without his consent. She, on the other hand, who had privately engaged her affections to Suffolk, made no difficulty to discover herself to both Kings, (her brother Henry, and Francis I., who had succeeded her late husband as King of France,) entreating the latter to mediate the marriage, and our King to approve it, unto which Francis easily agreed. But our King, for the conservation of his dignity, held off a little; however, he had long designed her for Suffolk,’ the Queen observing, ‘that if the King would have her married in any place but where her heart was, she would shut herself up in a religious house.’ And no wonder she should so speak, being in fact already the wife of Charles Brandon. Mary took all the blame of this step on herself, striving to shield her beloved from Henry’s displeasure, who, with the good offices of Francis, soon restored the pair to his favour. Wolsey also stood their friend with the King, observing how much better it was that the Queen had not bestowed her hand on some Frenchman of quality.
They were publicly married, first at Calais, and afterwards at Greenwich in May 1515. Mary brought her husband enormous wealth. In addition to her other gifts, of birth and nature, her jointure was 60,000 crowns annually, besides personal property brought from France, estimated at 200,000, with a diamond of enormous price, entitled ‘Le Miroir de Naples.’
A disagreement shortly afterwards arose between Suffolk and Cardinal Wolsey, which caused the Duke to retire for a while into the country, whence Henry, who could not brook the loss of his society, soon recalled him. Suffolk reappeared at Court, and accompanied his august brother-in-law to France, where he was present at the world-famed interview between the French and English Kings, entitled ‘The Field of the Cloth of Gold.’ Some years later, Suffolk went again to France in command of an invading force, where, in spite of the successes which his courage and military skill insured to the English arms, he was compelled to retreat in consequence of the scanty manner in which his troops were provisioned, those being days when the commissariat department was little understood. This step was blamed by Henry, and it was some time ere the royal anger could be appeased.
In 1529 Suffolk was a witness in the inquiry on which Henry founded his plea for the desired divorce from Catherine of Aragon, was one of the peers who subscribed the declaration to the Pope, threatening the abolition of the Holy See, should Clement refuse to annul the marriage, and was also a party to the accusations preferred against Cardinal Wolsey. For these too ready proofs of his subservience to Henry’s wishes the Duke was rewarded by considerable grants of Church lands. He was again called into active service, in order to quell some disturbances in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, and in 1544 made his last campaign in France, reducing the town of Boulogne, after a siege which lasted six weeks. Previous to his departure from England he made his will, containing some curious bequests; amongst others, desiring that a cup of gold should be formed out of his Collar of the Garter, and given to the King. He ordered that his funeral should be conducted ‘without outward pomp or pride of the world,’ and that his body should be interred in the Collegiate Church of Tattershall, in Lincolnshire. But the King’s special commands overruled his last wishes, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was buried with unusual magnificence in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. He was ‘Justice in Eyre’ of all the King’s forests, and Great Master or Steward of the royal household.
Charles Brandon was four times married. From his first wife, Margaret, daughter of John Melville, Marquis Montague, and widow of Sir John Mortimer, he was divorced at her suit, in consequence of his having previously signed a contract of marriage with Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, Lieutenant of Calais. This lady became his second wife, and by her he had two daughters, who married Lords Powis and Monteagle. The Queen-Dowager of France brought him a son, created Earl of Lincoln, who died young, and two daughters, the eldest married to Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, and the younger, first to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and afterwards to Adrian Stokes. His fourth wife was Catherine, daughter and heir of William Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, by whom he had two sons, who both died on the same day, shortly after their father, of the sweating-sickness, at the Episcopal Palace of Buckden, county Hunts.