Simon Renard, Sieur of Bermont and Lieutenant of Aumont or Amont, was a Burgundian diplomat who served as an advisor to Emperor Charles V and his son Philip II of Spain, who were also counts of Burgundy. Renard had the court appointment of Master of Requests in Ordinary of the Emperor's household. He was ambassador of Spain in France and England. As ambassador to England, he acquired an extraordinary degree of influence over Mary I of England, and until her marriage to Philip, which he promoted, he was thought by many to be controlling the English Government.
Portrait of Simon Renard de Bermont by Anthonis Mor
Jeanne Lullier, wife of Simon Renard. Portrait by Antonis Mor (1557). Musée du Temps- Besançon.
Mary I, also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain and the Habsburg dominions as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She is best known for her vigorous attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament, but during her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions.
Portrait by Antonis Mor, 1554
Catherine of Aragon, 1520, Mary's mother
Mary in 1522, at the time of her engagement to Emperor Charles V. She is aged 6 and wears a rectangular brooch inscribed "The Emperour".
Mary in 1544