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Family of Queen Katherine Parr: Lady Alice Neville, Baroness FitzHugh of Ravensworth

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Lady Alice Neville (c. 1430 – after 22 November 1503), Baroness (Lady) FitzHugh of Ravensworth, was an English noblewoman and part of the great noble Neville family. She was the daughter of Sir Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury and his wife, Lady Alice Montacute, suo jure 5th Countess of Salisbury. Alice became Lady FitzHugh upon her marriage to Sir Henry FitzHugh, 5th Baron FitzHugh of Ravensworth Castle.[1]

She is best known for being the great-grandmother of Queen consort Katherine Parr and her siblings, Anne and William, as well as one of the sisters of Sir Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known as the ‘Kingmaker’. Her family was one of the oldest and most powerful families of the North. They had a long standing tradition of military service and a reputation for seeking power at the cost of the loyalty to the crown as was demonstrated by her brother, the Earl of Warwick.[2] Warwick was the wealthiest and most powerful English peer of his age, with political connections that went beyond the country’s borders. One of the main protagonists in the Wars of the Roses, he was instrumental in the deposition of two kings, a fact which later earned him his epithet of “Kingmaker”.

Lady Alice was born in her mother’s principal manor in Wessex.[3] Lady Alice is thought to be named after her mother, Lady Alice Montacute.[3] Lady Alice Neville was the third daughter of six, out of the ten children of Sir Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury jure uxoris and Lady Alice Montague, suo jure 5th Countess of Salisbury. Alice’s godmother was her paternal aunt, Lady Anne Neville, Duchess of Buckingham, wife of Sir Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham.[3]

By her paternal grandmother, Lady Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, she was the great-great-granddaughter of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Lady Joan Beaufort was the legitimized daughter of Prince John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Aquitaine, and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Roët Swynford. As such, Lady Alice was a great-niece of King Henry IV of England. By her father, the Earl of Salisbury, she was niece to Cecily, Duchess of York, mother to Edward IV and Richard III. Alice’s mother was the only child and sole heiress of Sir Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury by his first wife Lady Eleanor Holland [both descendants of King Edward I].  Alice’s maternal grandmother, Lady Eleanor Holland, was the granddaughter of Princess Joan of Kent, Countess of Kent and Princess of Wales. Princess Joan was of course the mother of the ill-fated King Richard II making Eleanor Holland his grandniece. Princess Joan herself was the daughter of Prince Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent; son of Edward I by his second wife, Marguerite of France.

Lady Alice’s siblings included:

  • Lady Joan Neville, Countess of Arundel (1423-9 September 1462), who married William FitzAlan, 16th Earl of Arundel. They had issue including the 17th Earl.
  • Lady Cecily Neville, Duchess of Warwick (1424-28 July 1450), who first married Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick and the only King of the Isle of Wight (as well as of Jersey and Guernsey). Their only daughter was Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick. Her title as Countess of Warwick was inherited by her paternal aunt, Lady Anne Beauchamp, who married her maternal uncle, Sir Richard Neville, who became the 16th Earl by right of his wife. Cecily’s second husband was John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester.
  • The infamous, Sir Richard “the Kingmaker” Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (1428–1471), whose younger daughter, Lady Anne, would marry Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou who died in 1471, and secondly Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester who would become the last Plantagenet king as Richard III. By Richard, Queen Anne had one son; Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales. Queen Anne died in 1485 at the age of 28 perhaps of tuberculosis. Neville’s eldest daughter, Lady Isabel, became Duchess of Clarence as the wife of Prince George, Duke of Clarence, who was brother to Edward IV and Richard III. Their children would be the last line of the Plantagenets’, ending with Lady Margaret, suo jure 8th Countess of Salisbury who was executed under the orders of her cousin’s son, King Henry VIII.
  • Sir John Neville, 1st and last Marquess of Montagu (c. 1431 – 14 April 1471), who’s son George, was intended to marry his cousin, Princess Elizabeth of York. Instead, Elizabeth became wife of the Tudor King Henry VII. In anticipation, George was made Duke of Bedford in 1470. John’s daughter, Margaret, married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, but had no issue; the marriage was annulled on the grounds of consanguinity. Coincidentally, Neville’s granddaughter and niece of Margaret, Anne Browne, would also marry Charles and have issue; Lady Anne Brandon, Baroness Grey of Powis and Lady Mary Brandon, Baroness Monteagle.[12][13]
  • George Neville, Archbishop of York and Chancellor of England (1432–1476)
  • Lady Eleanor Neville, Countess of Derby (1438–1504); her husband Sir Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby crowned Henry Tudor as King Henry VII after the death of Richard III at Bosworth Field. He would go on to marry Henry’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond.
  • Lady Katherine Neville, Baroness Hastings (1442- after 22 November 1503) who married firstly William Bonville, 6th Baron of Harington and secondly William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings. By Bonville, she was the mother of Cecily Bonville who was great-grandmother to the nine day queen of England, Lady Jane Grey.
  • Sir Thomas Neville (1443–1460), who was knighted in 1449 and died at the Battle of Wakefield.
  • Lady Margaret Neville, Countess of Oxford (1444-20 November 1506), who married John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford. No issue.

Life

Ravensworth Castle, ancestral home to the Barons FitzHugh
Alice and her siblings would visit their grandmother, Lady Joan Beaufort, the Countess of Westmorland, often at her manors in Middleham and Sheriff Hutton. After Beaufort’s death in 1440, her father inherited the manors and Alice and her siblings began living in the manors on a more permanent basis. At the age of four, Alice started lessons in Latin and French with an introduction to law and mathematics. Alice began every day by attending mass with her family. As the tradition of most nobility of the times, the parents were absent attending to the King’s matters or personal business. They only saw each other on special occasions.

The uneasy years of the 1450s were used by Salisbury to conclude the marriages of the rest of his children. The rest of the daughters married members of solid, baronial families, but in some cases poorer and less influential than the other matches Salisbury made for his elder daughters. Salisbury obviously preferred to arrange great, rather than acceptable marriages, but as the War of the Roses continued his ability to secure them became more difficult.[3] With the death of Salisbury’s mother, Lady Joan Beaufort, his direct link to the royal family (Henry VI) was broken. That may have also stippled his matches for his daughters. Henry VI was a second cousin of the half blood. However, the children of Salisbury’s sister, the Duchess of York — were his nephews and nieces (the future King Edward IV and King Richard III, etc).

Lady Alice was either married in her late teens or early twenties to her father’s associate, Sir Henry, 5th Baron FitzHugh of Ravensworth. Lord FitzHugh had been a long-standing supporter of the Neville family; he supported Alice’s father, the Earl of Salisbury, in his dispute with the Percy family in the 1450s. Lord FitzHugh also served with the earl on the first protectorate council. Lord FitzHugh would go on to become a close ally of Alice’s brother, “Warwick, the Kingmaker”, during the War of the Roses. After her marriage to Lord FitzHugh, Alice immediately began to have children.

Lady Fitzhugh was very much the same temperament of her brother the Earl of Warwick. Although her husband, Henry, Lord FitzHugh is generally given credit for instigating the 1470 rebellion which drew King Edward IV into the north and allowed a safe landing of the Earl of Warwick in the West country, the boldness of the stroke is far more in keeping with Alice, Lady Fitzhugh’s temperament and abilities than with her husband’s.[8]

After the death of her husband on 3 June 1472, Lady Fitzhugh along with her children Richard, Roger, Edward, Thomas, and Elizabeth joined the Corpus Christi guild at York.[9] Lady FitzHugh never remarried. As Dowager Lady FitzHugh, Alice spent much of her widowhood at West Tanfield in Yorkshire as to not overshadow the new Lady FitzHugh, Elizabeth Borough (or Burgh), daughter of Sir Thomas Borough (or Burgh), 1st Baron of Gainsborough and his wife Margaret de Ros.[3] [see note 1]

Lady Alice, who was close to her niece Lady Anne [Neville], Duchess of Gloucester, was very supportive of Anne’s husband, Richard, Duke of Gloucester after he had become Lord Protector of the Realm. After watching the outcome of her brother, the Earl of Warwick’s, involvement with both the houses of York and Lancaster she influenced her family members to support the Duke of Gloucester as well.[2] Richard was also related to Alice who was his cousin through his mother Lady Cecily Neville, Duchess of York. Alice was most likely tired of the lost family members from the Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and no doubt wanted to stay in favour with whomever came to the throne next, which would be the Duke as King Richard III of England and the Duchess, Anne Neville, who became Queen of England in June 1483.

The FitzHugh family was invited to the Coronation. The Dowager Lady Alice FitzHugh, her daughters Lady Elizabeth Parr and Lady Anne Lovell, and her daughter-in-law Lady Elizabeth FitzHugh were given presents from the King which included yards of the grandest cloth available to make dresses. Alice’s gifts are described as ‘long gownes made of vij yerdes of blue velvet and purfiled with v yerdes and a quarter of crymsyn satyn and vij yerdes of crymysy velvet and purfiled with v yerdes and a quarter of white damask’.[14]

It has been said that at the coronation in 1483, it was Alice and Elizabeth who were two of the seven noble ladies given the honour to ride behind the queen in her coronation train.[2] Further research states it was the Dowager Lady Alice FitzHugh, the Lady Elizabeth FitzHugh, and Lady Anne, Viscountess Lovell who rode behind the Queen. But the Dowager Lady [Alice] FitzHugh’s daughter, Elizabeth FitzHugh is apparently listed under her marital name ‘Lady Elizabeth Parr’ in contemporary documents. So, it would seem that the “Lady Elizabeth FitzHugh” listed in documents was actually the current Lady FitzHugh who was Elizabeth Burgh (or Borough).[see note 1] The three women were all noblewoman (by right of their husband). Alice’s daughter, Elizabeth, had only married a knight. Lady Alice and her daughter, Elizabeth, were appointed by Queen Anne as her ladies-in-waiting. The position of lady-in-waiting to the Queens of England became a family tradition spanning down to Lady FitzHugh’s great-granddaughter, Lady Anne Herbert (Parr), Countess of Pembroke who apparently served all of King Henry VIII’s six wives.[7]

There isn’t much on her later life after her cousin, the King, was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The new King, Henry VII, was a Lancastrian from the House of Tudor. He married her cousin, Elizabeth of York, who was the eldest of the children of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. It was to be a union of the two houses of Lancaster and York. There is no evidence Alice stayed at court to attend the new Queen. She probably retired to West Tanfield.

Lady FitzHugh died on 22 November 1503 probably at West Tanfield, Yorkshire, where she spent her widowhood. There is no record as to where Alice chose to be buried. She may have chosen to be buried with her husband, Lord FitzHugh, and his ancestors at Jervaulx Abbey in Yorkshire or the church of St. Nicholas at West Tanfield (Yorkshire) near the Marmion Tower where she spent the last years of her life.[3]

Issue

Lady Alice and Lord Fitzhugh had 11 children; five sons and six daughters:

  • Henry, 6th Baron FitzHugh who married Hon. Elizabeth Burgh, daughter of Thomas Burgh, 1st Baron Burgh; their son, George, inherited the barony of FitzHugh, but after his death in 1513 the barony fell into abeyance between his aunt Alice and her nephew Sir Thomas Parr, son of his other aunt Elizabeth. This abeyance continues to the present day.[10]
  • George FitzHugh, Dean of Lincoln (1483-1505)[10]
  • Alice FitzHugh, Lady Fiennes, married Sir John Fiennes, the son of Sir Richard Fiennes and Joan Dacre, suo jure 7th Baroness Dacre.[11][10] Their descendants became Barons/Baroness Dacre.
  • Elizabeth FitzHugh, grandmother to Queen consort Katherine Parr, who married firstly Sir William Parr, 1st Baron Parr of Kendal [staunch supporter of King Edward IV], then Sir Nicholas Vaux, later 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden [a Lancastrian protege of Lady Margaret Beaufort].[10] By both husbands she had issue.[10]
  • Agnes FitzHugh, wife of Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell.[10]
  • Margery FitzHugh, who married Sir Marmaduke Constable.[10]
  • Joan FitzHugh, who became a nun.[10]
  • Edward FitzHugh (dsp.)[10]
  • Thomas FitzHugh (dsp.)[10]
  • John FitzHugh (dsp.)[10]
  • Eleanor FitzHugh[10]

Genealogy

By her mother, Alice Neville descended from Henry I of England, Henry II of England, John I of England, Henri I of France, William I “the Lion” of Scotland, David I of Scotland, and by two children of King Edward I of England: Princess Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile by her marriage to Sir Ralph Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester and Hereford; Prince Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, son of Edward and his second wife, Princess Marguerite of France. She also descended from Infanta Berenguela of León, Empress of Constantinople.

Lady Alice’s maternal grandmother was Lady Eleanor Holland. Eleanor’s sister, Lady Joan Holland married Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the younger son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. The marriage resulted in no children, but Edmund married again to Infanta Isabella of Castile, the younger sister of Infanta Constance of Castile, the second wife of John of Gaunt. If that doesn’t give you a headache — one of their sons was Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge who married Anne Mortimer, niece of Lady Eleanor Holland who descended from Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, another son of Edward III — their son (Richard and Anne Mortimer’s son), Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, already a cousin, became the husband of Lady Alice’s aunt, Cecily Neville, Duchess of York. Through the Duchess of York, Alice was first cousins of Edward IV of England; Edmund, Earl of Rutland; Margaret of York; George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, and Richard III of England.

Lady Fitzhugh’s niece, Anne of Warwick, daughter of Warwick, was the wife of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who became King of England as Richard III. On April 1483, the Duke of Gloucester was appointed as Lord Protector to his nephew Edward V of England, who was only 12 at the time. After assembling a council which declared his brother, King Edward IV’s children by Elizabeth Woodville illegitimate, he threw Edward V and his brother into the Tower of London and the children were never seen again. Richard’s death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field, ended the House of York and the the Plantagenet dynasty.[4] Queen Anne’s elder sister, Lady Isabella Neville would marry King Richard III’s brother, the Duke of Clarence; this marriage would produce the last generation of Plantagenet’s — Lady Margaret Plantagenet, the 8th Countess of Salisbury, better known as Margaret Pole and her brother Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick.[5] Both would be executed by the new dynasty of the House of Tudor; Edward by King Henry VII and Margaret by Henry’s son, King Henry VIII.[6]

Notes

  1. Elizabeth Burgh was of the future family of Katherine Parr’s first husband, Sir Edward. Elizabeth was sister to the 2nd Baron Burgh who is sometimes mistaken as the first husband of Katherine Parr.

References

  1. ^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke’s Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 17.
  2. ^ ab Linda Porter. Katherine the Queen; The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII. Macmillan, 2010.
  3. David Baldwin. The Kingmaker’s Sisters: six powerful women in the War of the Roses. The History Press, 2009.
  4. ^ Kendall, Paul Murray (1955). Richard The Third. London: Allen & Unwin. pp. 41–42. ISBN 0049420488.
  5. ^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke’s Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 16.
  6. ^ DWYER, J. G. “Pole, Margaret Plantagenet, Bl.” New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 455-456.
  7. ^ Susan James. Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love. The History Press; 1st Ed. edition (January 1, 2009).
  8. ^ Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society , Volume 94. Printed by T. Wilson and sons, 1994.
  9. ^ Jennifer C. Ward. Women in England in the Middle Ages. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006. pg. 186.
  10. ^ abcdefghijk Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry (Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004), page 326, 566.
  11. ^ G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 135.
  12. Maria Perry. ”The Sisters of Henry VIII: The Tumultuous Lives of Margaret of Scotland and Mary of France,” Da Capo Press, 2000. pg 84.
  13. Charles Mosley, editor, Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke’s Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1103
  14. The Coronation of Richard III, the Extant Documents pp.169.170.  Edited by Anne F Sutton and P W Hammond. (Original Source: THE SIX SISTERS OF WARWICK THE KINGMAKER by Medieval Potpourri)

See also

Reading

  • The Kingmaker’s Sisters: Six Powerful Women in the Wars of the Roses by David Baldwin

Written by Meg McGath
© 11 March 2011

Update: 13 May 2025

Queen Katherine’s Letter: “The Tudors” vs. the real deal

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From The Tudors, episode 7. Katherine Parr’s letter to Henry while Regent of England; during his siege of Boulogne, France.

Although Your Majesty’s absence has not been long, yet the want of your presence means that I cannot take pleasure in anything until I hear from Your Majesty. Time hangs heavily. I have a great desire to know how Your Majesty has done since you left, for your prosperity and health I prefer and desire more than my own. And although I know Your Majesty’s absence is never without great need, still love and affection compel me to desire your presence. Thus love makes me set aside my own convenience and pleasure for you at whose hands I have received so much love and goodness that words cannot express it. We hear word of ill weather and delays besetting you and though we thank God for your good health we anxiously await the joyous news of the success of your great venture and for your safe and triumphant return for which all England offers daily prayers. I fear am I but a poor substitute for Your Majesty in the matter of the guidance of your kingdom. I long for your return. I commit you to God’s care and governance.
By Your Majesty’s humble obedient wife, and servant,
Katherine, the Queen

17th-century plan of Boulogne, Fortified Places, by David Flintham.

The actual letter which she wrote in July 1544; it was written during Henry’s six-week absence while he was in Boulogne, France and during the Regency of Queen Katherine. Its tone is loving and respectful.

Letter from Katherine Parr to Henry VIII, July 1544. Extract from the letter: ‘God, the knower of secrets, can judge these words not to be only written with ink, but most truly impressed in the heart’. Queen Katherine Parr to King Henry VIII. in his absence, full of duty and respect, and requesting to hear from him. No date. . A Volume, containing Letters, &c. written by royal, noble, and eminent Persons of Great Britain, from the time of King Henry VI. to the reign of his present Majesty. These are originals, except where otherwise expressed. July 1544. Source: Lansdowne 1236, f.9.

Although the distance of time and account of days neither is long nor many of your majesty’s absence, yet the want of your presence, so much desired and beloved by me, maketh me that I cannot quietly pleasure in anything until I hear from your majesty. The time, therefore, seemeth to me very long, with a great desire to know how your highness hath done since your departing hence, whose prosperity and health I prefer and desire more than mine own. And whereas I know your majesty’s absence is never without great need, yet love and affection compel me to desire your presence.
Again, the same zeal and affection force me to be best content with that which is your will and pleasure. Thus love maketh me in all things to set apart mine own convenience and pleasure, and to embrace most joyfully his will and pleasure whom I love. God, the knower of secrets, can judge these words not to be written only with ink, but most truly impressed on the heart. Much more I omit, lest it be thought I go about to praise myself, or crave a thank; which thing to do I mind nothing less, but a plain, simple relation of the love and zeal I bear your majesty, proceeding from the abundance of the heart. Wherein I must confess I desire no commendation, having such just occasion to do the same.
I make like account with your majesty as I do with God for his benefits and gifts heaped upon me daily, acknowledging myself a great debtor to him, not being able to recompense the least of his benefits; in which state I am certain and sure to die, yet I hope in His gracious acceptation of my goodwill. Even such confidence have I in your majesty’s gentleness, knowing myself never to have done my duty as were requisite and meet for such a noble prince, at whose hands I have found and received so much love and goodness, that with words I cannot express it. Lest I should be too tedious to your majesty, I finish this my scribbled letter, committing you to the governance of the Lord with long and prosperous life here, and after this life to enjoy the kingdom of his elect.
From Greenwich, by your majesty’s humble and obedient servant,
Kateryn the Quene, KP

Childbearing: Queen Katherine of Aragon and Lady Maud Parr

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Childbearing; the Tale of Katherine of Aragon and Maud Parr

Queen Katherine of Aragon; first wife of Henry VIII and mother to Queen Mary I

As most Tudor enthusiasts know, Katherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry, had many troubles when it came to childbearing. This wasn’t an unusual thing for women in Tudor times. The infant mortality rate was also an issue as many newborns did not live past birth or even their first birthday.

During the first year of Katherine’s marriage to King Henry, Katherine had a miscarriage within the initial six months of pregnancy in January 1510. This mishap began a pattern which resulted in many miscarriages and stillbirths.

On New Year’s day in 1511, a son was finally born. He was christened Henry, Duke of Cornwall. The whole court was ecstatic and a great tournament was thrown in honour of the birth of Henry’s son. But to Katherine and Henry’s dismay, he died fifty-two days later on 23 February 1511. Contemporary reports state that both parents were distraught at the loss of their second child and expected future king. The deeply religious Catherine spent many hours kneeling on cold stone floors praying, to the worry of courtiers. Henry distracted himself from his grief by unsuccessfully waging war against Louis XII of France with his father-in-law, Ferdinand II of Aragon.

By 1513, Katherine was with child again. It was at this time that Katherine was appointed Regent as Henry took on a military mission in France. In was within her regency that she rode north, heavily pregnant, after the Battle at Flodden Field to address soldiers. The journey no doubt was painful as a woman in that stage of pregnancy should have begun her lying in already. When Henry returned from France, instead of embracing a new baby boy, the two were saddened by another death.

Historians have speculated as to the course English history might have taken, had either of the two Henrys, Duke of Cornwall, or any other legitimate son survived. Given that Henry’s search for a male heir, after Catherine’s failure to give birth to any more live sons, was the cited reason which led him to have their marriage annulled, a living male child might have at least forestalled, or even prevented, the marriage to Anne Boleyn and placed England in a different relationship with Roman Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation.

This theme has also been explored in some alternate history science fiction, such as Kingsley Amis’ The Alteration (1976), in which another alternate history English Reformation is depicted, even without the succession crisis caused by the absence of a male heir until the birth of Edward VI to Henry and Jane Seymour. However, Amis’ book within a book does not specify whether this alternate history Henry IX is any specific son of Henry VIII.

Portrait miniature of Princess Mary at the time of her engagement to Charles V.

After finally giving birth to a healthy baby girl in 1516, christened Mary (the future Queen Mary), Katherine became pregnant yet again in 1518 gave birth to another girl. This baby died within a week of her birth date. It became apparent in 1526 that Katherine’s health was deteriorating which made it highly unlikely that she would have any more children.

Katherine Parr’s mother, Maud, became lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon after she married Sir Thomas Parr. Maud stayed with Queen Katherine until the end of her life; she stayed with her even through the tumultuous times of the 1520s when Henry started his infatuation with one of Katherine’s ladies, Anne Boleyn.

Maud’s relationship with the Queen was a relationship that went much deeper than “giddy pleasure”. Both knew what it was like to lose a child in stillbirths and in infancy. It was Katherine Parr’s mother, Maud, who shared in the horrible miscarriages and deaths in which Queen Katherine would endure from 1511 to 1518. The two bonded over the issue and became close because of it. When Maud Green became Lady Parr she became pregnant shortly after her marriage to Sir Thomas Parr. Most people think that Katherine Parr, the future queen and last wife of Henry, was the first to be born to the Parrs; not so. In or about 1509, a boy was born to Maud and Thomas. The happiness of delivering an heir to the Parr family was short lived as the baby died shortly after — no name was ever recorded. It would be another four years before Maud became pregnant again. In 1512, Maud finally gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She was christened Katherine, after the queen, and speculations are that Queen Katherine was her godmother. In about 1513, Maud would finally give birth to a healthy baby boy who was named William. Then again in 1515, Maud would give birth to another daughter named Anne, possibly after Maud’s sister. This pregnancy and childbirth is usually seen as the last for Maud; that she did not have anymore. Again, not so.

In or about 1517, Maud became pregnant again. It was in autumn of that year that her husband, Sir Thomas, died. It is believed that the stress from his death and leaving Maud with three children to raise alone caused the baby to be lost or die shortly after birth. No further record of the child is recorded. In a way Maud might have been relieved as she already had three young children to provide for.

Maud continued her position at court as one of Katherine of Aragon’s household and stayed close to the Queen even when her relationship with Henry started to decline. Henry’s infatuation with Anne Boleyn, one of the Queen’s ladies, became apparent and inevitably the ladies began to take sides. In these times, Queen Katherine never lost the loyalty and affection of women like Maud Parr, Gertrude Courtenay, and Elizabeth Howard, who had been with the Queen since the first years of her reign.

The theories of if Henry, Duke of Cornwall lived have been written about — but that of if Katherine Parr’s older brother had lived — perhaps the story would have been different and Kat would have never become the last wife of Henry — never have restored the royal family which made way for Lady Mary and Elizabeth to become part of the succession again. Perhaps the cause of the Reformation, which started to entice King Henry in his great matter, would have never been furthered. Kat went on to try continuing what Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, had started yet she wanted to help Henry make peace with his children. She took on the role of step-mother for Lady Elizabeth and Prince Edward, but remained good friend’s with the Lady Mary as Mary was only a few years younger than Kat. Some have called her the perfect combination of all of Henry’s wives; I would like to think they are referring to Henry’s first three wives; Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour. To this day some believe that Kat shaped the little girl who would become the last reigning Tudor; Elizabeth. Certainly many of the characteristics which Kat had were emulated by Elizabeth and she continued the beliefs her own mother and step-mother had in religion. Of the many things that Kat Parr did; many that are not listed here — I would like to think that her best influence and legacy lived on through Elizabeth, as she was basically the daughter she never had the opportunity to raise. Kat Parr would go on to give birth to a baby girl in her 4th and final marriage to Prince Edward’s uncle, Sir Thomas Seymour — but the joy was short lived as Katherine died shortly after.  Her three previous marriage were obviously childless. There has never been recorded evidence that she ever became pregnant or gave birth to any children before Lady Mary Seymour. The Parr legacy would continue within her sister’s family — the Herbert’s — as the Earls of Pembroke, whom today, still hold that title among others.

9 August 1548: Princess Mary to Dowager Queen Katherine

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A portrait of Queen Mary I hangs in the Queen’s chambers at Sudeley Castle where Queen Katherine gave birth to her daughter, the Lady Mary Seymour ©www.facebook.com/Queen.Catherine.Parr

Madam,

Although I have troubled your Highness lately with sundry letters, yet that not-withstanding, seeing my lord Marquess (who hath taken the pains to come to me at this present) intends to see your grace shortly, I could not be satisfied without writing to the same, and especially because I purpose tomorrow (with the help of God) to begin my journey towards Norfolk, where I shall be further from your grace. Which journey I have intended since Whitsuntide, but the lack of health hath stayed me all the while. Which, although it be as yet unstable, nevertheless I am enforced to remove for a time, hoping with God’s grace to return again about Michaelmas. At which time, or shortly after, I trust to hear good success of your grace’s great belly;[see below for explanation of such a phrase] and, in the meantime, shall desire much to hear of your health, which I pray almighty God continue and increase to His pleasure, as much as your own heart can desire. And thus with my most humble commendations to your highness, I take my leave of the same, desiring your grace to take the pain to make my commendations to my Lord Admiral. From Beaulieu the ninth of August.

Your highness’s humble and assured loving daughter,

Mary

Mary_Tudor

 

 

 

* “your great belly“: a variation of the typical close of a letter written by Mary to her father, assuring him that she prayed for his health and that, for example, God would shortly send his queen (whether her own mother or a successor) “a prince” or “issue,” “which shall be gladder tidings to me that I can express in writing.” (Bodleian, Smith MS 47, fols. 2a, 5a, 6a, 8a, 22, 28, 30, transcribed by Hearne, Sylloge Epistolarum, 124-5, 128, 129, 130, 142, 148, 149.)

Source:

  • Katherine Parr. Complete Works and Correspondence, editor Janel Mueller, University of Chicago Press, Jun 30, 2011. pg 174-5.

Original source:

  • Thomas Hearne, Sylloge Epistolarum, a variis Angliae principilus scriptarum (A Collection of Letters Written by Various Royal Persons of England), appended to his Titi Livii Foro-Juliensis Vita Henrici Quinti, regis Angliae (Oxford, 1716), 151-2, referencing “small volume 47, fol. 33” in the collection of Thomas Smith of Magdalen College, Oxford. John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials of the Reign of Edward VI (London, 1721), bk 1, chap. 5 also prints the letter with an erroneous source reference: “Cotton MS Otho, C.X”; this BI, manuscript  compendium does not contain Mary’s letter. Janel Mueller transcribed from Hearne and note Strype’s two minor variants.

The Relationships of Lady Mary Tudor: Henry VIII and his consort Katherine Parr pt. 2

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Henry VIII, Lady Mary Tudor, and Katherine Parr

“Your Excellency, what I have done for the Lady Mary is much less than I would like to do; as well as being my duty in every respect. As for the friendship between our two countries, I have done and will do nothing to prevent it from growing still further as the friendship is so necessary and both sovereigns [are] so good.”
Katherine’s relationship with Mary was one of friendship rather than motherly. When Katherine became queen the royal children were by then acquainted with her. It is not known whether it was Katherine herself that suggested meeting the Ladies Mary and Elizabeth before the wedding, but Henry obviously approved. In any case, Katherine wanted to establish a good rapport with the king’s daughters before the wedding. While Katherine had been contemplating the kings proposal there is no doubt that the three children and the role in which she would play came to mind. With Mary, Katherine wanted nothing more than to become a supporter and friend to her. Being a mother to another woman’s child was a responsibility that Katherine assumed with grace and dedication.
History may not have viewed Henry as an attentive parent but he cannot be judged by our modern standards as times were different back then. Henry did not visit his children’s establishments on a regular basis, but claimed to love them all. Royal children were brought up separately. A separate household was always established for the Prince of Wales while princesses, often living together, had smaller establishments. As in Katherine’s time, court was not a place for small children and Mary as Princess had a household of her own until her parents’ divorce when she was forced to live with her half-sister, Elizabeth. Buried in a legacy of failed marriages and just the everyday duties of a king, Henry’s affections towards his children were understandably lacking. Katherine was convinced that Henry needed to be more involved with his children. The uncertainty that filled all of their lives, especially Mary and Elizabeth, needed to be relieved. Katherine promised and made sure as long as Henry was alive and she was consort that the children would have a stable future.
Katherine’s marriage to the King gave Mary the longest period of unbroken happiness she had known since childhood. It was much needed after a decade of turmoil. Katherine was a staunch champion of the princess and her regard for Mary certainly helped improve her prospects, as well as enriching her life. Soon after the wedding, Katherine gave Mary a present of gold bracelets. Katherine would go on to exchange purses of money with Mary as was done throughout the aristocracy as a token of female friendship. The two shared a love for clothes and jewels. They also had a love of music in common. The two thrived on conversation and diversion. Both were dedicated to studying and religion. History has made it seem that Katherine and Mary were so set in their ways of religion that they had absolutely nothing in common. In fact some people have gone as far as saying that if Katherine had lived into Mary’s reign, Mary would have had Katherine burned at the stake! Truth be told, within their relationship, neither was firmly set in their ways and their relationship never suffered. Mary had somewhat accepted her father’s religious changes. Katherine’s faith as queen would eventually develop along different lines than that of Mary. But much would change in Mary’s life before she became pegged as “Bloody Mary”.
The Imperial Ambassador, Chapuys, recounts that the two were almost always together and would come to thank Katherine in time, in the name of his Master Charles V, for all that she had done and would continue to do for the Lady Mary.

By 1544, a new act of succession was introduced. Since becoming queen, Katherine had set out to reconcile Henry and Mary and to restore her as a potential heir to the throne. Chapuys was most impressed with the queen’s attempts at favoring the Princess and wrote frequently to Charles V about it. Charles was also most pleased and encouraged Chapuys to continue good relations with Queen Katherine. The act was the first succession act in England to give females the right to succeed to the throne as queen. Lady Mary and Elizabeth were again part of the succession after their brother Edward. Though both Mary and Elizabeth remained illegitimate and were denied the title of princess, they were Henry’s official heirs. This Act signified the rehabilitation of the royal children with their father; which Katherine could take more than a little credit for. Based on ambassadorial reports, it was Katherine who was the chief instrument of Henry’s decision to name all of his children in his will as heirs to the throne. The terms of Henry’s Will would later legitimize both Mary’s seizure of the crown from Lady Jane Grey and Elizabeth’s succession after Mary’s death. It was Katherine who helped insure their legitimacy as queens.

Lady Mary Tudor c.1544 attributed to Master John

It was in 1544, that Mary would be painted by an artist commemorating her re-in-statement to the succession. In the portrait, attributed to Master John, Mary is still young and quite beautiful. Portraiture was another common interest of Katherine Parr. Throughout her reign she would have portraits done of her and the two daughters of Henry. It is thought that perhaps these portraits of Katherine were done to make up for the fact that Henry had commissioned a painting of the royal family during her reign; only to put Jane Seymour in posthumously as queen. Perhaps that is the case, but the portrait of Mary is memorable and a favorite of many admirers to this day.
By summer of 1544, Katherine had been appointed Regent of England as Henry went off to battle in France. During her reign, most historians believe it was Elizabeth who was most affected by watching her step-mother rule over the country. Mary, herself, would also pay close attention to Katherine’s regency which no doubt influenced her. Both daughters would come to see that it was possible for a queen to handle all that was expected of a king; that perhaps one day they too could rule as queen of England. As regent, Katherine possessed a considerable amount of power. During Katherine’s regency five proclamations were issued and she was granted the right to disburse money from the Treasury. Throughout his time in France, Katherine would write often informing Henry of her progress. Often included were her sentiments, her time with the children, and worries about his health.
At the end of Henry’s reign as King he started to not only distant himself from Queen Katherine, but also from his children. Henry knew that his health was failing and that he must make provisions for his son Prince Edward’s minority as the next Tudor king. Henry’s final Christmas was spent alone at Whitehall, apart from Katherine and Mary who were at Greenwich Palace. On 11 January, it is accounted that the queen’s apartments were prepared for her arrival, but there is an uncertainty as to whether or not Katherine saw her husband one last time. On 28 January 1547, King Henry died. Neither Katherine nor his children were present.

Henry VIII with his daughter, the Lady Mary Tudor, later Queen Mary I.

After the death of King Henry, Mary was not told of his death for several days. Edward’s minority council took elaborate precautions to ensure all was in place before they made an official announcement. This action made Mary extremely angry, but she could do nothing about it. Yet how ever wary Edward’s councillors were, nothing could alter the fact that Mary was in her own right heiress to the throne. For the time being, Mary would stay with Katherine who was again for the third time, a widow. At the time of her father’s death Mary was aged 31. Mary’s reaction to her father’s death was never recorded as she never publicly mourned his death.  She was apparently more irritated at the fact that no one had told her that her father had died until days later. Most likely her reaction to the news was mixed grief and some kind of relief. At Henry’s death both Mary and Elizabeth became two of the richest women in England. They both had an income, the promise of a dowry, and extensive holdings of property. Mary was now an owner of 32 houses and manors. These lands had previously belonged to the Duke of Norfolk and his son Surrey but were attained by the King after their arrest. It is noted that after all that the Howard’s had put Mary through she still came out on top owning most of Norfolk, Suffolk, and land in Essex.

Until April 1547, Mary remained in the household of the Dowager Queen Katherine. Mary went into deep mourning and it is not recorded whether or not she attended her father’s funeral or even her brother’s coronation. In her mourning, Mary went into deep reflection upon the way the country was now being run. While Henry was alive, she didn’t dare questioning his advisers. Now with Edward’s council, many of the members she had known for quite a while now, she came to her own opinion and was no longer afraid to voice her opinion as she did not think much of the men who ruled in her brother’s name. By Spring, Mary had left the household of the Dowager queen as a dispute between the Lord Protector and his family was about to devolve. Truth being that Mary was a lady with many households and of age; she was mistress of her own manors and needed to start living her own life. While her father had been alive, Mary had been denied her very own family. She missed out on many marriage proposals and the chance to bear children of her own. Before Henry died, he promised the queen many things and gave her permission to marry again if it pleased her. Within months of his death Mary would find that her step-mother had renewed her liaison with her former love, Sir Thomas Seymour. Thomas was the younger brother of the Lord Protector. Thomas was jealous of his older brother as he had no part in the regency council. Therefore it has been proposed that perhaps he saw that by marrying the queen dowager he would obtain some sort of recognition. After surviving nearly four years of marriage to Henry, which was a feet among itself, Katherine was now letting her heart rule over her head. As she had no political role in Edward’s reign, Katherine looked to the possibility of her own happiness. The two would marry on an unknown date. Of course Katherine’s marriage was solemnized by God, but it had not been sanctioned by the king and his council. There was nothing in the will of Henry saying that Katherine could not marry again – but some saw the marriage as untimely as it was too soon after the king’s death. In attempts to gain favour and have the marriage be accepted, Seymour wrote to Mary asking for her approval and consent. The jest of the letter was strong, but at the same time clever and revealing. Mary knew what had been happening in the household before she left and was not one to play dumb. Mary knew Seymour’s reputation with women and was not fooled by his appeal to win her favour. Mary was still upset over the fact that Katherine would even consider marrying so soon after her father’s death and in a way felt it insulted the memory of her father. Although Mary was unhappy about Katherine’s choices, she realized that she would no longer share in the company of her step-mother who had done so much to re-store her relationship with her father and to re-instate her into the Act of Succession. Katherine had been regarded as an equal by Mary. The two had shared so much time together that it most likely hurt her deeply when she heard the news of Katherine’s death.

A portrait of Queen Mary I hangs in the Queen’s chambers at Sudeley Castle where Queen Katherine gave birth to her daughter, the Lady Mary Seymour, whom the queen named after her step-daughter.

The Relationships of Lady Mary Tudor: Henry VIII and his consort Katherine Parr pt. 1

Sources

  • Susan James. Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love, The History Press, 2009.
  • Linda Porter. Katherine the queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII, MacMillan, 2010.
  • Linda Porter. The Myth of “Bloody Mary”: A Biography of Queen Mary I of England, St. Martin Griffins, 2010.
  • Anna Whitelock. Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2009.

The Relationships of Lady Mary Tudor: Henry VIII and his consort Katherine Parr pt. 1

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A modern interpretation of Lady Mary’s stepmother’s was shown in the historical fiction series “The Tudors.”

Throughout the reign of Henry VIII, as many know, he had six different wives. The first of these wives was the daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, Infanta Catalina; or as most have come to know her in England – Katherine of Aragon. Katherine came to England to marry the older brother of Henry who was then heir to the throne of England; Arthur, Prince of Wales. Shortly after their marriage Arthur died and Katherine was left a widow at an early age. To avoid returning her large dowry to her father Katherine was married to Arthur’s younger brother, then Henry, Duke of York. The marriage between Katherine and Henry produced only one child who would live to adulthood, a girl, the future Queen Mary I of England. In Tudor times, not having a male heir was particularly troublesome as the country had just been through a civil war in which Henry’s father seized the crown. Henry VIII was only the second Tudor monarch, a son of both the houses of Lancaster and York. Henry felt that a male heir was essential; after all, the last woman to reign as queen regent was the tumultuous reign of Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I.

Born Princess Mary of England, Mary was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon. Her mother, after two decades of marriage to the King, had given birth to six children. Out of the six, only one would survive infancy, their daughter Mary. Katherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter, the future Mary I of England, as heiress presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne. At this time is when Henry began to take interest in one of Katherine’s ladies, Anne Boleyn. In Anne, Henry saw the possibility of having a male heir; to continue his father’s legacy. After going through a great bit of trouble – which included a break from Rome – Henry “divorced” Katherine and “married” Anne under his Church of England. This break and marriage would come to change England and inevitably changed Henry for the rest of his life. Henry would go on to have again, one daughter, with Anne. During this marriage, Princess Mary, now within her teens, went from being a legitimate Princess and daughter of Henry VIII to an illegitimate “bastard” under Henry’s new succession act. Mary was forced to live below the standards of what she had become accustomed to and was forced to accept that her mother was no longer queen of England. After only a few years of marriage to Anne, Henry became convinced that his second wife could not produce a male heir and literally disposed her for yet another lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour. During her short reign, Jane tried to reconcile Henry with his daughter Mary. It was through this “precious” lady that Henry finally got what he wanted; a male heir, named Edward. To Henry’s misfortune, only twelve days after giving birth to Edward, Jane died. Henry would go on to marry three more times after Jane. Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and a woman named Katherine Parr. It was the last of Henry’s wives who would come to reconcile Mary, along with her half-siblings, with Henry.
Katherine Parr was born in 1512. By both parents, Princess Mary was related to Katherine Parr. By her paternal grandparents, Mary was related by Katherine’s descent from the Beaufort’s, children of John of Gaunt, a son of Edward III making Mary by her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth of York, a 4th cousin. By the Woodville connection, they were 4th cousins. By her paternal grandfather, Henry VII (by Beaufort and Holland), Mary was a double 5th cousin, once removed. By her maternal grandmother, Isabel of Castile (by John of Gaunt), she was a fifth cousin and a fifth cousin, once removed. Jane Seymour is the next closest after Parr sharing Edward III (6th cousins, once removed).
Katherine was a few years older than Mary who was born in 1516. Katherine’s mother, Maud, had become a lady-in-waiting to Princess Mary’s mother shortly after her marriage to Sir Thomas Parr. Katherine was named after the queen and it is thought that the queen was her godmother.
Maud’s relationship with the Queen was unlike that of most queens and their ladies. It was a relationship that went much deeper than “giddy pleasure”. Both knew what it was like to lose a child in stillbirths and in infancy. It was Katherine Parr’s mother, Maud, who shared in the horrible miscarriages and deaths in which Queen Katherine would endure from 1511 to 1518. The two bonded over the issue, as Maud had experienced the death of her eldest, an infant boy, and later a miscarriage or early infant mortality after the birth of three healthy children. Because of these shared experiences, the queen and Maud became close.
After her husband died in 1517, Maud continued her position at court as one of Katherine of Aragon’s household and stayed close to the Queen even when her relationship with Henry started to decline in the 1520s. In 1525, when Henry’s infatuation with one of Katherine’s ladies, Anne Boleyn, became apparent, inevitably the ladies began to take sides. In these times, Queen Katherine never lost the loyalty and affection of women like Maud Parr, Gertrude Courtenay, and Elizabeth Howard, who had been with the Queen since the first years of her reign. Maud stayed with Queen Katherine until the end of her own life in 1531.
It has been said that Katherine Parr and Princess Mary were educated together. While Katherine’s mother attended on the queen, Katherine was at Parr house in Blackfriars, London. Katherine was not brought to court with her mother and probably the only time, if any, that she was in contact with the royal family was at her christening. Katherine and other daughters of the court were taught separately while Princess Mary, who had her own household, was taught by private tutors.

King Henry and his fifth consort Katherine Howard

After the disastrous marriage of the King and Katherine Howard, the King was no longer looking for flighty relationships that stirred his passions. Henry had learned a tough lesson with Katherine Howard and was determined more than ever to find an intelligent, honest, loving, and devoted wife. He wanted someone he could hold an actual conversation with; a companion. Another quality Henry looked for in a wife was someone who could be a perfect companion to his eldest daughter, now styled The Lady Mary Tudor. After years of tension and multiple step-mothers whom Mary had mixed relations with, Henry must have felt he owed her that much.
After the death of Katherine Howard, Mary enjoyed far greater favor from her father and presided over court feasts as if she was queen herself. For New Year’s, Mary was showered with lavish gifts from her father. Within the presents were ‘two rubies of inestimable value.’ However, it was during this time that Mary suffered from chronic ill-health linked to anxiety, depression, and irregular menstruation. These health issues along with others would continue until Mary’s death. Thankfully by Christmas 1542, Mary had recovered and was summoned to court for the great Christmas festivities. Her quarters at Hampton court were worked on day and night to prepare for her arrival. The Imperial Ambassador, Chapuys, reported that the King ‘spoke to her in the most gracious and amiable words that a father could address to his daughter.’
Katherine Parr would marry twice before her marriage to King Henry in 1543. Her first marriage would be to her distant relative, Sir Edward Borough in 1529; which ended in about 1533 with his death. Her next marriage was to her father’s second cousin, Sir John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer of Snape in 1534. With this marriage, Katherine became Lady Latimer. She was the first of her family to marry into peerage since her great-aunt, Maud Parr, Lady Dacre. With this marriage also came two step-children from Latimer’s first marriage to Dorothy De Vere. For about a decade, Katherine would experience the joy of being a step-mother. It was during this time that she became extremely close to her step-daughter, Margaret, which was somewhat of a pre-cursor to Katherine’s future relationship with the Lady Elizabeth, Henry’s youngest daughter. By the time Lord Latimer had died, Katherine was left a rich widow and was asked by Latimer to look after his daughter until the age of her maturity. It has been said that Katherine became a lady in the household of Lady Mary during this time, but biographers Susan James and Linda Porter have different opinions. It was thought by James that because Mary remembered the kindness Katherine’s mother had shown her mother that she gladly took Katherine as one of her ladies. Porter disputes this saying it would have been below Katherine’s standing as the widow of a peer who had her own establishments and a large settlement from her husband’s death. Truth be told, many courtiers and wives of peers were ladies to royals in Tudor England. It was a wonderful opportunity, kept them busy, and at the center of court. Katherine’s sister, Anne, would serve all of Henry’s wives, including her. After the death of Lord Latimer, Katherine began a fling with the brother of former queen Jane Seymour, Sir Thomas Seymour. The two were most likely planning to be wed, but before the two could marry, Katherine would first catch the attention of King who quickly proposed.

Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth from the “Succession Portrait” which was commissioned while Katherine Parr was queen.

In spring before the wedding, Katherine would appear at court with both Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth. The fact that the two had not been together earlier that spring and were now with Katherine and her sister at court was seen as significant. Katherine believed that a good relationship with the two was fundamental to her strategy. Once married, and confident as queen, she could develop the relationships further.

Katherine would go on to marry the King in July of that year. Within those who were present were the Ladies Mary and Elizabeth. With the marriage came three new step-children for Katherine to take care of. Instead of seeing it as her “duty”, she saw it as an opportunity as she had still not produced any children of her own.

Sources:

  • Susan James. Catherine Parr: Henry VIII’s Last Love, The History Press, 2009.
  • Linda Porter. Katherine the queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII, MacMillan, 2010.
  • Linda Porter. The Myth of “Bloody Mary”: A Biography of Queen Mary I of England, St. Martin Griffins, 2010.
  • Anna Whitelock. Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2009.

Review of “The Royals” by Leslie Carroll

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This book was a major disappointment and had major flaws in The Tudors section. First off, Henry VII was basically skipped over, no picture — the Tudors section starts with the portrait of Elizabeth I. According to the author “Henry Tudor’s blood was barely blue being five generations from Edward III” and “Henry was not born to the crown” — the latter being true, but to skip such an important figure along with Elizabeth of York is unforgivable.

Image thought by some, uh who, to be Anne Boleyn

Another major error was the portrait of Anne Boleyn; the style of the clothes and hair is from the late 16th/early 17th century – Anne would not have worn the ‘Elizabethan collar’. It may be a modern interpretation, but to use it as the sole portrait of Anne is rather odd.

Queen Katherine nurses her husband the King.

I also disliked how Katherine Parr’s section was full of errors and made her look like a harlot after the death of Henry VIII.

First off, there is no proof that Katherine was romantically involved [meaning sleeping with] with Thomas Seymour before the death of Lord Latimer or before the marriage of Henry and Katherine. Also, Thomas was sent away on business for the king, he didn’t make himself scarce.

The statement that four out of six wives were redheads is incorrect.

Historians are not 100% sure that Katherine was part of Lady Mary’s household.

The discussion of theology became a problem when Katherine started preaching to the King — after the whole scandal they continued talking about religion, but it was more toned down.

I’m not sure where the info is coming from that Henry told his physician that he wanted to “get rid of” Katherine Parr. There were rumors, set up most likely by the Catholics at court, which also included Henry wanting to marry the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk, Queen Katherine’s friend, who was even more prone to speak her mind when it came to matters of religion. There was no doctor involved in telling Queen Katherine about Henry’s intentions. A warrant was drawn up which was taken to Queen Katherine. She went to King Henry arguing that she was “but a woman” and that she was merely trying to distract the King from his infirmities.

Katherine pushed Henry’s wheelchair in the gardens?? The correct info has the two sitting in the garden when they were approached by Henry’s guards.
The Queen Dowager, Katherine, waited a few MONTHS, not weeks, before re-entering into her “relationship” with Seymour. I don’t think Katherine would have been that disrespectful, but just to be clear — the King gave her the go ahead to re-marry who she wanted. They were thought to be married in the spring months, possibly May of that year.

Where the statement that Katherine was acting like a “trollop” came from, I would love to know. Seymour asked the King for permission to marry the Dowager Queen. Yes, Lady Mary was upset and thought Catherine should have waited a tad longer but in the two biographies I’ve read on Mary (Anna Whitelock and Linda Porter) she never once called Katherine a trollop. In fact, Mary disliked Seymour more than anything as he pestered her about matters of state. Mary eventually came to forgive Katherine — Katherine received a letter from Mary while she was pregnant and Katherine named the baby girl after her step-daughter.

The stories of Seymour and Elizabeth are quite interesting and many theories have been put out there, but what actually happened in that household is another story as Elizabeth’s lady, Kat Ashley, was the main contributor to the testimony. Kat herself encouraged Elizabeth to flirt with Seymour and had a crush on him herself. “But the doctor’s dirty hands caused an infection”… there are many contributing factors to the fever that caused Katherine to die, much like the death of Jane Seymour. And the last sentence of Lady Jane being raised as a surrogate daughter — she was a ward. This book and this chapter reads more like a romance novel then an actual history book.

The author put an actual biography of Katherine Parr (Susan James) within her chapter full of sources that is actually well respected; perhaps the author should have actually read the book before “quoting” it.

The chapter on The Tudors reads more like a romance novel than a history book; that might explain why the author chose the “romanticized” portrait of Anne Boleyn. No citations are given as to where the info comes from and major mistakes were made. The only good thing about the book is the reproduction of one of Anne Boleyn’s letters and the letter from Katherine Howard to Master Culpepper.

One positive note the author made about Katherine Parr:

“Perhaps the most mature and educated of Henry’s wives.”

So why did she paint Katherine as such a “trollop”?? You’ve got me! Other then that, don’t waste your money. Historically inaccurate indeed!

Family of Queen Katherine: Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal (b.1407)

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Kendal Castle was acquired through the marriage of Sir William de Parr to the heiress and only child of Sir John de Ros of Kendal, Elizabeth de Ros in 1383.

Kendal Castle was acquired through the marriage of Sir William de Parr to the heiress and only child of Sir John de Ros of Kendal, Elizabeth de Ros in 1383.

Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal (1407–1461/[2]24 November 1464[1]*) was an English landowner and elected Member of Parliament six times between 1435 and 1459. He was great-grandfather of Queen Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII.

Sir Thomas was the son of Sir John Parr and Agnes Crophull (or Crophill) (c.1371/72-3 February 1438).[1] By his mother’s previous marriage to Sir William Devereux of Bodenham, he was the maternal half-brother of Elizabeth and Walter Devereux, Esq., the great-grandfather of Anne Devereux who married William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1468 creation) [grandfather of the 1st Earl who would marry Anne Parr] and the 5x great-grandfather of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex.[1] His father died before 6 October 1407[1] and when his mother remarried to John Merbury, Esq.[1] he was made the ward of Sir Thomas Tunstall of Thurland castle, Lancashire.

Thurland Castle, Tunstall, Lancashire, England.

Thurland Castle, Tunstall, Lancashire, England.

Within a year of his coming of age Thomas was escheator of Cumberland and Westmorland, and was knighted about the same time. He was elected Member of Parliament for Westmorland five times (in 1435, 1449, 1450, 1455 and 1459) and once for Cumberland (1445). He was actively involved in local administration and law enforcement, and became very influential. In 1435 he acted as the Under-sheriff for Thomas, 8th Baron Clifford, the hereditary sheriff of Westmorland.

He became involved in a long-running feud with Sir Henry Bellingham, another local landowner, which came to a head in 1445 when he was attacked in London by Bellingham’s men when attending Parliament, which caused a Parliamentary outcry.

By the time of the War of the Roses, Parr had formed close links with leading Yorkist Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury [great-great-grandfather of Queen Katherine] and when hostilities began joined him at the Battle of Ludford Bridge near Ludlow in 1459. After a Yorkists were defeated, he was forced to flee to Calais with Salisbury and was attainted in Parliament, but returned to fight at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460.

He died in 1461. He left three sons and six daughters by his wife Alice Tunstall, daughter of Sir Thomas. His eldest son, William became elevated as Baron Parr and married a granddaughter of the Earl of Salisbury, Hon. Elizabeth FitzHugh, and by her was grandfather of Queen Katherine Parr, wife of Henry VIII; his second son, Sir John Parr was made sheriff of Westmorland for life in 1462. His third son, Thomas, was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. His daughters all married members of prominent northern families. Mabel married Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre; thus becoming the first female Parr to marry into the peerage and be given a title.[2] The accession of the Yorkist King Edward IV in 1461 had saved most of Sir Thomas’s estates from confiscation.

Legacy

Great-grandchildren of Sir Thomas of Kendal; Sir William, 1st Marquess of Northampton, Queen Katherine Parr, and Lady Anne, Countess of Pembroke.

Through his son William, the family continued in favour with the culmination of his granddaughter, Katherine, becoming Queen consort of England and Ireland to King Henry VIII in 1543. His other grandchildren and the siblings of Queen Katherine would be raised by being created Marquess of Northampton and Earl of Essex; while a granddaughter, Anne, would become Countess of Pembroke as the wife of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke of the 1551 creation. Anne’s descendants to this day hold the title of Earl of Pembroke among other prominent titles.

* There is a conflict with the death date of Sir Thomas; Richardson states 1464 while Katherine’s biographer Linda Porter states 1461.

References

  1. ^ Douglas Richardson. Plantagenet Ancestry, Genealogical Publishing, 2005. pg 565. Google eBook
  2. ^ Linda Porter. Katherine, the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII, Macmillan, Nov 23, 2010.

King Henry VIII: the account of marriage to wife no. 6 to Kateryn Parr

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Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 18 Part 1: January-July 1543

The wedding of Henry and Kateryn, Dowager Baroness Latimer as recorded
Written by Meghan McGath

Notarial instrument witnessing that, on 12 July 1543, 35 Hen. VIII., in an upper oratory called “the Quynes Pryevey closet” within the honor of Hampton Court, Westm. dioc., in presence of the noble and gentle persons named at the foot of this instrument and of me, Ric. Watkins, the King’s prothonotary, the King and lady Katharine Latymer alias Parr being met there for the purpose of solemnising matrimony between them, Stephen bp. of Winchester proclaimed in English (speech given in Latin) that they were met to join in marriage the said King and Lady Katharine, and if anyone knew any impediment thereto he should declare it. The licence for the marriage without publication of banns, sealed by Thos. abp. of Canterbury and dated 10 July 1543, being then brought in, and none opposing but all applauding the marriage, the said bp. of Winchester put the questions (recited) to which the King, hilari vultu, replied “Yea” and the lady Katharine also replied that it was her wish; and then the King taking her right hand, repeated after the Bishop the words, “I, Henry, take thee, Katharine, to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us depart, and thereto I plight thee my troth.” Then, releasing and again clasping hands, the lady Katharine likewise said “I, Katharine, take thee Henry to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to be bonayr and buxome in bed and at board, till death us depart, and thereto I plight unto thee my troth.” The putting on of the wedding ring and proffer of gold and silver (described) followed; and the Bishop, after prayer, pronounced a benediction. The King then commanded the prothonotary to make a public instrument of the premises. Present : John lord Russell, K.G., keeper of the Privy Seal, Sir Ant. Browne, K.G., captain of the King’s pensioners, and Thos. Henage, Edw. Seymer, Hen. Knyvet, Ric. Long, Thos. Darcy, Edw. Beynton, and Thos. Speke, knights, and Ant. Denny and Wm. Herbert, esquires, also the ladies Mary and Elizabeth the King’s children, Margaret Douglas his niece, Katharine duchess of Suffolk, Anne countess of Hertford, and Joan lady Dudley, and Anne Herbert.
Notarial attestation by Ric. Watkins, Ll. B., King’s prothonotary.
Large parchment.

The marriage of Henry VIII and Kateryn Parr ©Meghan McGath (2009)
Source: 

James Gairdner and R. H. Brodie (editors). “Henry VIII: July 1543, 11-15.” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 18 Part 1: January-July 1543 (1901): 480-489. British History Online. Web. 10 January 2012. <http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=76754&strquery=queen+catherine&gt;

Tudor Tart Lady Anne Bourchier: the unfairly treated wife?

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Interesting blog on someone’s thoughts about William Parr and he getting what he deserved from his first wife who ran off with her lover and had illegitimate children by him. Right! Turns out the author of the blog DID use Alison Weir as her top source.
Tudor Tart Anne Bourchier

William Parr, Marquess of Northampton

William Parr, Marquess of Northampton

In response:
Where are you getting your info? Just wondering. Is this Wikipedia material? They were both unhappy when they married; it was a marriage of advantage which Maud Parr paid quite a deal of money towards only for the two to be incredibly unhappy. They were married at a young age [she was about 10] and they didn’t even live together for over 10 years. William was at court while Anne stayed behind in the country. Not defending William here, but it was a two way street and both sides were already unhappy with each other and decided their own fates. William was at least somewhat discreet and didn’t run off and father a bunch of bastards with Bray. The “tale” about William trying to get his wife executed is not proved to be entirely true. In fact it is only promoted on Wikipedia by Alison Weir’s book, “The Six Wives” which is full of inaccurate facts, especially in Katherine Parr’s section. Adultery wasn’t punishable by death back then or else everyone would have been sent to the block. Only Henry had that power to send his queens to the block for “adultery.” This tale seems to be played up by Alison Weir in her “Six Wives” book. Adultery by non-royals did not carry an assumption of being a capitol offense. For details of the actual account and reference to the primary sources that document what actually happened between Parr and Bourchier, see Susan James’s Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s Last Love, pages 50-52 and 82. You could also take a look at this page: http://queryblog.tudorhistory.org/2009/07/question-from-marie-when-did-adultery.html
Also, the only reason Anne went to petition for her husband was most likely for money and land; because after she ran off with her lover she was exiled in poverty. The bill which had made her marriage to Parr null and void was reversed under Queen Mary so she most likely saw that as an opportunity. She wanted money and land and that is what she got from petitioning — December 1553 she was granted an annuity of 100 pounds; and in December 1556 she was further granted an annuity of 450 pounds and then retired to the country after Elizabeth succeeded Queen Mary. She obviously knew Elizabeth wouldn’t stand for her charades and she didn’t. Elizabeth promoted Parr who waited out Anne’s life to finally be able to marry again, this time for love.