I love how much people dismiss Queen Kateryn Parr. There may be evidence that she WAS supposed to be Regent for Edward VI. See her signature AFTER Henry died.
Credit: Elizabeth Norton
She was apparently signing as “Kateryn, the quene regente KP”. The theory goes that she was indeed made Regent for her stepson, King Edward VI. Which would make sense with the use of her signature. It is believed that Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, Kateryn’s brother the Marquess of Northampton, her brother-in-law the Earl of Pembroke and the council ousted her and rewrote the will. She would have made a wonderful Queen Regent. She proved she was capable of being Regent while Henry went to war with France. Perhaps she would have lived longer and prevented the succession from being rewritten. She gets credit for the placement of Princesses Mary & Elizabeth back into the line of succession behind their brother in 1545. That succession act seems to have overwritten or they disregarded King Edward’s will and supported the actual heir to the throne, Mary. Mary WAS the rightful heir. Jane was further down the approved line of succession. Why would you accept someone below the status of the actual daughters of King Edward’s father, Henry VIII? Kateryn Parr’s brother and brother in law were again involved in matters of the state and actually pulled off putting Lady Jane Grey on the throne for 9 days! Jane somehow outranked her own mother who was STILL alive and technically would have been the next heiress to the throne after Princesses Mary & Elizabeth. I never understood that. The Protestants feared the Catholic “Bloody Mary” (her nickname was started as Protestant propaganda, the pro Queen Elizabeth movement, lol) would try to return the country to the Pope and Catholicism. Mary was deeply religious. Kateryn Parr and Mary got on despite differences in matters like religion. Parr’s mother, Lady Maud, had served Mary’s own mother, Queen Katherine of Aragon, the first wife and crowned Queen consort to King Henry. The two women were pretty close. The Parrs backed Queen Katherine of Aragon when her lady in waiting became the Kings new obsession. Parr let Mary be and encouraged her every chance she could. One could argue she loved Mary more than Elizabeth. Heck, Kateryn named her only daughter and child, Mary, before the queen passed on 5 September 1548. Don’t think there were any other important Marys. The French Queen, Mary Tudor, had died long before Parr became Queen. Pretty sure it’s not after The Virgin Mary. Protestants aren’t that attached to her, right? I was raised Catholic, so I honestly don’t know. Anyway, Queen Kateryn Parr was VERY important. Read a book. She wasn’t an ex-queen. She remained Queen (consort) of England, Ireland, and France until she died. She was the LAST Tudor Queen Consort as King Edward died young. She was also the FIRST Queen of Ireland. Her funeral was the FIRST Protestant funeral for a Queen. Her mourner was none other than Lady Jane Grey, who would have probably stayed with Kateryn had the queen lived. Having Parr around seemed to pacify things. She knew how to handle tricky and dangerous situations. For Gods sake, she almost lost her head after she spoke with the King. It was overheard by the queens enemy, Bishop Gardiner, who saw an opportunity to “get rid” of Kateryn. I mean why not? He already KILLED TWO WIVES!! Lordy, so Gardiner tried to fuck with the Kings head. Saying shit like “it is a petty thing when a woman should instruct her husband” or some stupid sexist bs! Story goes, Kateryn was warned by an anonymous source who found her death warrant lying on the ground. YEAH RIGHT!! That’s straight up narcissistic abuse, my man!! Why do I feel like Henry set her up to test her loyalty? He was such a theatrical douche bag. No, no love for King Henry here. I have yet to see the film “Firebrand” which follows the reign of Kateryn as queen consort and queen Regente I believe. It’s based off Elizabeth Freemantle’s “Queen’s Gambit”. Anyway, Kateryn talked her way out of being arrested or worse by stroking the Kings ego and basically submitting to him just to fuvking survive. Imagine going through this marriage without psych meds like Benzos. I do believe they dabbled in potions however and she was known to “treat” melancholy with herbs from the gardens. Sudeley Castle where she is buried has a garden full of deadly herbs. Physic gardens. I have photos somewhere…
Maria de Salines (Bea Segura), Lady Maud Parr (Natalie Grady), and Katherine of Aragon (Paola Bontempi) in Secrets of the Six Wives (2016)
By Meg Mcgath, 22 March 2023 *be kind and if you find info here…leave breadcrumbs. Thanks!*
Lady Maud Parr, (6 April 1492 – 1 December 1531) was the wife of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal, Knt. She was the daughter and substantial coheiress of Sir Thomas Green of Greens Norton, Northamptonshire. The Greens had inhabited Greens Norton since the fourteenth century. Green was the last male heir, having had two daughters. Her mother is named as Joan or Jane Fogge. However, I haven’t been able to prove her parentage. According to Linda Porter, Katherine Parr is a great-granddaughter of Sir John Fogge. When asked for a source, Porter said it came from Dr Susan James. In her biography on Katherine, Susan James states, “he [Green] had made an advantageous with the granddaughter of Sir John Fogge, treasurer of the Royal household under Edward IV”. Fogge was married to Alice Haute (or Hawte), a lady and cousin to Edward’s queen, Elizabeth. By her father, Maud descended from King Edward I of England multiple times. Her sister, Anne, would marry Sir Nicholas Vaux (later Baron). Vaux married firstly to Maud’s would be mother-in-law, the widowed Lady Elizabeth Parr, by whom he had three daughters including Lady Katherine Throckmorton, wife to Sir George of Coughton. Her father spent his last days in the Tower and died in 1506 trumped up on charges of treason.
Ten months after the death of her father, the fifteen year old Maud became a ward of Thomas Parr of Kendal (c.1471/1478 (see notes)-1517) a man nearly twice her age. Around 1508, Maud married to Thomas, son of Sir William Parr of Kendal (1434-1483) and Elizabeth FitzHugh (1455/65-1508), later Lady Vaux. At the time, he was thirty seven while she was about sixteen. He would become Sheriff of Northamptonshire, master of the wards and comptroller to King Henry VIII. He would become a Vice chamberlain of Katherine of Aragon’s household. When Princess Mary was christened, he was one of the four men to hold the canopy over her. He would become a coheir to the Barony of FitzHugh in 1512 and received half the lands of his cousin, George, 7th Baron (d.1512). Had he lived, he most likely would have received the actual title as a favored courtier. The barony is still in abeyance.
Maud became a lady to Queen Katherine of Aragon along with Lady Elizabeth Boleyn, mother of the future Queen Anne. It seems as though the Parrs and Boleyns were indeed in the same circle around the king—something rarely noted! Both Thomas Boleyn and Thomas Parr were knighted in 1509 at the coronation of King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon.
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. Lady Parr 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 is recorded as becoming 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.
In or about 1517, Maud became pregnant again. It was in autumn of that year that her husband, Sir Thomas, died at his home in Blackfriars of the sweating sickness. Maud was left a young widow at 25, with three small children to provide for. It is believed that the stress from his death 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. He left a will, dated 7 November, for his wife and children leaving dowry’s and his inheritance to his only son, William, but as he died before any of his children were of age, Maud along with Cuthbert Tunstall, their uncle Sir William Parr, and Dr. Melton were made executors. He left £400 apiece as marriage portions for his two daughters. He provided for another son and if the baby was “any more daughters”, he stated “she [Maud] shall marry them at her own cost”. In his will, Parr mentions a signet ring given to him by the King which illustrates how close he was to him. He was buried in St. Anne’s Church, Blackfriars, beneath an elaborate tomb. His tomb read, “Pray for the soul of Sir Thomas Parr, knight of the king’s body, Henry the eigth, master of his wards…and…Sheriff…who deceased the 11th day of November in the 9th year of the reign of our sovereign Lord at London, in the Black Friars..” Maud chose not to remarry for fear of jeopardizing the huge inheritance she held in trust for her children. She carefully supervised the education of her children and studiously arranged their marriages.
In October 1519, Maud was given her own quarters at court. From 7 to 24 June 1520, Maud attended the queen at The Field of the Cloth of Gold, the meeting between King Henry VIII and King Francis I of France. Her sister, Anne, now Lady Vaux, and her husband, Nicholas, along with her other in laws, Lord Parr of Horton and his wife, were also present.
According to this article, which states no sources,
“In 1522, Maud was assessed for a “loan” to the King for the French Wars, of 1,000 marks, a very substantial sum, the same as the amount provided by Lord Clifford. She appears in the various household accounts of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon as entitled to breakfast at Crown expense and to suits of livery for her servants, as well as lodgings, which were very hard to come by.
In 1523, Maud started writing letters to find a suitable husband for her daughter, Katherine. Henry le Scrope (c.1511-25 March 1525), son and heir to Sir Henry le Scrope, 7th Baron Scrope of Bolton by his wife Mabel Dacre, was a cousin. The negotiations lead to nothing. By 1529, Maud found a match for her daughter in Sir Edward Borough, son of Sir Thomas.
When regulations for the Royal household were drawn up at Eltham, in 1526, Lady Parr, Lady Willoughby and Jane, Lady Guildford were assigned lodgings on “the queen’s side” of the palace. If an emergency arose, yeoman were sent with letters from the queen “warning the ladies to come to the court”. Maud was still listed, along with only five other ladies, which included the King’s sister, as having the privilege of having permanent suites in 1526. Maud was friendly with the King as well—her husband had been a favored courtier—and gifted him a coat of Kendal cloth in 1530. She was gifted miniatures of the King and Queen from the Queen herself.
In the summer of 1530, Maud visited her daughter, now Lady Katherine Borough, in Lincolnshire. She stayed at her own manor in Maltby, which was eighteen miles from Old Gainsborough Hall. It is thought that her presence there influenced Sir Thomas Borough to give his son, Edward, a property in Kirton-in-Lindsey. This gave Katherine an opportunity to manage a household of her own.
Maud continued her position at court as one of Katherine of Aragon’s principal ladies and stayed close to the Queen even when her relationship with the king 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 Boleyn, who had been with the Queen since the first years of her reign. At the time of her death, Maud was still attending Queen Katherine.
Maud died on 1 December 1531 at age thirty nine and is buried in St. Ann’s Church, Blackfriars Church, London, England beside her husband.
“My body to be buried in the church of the Blackfriars, London. Whereas I have indebted myself for the preferment of my son and heir, William Parr, as well to the king for the marriage of my said son. As to my lord of Essex for the marriage of my lady Bourchier, daughter and heir apparent to the said Earl. Anne, my daughter, Sir William Parr, Knt., my brother, Katherine Borough, my daughter, Thomas Pickering, Esq., my cousin and steward of my house.”
In her will, dated 20 May 1529, Maud designated that she wanted to be buried Blackfriars where her husband lies if she dies in London, or within twenty miles. Otherwise, she could be buried where her executors think most convenient. Maud left her daughter, Katherine, a jeweled cipher pendant in the shape of an ‘M’. Maud also left Katherine a cross of diamonds with a pendant pearl, a cache of loose pearls, and, ironically, a jeweled portrait of Henry VIII. To her daughter, Anne, she left 400 marks in plate and a third share of her jewels. The whole fortune, Lady Parr had directed, was to be securely chested up ‘in coffers locked with divers locks, whereof every one of them my executors and my … daughter Anne to have every of them a key’. ‘And there’, Lady Parr’s will continued, ‘it to remain till it ought to be delivered unto her’ on her marriage. She also provided 400 marks for the founding of schools and “the marrying of maidens and especial my poor kinswomen”. Cuthbert Tunstall, who was the principal executor of Maud’s will, she left to “my goode Lorde Cuthberd Tunstall, Bisshop of London…a ring with a ruby”. Tunstall had been an executor of her late husband’s will as well. An illegitimate son of Sir Thomas of Thurland Castle, he was a great-nephew of Alice Tunstall, paternal grandmother to Sir Thomas Parr. To her daughter-in-law, Anne, she left substantial amounts of jewelry, “to my lady Bourchier when she lieth with my son” as a bribe to get the marriage consummated. Maud also left a bracelet set with red jacinth to her son, William. She begs him “to wear it for my sake”. Maud was also stated in her will, “I have endetted myself in divers summes for the preferment of my sonne and heire William Parr as well”. For her cousin, Alice Cruse, and Thomas Parr’s niece, Elizabeth Woodhull or Odell, Maud left “at the lest oon hundrythe li”. She wills her “apparrell [to] be made in vestments and other ornaments of the churche” for distribution to three different parish churches which lay close to lands that she controlled. She bequeathed money to the Friars of Northampton. For centuries, historians have confused the first husband of her daughter, Katherine, with his elder grandfather, Edward, the 2nd Baron Borough or Burgh of Gainsborough (d.August 1528). He was declared insane and was never called to Parliament as the 2nd Baron Borough. Some sources mistakenly state she was just a child at the time of her wedding in 1526. Katherine’s actual husband, Sir Edward Borough (d.1533), was the eldest son and heir of the 2nd Baron’s eldest son and heir, Sir Thomas Borough, who would become the 1st Baron Borough under a new writ in December 1529. Katherine and Edward were married in 1529. At the time, Thomas Borough was still only a knight. Maud mentions in her will, Sir Thomas, father of the younger Edward, saying ‘I am indebted to Sir Thomas Borough, knight, for the marriage of my daughter‘. Edward was the eldest son and heir to his father, Sir Thomas, Baron Borough. He would die in 1533. Maud’s will was proved 14 December 1531.
Maud and Thomas had three children to survive infancy.
The children who survived…William, Katherine, and Anne.
Katherine or “Kateryn” (1512-1548), later Queen of England and Ireland, would marry four times. In 1529, Katherine married Sir Edward Borough. He died in 1533. In 1534, Katherine became “Lady Latimer” as the wife to a cousin of the family, Sir John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer (of Snape Castle). He was dead by March 1543. A few months later, on 12 July, Katherine married King Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace. The king died in January 1547. In May of that year, Katherine secretly wed Sir Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour (d.1549) of Sudeley Castle, a previous suitor from 1543. Their love letters still survive. By Seymour, Katherine had a daughter, Mary. Katherine died 5 September 1548. Seymour would be executed 20 March 1549 for countless treasonous acts against the crown (his nephew was King Edward VI).
William (1514-1571) married on 9 February 1527, at the chapel of the manor of Stanstead in Essex, to Anne Bourchier, suo jure 7th Baroness Bourchier (d. 26 January 1571), only child and heiress of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex (d.1540). In 1541, she eloped from him, stating that “she would live as she lusted”. Susan James states the next year, Parr secured a legal separation. James also states that on 13 March 1543, a bill was passed in Parliament condemning Anne’s adulterous behavior and declaring any children bastards. Wikipedia states “On 17 April 1543 their marriage was annulled by an Act of Parliament and any of her children “born during esposels between Lord and Lady Parr””(there were none) were declared bastards. The source is G. E. Cokayne, ”The Complete Peerage”, n.s., Vol.IX, p.672, note (b). I have not been able to access The Complete Peerage to confirm. On 31 March 1551, a private bill was passed in Parliament annulling Parr’s marriage to Anne. She predeceased Parr by a few months. William married Elisabeth Brooke (1526-1565), a daughter of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham of Cobham Hall in Kent, by his wife Anne Bray. A commission ruled in favour of his divorce from Anne shortly after he married Elizabeth Brooke in 1547, but Somerset punished Parr for his marriage by removing him from the Privy Council and ordering him to leave Elizabeth. The divorce was finally granted in 1551, and his marriage to Elizabeth was made legal. On 31 Mar 1552, a bill passed in Parliament declaring the marriage of Anne Bourchier and Parr null and void. Their marriage was declared invalid in 1553 under Queen Mary and valid again in 1558 under Queen Elizabeth who adored William. Each change of monarch, and religion, changed Elizabeth’s status. She died in 1565. William married Helena Snakenborg in May 1571 in Elizabeth’s presence in the queen’s closet at Whitehall Palace with pomp and circumstance. Parr would die 28 October 1571.
Anne (1515-1552) who married Sir William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke in 1538. They had three children: Henry, Edward, and Anne. They are ancestors to the current Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, Earl of Carnarvon, Earl of Powis, Marquess of Abergavenny, and other nobility.
Notes
Porter, James, and Mueller state Thomas Parr was born in 1478. However, in James’s biography of Katherine, she states he was 37 at the time of his marriage to Maud Green in 1508. So that would be about 1471, right?
Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence, ed. Janel Mueller, 2011. Google eBook (preview)
Sir Nicholas Nicolas. Testamenta Vetusta: being illustrations from wills, of manners, customs, … as well as of the descents and possessions of many distinguished families. From the Reign of Henry II. to the accession of Queen Elizabeth, Volume 2, 1826. Google eBook
Elizabeth Norton. “Catherine Parr Wife, Widow, Mother, Survivor, the Story of the Last Queen of Henry VIII”, 2010. Google eBook (preview)
Linda Porter. Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin Publishing, 2010)
Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, 2011. Google eBook (preview)
Gareth Russell. Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII, 2017. Pg 215. Google eBook (preview)
Agnes Strickland. Lives of the Queens of England, from the Norman Conquest With Anecdotes of Their Courts, Volumes 4-5, 1860. Pg 16. Google eBook
Tudor and Stuart Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty, ed. Aidan Norrie, Carolyn Harris, Danna R. Messer, Elena Woodacre, J. L. Laynesmith, 2022. Google eBook (preview)
The Antiquary: A Magazine Devoted to the Study of the Past, volume 24, 1891. Google eBook
Sir William Parr, 1st Baron Parr of Horton (c. 1483 – 10 September 1546) was the son of Sir William Parr of Kendal and his wife Elizabeth Fitzhugh. His mother was a niece to Warwick, the Kingmaker and thus a cousin of Anne Neville, Duchess of Gloucester and Queen of England as the wife of Richard III. Lady Elizabeth and her mother, Lady Alice FitzHugh, rode in the coronation train for Anne when she became queen and it is believed they stayed on as ladies to the queen. Elizabeth had been in the household since Anne became Duchess.
Parr’s siblings included an elder brother, Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal (d.1517), who was father to the future queen of England, the Marquess of Northampton, and the Countess of Pembroke. Their sister Anne married Thomas Cheney (or Chenye) and was mother to Lady Elizabeth Vaux, wife of the 2nd Baron Vaux of Harrowden. The father of the 2nd Baron was Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron. His first wife was the widowed Lady Elizabeth Parr, mother to Thomas, William, and Anne. By Elizabeth, Nicholas had 3 daughters, Lady Katherine Throckmorton, Lady Alice Sapcote, and Lady Anne le Strange.
William Parr was a military man who fought in France, where he was knighted by King Henry VIII at Tournai Cathedral, and Scotland. Parr seemed to be uncomfortable in court circles and insecure in securing relationships. None the less he accompanied the King at the ‘Field of the Cloth of Gold’ in France. Like his brother, Sir Thomas Parr, William flourished under Sir Nicholas Vaux.
William was a family man. After the death of his brother, Sir Thomas Parr, William’s sister-in-law Maud, widowed at age 25, called upon him to help in financial matters and to manage her estates in North England while she was busy in the south securing a future for her three children. William had been named one of the executors of his brother’s will. Along with Cuthbert Tunstall, a kinsman of the Parrs, Parr provided the kind of protection and father figure which was missing in the lives of Maud’s children. William’s children were educated along side Maud’s children.
Although William was en-adapt at handling his financial matters, he was ironically appointed the office of Chamberlain in the separate household of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the acknowledged illegitimate son of King Henry VIII and Elizabeth Blount, based at Sheriff Hutton Castle in Yorkshire. It was William who found a spot for his nephew, William Parr, later Earl of Essex, in the Duke’s household where he would be educated by the very best tutors and mixed with the sons of other prominent families. Though thought to be a wonderful environment for Parr and his nephew to flourish in, the household was not a great passport to success as Parr hoped for. Henry VIII was very fond of his illegitimate son, but had no intention of naming him his heir. It has been claimed that Parr and his sister-in-law, Maud Parr, coached William to make sure that he ingratiated himself with the Duke, in case the Duke became heir to the throne but there is no factual evidence to support this claim.
Although Parr was named Chamberlain of the Duke’s household, the household was actually controlled by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in London. This control by Wolsey diminished any opportunity of Parr gaining financial benefit or wider influence. Along with the limited possibilities came other daily frustrations as the Duke’s tutors and the household officers under Parr disagreed on the balance of recreation and study. Parr was a countryman who thought it perfectly normal for boys to prefer hunting and sports to the boring rhetoric of learning Latin and Greek. As the Duke’s behavior became more unruly Parr and his colleagues found it quite amusing. The Duke’s tutor, John Palsgrave, who had only been employed six months, would not tolerate being undermined and decided to resign. Such was the household in which Parr presided over. Parr was suspicious of schoolmaster priests and anyone of lesser birth, even though he was not considered a nobleman at the time. The experience did not further the Parr family. If Sir William had paid more attention to his duties and responsibilities he may have reaped some sort of advancement; thus when the overmanned and over budgeted household was dissolved in the summer of 1529, Parr found himself embittered by his failure to find any personal advancement or profit from the whole ordeal.
Despite his failed attempts at achieving personal gain from the household of the Duke, Sir William made up for it during the Pilgrimage of Grace during 1536. William showed impeccable loyalty to the Crown during the rebellion. He had been in Lincolnshire along with Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and supervised the executions at Louth and Horncastle. William tried to ingratiate himself with Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex. Parr’s presence at the execution in Hull of Sir Robert Constable prompted Cromwell to share in confidence a correspondence in which he received from the Duke of Norfolk on William’s “goodness” which “never proved the like in any friend before.”
Sir William was Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1518 and 1522. He was also Esquire to the Body to Henry VII and Henry VIII. In addition to this, he was a third cousin to King Henry VIII through his mother. William was appointed Chamberlain to his niece Katherine Parr and when she became Queen regent during Henry’s time in France, Catherine appointed William part of her council. Although he was too ill to attend meetings, the appointment shows her confidence in her uncle.
Parr was knighted by King Henry VIII on Christmas Day, 1513. He was made a peer of the realm as 1st Baron Parr of Horton on 23 December 1543. Upon his death in 1546, with no male heirs, the barony became extinct.
He married Mary Salisbury, the daughter and co-heir of Sir William Salisbury; who brought as her dowry the manor of Horton. It was a happy marriage which produced four daughters who survived infancy:
* Maud (Magdalen) Parr, who married Sir Ralph Lane of Orlingbury. One of their children was Sir Ralph Lane, the explorer. Maud grew up with her cousin Katherine Parr, who would later become the last queen of Henry VIII. Maud would become a lifelong friend and confidante of the queen. * Anne Parr, who married Sir John Digby. * Elizabeth Parr, who married Sir Nicholas Woodhall. * Mary Parr, who married Sir Thomas Tresham I.
He is buried at Horton, Northamptonshire where the family estate was.
Lady Maud Lane and Lady Mary Tresham are ancestors to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex through their late mother, the Princess of Wales.
Gainsborough Old Hall, at one time was home to Katherine and her husband, Sir Edward.
Maud Parr looked to the Northern families for her daughter’s marriage after the deal with Lord Scrope of Bolton did not play out. In the lands of Sheriff Hutton, where her son William had once resided in the Duke of Richmond’s household, Maud found the royal surveyor of the castle, manor and lands, Sir Thomas Borough of Gainsborough, who was a distant kinsman of her husband, Sir Thomas Parr.[1]
The Boroughs of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire were and old and well-established gentry family. Sir Thomas’ grandfather, the 1st Baron had been an outstanding Yorkist in the reign of King Edward IV in the neighborhood of fanatical Lancastrians. He was a tough-minded and hard-handed individual who was given the Order of the Garter in 1496 by King Henry VII proving his ability to change and adapt with the constant royal change. Sir Thomas’ father, Sir Edward Borough, who became the 2nd Baron in name only, in 1496, was not so fortunate. Sir Edward, only a few years after succeeding to the barony, was declared a lunatic and was kept under restraint in his own home, Gainsborough Old Hall. After his incarceration, Sir Thomas, his son, took over as head of the family.[2][2.1]
Both Sir Thomas and his first wife Agnes Tyrwhit were kin to the Parrs and marriage into the family was seen as a suitable solution. Sir Thomas’ eldest son, Edward, was in his early twenties and although almost nothing is known about his character, it appears that his health kept him in a frail condition. Whether his health was frail or perhaps he inherited the bad seeds of his grandfather’s lunacy is uncertain. There were also rumors that Edward may have been homosexual. Whatever the ordeal, Edward was competent enough for his father to allow him the duties and responsibilities of part of his inheritance — he served as both a feofee and a justice of peace.[3]
For centuries, historians like Agnes Strickland, Alison Weir, and antiquarians alike have confused the grandfather, Lord Borough — with the grandson — Sir Edward — throwing the Scrope-Parr marriage negotiations into the mix for good measure. The story of twelve year old Katherine being sent away to marry an aged lunatic was/is a wonderful story filled with drama — but none the less was a myth that can now be laid to rest. The truth although is not quite so lurid and had its own moments of drama.*[see below for side notes]
Sketch titled “Lady Borow” by Holbein; thought by some to be Katherine Parr. Katherine’s father-in-law, Sir Thomas, had to pull his connections just to get his own wife, Lady Borough, painted by Holbein. (Porter pg 55)
Most likely in the Spring of 1529,[4] Katherine, now aged sixteen, set out for Lincolnshire to become the bride of Sir Edward Borough taking with her a wedding gift from her mother of two gold bracelets and a rosary. This was Katherine’s first venture north and given her closeness to her mother and her family it must have made her somewhat homesick.
Life at Old Gainsborough Hall with an unfamiliar husband and an over-bearing father-in-law given to violent rages, and the memories of the recently deceased lunatic in the attic must have frightened Katherine. Katherine’s new father-in-law ruled his family with an iron hand requiring absolute obedience. Some time after her marriage, Katherine’s father-in-law had another daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Owen, thrown out of the household and her children with his younger son Thomas declared bastards. Katherine’s husband lived in fear of his own father.[5]
In May 1533, at the celebrations for the coronation of Anne Boleyn, Katherine’s father-in-law was severely rebuked for ‘ripping Queen Katherine of Aragon’s [coat of] arms off her barge and for seizing the barge.’ Having been appointed Boleyn’s Lord chamberlain, he maintained a high profile and rode in her barge as she was received at the Tower on her coronation day. Appearing in the procession he wore a surcoat and mantle of white cloth of tissue and ermine as he held the middle of Anne Boleyn’s coronation train.[6] After being involved with the Queen’s affairs of state, Sir Thomas ended up being one of the twenty-six Peers summoned in May 1536 to Anne Boleyn’s trial; which would find her guilty and sentence her to death. In 1541, Sir Thomas would entertain King Henry VIII and his 5th ill-fated queen consort, Katherine Howard. Some ‘historians’ state that during this visit the King was introduced to his 6th and final queen consort, Katherine Parr, but by this time Katherine was now Lady Latimer, wife to Sir John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer of Snape Castle.[7]
Thomas Borough had an ambitious reform-minded chaplain with whom he discussed his opinions in the matter of religion with. The passion for the reformed religion in the household of the Borough’s could have been where Katherine was first introduced to the new religion.[8]
Yet Katherine’s duty was not to discuss religion but to bear sons, which she did not do. Failure to do so may not have been all her fault. Having been raised in a liberal and enlightened household maintained by her mother — Edward Borough’s new bride was unused to the paternal tyranny of the household at Gainsborough. If Sir Thomas attempted to intimidate Katherine, he did not succeed. In fact, Sir Thomas came to find that Katherine was made of sterner stuff than his own sons! Another reason for the failure, which may have also put a strain on the marriage, could have been due to Katherine’s marriage portion which had not yet been paid for. For in Maud [Green] Parr’s will, written in 1529, she remarked ‘I am indebted to Sir Thomas Borough, knight, for the marriage of my daughter’.[4] The historical record on whether or not Katherine was ever pregnant by Edward is silent. If she was, certainly none survived to full term or survived infancy. Although her immediate family would have known, they, along with Katherine never spoke of it and there is no record of children by Sir Edward.[9]
Gainsborough Old Hall
For a time, Katherine and Edward lived with Edward’s family at Gainsborough Old Hall. If Katherine was homesick or unhappy, she had reason to be and wrote frequently to her mother for advice. Her mother would travel north in 1530 to see Katherine and it is most likely at her urging that the couple move out of the Old Hall after two years of marriage. Sir Thomas was a steward to the manor of the soke of Kirton-in-Lindsey, a small village about ten miles above Gainsborough. Thomas was persuaded to secure a joint patent in survivorship with his son. Katherine and Edward moved to Kirton-in-Lindsey. It was a modest residence, but mainly it was away from her in-laws and was a household in which she was the sole mistress. Instead of becoming the passive lady of the household, Katherine took control of her fortunes. But with the joy of escaping the Old Hall came the tragic news of her mother’s death less than a year after she moved.
“In learning, charity, and responsibility for the welfare of her family, Maud was the pattern from which Katherine constructed her own self-image.” (James. pg 55)
Saint Andrew’s Church, Kirton in Lindsey.
A year and a half after the death of her mother, Katherine’s marriage to the fragile Edward came to an end. In 1532, Katherine’s husband was named to the various commissions of peace that held session in the area, but by April of 1533, Edward Borough “Burgh” was dead. Unable to remain at Kirton-in Lindsey, which belonged to her father-in-law, Katherine’s options were limited. Her in-laws showed no desire in having her move back into Gainsborough Old Hall or in even keeping her around. Sir Thomas turned over the income of two of his manors in Surrey and one in Kent as her dower and that was the end of it. With no children from her marriage to Edward, she no longer had ties to the Borough’s and was most likely more than happy to be rid of them.[10] As a young widow barely out of her teens, Katherine found herself with little money, no home and no support system among her late husband’s circle. Katherine found herself all alone with the question of what to do and where to go.
*Notes: Until recently, many sources online stated that Katherine married the elderly Edward Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh in 1529 [and some as early as 1526], at the age of seventeen, but the 2nd Baron died in August 1528. Truth be told that since Antonia Fraser’s release of The Wives of Henry VIII in 1994, and David Starkey’s 2004 release on the six wives, Katherine’s first husband has been identified as Sir Edward Borough. For seventeen years the preconceived notion that Katherine married the elderly 2nd Baron has been posted on many websites including Wikipedia. Some blame could be attributed to 19th century historian Agnes Strickland’s book on the Queens of England, Alison Weir’s book on the six wives [which seems to be a romanticized version of Parr’s life with sources from Strickland’s Victorian biography], lack of research, or lack of interest in Katherine. Coincidentally, recent interest in Parr sparked the release of two biographies on Katherine by Susan James and Linda Porter. In both books, research of documents and the will of Katherine’s mother confirm that she married the 2nd Baron’s grandson, who shared his first name. Sir Edward Borough was the eldest son and heir of the 2nd Baron’s eldest son and heir, Sir Thomas Borough, who would become the 1st Baron Burgh under a new writ in December 1529 after his father was declared insane and was never called to Parliament as the 2nd Baron Borough. In her will, dated May 1529, Maud Parr mentioned Sir Thomas, father of Edward, saying ‘I am indebted to Sir Thomas Borough, knight, for the marriage of my daughter‘. At the time of his son’s marriage, Thomas, was thirty-five which would have made Edward around Katherine’s age. Edward was in his twenties and may have been in poor health. The younger Sir Edward Borough died in the spring of 1533 never fulfilling the title of Lord (Baron) Borough.
Biographers of Katherine Parr, Susan James and Linda Porter, state that the younger Sir Edward Burgh died in the spring of 1533. Others state ”before April 1533”.[7]
Sources:
Primary: James, Susan E. Kateryn Parr: The Making of a Queen. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 1999. pg. 60-63.
– Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham. Magna Carta ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005. pg 838.
[1] Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII; I, i, no. 563 (10).
[2] M.E. James, ‘Obediance and Dissent in Henrician England: The Lincolnshire Rebellion, 1536’, Past and Present, 48 (August 1970), 3-78.
[2.1] Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII; 2, i, no. 1363.
[3] Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII; 5, no. 1694, and II, no. 943 (7).
[4] National Archives, London. PROB: 11/24; Image Reference 149/110. *The wording of Maud Parr’s will implies that Katherine’s marriage had only recently taken place and the making of the will itself may have been inspired by the recently concluded marriage of Lady Parr’s eldest daughter.
[5] Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII.
[6] Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII; 6, p. 241.
[7] Cole, Robert Eden George. History of the manor and township of Doddington, otherwise Doddington-Pigot, in the county of Lincoln and its successive owners, with pedigrees. James Williamson, Printer, 1897. pg 41-50.
[8] D. Willen: 1989, 148-152.
[9] Porter, Linda. ‘Katherine the Queen’. Macmillan, 2010. pg 55.
[10] Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII; 12, ii, no. 187(6).
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.
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