by G Lawrence
Mary’s daughter, Anne, whose existence is contested, must have died young if she existed, as there is no further mention of her, but Catherine Carey and Henry Carey would go on to serve their cousin, and possibly half-sister, Queen Elizabeth, and were high-fliers in her reign. Henry Carey became the first Baron Hudson and patron of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. He married Anne Morgan, and had six children. He served as a Member of Parliament for Buckingham, and was knighted in November 1558. He was also Master of the Queen’s Hawks, and Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners.
Elizabeth was very fond of Henry, and called him “my Harry”. He was instrumental in crushing rebellions in her reign, and was appointed Warden of the Eastern Marches, becoming a Privy Councillor in 1581.
He died in Somerset House, on the 23rd of July, 1596, and was buried at Westminster Abbey. On his deathbed, he refused Elizabeth’s offer to make him Earl of Wilshire, saying that if he had not been deemed worthy in life, he would not consider himself worthy in death.
Catherine Carey became a maid of honour to both Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. In 1540, she married Sir Francis Knollys, who was knighted in 1547 and later became a Knight of the Garter. Francis also became treasurer to the royal household for Queen Elizabeth I.
During the reign of Queen Mary I, Catherine and Francis, along with some of their children, fled abroad. As Protestants they knew they were in danger. When Elizabeth came to the throne they returned, and Catherine became one of the highest ranking of Elizabeth’s women. She was a great favourite of Elizabeth’s and despite problems that later occurred with her children, they remained close throughout life.
Catherine had about fourteen children, the most famous of which was Lettice, her eldest surviving daughter, who secretly married Robert Dudley, Elizabeth’s favourite, and Lettice found herself perpetually banished from court for daring to marry the man the Queen loved. Lettice’s son, Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex, was also a great favourite of Elizabeth’s, but was a rather bold, reckless and foolish young man. He was executed in 1601, becoming the second man carrying the title of Earl of Essex to die for treason.
Catherine Carey died on the 15th of January, 1569, at Hampton Court. She was buried the following April in Westminster Abbey with full honours. Elizabeth talked of her almost constantly after her death, betraying a deep and abiding love for the woman who may have been her sister.
Jane Boleyn, or Lady Rochford as she is better known, carried on at court, and remained a lady in waiting perhaps to Jane Seymour, but certainly to Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. The extent to which she was involved in Anne and George’s fall cannot be known, but despite recent attempts to clear her name, the fact that she remained in favour is highly suspicious. Cromwell saw to it that Jane was well provided for when she encountered crippling debt after George’s death. I cannot think there was good reason for this kindness unless she had helped him to bring Anne and George down. If Jane did give evidence against her husband and sister-in-law, we must judge her as we do Thomas Boleyn for abandoning his children to save himself. It may be that they both understood they could not save George and Anne, and simply worked to save themselves, but if we judge Thomas Boleyn harshly for this, Jane must be included if she did the same.
Jane died as Anne and George did, on the block. Embroiled in Catherine Howard’s love affair, she was arrested with her mistress, gave evidence against Catherine, and died for her part in the liaison. Jane may have suffered a mental breakdown in the Tower before her execution, which, under normal circumstances, would have led to at least a postponement in her execution, as it was illegal to execute those who were insane. It is possible she was faking, in full knowledge of this, and equally as possible she was not. It made no matter. Henry had his Parliament pass an Act of Attainder, which condemned her to death. On the 13th of February 1542, Jane died.
On the scaffold, she is supposed to have said, “Good Christians, God has permitted me to suffer this shameful death as punishment for having contributed to my husband’s death. I falsely accused him of loving, in an incestuous manner, his sister, Queen Anne Boleyn. For this I deserve to die. But I am guilty of no other crime.”
If this speech is accurate, then at least, at the end, Jane vindicated Anne and George.
Mary Tudor, later Queen Mary I, found to her utmost shock and disgust, that the fall of Anne Boleyn did not alter Henry’s attitude towards her or to religion. Mary may well have expected to be immediately reconciled with her father, and to find him heading back to Rome with open arms. Neither happened. In fact, Henry continued the same method of abuse with his daughter he had started many years before. He was tired of women defying him, and he would have obedience.
His treatment of Mary after Anne’s death also goes to show that it was not only Anne who urged harsh treatment for the Princess. Many historians claim that it was Anne alone who made Mary suffer. It was not. Henry played an equal, if not greater part in her suffering.
Mary was only reconciled to her father when she submitted to him and signed a declaration that her parents’ marriage was unlawful and she was a bastard. She also had to repudiate papal authority. Eventually, Mary submitted, but it was to haunt her for the rest of her life. She came back to court and was granted a household. She had many supporters, and one of the conditions of the Pilgrimage of Grace was that she be recognised as legitimate.
Mary became Prince Edward’s godmother, which was ironic considering the troubles they encountered in his reign about their differing faiths. There were numerous suggestions of husbands for her, but they were all turned down by Henry. Upon the death of her father, Mary became Edward’s heir and a rich woman, but due to her dedication to the Catholic faith, she and King Edward, a zealous and committed Protestant, came to blows. She retired from court and more than once considered fleeing England as her brother was determined to make her cede to the Protestant faith.
In 1553, Edward died at the age of just fifteen. He did not want Mary on his throne, fearing she would undo all his work for reform. He left a will in contradiction of the Act of Succession, which made Lady Jane Grey, his cousin and the granddaughter of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk, his heir.
In a coup led by John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, Jane Grey was placed on the throne, and Mary was to be captured. But Mary knew what was going on. Rather than head to London, as invited, she went to her estates in East Anglia, and raised an army. Northumberland’s support collapsed, his followers fled, and Mary, accompanied by her sister, Elizabeth, entered London carried on a wave of popular support.
Initially clement in matters of religion, Mary was, at first, a popular Queen. It is, perhaps, pleasingly ironic that the fate Henry attempted to escape in his unending search for a male heir was utterly thwarted by his daughter. Mary became England’s first Queen regnant, in defiance of her father’s quest.
But Mary’s reign was tragic in many ways. She was forced to execute Lady Jane Grey. Initially it seemed Mary would spare her, but when Jane’s father, Henry Grey, embarked on repeated rebellion in the name of his daughter, Mary knew Jane was too high-risk to leave alive.
Mary brought about a counter-reformation, trying to turn back time, and married Phillip of Spain. She loved her husband, but he did not return her affection. She suffered two false pregnancies, which brought many to censure her for the supposed failings of her body. The first may have been a phantom pregnancy brought about by her intense desire to be a mother and the second was almost certainly the illness that killed her, either a form of cancer or an infection. She was also repeatedly separated from her husband.
Mary burned somewhere around 300 men and woman for their faith and went down in history for religious genocide. Her reign also saw England joining with Spain to make war on France, which lost England a great deal of money, men, and the territory of Calais. She almost executed her half-sister, the wily Elizabeth, several times, and kept her under house arrest for a long time, fearing her Protestant half-sister would undo all he
r work to restore England to Rome. But she did leave her throne to her sister, and refused to execute her, despite the many troubles Elizabeth presented.
Mary died in 1558. She was vastly unpopular at the time of her death, and her husband was not with her. She lies in Westminster Abbey and shares a tomb with her half-sister, Elizabeth.
Henry Fitzroy died in the same year as Anne, most likely of consumption (tuberculosis), on the 22nd of July 1536. His death was kept secret, and his corpse was taken to Thetford Priory in Norfolk for burial. The secrecy was due to the fact that with the succession in doubt, many people had thought Henry would legitimise him. With both his daughters disinherited, and Prince Edward not yet born, there was no clear heir to the throne, and Fitzroy was a grown man, capable of taking on the weight of the crown. Had he lived, England might have had a different future. Cromwell claimed that Henry certainly intended to make him his heir.
After the funeral, Henry exploded at Norfolk and accused him of not burying his son with the honour he deserved, even though the commands about secrecy had come from Henry. Surrey mourned his friend, and wrote many beautiful verses about him, sorrowing for his death.
William Tyndale died in 1536 in the Duchy of Brabant, convicted of heresy. He was strangled to death and his corpse was burnt at the stake. He used his last words to pray that the eyes of the King of England would be opened.
Two years after Tyndale’s death, one of his greatest wishes came true when Henry authorised an English Bible. The work was largely Tyndale’s with other segments provided by Miles Coverdale. It became known as the Tyndale Bible, and was a driving force in spreading reformist ideas. The 1611 King James Bible was also based on Tyndale’s text, and the New American Standard Bible, and the English Standard Bible draw on his work too. He introduced words to the English language such as passover, scapegoat, and phrases such as a moment in time, let there be light, judge not that ye be judged, the powers that be, a sign of the times, and many others.
There is no denying that Tyndale was a vital part of the Reformation, and his genius in translating is almost unmatched. He has been recognised as one of the most influential people of Britain, and there are monuments to him in Vivloorde where he died (along with a museum), at the London Victoria Embankment Gardens, on a hill in North Nibly, the alleged place of his birth, and in Millennium Square, Bristol.
Although a humble man, his legacy may not have displeased him.
Despite rising high at court, the Seymour brothers were to die ignominiously. Thomas Seymour came under suspicion first for marrying the widowed Queen Katherine Parr after the death of Henry. Luckily for Thomas, King Edward was fond of him, and excused this illicit union. He was less forgiving, however, when he heard his uncle had been in hot pursuit of both Mary and Elizabeth, and Edward Seymour became equally mistrustful of his brother. When Katherine Parr died, and their child with her, (although there is some evidence to suggest the baby might have survived for a few years), all sense abandoned Thomas. He was executed for treason on 20th of March 1549 after attempting to gain physical control of King Edward by kidnapping him.
Edward Seymour followed his younger brother to the block on the 22nd of January 1552, accused of “ambition, vainglory,” as well as negligence, stealing King Edward’s wealth and following his own opinion. The Lord Protector had risen to become one of the most powerful men in England, ruling for his nephew, King Edward, during his minority, but he made powerful enemies, and was not popular in England. His fall saw the Duke of Northumberland rise and gain control of the young King.
Margaret and Mary Shelton often become confused in the pages of history. There is contention about which sister was Henry’s mistress, but from recent research it seems it was Mary rather than Margaret. The reason for the confusion is that Henry’s mistress was known as Marg, which would seem to point to Margaret, but it was common practise to write y’s as similar to g’s in the sixteenth century, which makes Mary the more likely candidate.
There is no evidence to firmly suggest that Anne asked Mary to become Henry’s mistress in an effort to unseat her rivals, but it is possible, and I chose to follow this in this book. Anne might not have liked it, but she would have understood by that point Henry was going to take mistresses, and it was better to have one in place who was her friend, than allow an enemy to warm his bed.
There is also no firm identification of the four ladies who attended Anne in her last days in the Tower. They are not named in sources, and only described as ‘young’. I chose to make them Mary and Margaret Shelton, Nan Gainsford and Margaret Wyatt/Lee, as these women had been shown as Anne’s closest friends, aside from her brother, during the course of the books.
After Anne’s death, Mary retired from court and entered a convent. She was engaged to a poet, named Thomas Clere, but he died before they could marry. She instead married Anthony Heveningham and had seven children, one of which, Abigail, went on to attend upon Queen Elizabeth I. Mary may have served as a chamberer (a royal cleaning lady) to Queen Elizabeth too. She died in 1571 and is buried in Suffolk.
Margaret is much harder to trace. It is thought she died before 1555.
Nan Gainsford, Lady Zouche went on to serve Jane Seymour. There were rumours she was one of the women who gave evidence that led to Anne’s arrest, although if she did, and how much choice she had in the matter is unknown. She and her husband, George, had eight children and there are claims (probably untrue) that she raised Bess of Hardwick in her household. George died in 1557, and Nan followed in or around 1590.
Mary Aucher vanishes from records after Anne’s trial. It is likely she went back to Hever and cared for Elizabeth Boleyn.
Mary Howard had a most unfortunate time after Anne’s death. When her husband, Fitzroy, died, their match has still not been consummated, and was therefore not binding by law. Mary was not allowed to keep the lands and properties that should have been granted to her. She stayed at court and was one of the women chosen to meet Anne of Cleves upon her arrival in England in 1539.
Upon the disgrace of Catherine Howard, Mary along with most of her family ended up in the Tower. She was released, and her father petitioned for her to marry Thomas Seymour, but Edward Seymour and his wife objected, and the marriage never took place. At a later date, her brother, Surrey, told Mary to seduce the King, and use him to wield power. Mary replied that she would rather cut her own throat. Later, she testified against her brother, leading to his execution.
Mary did not re-marry. She remained at court, but retired at some later stage, and died in the reign of Queen Mary, in 1557. She raised Surrey’s son, who went on to become the Duke of Norfolk in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Margaret Douglas found herself in a great deal of trouble not long after Anne’s death. Her love affair with Thomas Howard, Anne’s uncle, was uncovered, and when Henry learned of it, he was enraged. Both of them were sent to the Tower. Thomas wrote poetry to her from within his prison.
This event caused Henry to add a clause to the Act of Succession, which stated that it was treason to espouse, marry or deflower any woman of the royal family without knowledge and consent of the King. Thomas was attained by Parliament and sentenced to death. There was word that Margaret would face the same fate, but since actual sex had not taken place, she was reprieved.
In the autumn of 1537, Thomas and Margaret caught a fever in the Tower. Margaret was released into the care of the nuns of Syon, but Thomas died in the Tower. Eventually, Margaret was allowed to return to court.
Another clandestine love affair saw Margaret return to the Tower. In 1540, she fell in love with Charles, the brother of Catherine Howard, and Henry was incensed when he found out.
She went on to marry Matthew Stewart, the Count of Lennox; a match which, finally, had the permission of her royal uncle. During the reign of Queen Mary, Margaret was recognised by the Queen as the best suited to be her heir. Mary did not want Elizabeth on the throne. Margaret was Catholic, and, in Mary’s eyes, carried more royal blood tha
n her Protestant half-sister. Margaret was never named as heir, however, and when Elizabeth became Queen, Margaret, perhaps in resentment, became a constant problem, involved in intrigues and plots, mostly on behalf of her sons.
Margaret became mother to Henry Darnley, the obnoxious and ill-fated second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. The marriage was not supported by Elizabeth, as it united the twin claims of the Douglas and Stewart families, posing a danger to her throne. Darnley was murdered in 1567 in an explosion, (although he was probably suffocated or strangled after the blast), and Margaret denounced Mary of Scots as the murderer. Margaret later became reconciled to her daughter-in-law, and her husband became Regent of Scotland, but he was assassinated in 1571.
In 1574, Margaret’s second son, Charles, married Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of Bess of Hardwick, without the permission of Queen Elizabeth. Margaret went again to the Tower of London, but was pardoned when her son died a few years later. Margaret’s granddaughter by Charles, Arbella Stewart, was a potential claimant to the throne during Elizabeth’s reign, but her cousin, King James of Scotland, was seen as the more desirable successor.