Secrets of the Tudor Court Boxed Set

A WHO’S WHO OF THE EARLY TUDOR COURT

Beaufort, Margaret (Countess of Richmond)(1443–1509)

Margaret Beaufort gave birth to the future King Henry VII when she was only fourteen. She conspired to put him on the throne of England and to arrange his marriage to Elizabeth of York. She set up the rules that governed the nursery at Eltham. Late in life she became extremely pious.

Blount, Elizabeth (c. 1500–1540)

A “damsel of the most serene queen” from about 1513, Bess Blount was Henry VIII’s mistress and the mother of his acknowledged son, Henry FitzRoy (1519–1536). She married twice, had six more children, and was back at court as Lady Clinton when Anne of Cleves was queen.

Brandon, Charles (1485?–1545)

Starting as a page to Prince Arthur, Charles Brandon advanced steadily at court. He was sewer to Henry VII circa 1503, master of horse to the Earl of Essex from 1505, esquire of the body to Henry VII in 1507, and had developed a close personal friendship with the future Henry VIII before 1509. He was knighted in 1512, created Viscount Lisle in December of that same year, and elevated in the peerage to Duke of Suffolk in 1514. He married the king’s sister in mid-February 1515. His matrimonial history up to that point included three earlier “marriages” and an annulment, and he wed yet again after Mary Tudor’s death.

Brandon, Sir Thomas (1454?–1510)

Charles Brandon’s uncle, Sir Thomas was master of horse to Henry VII, with whom he was in exile in Brittany and France.

Bryan, Elizabeth (Lady Carew) (c. 1495–1546)

At court with her mother, one of Queen Catherine’s ladies, Elizabeth Bryan married Sir Nicholas Carew in December 1514. She was at court for most of Henry VIII’s reign and considered one of the most beautiful women there.

Bryan, Margaret (Lady Guildford) (d. by 1527)

Older sister of Elizabeth, Margaret Bryan married Sir Henry Guildford at court in May 1512. She participated in many of the masques and revels her husband produced. She died sometime between 1521 and 1527.

Carew, Nicholas (c. 1496–1539)

Squire of the king’s body, then groom of the privy chamber to Henry VIII, Nicholas Carew was probably in Prince Henry’s household as early as age six. He married Elizabeth Bryan in December 1514. He was not knighted until 1520, but he was already a champion jouster by 1516. He was executed for treason in 1539.

Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536)

The daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, Catherine of Aragon was sent to England in 1501 to marry Henry VII’s oldest son, Arthur, Prince of Wales. Arthur died soon after their marriage and Catherine spent the next seven years on the fringes of the English court and in near poverty. When Henry VIII succeeded his father, one of his first acts was to marry his brother’s widow. During the early years of Henry’s reign, theirs was a successful and harmonious marriage. When the king left England to make war on France, he named Catherine as regent. Although she had expert help from the Earl of Surrey and others, she was the one who ordered troops to defend England against the Scottish invasion that ended with the Battle of Flodden and she had a hand in negotiating the peace that followed. When she failed to give King Henry a son, he divorced her.

Chambre, John (1470–1549)

One of six physicians and five apothecaries to the king, Dr. Chambre served both Henry VII and Henry VIII. He first came to court in 1507.

Compton, Sir William (1482–1528)

William Compton was a ward of the king after his father’s death in 1493 and entered royal service at that time as a page to Prince Henry. To King Henry VIII he was groom of the bedchamber, groom of the stole, and chief gentleman of the bedchamber. He was knighted in 1513 and married by 1514 to Werburga Brereton, Lady Cheyney, a wealthy widow. He used her fortune to rebuild Compton Wynyates. His house in Thames Street in London was reportedly used by the king for assignations with at least one mistress, and in 1510 Compton himself was at the center of a scandal involving the married Lady Hastings. Earlier that same year he was almost killed in a tournament he and the king had entered in disguise.

Denys, Hugh (d. by 1516)

Hugh Denys was Henry VII’s groom of the stole. His wife, Mary Roos, was a member of Queen Elizabeth’s household and later joined that of Queen Catherine of Aragon. Mrs. Denys was still alive in 1540, by which time she had been widowed a second time.

Gibson, Richard

Richard Gibson was actively involved in every revel, spectacle, and tournament at court from 1510 to 1534. He was a yeoman tailor by profession, but he was also one of the King’s Players under Henry VII and their leader from 1505 to 1509. This troupe of players did not travel other than with the court and each received an annual salary of twenty marks plus livery and rewards for performances. Gibson was made sergeant of tents and sergeant at arms for the journey to France in 1513. He went on to become principal costume designer and producer of revels, working with Sir Henry Guildford, the king’s master of revels, as his deputy, and with William Cornish, director of the Children of the Chapel and designer of masques and pageants. Gibson was responsible for obtaining material from the wardrobe, renting houses to serve as workshops, contracting the services of whatever household departments were needed, hiring artists and artisans to make costumes, properties, and pageant wagons, and arranging for their transportation. He also made jousting apparel and trappings for the horses and decorated banqueting houses, some of which he helped construct.

Goose, John

“Goose” was Henry VIII’s fool when Henry was Duke of York.

Gordon, Lady Catherine (d. 1537)

Married to Perkin Warbeck by command of James IV of Scotland as part of the attempt to overthrow Henry VII, Lady Catherine ended up as a prisoner of the English king. She was placed in Elizabeth of York’s household, where she became a favored lady-in-waiting, and when Henry VIII became king she received several grants of land in Berkshire. In 1510 she married James Strangeways, a gentleman usher of the king’s chamber. After Strangeways’s death she married twice more, both times to minor courtiers.

Guildford, Henry (1489–1532)

Although there is no record of Henry Guildford at court before 1509, he may have been one of the children of honor in the Duke of York’s household at Eltham, where his mother was the Lady Mary’s lady governess. Guildford was knighted in 1512. He served the king as master of revels and became master of horse in 1515. He married Margaret Bryan at court on April 25, 1512.

Guildford, Sir Richard (1450–1506)

Father of Henry and husband of “Mother Guildford,” Sir Richard was deeply in debt at the time of his death in Jerusalem, where he had gone on pilgrimage. The previous year he had lost his post as controller of the king’s household due to poor management of money and had spent six months in the Fleet before being released by the king’s order. He was pardoned just before he left England.

Henry VII (1457–1509)

From 1471 until 1485, Henry Tudor was in exile in Brittany and France. Little is known of his exact location or his companions before 1483. In 1485, he defeated Richard III to seize the throne of England. He married Elizabeth of York (1465–1503) to strengthen his claim.

Henry VIII (1491–1547)

The second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Henry was Duke of York until the death of his older brother, Arthur. He then became Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father to the throne in 1509 and immediately married Arthur’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. In 1514, Henry VIII was twenty-three, stood six feet two inches tall and had a thirty-five-inch waist and a forty-two-inch chest. He was an athletic man, especially fond of tennis and jousting, at which he excelled. He was known to love his younger sister dearly and take great pleasure in her company. He was the first English monarch to adopt the style “Your Majesty” in preference to the traditional “Your Grace.”

Orléans, Louis d’, second duc de Longueville, Marquis of Rothelin, Count of Dunois, and Lord of Beaugency (1480–August 1, 1516)

On the death of his older brother, the first duke, in 1515, Louis d’Orléans inherited the title. At that time he was the captain of one hundred gentlemen of the king’s horse. He had been married for ten years to Jòhanna of Baden-Hochberg (1480–1543) and had four children by her, the youngest born in 1513. Longueville was captured at the Battle of the Spurs and sent to England as a prisoner of war to wait for his ransom (100,000 crowns) to be paid. While there he took a mistress, Jane Popyncourt. After the death of Queen Anne, he took an active role in negotiating the marriage of Louis XII of France and Henry VIII’s sister Mary, and served as proxy bridegroom at the wedding at Greenwich Palace. The next day, his ransom having been paid, he left for France. He was high in favor with both Louis XII and his successor, Francis I, both of whom were Longueville’s distant kinsmen. He was a combatant at the Battle of Marignano and reportedly lost a brother there. He died of unknown causes at Beaugency on August 1, 1516, having made his will the previous day. Although Jane Popyncourt left England for France in late May 1516, it is not known whether they were reunited. The story that he set her up at the Louvre and lived with her there for many years has no basis in fact. Not only did he die only a few months after she arrived, but in 1516 the Louvre was a ruin. The court, when in Paris, resided at Les Tournelles.

Pole, Eleanor (Lady Verney) (b. c. 1463)

As Lady Verney, wife of Sir Ralph (c. 1452–1528), Eleanor Pole served both Elizabeth of York and Catherine of Aragon. She was one of Elizabeth of York’s favorite ladies. As the daughter of one of Margaret Beaufort’s half sisters, she was also a cousin to Henry VII and his children.

Popyncourt, Jane (d. 1528+)

Records place Jane in England in 1498 as a French-speaking damsel assigned to teach the princesses that language through “daily conversation.” Nothing is known of her background. Some records identify her as French, others as Flemish. During the duc de Longueville’s stay at the English court as a prisoner of war, she became his mistress. Her name was struck off the list of Mary Tudor’s attendants at the last moment by King Louis XII, who made the comment that she should be “burnt.” She remained at the English court, participating in masques and serving as a maid of honor to Queen Catherine, until May 1516, at which time she received a gift of £100 from King Henry and left England for France. She corresponded with Mary Tudor for some years thereafter and sent gifts to Mary’s children. She is last heard of in 1528, when Mary asked Jane to use her influence at the French court on Mary’s behalf.

Radcliffe, Eleanor (Lady Lovell) (d. 1518)

Both Sir Thomas (1453–1524) and Lady Lovell were at court during the reign of Henry VII and the first part of that of Henry VIII. Lovell was constable of the Tower from 1509 on and one of the leaders of the army that marched north to defend England from Scottish invaders in 1513. He retired from court in 1516.

Salinas, Maria de (d. 1539)

Considered Queen Catherine’s closest friend by 1514, Maria de Salinas replaced her cousin, Maria de Rojas, as one of Catherine’s ladies in 1503. She was naturalized in 1516, shortly before her marriage to William, tenth Baron Willoughby d’Eresby. She had one child, Catherine, who became the ward of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, upon Willoughby’s death in 1526. In 1533, after Mary Tudor’s death, Charles Brandon married Catherine Willoughby.

Tudor, Margaret (1489–1541)

The oldest daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Margaret was married off to James IV of Scotland in 1503. She was willing to marry Louis XII of France, but he wanted her sister. Shortly after that marriage was contracted, Margaret chose her own second husband, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, by whom she had a daughter, Margaret, born in England in early 1516. In May of that year, Queen Margaret was reunited with her brother and a tournament was held in her honor at Greenwich, but their relationship was a prickly one. She did not remain at the English court.

Tudor, Mary (1495–1533)

Younger sister of Henry VIII and Margaret Tudor, the Lady Mary was for some years betrothed to Charles of Castile. She repudiated that marriage in order to wed Louis XII of France. She was eighteen. He was fifty-two. She is said to have been in love with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, before she left England and to have made her brother promise that she could choose a second husband for herself when Louis died. She may have helped this outcome along by encouraging King Louis to stay up late and join in the revels celebrating their marriage. Once widowed, she married Charles Brandon in Paris sometime before February 20, 1515. They were remarried at Greenwich, with her brother’s blessing, on May 13, 1515. Mary and Jane Popyncourt were lifelong friends and corresponded with each other after Jane left England for France in 1516.

Vaux, Joan (Mother Guildford) (c. 1463–1538)

A protégée of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond (Henry VII’s mother), Joan Vaux married Sir Richard Guildford as his second wife. She was in the household of Elizabeth of York and later became “lady governess” to Mary Tudor. She was again one of Margaret Beaufort’s ladies in 1509. By 1510 she had retired and was living on a small pension in a house in Blackfriars. That same year she inherited a second house in Southwark from Sir Thomas Brandon and leased it back to Brandon’s principal heir, Charles Brandon. Lady Guildford was called out of retirement to travel to France with Mary Tudor in 1514. Her dismissal by King Louis, along with most of Mary’s English attendants, on the day after the French wedding ceremony, caused a furor. In particular, Mary objected to sending her “Mother Guildford” away. Upon her return to England, Lady Guildford resumed her retirement. She was granted two pensions by the king totaling £60 per annum.

Velville, Sir Rowland (1474–1535)

Contemporary records say nothing of the rumor that Sir Rowland Velville was the illegitimate son of Henry VII by a Breton lady, but his descendants in Wales have always maintained that this was the case. It is certainly possible, and the king’s failure to acknowledge him is not particularly strange given the climate of the times. King Edward IV’s illegitimate son, known as Arthur Wayte during his early years and Arthur Plantagenet only later in life, lived at court under four successive English kings without having his parentage particularly remarked upon. What is certain is that Velville was a mere boy when he accompanied Henry Tudor to England. He lived at court, was knighted in 1497, and was an obsessive jouster. Velville participated in more tournaments than anyone else at the court of Henry VII. He was also known for his short temper. In 1509, he took up his duties as constable of Beaumaris Castle in Wales. His relationship to Jane is my own invention, an attempt to explain why she, of all the girls in France, might have been selected for the honor of teaching French to two English princesses.