The Court of Henry VIII was graced by two descendents of Robert le Blount, a Norman knight who came over with William the Conqueror: William Blount, 4th Lord Mountjoy, Prince Henry’s childhood mentor, and Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount, Henry’s mistress and mother of his son. Their common ancestor, Sir John Blount of Sodington (c.1298–1358), was born during the reign of Edward I. He had five sons: William was descended from the second son, Sir John Blount of Sodington, and Bessie from the fourth son, Sir Walter Blount of Barton and Belton.
Bessie Blount’s family was socially of modest stock. Her mother was Katherine, daughter and coheiress of Sir Hugh Pershall of Knightly, Staffordshire, who had held a place at Court briefly in 1502 as lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon when she was at Ludlow. Amongst the spouses of Bessie’s siblings there were no great titles.
William Blount, Lord Mountjoy, however, came from a family that played a prominent role at Court. After his time as tutor and mentor to the young Prince Henry, Mountjoy was given the post of Catherine of Aragon’s Chamberlain and his wife was one of her ladies. It was probably through family influence that Bessie, a distant cousin of Blount, found her place beside them as a lady-inwaiting. She was just the kind of young woman to catch Henry’s attention: blonde, beautiful and vivacious. She was a very good singer and dancer and wrote her own music – valuable assets in the service of a musically inclined young king who enjoyed the spectacle of masques in which he and his friends took part. In 1513, when she came to Court, Bessie received a year’s wages as a lady-in-waiting of 100s (£5).
Bessie made such an impact on her arrival that the King fell deeply in love with her. Lord Herbert of Cherbury wrote of Bessie that she ‘was thought for her rare ornaments of nature and education to be the beauty and mistress-piece of her time.’1 Henry and Bessie were reported to have fallen in love, or at least declared their affair, at a New Year Party in 1514; certainly her name is on the list of those who took part in the celebrations.
From 1514, Bessie became the King’s mistress for about five years. In 1518, her talents were demonstrated when Cardinal Wolsey hosted a banquet in honour of the betrothal of Henry’s infant daughter, Princess Mary, to the dauphin of France. One of the performers was Bessie Blount, singing a song she had written, with music by William Cornish, Master of the King’s Chapel.
Edward Hall wrote of Henry and Bessie: ‘The king in his fresh youth was in the chains of love with a fair damsel, called Elizabeth Blount, daughter of Sir John Blount, knight … she won the king’s heart, and she again showed such favour that by him she bore a goodly man-child, of beauty like to the father and mother. This child was well brought up, like a Prince’s child.’2 – the child in question was Henry Fitzroy (the surname means ‘son of a king’ in French). Bessie gave birth in 1519. Henry and Catherine’s daughter, Princess Mary, was three at the time. Bessie went to have her child at a house, given to her by the King, at Blackmore, near Chelmsford in Essex. After Bessie gave birth, Catherine of Aragon visited her to congratulate her whilst Wolsey set about finding her a husband.
According to Philip Morant’s The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex (1768), Blackmore was reported to have been one of ‘Henry VIII’s Houses of Pleasure and disguised under the name of Jericho, so that when this lascivious Prince had a mind to be lost in the embraces of his courtesans, the cant word amongst the courtiers was, that he was gone to Jericho.’3 Morant’s conclusions are inaccurate. Henry never kept a brothel and rarely enjoyed more than one physical relationship at a time. In fact, the house in question was Bessie’s home. The name of Jericho applied primarily to one hall or building (‘a tenement called Jericho’), a relic of the time when Blackmore belonged to a monastery.4
Bessie was henceforward known as the ‘Mother of the King’s Son’. She married Gilbert Tailboys some time around 1519, just after the birth of her son. From then on Bessie and her son were shown considerable respect around the Court, almost as if he were legitimate. After all, a bastard son might just inherit where a legitimate daughter might not.
The marriage between Bessie and Gilbert benefited both parties and they seem to have cohabited quite happily. Gilbert was the son of Sir George Tailboys. In 1509, at the time of the accession of Henry VIII, Sir George was Keeper of Harbottle Castle, and in 1513 he was in France with the King’s army. However, in March 1517, Sir George was declared insane, and his person, heir and estates were placed under the guardianship of Cardinal Wolsey. In 1531, Sir George passed into the care of the Duke of Norfolk, and finally died on 21 September 1538.
His son and heir, the young Gilbert, had been taken into the household of Wolsey, and when he agreed to marry Bessie Blount he was given the manor of Rokeby in Warwickshire and land in Yorkshire the following year, as his bride’s dowry. He also gained the favour of the King and the Chancellor, as well as a beautiful, agreeable and fertile wife. In March 1527, Gilbert was one of the gentlemen of the King’s chamber, and in November 1529 he was given the title of Baron Tailboys of Kyme.
Bessie went on to have three children with Gilbert. Their eldest son, George, became Baron Tailboys on his father’s death, but died without an heir in September 1539. The second son, Robert, had predeceased him, also without heirs, and the title now fell to the third child, a daughter, Elizabeth. She took the title of Baroness Tailboys, with the proviso that the title should pass to her husband as soon as they had produced a child. As it turned out, she married twice, to Thomas Wymbish and later to Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, but neither marriage produced a child and with her death in 1560, the title of Baron Tailboys became extinct.
Not everyone approved of Wolsey’s role in the affair. One of the charges brought against him later, indicating his unfitness to be a Minister of the Crown or a churchman, was, ‘We have begun to encourage the young gentlewomen of the realm to be our concubines by the well marrying of Bessie Blount; whom we would yet by sleight, have married much better than she is; and for that purpose changed her name.’5 At the time, however, Wolsey had pleased the only person who mattered. In June 1525, the Cardinal wrote to Henry, and asked after ‘your entirely biloved sonne, the Lord Henry Fitzroy.’6 The two men, King and Cardinal, could correspond about a base-born son with ease. Wolsey also had a bastard son, Thomas Wynter. The boy was made Dean of Wells, and later Provost of Beverly, Archdeacon of York and Richmond, and Chancellor of Salisbury – all while he was still at school and despite the fact that plurality (the holding of more than one church post) was illegal. It was said that the boy’s income was £27,000 a year.
In 1525, when he was six, Fitzroy was awarded his own household at Durham House, in the Strand, London. According to Hall, Wolsey was given the task of setting it up. This year was to become crucial in Fitzroy’s life and he now had a London house. Later he was given Baynard’s Castle, near St Paul’s, possibly one of the greatest houses in London. A prominent member of the household was the boy’s nurse, Agnes Partridge, who received 50s a quarter. Fitzroy was that most remarkable of boys, an acknowledged royal bastard. He lived in considerable state, as if he were a prince of the blood. His furniture included a throne and canopy of estate, made of cloth of gold fringed with red silk.
In 1525, Fitzroy was also made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Warden of the Cinque Ports, became a Knight of the Garter, and was given the titles of Earl of Nottingham (held by Richard, Duke of York, younger son of Edward IV), Duke of Richmond (held by Henry VII before he became king) and Duke of Somerset (held by the King’s great-grandfather). He was thereafter known by his title the Duke of Richmond.
The reason for the sudden influx of titles was political. In this crucial year there was a breakdown in diplomatic relations with Charles V, King of Spain. He had been betrothed to Henry VIII’s daughter, Princess Mary, for several years and now he needed a wife and a lot of money quickly. His ministers believed the marriage with Mary would not be finalised for some time and so turned to a more immediate and wealthy bride, Isabella of Portugal. After such a loss of diplomatic face, Henry sought to strike back at Charles through his aunt, Catherine of Aragon.
Richmond had been living quietly, and was now six years old, a fine, sturdy, little Tudor. Within days of the news from Charles, Richmond was brought into the limelight, given significant posts and made an earl and a duke (the highest level of nobility). The titles alone were not enough; Richmond needed estates to support his new position. Later that year Letters Patent, dated 11 August 1525, were issued that awarded Richmond lands and money that had belonged to Edmund Tudor, John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Margaret Beaufort. Most of his holdings were in Lincoln, Somerset and Devon. He was given Colyweston (Margaret Beaufort’s house) and Corfe Castle.7 At this time Richmond was also made Lord Admiral, Keeper of the City and Castle of Carlisle and first Peer in England.
Of course, Catherine complained – through his actions, Henry was as good as nominating Richmond as his successor, passing over their legitimate daughter. In retaliation, Wolsey reorganised her household and dismissed her Spanish women (at least those who were not his spies). When she went to Henry, Wolsey had already told him that these women were the ones who had persuaded her to complain about Richmond in the first place. Henry was adamant that the ladies should return to Spain. He then sent Princess Mary to Ludlow, in the Welsh Marches, ostensibly to begin her duties as Princess of Wales, but in fact to separate mother and daughter, knowing how much it would hurt Catherine. However, some consolation was that the Princess’s governess was the Countess of Salisbury, Catherine’s old and trusted friend.
Richmond now outranked everyone at court, even Princess Mary. Henry’s intention was obvious: to set his bastard son up to succeed him should he fail to have a living male heir.
In time, however, Henry got over his pique and he resumed a life of sorts with Catherine. They read and hunted together, although their sex life had virtually ended. Catherine’s last pregnancy had been in 1518 and it was now clear that there would be no others.
It was now decided that Richmond should set up a court of his own. Princess Mary was at Ludlow, so it seemed a logical step to send Richmond north to the border counties. He set out in the early summer and by 26 July 1525 he had reached Stoke Newington, Middlesex, home of William Jekylle. He moved on to stay with Catherine Parr’s mother, at Hoddesdon (her brother-inlaw was in Richmond’s household), then to Buntingford, then Shengay, Cambridgeshire. Richmond reached York on 18 August and, on the 28th, he went on to Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire, once a principal residence of Richard III. At York, he was joined by his recently appointed secretary, John Uvedale. Richmond stayed mostly at Sheriff Hutton, and sometimes at Pontefract.
When the young Duke travelled, he was attended like a prince. Richmond had his own household officers at Sheriff Hutton; these included Brian Higdon, Dean of York, as his chancellor; Sir William Bulmer as Steward of the Household; Sir Godfrey Engleham, treasurer, and a number of councillors including John Palsgrave, ‘schoolmaster’; and Walter Luke, ‘general attorney’. Also attending was Sir William Buttes, Henry VIII’s personal physician, present to look after Richmond.
The Duke had his servants, and these servants also had servants. From chaplains, ushers, grooms and footmen to carvers and servers; from cooks, bakers, brewers, stablemen and yeomen to an apothecary and the keeper of the garde-robe, the household numbered several hundred people. With such a formidable array of service, the wage bill for the year 1525 came to an astonishing £3,105 9s 8d, including food, clothing, etc. Clothes for the Duke alone cost £88, while £4 10s went on hounds, £3 18s 8d on players and minstrels, and £11 17s 10d for alms to the poor and needy.8 An inventory of Richmond’s wardrobe included: gowns of crimson damask [patterned silk], embroidered all over with gold; black velvet embroidered with a border of Venice gold [real gold thread]; purple satin tinsel [a fabric woven of silk and metallic thread] and a mantle of the garter of purple velvet and the garter wrought with Venice gold.
On 10 October (after reaching Sheriff Hutton), William Frankelyn, the Chancellor of Durham, wrote to Cardinal Wolsey, updating him on the journey:
‘I assure your Grace my lord of Richmond is a child of excellent wisdom and towardness, and for all his good and quick capacity, retentive memory, virtuous inclinations to all honour, humanity and goodness, I think hard it would be to find any creature living of twice his age able or worthy to be compared to him … with what gravity and good manner he desired to be recommended unto the King’s Highness, the Queen, and your Grace, I doubt not but the said Mr. Almoner [Edward Lee] will advertise your grace at his coming.’9
Richmond’s tutors were John Palsgrave and Dr Richard Croke, a Greek scholar who taught him Greek and Latin. Thanks to Croke, Richmond wrote ‘in a clear Italian hand’, which appears in letters to his father. Croke was also proud of the fact that, at eight, Richmond was translating Caesar’s texts unaided. Apparently Henry had promised his son that, as soon as he was able to translate Caesar’s Commentaries, he should have his first suit of armour.
Bessie also kept in touch with her son. Palsgrave wrote to her that he was ‘inclined to all manner of virtuous and honourable inclinations as any babe living.’10 He went on to report, ‘… the King’s Grace said unto me in the presence of Master Parr [Sir William Parr, Chamberlain] and Master Page [Sir Richard Page, Vice-Chamberlain], “I deliver,” quoth he, “Unto you three my worldly jewel …”.’11
As Richmond’s aunt, Margaret, Queen of Scotland, took a natural interest in the Duke, particularly as he might one day be king of England. A letter from the Queen to Sir Thomas Magnus (surveyor and general receiver of Richmond’s estates), dated 25 November 1525, mentions: ‘… our good nephew the duke of Richmond and Somerset … We desire you affectionately to have us recommended unto him, as we that shall entertain our dutiful kindness, as natural affection aright towards him, as we that is right glad of his good prosperity, praying the same to continue.’12 Queen Margaret was determined to put herself and her son, the future James V of Scotland, in Richmond’s good graces and, by doing so, to gain her brother Henry’s approval as well.
In 1525, the question of a marriage for Henry’s only surviving lawful daughter was raised again. Since the Spanish were now no longer Henry’s preferred allies, he was looking to France for a new alliance. As part of negotiations, the question of the marriage of Princess Mary was raised. This time, she was to marry Henri, second son of Francis I, and Richmond was to marry one of his daughters. Thus, eventually one of the French King’s children would share the English throne, thereby creating an alliance between France and England against Spain. As it was, nothing came of the plan as events were developing in another direction. Two weeks after the formal betrothal of Princess Mary to Prince Henri, a church court was assembled in London to discuss the question of Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
In 1526, as the French marriage for Richmond had come to nothing, the situation in Italy caught English attention. On 11 February 1527, Wolsey received a letter from Sir John Russell in Rome, concerning Pope Clement VII’s niece, Catherine de Medici. This extremely wealthy heiress had attracted the attention of Monsieur de Vaudemont (the future Duke of Lorraine), who wanted to marry her, as did James V of Scotland and the Duke of Ferrare. ‘… then I showed Sir Gregory [Casale, Ambassador to Spain]that I thought she should be a mete marriage for my lord of Richmond.’ Russell reported that he had not pressed the matter and would not do so without Wolsey’s agreement. It was not forthcoming and Russell allowed the matter to drop.13
Speculation was rife as to who would be chosen as Richmond’s bride. Spain was once more a potential ally, and Sir Richard Lee approached Charles V about his female relatives. The daughters of the Queen of Denmark (Charles’s sister), Dorothea and Christina, were mentioned. Princess Maria, the daughter of the Queen of Portugal (another sister) was already promised in marriage, although Wolsey suggested Richmond should marry her and that the couple should be given the Duchy of Milan. Once again, the marriage plans came to nothing. Foreign kings were reluctant to marry their sisters and daughters to a royal bastard while there was still a chance that Henry would have a legitimate son.
In May 1528 the sweating sickness had reached Pontefract. The Council moved Richmond to Ledestone, a priory house near Castleford, with just five servants to reduce the risk of infection, and asked for a physician, just in case. Having received remedies concocted by the King, Richmond wrote to Henry: ‘… thanks be to God and to your said highness, I have passed this last Summer without any peril or danger of the ragious sweat that has reigned in these parts and other, and much the better I trust with the help of such preservatives as your highness did sent unto me, whereof most humble and most lowly I thank the same.’
On 9 August 1529, aged just 10, Richmond was summoned to attend Parliament as one of the House of Lords. From then on, he would live in London, closer to his father, with a suite of rooms at Windsor usually assigned to the Prince of Wales (Princess Mary was given rooms of lesser magnificence). On 2 December, the new Duke of Northumberland replaced Richmond as Warden of the Northern Marches. However, Richmond did not remain without a major role in government for long. On 22 June 1530 Richmond was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with Sir William Skeffington as his Deputy. It was a courtesy title only; Richmond never visited Ireland.
In April 1530, Gilbert Tailboys, Richmond’s stepfather, died and was buried at Kyme. In 1532, the widowed Lady Tailboys was approached by Lord Leonard Grey, brother of the Earl of Dorset and later Lord Deputy of Ireland. He wrote to Cromwell: ‘Written at Kayme, my lad Taylbusshe house, the 24 day of May, at 12 of the clock at noon … so it is I have been hunting in Lincolnshire, and so came by my lady Taylbusshe homewards, and have had communication with her in the way of marriage, and so I have had very good cheer with her ladyship, ensuring you that I could be better contented to marry with her (God and the king pleased) than with any other lady or gentlewomen living.’14
Whereas Lord Leonard Grey was enthusiastic for the match, Lady Tailboys was less so. She may have had her eye on a greater prize. Now Henry VIII was talking about a divorce, why shouldn’t he marry his old mistress and legitimise their son? Unfortunately for Bessie, Henry had already fallen in love with Anne Boleyn. Two years later, she married again, to the young and handsome Edward Fiennes Clinton. One of the King’s attendants, Clinton was the son of Thomas, Lord Clinton and Saye, and had been made a royal ward when his father died during his minority.
According to the Dictionary of National Biography, ‘she [Bessie] was old enough to be her boy-husband’s mother.’ Actually Bessie was in her mid-thirties and her husband Clinton (born in 1512) was 22, hardly a ‘boy-husband’. She was already the mother of four children, and with Clinton, Bessie had three daughters: Bridget, who married Robert Dymoke (a cousin of Lord Tailboys); Katherine, who married William, Lord Burgh; and Margaret, who married Charles, Lord Willoughby of Parham.
Clinton went on to forge a formidable career. A charming and talented young man, in 1540 he started in the service of Lord Lisle, the Lord High Admiral, and in 1544 led the fleet supporting an attack on Edinburgh. For his services, he was knighted by Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford and Duke of Somerset ( Jane Seymour’s brother and Lord Protector under Edward VI). Between 1547 and 1550, Clinton was governor of Boulogne and in May 1550 he was appointed Lord High Admiral. A year later he became a Knight of the Garter. His skills were recognised so that, although he was deprived of his post during the early years of Queen Mary’s reign, he was reappointed and carried on as Lord High Admiral under both Mary I and Elizabeth I.
Henry VIII kept a firm eye on his beloved son, Richmond, moving him between royal palaces so as to always have him near. Between 1530 and 1532 he principally lived at Richmond Palace. His life at Court is beautifully described in a poem written by his dearest friend and brother-in-law, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey:
… As proud Windsor, where I, in lust and joy,
With a king’s son my childish years did pass …
The large green courts, where we were wont to hove,
With eyes cast up unto the maidens’ tower,
And easy sighs, such as folk draw in love.
The stately sales; the ladies bright of hue;
The dances short; long tales of great delight;
With words and looks that tigers could but rue,
Where each of us did plead the other’s right …
The gravelled ground, with sleeves tied on the helm,
On foaming horse, with swords and friendly hearts …
In active games of nimbleness and strength
Where we did strain, trailed by swarms of youth,
Our tender limbs, that yet shot up in length …
The wild forest, the clothed holts with green,
With reins availed and swift ybreathed horse,
With cry of hounds and merry blast between,
Where we did chase the fearful hart a force …15
Eustace Chapuys, the Imperial Ambassador (1529–45), wrote that when travelling in the company of the Duke of Norfolk, he had been told that the King himself had selected Surrey as Richmond’s ‘preceptor and tutor … so that a friendship thus cemented promises to be very strong and fair.’16 Thus, Surrey was to be Richmond’s mentor as Mountjoy had been the King’s. The young men hunted deer and played tennis, but mostly turned their attentions to the young ladies of the Court. In the evenings there was dancing and the young men pleaded each other’s case to the giggling girls. Marriages would be arranged, but it was no sin for a young lady of the gentry or the minor nobility to become the mistress of a Royal Duke, like Richmond, or the heir to the country’s premier dukedom, like Surrey. If Richmond should become king, and Surrey, then Duke of Norfolk, should be his closest friend and adviser, a mistress of either might expect to do very well out of any liaison. It was common for members of the nobility to break the rules and indulge in love affairs outside matrimony.
One fascinating reference is to the tennis matches: it was the fashion for the ladies to watch from an upper gallery when observing a game of tennis. However, a young lady could slip downstairs and hide behind the barriers that lined the court. Thus the young man would ‘lose’ his ball and be obliged to go and look for it behind those selfsame barriers.
Henry VIII had chosen well for his son’s mentor. The King had an affection for the young Earl of Surrey who was seen as an ornament to the Court, growing into a soldier and poet. Surrey and Richmond lived together at the palace as closest friends. After Richmond’s death Surrey was arrested for striking a man in Hampton Park who had cast doubts on Surrey’s loyalty. However, the King reduced his sentence to a period of confinement at Windsor during which he wrote a number of poems including one as a testament to his love for his friend.
In autumn 1532, Henry went over to France to meet with Francis I, accompanied by a vast retinue, including Richmond. The Chronicles of Calais recorded the event: ‘The 11 day of October, Henry the Eighth, king of England, landed at Calais, with the Duke of Richmond, his bastard son …’17 Richmond remained there and by 25 October Henry VIII and Francis I were returning from their meeting at Boulogne, when ‘without the town [Calais] about the distance of two miles, the Duke of Richmond, the king’s base son, with a great company of noblemen which had not been at Boulogne, met them, and saluting the French king, embraced him in a most honourable and courteous manner.’18
Henry had brought Anne Boleyn with him as his consort on this state visit, not Catherine of Aragon. As a result, neither Francis I’s wife, Eleanore, nor his sister, Marguerite, attended. Francis’s hostess on this occasion was his mistress, Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, duchess d’Étampes. It was an odd royal visit for the King of England, to bring his mistress and bastard child, and leave his wife and daughter at home.
When Henry VIII and his retinue returned to England, Richmond and Surrey stayed on in France. The French King was pleased to entertain such a promising youth, and Richmond and his followers were proud and pleased to be feted by the French Court. Richmond enjoyed the company of the dauphin Francois and his brother, Henri d’Orléans, as well as their sisters. They hunted, played tennis, gambled and, if rumour is to be believed, behaved like teenage hooligans, riding the streets at night, beating people up and raising riot.
Everyone seemed keen to praise the Duke. There is, however, one dissenting voice that shows Richmond in a different light. A poem–history of the life of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton (a younger son with no hope of inheritance), included the following description of his life as a page to a temperamental young man, during his time at the French Court:
A brother, fourth, and far from hope of land,
By parents’ hest, I served as a page
To Richmond’s duke, and waited still at hand,
For fear of blows that happen’d in his rage.
In France with him I lived most carelessly,
And learned the tongue, though nothing readily …19
On 26 November 1533 a papal dispensation was sought in order that Richmond might marry ‘Lady Mary.’ It has been suggested that this dispensation had been requested so that Richmond could marry his half-sister, Princess Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon. In fact, it refers to his proposed marriage to Mary Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. A dispensation was necessary because Henry VIII had married Norfolk’s niece, Anne Boleyn, which meant that Mary Howard and Richmond were now more closely related.20
Richmond began to participate more in Court life. On 20 January 1534, he attended a Chapter of the Garter to elect James V of Scotland to a vacant place and in May he represented his father at the head of the Garter procession. Between 15 January and 30 March, Richmond attended Parliament on 32 of the 45 days that it was in session. However, between 12 June and 18 July 1536, he was absent, most probably ill.
Richmond was also interesting himself in his estates with increasing confidence. He wrote to Cromwell on 13 June 1535, a petition carried by William Byttilcome: ‘… being burgesse of the parliament of my said town … I and Sir Giles Strangeways with other of my council have seen and viewed a certain breech above my town of Poole called Northavyn point, and so perceive by the same that by reason of the sea it will be not in process of time greatly prejudice and hindrance to the king’s highness in his customs there, but also ensure and be to the great annoyance and decay of my said town by reason of the same.’21 Richmond had descended on Poole with his entourage of around 600 on something akin to a royal progress. He was met with cheering crowds, listened to loyal addresses and accepted gifts. He now clearly saw himself as a royal prince, a possible future king, and was acting accordingly.
A letter from Richmond at Sheffield to Cromwell, 4 July 1534, advising him ‘here in the country where I lie, I have no park nor game to show sport or pleasure to my friends when they shall resort unto me’, indicates that Richmond was now hoping for more than a suit of armour from his doting father. He sent a list of the royal parks in the area, and hinted rather heavily that he hoped the King would help him remedy the matter of his having nowhere to hunt with his friends. Richmond had a passion for hunting and was not above removing woodland to enlarge his deer parks or riding down crops during the chase. This was an attitude typical of the nobility of the day, considering no one’s rights or welfare but their own.22
His official duties increased in line with his new status. In November 1534, Richmond, as England’s Admiral, was called on to entertain the French Admiral of the Fleet. After New Year at Collyweston, Richmond was back in London adding his presence to the entertainments for Chapuys, the Imperial Ambassador, who had come to make sure the Princess Mary was well. She had earned Henry VIII’s displeasure through her refusal to sign his Act of Succession which would make her a bastard: she had lost her governess, the Countess of Salisbury (replaced by Lady Shelton), and had been so ill that it was feared she might die.
In 1535, Henry seems to have decided that Richmond should have a taste of responsibility. It was planned that he should lead an army to pacify Ireland and could then be officially titled King of Ireland. An army was assembled; the Duke of Norfolk, an experienced campaigner, joined Richmond, but they never sailed. At Christmas 1535, Richmond was with his father at Windsor.
Richmond had always enjoyed a tolerable relationship with Anne Boleyn, but all this was to change. With the arrest of Anne, rumours began to fly around Court, one of which was that she had practised witchcraft to ensnare the King. The rumours also stated that Anne had poisoned Catherine of Aragon, and that she had planned to do the same to Princess Mary and Richmond, in order to clear the path to the throne for her own child. Chapuys wrote to Charles V:
‘The very evening the concubine [Anne Boleyn] was brought to the Tower of London, when the Duke of Richmond went to say goodnight to his father, and ask his blessing after the English custom, the King began to weep, saying he and his sister, meaning the Princess [Mary], were greatly bound to God for having escaped the hands of that accursed and poisoning whore, who had determined to poison them.’23
The evidence for poisoning seems to have been supported by Jane Parker, George Boleyn’s wife, who claimed that while Richmond and Surrey were in France, in July 1533, they both became ill after sharing a cup of wine. George Boleyn had been at the French Court with the Duke of Norfolk at that time and George had abandoned his belongings and headed for England as soon as the young men fell ill. The implied conclusion was that he had attempted to poison the chief rival to his sister’s children.
Richmond attended Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536. He was accompanied, amongst others, by Surrey, Thomas Audley, the Lord Chancellor, Charles Brandon and Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s minister and the author of the whole fiasco. The Lord Mayor and aldermen also attended, as did ordinary members of the public. Richmond was 17 years old, and was probably already ill with the disease that killed him. He did, however, inherit some of Anne’s lands and those of her fellow victims, including property that Anne had snatched from the estate of the dead Catherine of Aragon. When George Boleyn was executed, his posts of Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports went to Richmond.24
Through Henry’s marriage to Jane Seymour in 1536, all three children (Richmond, Mary and Elizabeth) were now equally illegitimate. A new Act was therefore passed: should Jane Seymour fail to produce a legitimate heir, the King was to nominate his successor from amongst his bastards. He would then be able to lawfully choose Richmond. This meant that the young Duke took on a higher profile; as Robert Radcliffe, Earl of Sussex, remarked, ‘If all the children were bastards, it was advisable to prefer the male to the female for the succession to the crown.’25
When Parliament opened in June, Richmond was part of the procession, walking in front of the King carrying the Cap of Maintenance, made of crimson velvet lined with ermine, traditionally carried by the senior member of the House of Lords. Richmond had largely kept out of serious politics up until that point; he had the rank, the money, the education, but not the power. Now he was married to the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, England’s premier duke, and was being groomed for future kingship.
Despite his father’s deep affection, Richmond was still vulnerable to Henry’s current wave of paranoia. He had not gone to Ireland, yet his army still existed. Cromwell, who had engineered the downfall of Anne Boleyn, seems to have started to undermine Richmond as well, telling Henry that the young man was, ‘very likely to fall into inobedience and rebellion.’26 Actually, Cromwell was almost certainly trying to discredit the powerful Duke of Norfolk, Anne Boleyn’s uncle and Richmond’s father-in-law, so as to totally destroy his influence at Court. Discrediting Richmond was merely a means to this end.
Meanwhile, Richmond and his bride set up home at the newly renovated St James’s Palace, and things would have gone well if he had not developed a serious cough with chest pains. By the summer, Richmond was seriously ill, and unable to attend the closing of Parliament on 18 July. His physician, Dr William Buttes, was called in almost immediately, but too late. On 22 July 1536 Richmond died in great secrecy. So sudden was the event at St James’s Palace that some of his belongings, including his chapel furniture, were still at Tonge, a manor house near Sittingbourn, Kent, where it had been sent in anticipation of Richmond’s arrival.
When the King was told his son was dead, he was at Sittingbourn, daily expecting Richmond. What happened next is almost inexplicable. There was no autopsy, no public mourning or state funeral. Henry’s response to the death of his ‘worldly jewel’ was to take Jane Seymour to London and to call on his daughter, Mary, advising her that she might now move into Richmond’s apartment as ‘Second Lady of the Kingdom’. Norfolk was told to take care of Richmond’s remains. Mary Howard took as much of her gold and silver plate as she could carry (her only asset), returned to her father’s house and enquired after her widow’s pension. She was told there would not be one.
Rumour said that at first Richmond’s body was hastily buried at Thetford, in a stable yard, and moved later. Another version, probably correct, said his body was placed in a sealed coffin and transported in a cart covered with straw to rest in Thetford Priory, where others of the Howard family were buried. Here it lay for two years; when the Priory was dismantled during the Reformation, Richmond’s remains were moved and he lies in St Michael’s Church, in Framlingham, with his duchess, under a once-splendid monument, amongst his wife’s Howard relations.
Richmond is believed to have died of tuberculosis, although the secrecy and speed of his burial might be due to the fact that he died, or was suspected of having died of pneumonic plague. The main symptoms of this are fever, headache, weakness and rapidly developing pneumonia with shortness of breath, chest pain and coughing, all symptoms that Richmond showed before his death. The pneumonia progresses for two to four days with death from respiratory failure and shock. Richmond was only 17, ‘having pined inwardly in his body long before he died.’27 If the illness had been developing for some time, it was probably not plague, but his quick death may have convinced his attendants that it was.
When it came to the treatment of his corpse, the speed of his sickness and death may simply have overwhelmed the King. The death of his beloved son may have devastated his father. He had lost his only son who had died without heirs. Henry’s instructions to Norfolk may have been misinterpreted or confused by the chain of instruction, so that the body was roughly coffined and transported by Norfolk’s servants.
But why did his father ignore him so completely? This might support the theory that Henry believed that Richmond was part of a planned revolt against the Crown, rising from his powerbase in Lincolnshire. It would not be the first time an heir decided not to wait for his inheritance, and the affair could have been triggered by Jane Seymour’s pregnancy. A living, lawful male child would have put Richmond firmly out of contention for the throne. In fact, there was an uprising in Lincolnshire in September and October 1536, not long after Richmond’s death. Would he have supported this action, had he been alive? Did Henry believe his son had been actively involved in this disturbance? Certainly supporters of the revolt came from South Kyme, Tailboys lands, and the leaders included Bessie Blount’s son-in-law, Robert Dymoke, and Richmond’s servants, Sir John Russell and Sir William Parr.
Yet, when things calmed down, the King berated Norfolk for the nature of his son’s burial. Henry’s usual response to loss was to run from it and act as if he wasn’t involved. His defence mechanism had been activated and he thought he could trust Norfolk to do the right thing for his own son-in-law. As they had not communicated face-to-face, the King and Norfolk had each misinterpreted what was to be done. The King wanted the whole painful matter to be over quickly; Norfolk mistook speed for privacy and secrecy.
On 24 December 1540, Sir John Wallop wrote to King Henry. He had been at a banquet with the dauphin and the duc d’Orléans, King Henry’s godson. The dauphin Francois ‘began to speak of my lord of Richmond, lamenting his death greatly, and so did Monsieur d’Orléans likewise …’28 The French princes could still remember Richmond fondly, and Sir John was confident enough of the King’s feelings to pass the comment on to him. This tends to support the notion that it was sudden, overwhelming grief that kept Henry from mourning his son at the time, not fear of his betrayal. He could still listen, as a proud father, to compliments about his lost son.
In 1540, Bessie Blount died. Her husband, Lord Clinton, married again a year later, to Ursula, daughter of William, Lord Stourton, and they had two more daughters and three sons. Ursula died in 1551 and the following year Clinton married for the last time, to Elizabeth Fitzgerald, the daughter of the Earl of Kildare and widow of Sir Anthony Browne. Like Bessie Blount, Elizabeth was a renowned court beauty, and was the inspiration for the Earl of Surrey’s poetry, featuring as ‘fair Geraldine’. The couple had no more children, and Clinton died in 1585.
Richmond’s widow, Mary Howard, was approached two years after his death with an offer of marriage. A letter from Sir Rafe Sadyler to Cromwell, dated July 1538, puts the case for Jane Seymour’s brother, Thomas. This turned out to be part of an elaborate plot by Jane’s brother, and to a lesser extent, her father, to regain influence over the King.
The family to which Mary Howard belonged had aspirations to greatness, but were latecomers to the nobility, despite their title. The first Earls of Norfolk had been the Bigods, under the Norman William I. When the family line died out, Edward I resurrected the title, raised to a dukedom, for his youngest son, Thomas of Brotherton. In 1397 the dukedom passed through marriage to the Mowbrays until James, the 5th Duke, died in 1476. This last male Mowbray left an infant heiress who was married to Richard, Duke of York, the younger of Edward IV’s sons. Little Anne Mowbray died before her husband met his mysterious end in the Tower of London with his older brother, Edward V. The Mowbray title fell into abeyance, although the Mowbray name and bloodline survived through female lines. One of these was through little Anne’s great-aunt, Margaret de Mowbray, who had married Sir Robert Howard.
On little Anne Mowbray’s death, Richard III formally gave the title of Duke of Norfolk to Sir John Howard of Stoke Neyland. Besides being the son of Margaret de Mowbray, sister of the 2nd Duke, he was a renowned warrior and supporter of Richard and his party, who later became Constable of the Tower of London. Being Richard’s man, however, meant that the title was lost when Sir John Howard died at Bosworth fighting for the King; it took his son 20 years to get his title back from Henry VIII. Sir John’s grandson, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, was the father of Mary, Dowager Duchess of Richmond, and Henry, Earl of Surrey.
For a time, back in 1536, it looked as if the Howard star was in the ascendant. So popular with the King was Surrey that Anne Boleyn even suggested that he should marry the ‘bastard’ Princess Mary. There was every chance that Richmond would become King and Mary Howard would be Queen. As Richmond’s closest friend, Surrey could expect to play a major role in government. It may also have entered his mind that if Richmond should die without heirs, why should he not nominate his brother-in-law or nephew as his successor? However, with the death of Richmond and the birth of Prince Edward to Jane Seymour, everything changed. Power now lay with the Seymours.
In 1543, after Anne Boleyn’s execution, Norfolk decided that his family should regain their influence by allying with the Seymours, brothers to Queen Jane and uncles to the future King Edward. To this end, he suggested to his widowed daughter that she entertain the offer of marriage from Thomas, the younger of the brothers. Although Surrey was, in general, violently opposed to the men about the King, as typified by the Seymours who came from the lesser nobility, he foresaw a way of gaining control of the throne, using his sister, and was apparently in favour of this particular match.
The whole plan was laid bare when the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Surrey were suddenly arrested on charges of treason. Sir Richard Southwell (one of the accusers), John Gates and Wymond Carew went immediately to Kenninghall to question Mary Howard and Elizabeth Holland, the Duke’s mistress. They arrived at the house so unexpectedly that Mary had just risen, and was dressed in a loose robe, a type of housecoat. According to these gentlemen, she was ‘sore perplexed, trembling and like to fall down’ when she realised that her father and brother were accused of treason. She fell to her knees and protested their innocence, although she qualified her support of her brother by saying of him ‘she noteth [him] to be a rash man.’ The three gentlemen searched the house; they found nothing in Mary’s rooms, since she had sold most of her property to pay her debts when her husband died.29
However, they found a quantity of jewels in Elizabeth Holland’s rooms. This lady, the daughter of the Duke’s steward, had been the Duke’s mistress for some years. The Duchess of Norfolk lived separately from her husband, partly because of this scandal. Elizabeth’s jewels and property were officially confiscated, the house was inventoried and locked up, and the ladies were escorted to London for further questioning. Once there, under further interrogation, Mary admitted the plan by her family to marry her to Seymour, ‘while her brother also desired, wishing her withal to endear herself so into the King’s favour, as she might the better rule here as others had done and that she refused.’ Surrey’s plan had been that she should pretend to agree to marry Seymour, but that she should, in fact, attempt to entrap the King into a romantic liaison, so that her brother could control the King through her.
Sir Gawen Carew gave evidence of a conversation he had had with Mary some time previously about her brother. She told Carew about the offer from Seymour, and Surrey’s advice that: ‘… she should in no wise utterly make refusal of him [Seymour], but that she should leave the matter so diffusely that the King’s Majesty should take occasion to speak with her again; and thus by length of time it is possible that the king should take such a fantasy to you that ye shall be able to govern like unto Madame de’Éstampes.’ This lady was the powerful mistress of Francis I, far more influential than his queen. Mary Howard then told Carew how she felt, ‘whereupon she defied her brother and said that all they should perish and she would cut her own throat rather than she would consent to such a villainy.’30
In her testimony, Mary repeated remarks by both her father and brother criticising the number of commoners now gathered around the King. Elizabeth Holland, desperate to cooperate and get her jewels back, supported Mary Howard’s testimony. She agreed about Surrey, but added that the Duke had not approved of Surrey changing his coat of arms to include the royal arms of Brotherton, and had forbidden her to embroider it on any of the household linens or otherwise display it.
Henry VIII was bedridden during one of his periods of ill health, but daily reports of the trial of Norfolk and Surrey were sent to him. Copies survive with the King’s notes on the points being made, which were sent back to the judges. One reads, ‘If a man compassing himself to govern the realm do actually go about to rule the king and should for that purpose advise his daughter or sister to become his harlot … what this importeth?’31
In the event, Norfolk and Surrey were both convicted and sentenced to death; Norfolk was sent to the Tower to await his execution, but Surrey’s death warrant was signed immediately. He was beheaded on 19 January 1547. He left behind him a wife (Frances Vere, the daughter of the Earl of Oxford) and five children – Jane, Thomas (now Earl of Surrey), Katherine, Henry and Margaret. The children were removed from their mother’s care and housed with their aunt, Mary Howard, living first at Mountjoy House, in Knight Rider Street, her London residence since her husband’s death. At Christmas 1551, Mary received an annuity of £100 towards their household expenses, and the same amount the following year. The Duke, still in the Tower, was allowed £80 a year for his keep; his gaoler was Sir John Markham.
The children were soon moved to Reigate Castle, where they continued their education. Unlike her brother and father who were Catholic, the Dowager was a Protestant, and she hired John Foxe, a Protestant cleric, as the children’s tutor. Foxe was a fine scholar. Whilst acting as their teacher, he wrote his Tables of Grammar, published in 1552. He is, of course, better known for another of his works, The Book of Martyrs.
The fortunes of the children changed radically when Mary Tudor became Queen. During the reign of Edward VI, Norfolk remained in the Tower while Mary Tudor stayed at Kenninghall, the Norfolk family house. When Edward VI died and Princess Mary was summoned to London in a plot by Northumberland, Duke of Somerset, to prevent her taking the throne, it may have been the Norfolk servants at Kenninghall who helped to persuade her to go to Framlingham instead. It was from there that she mounted her successful campaign to secure the throne as Mary I.
As she rode on London, Queen Mary was joined by Anne, Duchess of Norfolk, and one of her first actions was to order the release of the Duke. He was Earl Marshall at her coronation, and Lord High Steward at the coronation banquet. The Dowager Countess of Surrey and her children were summoned to rejoin the family at Mountjoy Place in London. The Duke now took responsibility for his grandchildren, and one of his first moves was to hire a Catholic priest, John White, to be their new tutor and to re-educate them as Catholics. Foxe had wisely already left the household at Reigate and gone abroad to Flanders.
The Duke was not angry with his daughter. He left her the sum of £500 in his will, in acknowledgement of her care for the children during his imprisonment. He died on 25 August 1554, aged 80, and was succeeded by his grandson Thomas. This young man had learned nothing by the experiences of his father and grandfather. He was heavily involved in a plot whereby he was to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, and gain the throne by murdering Elizabeth I. He was arrested for treason and died, like his father, on the scaffold.
Mary Howard died in December 1557, and was buried at Norwich Cathedral with all the pomp due to her station. The mourning procession included the Dean and Canons of the Cathedral, the Mayor and Aldermen, the chief officers of the Duke’s household with white staves, the Garter King at Arms and heralds following the Howard banners. The chief mourner was her sister-in-law, the Dowager Countess of Surrey, now remarried to Thomas Steynings.
