On this day in Tudor history, 26th November, Henry VIII’s 14-year-old illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, married Lady Mary Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk (1533); and the first men to be executed under the new treason laws against Jesuits in Elizabeth I’s reign were hanged at York (1585)…
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On this day in Tudor history, soldier and royal councillor John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope, was born; Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, died; and playwright Edward Sharpham was baptised…
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Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the acknowledged illegitimate son of Henry VIII by his mistress Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount. “Fitzroy” is a Norman-French surname meaning “son of the King” and was a name given to monarchs’ illegitimate sons.
In 1519, Bessie had been sent by Cardinal Wolsey to reside at the prior’s house of the Priory of St Lawrence, in Blackmore, before her pregnancy became visible. It is not known when Bessie gave birth to Richmond, or when the child was christened. His birthdate is traditionally given as 15th June 1519, but Elizabeth Norton, historian and author of “Bessie Blount: Mistress to Henry VIII”, wonders if Richmond was actually born on 18th June because Cardinal Wolsey was with Henry VIII on that day and then although he was expected at Hampton Court Palace on 19th June he disappeared until 29th June. It was Wolsey who acted as Richmond’s godfather and who organised Bessie’s confinement, so it is reasonable to assume that he went to Blackmore. Also, as Norton points out, Henry VIII chose 18th June 1525 to elevate his son to the peerage and 18th June 1524 to award Bessie and her husband with a royal grant, so these events may well have tied in with the boy’s birthday.
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On this day in Tudor history, 15th June, Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, was born; members of the king’s council bullied and threatened Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary; and court fool William Somer died…
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The 15th June 1519 is the traditional birthdate of Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, although the 18th is a more likely date.
Fitzroy’s mother, Elizabeth Blount, known as Bessie Blount, was serving as one of Catherine of Aragon’s maids of honour when she was noticed by the king and became his mistress. After it was found that she was pregnant, she was sent to the Priory of St Lawrence, in Blackmore, Essex, by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey before her pregnancy became visible.
Bessie’s baby boy was baptised at the chapel at Blackmore with Cardinal Wolsey acting as godfather.
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th November 1585, Catholic priest Hugh Taylor and his friend Marmaduke Bowes were hanged at York.
They were the first men executed under Elizabeth I’s 1585 statute which made it treason to be a Jesuit or seminary priest in England or to harbour such a priest.
These two Catholics were beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II as two of the 85 Martyrs of England, Scotland and Wales.
Find out more about these men and what this 1585 legislation was all about in this talk…
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15th June 1519 is the traditional birthdate of King Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy.
Find out a bit more about Fitzroy in this latest edition of TudorHistoryShorts…
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th November 1533, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, married Mary Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, at Hampton Court Palace. They were both fourteen years old.
It appears that the marriage, which was a political match rather than a love match, was the idea of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn.
Find out more about Henry Fitzroy and Mary Howard’s marriage and its context in today’s talk.
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1536 was an eventful year for Henry VIII! Just over two months after the fall of his second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s only son, his illegitimate son by Elizabeth Blount, died on 22nd July 1536 at St James’s Palace. It was a huge blow for the king.
In today’s “on this day” talk, I give details of Fitzroy’s illness, death and burial, and also just how much of a favourite he was with his father.
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This week’s Sunday fun is a quiz on a Tudor lady: Mary Howard, cousin of Queens Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. Enjoy getting those little grey cells working with these ten questions – good luck!
[Read More...]Born in 1519, Mary Howard was the daughter of Thomas Howard, third Duke of Norfolk. Her mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of the disgraced Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. Mary was highly educated, and spent the majority of her childhood at the family residences in Norfolk. As she entered her teenage years, Mary participated in ceremonies at court, including that of her kinswoman Anne Boleyn’s elevation to the marquisate of Pembroke in September 1532. It is likely that Mary also attended Anne’s coronation the following summer, and she carried the chrism at Princess Elizabeth’s christening in September. She seems to have shared the queen’s reformist sympathies and was rebuked by her brother for her love of reading the scriptures.
[Read More...]In this week’s video, author Sarah Bryson talks about Henry VIII’s mistress, Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount and the son she had by the king, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset.
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I’ve been talking about Henry VIII’s illegitimate and alleged illegitimate children in my Claire Chats videos recently so it seems appropriate to look at a woman who was the mother of the king’s only acknowledged illegitimate child, his son Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset. Over to Sarah…
Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount was the daughter of John Blount and his wife Katherine Pershall. She was born around 1498 at Kinlet Hall. Bessie’s grandmother, through her mother, had been Isabel Stanley, daughter of Sir John Stanley, a distant relative of Lord Thomas Stanley whom had married Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII’s mother. It had been Isabel’s brother Sir Humphrey Stanley whom had arranged the marriage between John Blount and his niece Katherine Pershall when the couple were only young. Sir Humphrey, while quite a rouge was also a Knight of the Body to King Henry VII.
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In today’s Claire Chats I continue my series on those said to be illegitimate children with a look at Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, who Henry VIII did acknowledge as his son, and his half-sister (or maybe sister) Elizabeth Tailboys.
[Read More...]Henry Fitzroy was the illegitimate child of Henry VIII, the second Tudor monarch, with his mistress Elizabeth Blount. In 1512, when Henry VIII was approximately twenty-one years of age a beautiful young woman came to court. Her name was Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount and at that time she had no idea the future that lay ahead of her. While the Blounts were not members of nobility, they were members of the gentry who through opportunity, connections and talent had earned a place at court. It is believed that it was William Blount, Lord Mountjoy, Queen Katherine of Aragon’s chamberlain, who acquired a place at court for Elizabeth Blount. Sometime between 1513 – 1514, Bessie became a maid of honour to the Queen. As a maid of honour, Bessie would have had to have been beautiful and well-mannered, with all the accomplishments suitable for a young lady of the time. She’d need to be able to play a musical instrument, to sing and dance, to sew and embroider, to know her place and, most importantly, be devout to the Catholic faith. It is reported that Bessie was a very talented singer and dancer, and it may have been these talents which attracted the young Henry VIII.
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Here’s the latest magazine with all our regular items and contributors plus lots of fascinating articles about people and places from the Tudor period.
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