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Katherine Ashley (née Champernowne; circa 1502 – 18 July 1565), also known as Kat Ashley or Astley, was the first close friend, governess, and Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England. She was the aunt of Catherine Champernowne, who was the mother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert from her first marriage and Sir Walter Raleigh by her second marriage. [1]
Katherine Champernowne's parentage is not known for certain. There are two principal candidates for her father.
One is Sir Philip Champernowne, although there is a 1536 letter from Kat to Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex which makes reference to her father as having "much to do with the little living he has". At the time of her birth, Sir Philip's wife, Catherine Carew, was sixteen years of age. However, no contemporary records refer to Kat Ashley and Joan Denny - Sir Philip's daughter - as being sisters. [2]
The other candidate is Sir John Champernowne, whose wife was approximately 43 at the time of Kat's birth, which some people believe to be too old, but Catherine Knollys had her last child at 38. Sir John died a year after her birth, but the fact that Kat wrote to Cromwell in 1536 mentioning her father in the present tense suggests he isn't her father, unless an unknown stepfather is meant. If Kat was the child of Sir John Champernowne, then her niece was beforementioned Joan Champernowne, who married Sir Anthony Denny, Groom of the Stool and most trusted servant to King Henry VIII.[ citation needed ]
On the other hand, Katherine may have been from another branch of the Champernowne family altogether.
After Prince Edward's birth, Elizabeth lost her governess, Lady Margaret Bryan, who was transferred to her half-brother's service. She was placed in the care of Lady Troy, who remained Elizabeth's governess until she retired in late 1545 or early 1546. Katherine Champernowne was appointed as gentlewoman in waiting to the then Lady Elizabeth in July 1536.
In 1537, Katherine became four-year-old Elizabeth's third governess. Sources state that she accustomed the little girl to the "elaborate code of politeness and respect to her elders". In addition, she taught her charge pursuits such as needlework, embroidery, dancing, and riding. By the age of six, Elizabeth was able to sew a beautiful cambric shirt as a gift for her younger half-brother. Evidently, Katherine had been well educated for she effectively taught the precocious princess mathematics, geography, astronomy, history, French, Italian, Flemish, and Spanish. Elizabeth herself praised Katherine's early devotion to her studies by stating that Kat (as the future Queen called her governess) took "great labour and pain in bringing of me up in learning and honesty".
In 1543, Henry VIII had married Catherine Parr, who gave Elizabeth a more stable family life, restored her right to succession, and brought her household to the royal court. In 1545, Katherine married John Ashley, Elizabeth's senior gentleman attendant and cousin of Anne Boleyn. [3] She was over 40 years old at this date. However, King Henry died in 1547 and was succeeded by Edward VI, whose uncles Edward and Thomas Seymour tried to get control of him. Shortly after Henry VIII died, Thomas Seymour investigated whether he could be permitted to marry either the Princess Mary or Princess Elizabeth, but he was refused. Seymour immediately began courting Parr as they had been romantically linked before she became Queen. In her early 30s and still childless, Parr agreed to marry Seymour only two months after her husband's death and was able to secure royal approval to take young Elizabeth to her new home in Chelsea with Kat as the princess' Chief Gentlewoman.
After Thomas Seymour began a flirtation with the 14-year-old Elizabeth, Kat first thought this amusing. However, this changed after he entered the girl's bedroom in the morning in his nightshirt and tried to tickle her while she was still in bed. Kat became concerned and advised Parr, who was later accused of taking part in holding down Elizabeth while Seymour slashed her gown "into a thousand pieces." [4] There was a major incident in which Kat said that the Dowager Queen had caught Elizabeth in Seymour's arms, [5] which caused both stepmother and governess to lecture the princess about the need to protect her reputation. Shortly afterwards, Elizabeth and her household moved to Hatfield House, but gossip already spread. After Parr died after childbirth on 5 September 1548, Ashley tried to convince her mistress to write to Thomas and "comfort him in his sorrow", but Elizabeth claimed that he wasn't so saddened by her stepmother's death as to need comfort. Indeed, Thomas renewed his attentions towards Elizabeth with intent on marrying her.
The rumours about Thomas Seymour's "flirtation" towards Elizabeth emerged in 1548 as his other political manoeuvres were revealed. On 21 January 1549, Katherine was arrested and taken to the Tower for possible involvement in Seymour's activities. She told her story, was found to have done nothing treasonous, and was released thirteen days before Seymour's execution. Despite detailed questioning, Katherine didn't implicate Elizabeth in Seymour's schemes. Blanche Parry, second in the household, was Elizabeth's Chief Gentlewoman while Katherine was in prison.
By August 1549, Katherine had returned to Hatfield, where she was in charge of Elizabeth's linen and supplied head dresses called "crippons". [6] She stayed with Elizabeth until her mistress was imprisoned in the Tower by Queen Mary I in 1554. Katherine was held in the custody of Sir Roger Cholmeley until May 1555. [7] She was allowed to rejoin Elizabeth in October 1555, but was arrested in May 1556 following the discovery of seditious books. She spent three months in Fleet Prison and was forbidden to see Elizabeth again after her release.
After Mary I died in 1558 and Elizabeth became Queen of England, Katherine was appointed First Lady of the Bedchamber while her husband was appointed Master of the Jewel Office. [8] She was given purple velvet and scarlet and tinsel fabrics to wear on the evening before Elizabeth's coronation. [9] Katherine became very influential as a source of information for the Queen and as means of asking favours for the nobles. She helped to form a strict aristocracy, which helped to maintain the Queen's dominance over government for most of her reign.
George Brediman, keeper of the wardrobe at Westminster, issued old copes and vestments to Kat Ashley in December 1560. [10] In May 1561, Queen Elizabeth made Katherine a gift of an old French velvet gown lined with taffeta and wide sleeves cut up to make cushion covers. [11]
In 1561, Ashley discussed patterns for jewels drawn on parchment with a merchant John Dymocke. [12] This led to involvement with Dorothy Bradbelt in a scheme for Elizabeth to marry Eric XIV of Sweden. [13] Their actions angered Elizabeth, [14] and Kat and Dorothy were briefly put under house arrest. [15]
In 1562 she was given a pewter metal doll for the use of Ippolyta the Tartarian, a young woman brought from Russia by Anthony Jenkinson. [16] Katherine peacefully died in the summer of 1565 possibly at the age of 63, to Queen Elizabeth's great distress since her dear friend was not in attendance at court when she died. [17] Parry succeeded her as Chief Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. When on her death bed, Elizabeth continually visited her and mourned her sincerely and unaffectedly. [18]
Catherine Parr was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort of the House of Tudor, and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen. She was the first woman to publish in print an original work under her own name in England in the English language.
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp, also known as Edward Semel, was an English nobleman and politician who served as Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the minority of his nephew King Edward VI. He was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII.
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG, PC was a brother of Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII. With his brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England, he vied for control of their nephew, the young King Edward VI. In 1547, Seymour married Catherine Parr, the widow of Henry VIII. During his marriage to Catherine, Seymour involved the future Queen Elizabeth I, who resided in his household, in flirtatious and possibly sexual behaviour.
Young Bess is a 1953 Technicolor biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about the early life of Elizabeth I, from her turbulent childhood to the eve of her accession to the throne of England. It stars Jean Simmons as Elizabeth and Stewart Granger as Thomas Seymour, with Charles Laughton as Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, a part he had played 20 years before in The Private Life of Henry VIII. The film was directed by George Sidney and produced by Sidney Franklin, from a screenplay by Jan Lustig and Arthur Wimperis based on the novel of the same title by Margaret Irwin (1944).
Sir Anthony Denny was Groom of the Stool to King Henry VIII of England, thus his closest courtier and confidant. In 1539 he was appointed a gentleman of the privy chamber and was its most prominent member in King Henry's last years, having together with his brother-in-law, John Gates, charge of the "dry stamp" of the King's signature, and attended the King on his deathbed. He was a member of the Reformist circle that offset the conservative religious influence of Bishop Gardiner. He was a wealthy man, having acquired several manors and former religious sites distributed by the Court of augmentations after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset was the second wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, who held the office of Lord Protector during the first part of the reign of their nephew King Edward VI. The Duchess was briefly the most powerful woman in England. During her husband's regency she unsuccessfully claimed precedence over the queen dowager, Catherine Parr.
In common parlance, the wives of Henry VIII were the six queens consort of King Henry VIII of England between 1509 and his death in 1547. In legal terms, Henry had only three wives, because three of his marriages were annulled by the Church of England. He was never granted an annulment by the Pope, as he desired, however, for Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. Annulments declare that a true marriage never took place, unlike a divorce, in which a married couple end their union. Along with his six wives, Henry took several mistresses.
Elizabeth, Lady Raleigh, was an English courtier, a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England. Her secret marriage to Sir Walter Raleigh precipitated a long period of royal disfavour for both her and her husband.
Sir Arthur Champernowne was an English politician, high sheriff and soldier who lived at Dartington Hall in Devon, England.
Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, suo jure12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, was an English noblewoman living at the courts of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I. She was the fourth wife of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who acted as her legal guardian during his third marriage to Henry VIII's sister Mary. Her second husband was Richard Bertie, a member of her household. Following Charles Brandon's death in 1545, it was rumoured that King Henry had considered marrying Katherine as his seventh wife, while he was still married to his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, who was Katherine's close friend.
Margaret Bryan, Baroness Bryan was lady governess to the children of King Henry VIII of England, the future monarchs Mary I, Elizabeth I, and Edward VI, as well as the illegitimate Henry FitzRoy. The position of lady governess in her day resembled less that of the popular modern idea of a governess, more that of a nanny.
Elisabeth Brooke was an English courtier and noblewoman. She was the eldest daughter of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham of Kent and Anne Braye. Her relationship with William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, Catherine Parr's brother, would shape the politics of England for many years to come, bearing him two sons, Robert Parr (1549) and William Thomas Parr who wedded Lady Margareta Woodfall. As the Marchioness of Northampton, Elisabeth performed much of a queen’s role during the reign of Edward VI. Her husband was instrumental in putting Lady Jane Grey on the throne. When Mary I was proclaimed queen, she imprisoned the Marquess in the Tower and stripped him of all his titles. Her first cousin, Thomas Wyatt the Younger, was the leader of a rebellion against Queen Mary known as Wyatt's Rebellion. In the reign of Elizabeth, she became one of the most influential courtiers again.
Young Royals is a series of novels for children by Carolyn Meyer based on the early lives of multiple royalties such as English and French royalty. Books in the series are mostly about the English Tudors, such as: Mary, Bloody Mary (1999); Beware, Princess Elizabeth (2001); Doomed Queen Anne (2002); and Patience, Princess Catherine (2004). The French books in the series are Duchessina (2007), about the life of Catherine de' Medici, and The Bad Queen: Rules and Instructions for Marie-Antoinette (2010). The most recent titles in the series are: The Wild Queen: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots (2012); Victoria Rebels (2013), about Queen Victoria of the British Empire; and Anastasia and Her Sisters (2013), about the daughters of Tsar Nicholas of Russia, specifically Anastasia.
Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal in Westmorland, England, was a courtier and is best known as the father of Queen Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII.
Events from the 1540s in England.
Maud Green, Lady Parr was an English courtier. She was the mother of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII of England. She was a close friend and lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon. She was also co-heiress to her father, Sir Thomas Green of Green's Norton in Northamptonshire along with her sister, Anne, Lady Vaux.
Joan Champernowne, Lady Denny was a lady-in-waiting at the court of King Henry VIII of England. She became the friend and lady-in-waiting to his sixth wife, Queen Catherine Parr.
Blanche Milborne, Lady Herbert of Troy was the Lady Mistress in charge of the upbringing of Queen Elizabeth I, Edward VI and also of Queen Mary when she lived with the younger Tudor children. She was twice married, and widowed; first to James Whitney, then to Sir William Herbert of Troy Parva, an illegitimate son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and one of his mistresses. She had five children. Blanche Milborne died c. 1557 before Queen Elizabeth I's accession.
Sir Walter Buckler was a diplomat, chamberlain of the household to Lady Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth I, and private secretary to Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII.
Elizabeth Tyrwhitt, was an English gentlewoman, courtier, and writer.
She seems to have died in her home and not at court, but nothing is known of the circumstances.
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