Katherine Edgecombe (died 1553) was an English aristocrat and courtier.
Katherine Edgecombe (died 1553) was an English aristocrat and courtier.
She was born Katherine St. John, a daughter of John St. John of Bletsoe and Sybil, a daughter or cousin of Rhys ap Morgan. She was the sister of John St. John who died in 1558.
She first married Gruffydd ap Rhys ap Thomas. She was appointed to wait on Catherine of Aragon in October 1501. They served Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur at Ludlow Castle. [1] Gruffydd ap Rhys died in 1521 and was buried near Prince Arthur at Worcester Cathedral. Their son, Rhys ap Gruffydd was executed for treason at the Tower of London in 1531.
Katherine married secondly Piers or Peter Edgcumbe (died August 1539) of Cotehele in Cornwall in 1532[ citation needed ]. A carved panel from a bed tester still at Cotehele, depicting the Expulsion of Adam and Eve, is sometimes said to have been hers. [2]
She was a lady in waiting to Anne of Cleves in 1540, [3] as a lady of the privy chamber with Lady Rutland and Lady Browne. [4] The chronicle writer John Stow included a story about her at the court of Henry VIII. In June 1540, Elinor Rutland, Lady Jane Rochford, and "Lady Katherine Egecombe" were talking with Anne of Cleves at Westminster. They asked her if she was pregnant, and she said no. Katherine Edgcumbe asked if she was sure, since she slept with Henry every night. [5] The three women made and signed a formal deposition or statement about this conversation, [6] which was relevant to the issue of whether the royal marriage had been consummated. [7]
In July 1543 Henry VIII wanted English servants to join the household of the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, who he hoped would marry his son Prince Edward. [8] The diplomat Ralph Sadler recommended his friend the "Lady Edongcomb", now a widow. Sadler wrote that his own wife, Ellen Mitchell, who was pregnant, was not suitable because she was unused to life at court, and an older woman and experienced courtier like Lady Edgcumbe would be better:
And, in my poor opinion, it were the more necessary, that she, whom your majesty would have to be resident about the young queen's person here, were a grave and discreet woman, of good years and experience; and the better if she were a widow, as I think the lady Edongcomb were a meet woman for such purpose, and many others, whereof I doubt not your majesty hath choice enough [9]
Katherine Edgcumbe did not go to Scotland, as the marriage plans negotiated by Henry VIII as the Treaty of Greenwich came to nothing, and instead he launched the war now known as the Rough Wooing. [10] In October 1543, Henry gave her a pension or annuity. [11]
Katherine Edgcumbe made her will at Cotehele on 4 December 1553. She left household goods, some of which had belonged to Griffith ap Rhys, to her daughter Mary Luttrell at Dunster Castle. These goods were given to her by her husband Peter Edgcumbe's will. She left the rest of her goods and her Cornish tin mines to the care of her executors. Mary Luttrell was the wife of the soldier John Luttrell. [12]
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 an original work under her own name, in English, in England.
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Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, KG was an English peer, secretary of state, Lord Chancellor and Lord High Admiral. A naturally skilled but unscrupulous and devious politician who changed with the times, Wriothesley served as a loyal instrument of King Henry VIII in the latter's break with the Catholic church. Richly rewarded with royal gains from the Dissolution of the Monasteries, he nevertheless prosecuted Calvinists and other Protestants when political winds changed.
Sir Ralph Sadler or Sadleir PC, Knight banneret was an English statesman, who served Henry VIII as Privy Councillor, Secretary of State and ambassador to Scotland. Sadler went on to serve Edward VI. Having signed the device settling the crown on Jane Grey in 1553, he was obliged to retire to his estates during the reign of Mary I. Sadler was restored to royal favour during the reign of Elizabeth I, serving as a Privy Councillor and once again participating in Anglo-Scottish diplomacy. He was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in May 1568.
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The Royal House of Dinefwr was a cadet branch of the Royal House of Gwynedd, founded by King Cadell ap Rhodri, son of Rhodri the Great. Their ancestor, Cunedda Wledig, born in late Roman Britain, was a Sub-Roman warlord who founded the Kingdom of Gwynedd during the 5th century, following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. As Celtic Britons, the House of Dinefwr was ruling before the Norman conquest, having to fight with their neighbors such as the Celtics, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, before struggling with the Normans afterwards. Many members of this family were influential in Welsh history, such as Hywel Dda, who codified Welsh law under his rule, and achieved the important title of King of the Britons, or Lord Rhys, Prince of Wales, who rebelled against Richard the Lionheart, and became one of the most powerful Welsh leaders of the Middle ages.
Walter Devereux, 10th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, created 1st Viscount Hereford, KG was an English courtier and parliamentarian.
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Anne Bourchier was the suo jure7th Baroness Bourchier, suo jureLady Lovayne, and Baroness Parr of Kendal. She was the first wife of William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, Earl of Essex, and the sister-in-law of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII of England.
Catherine Howard, also spelt Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn, and the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Howard was a prominent politician at Henry's court, and he secured her a place in the household of Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, where she caught the King's interest. She married him on 28 July 1540 at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, just 19 days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne. He was 49, and she was between 15 and 21 years old, though it is widely accepted that she was 17 at the time of her marriage to Henry VIII.
Sir Richard Edgcumbe was an English courtier and politician.
George Douglas of Pittendreich was a member of the powerful Red Douglas family who struggled for control of the young James V of Scotland in 1528. His second son became James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton and Regent of Scotland. Initially, George Douglas promoted the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Prince Edward of England. After war was declared between England and Scotland he worked for peace and to increase the power of Mary of Guise, the widow of James V.
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Rhys ap Gruffydd was a powerful Welsh landowner who was accused of rebelling against King Henry VIII by plotting with James V of Scotland to become Prince of Wales. He was executed as a rebel. He married Lady Catherine Howard, the daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and his second wife Agnes Tilney.
Sir Peter Edgecumbe of Cotehele, Cornwall was an English courtier, sheriff and Member of Parliament.
Edward Cary or Carey or Carye was an English courtier and Master of the Jewel Office for Elizabeth I and James VI and I.