Margaret Wotton | |
---|---|
Marchioness of Dorset | |
![]() Sketch of Margaret by Hans Holbein the Younger | |
Born | 1485 Boughton Malherbe, Kent |
Died | 6 October 1535 49–50) England | (aged
Spouse(s) | William Medley Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset |
Issue | George Medley Lady Elizabeth Grey Lady Katherine Grey Lady Anne Grey Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk Lord John Grey Lord Thomas Grey Leonard Grey Lady Mary Grey |
Father | Sir Robert Wotton |
Mother | Anne Belknap |
Margaret Wotton, Marchioness of Dorset (1485 – 6 October 1535) was the second wife of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and the mother of his children, including Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, with whom she engaged in many quarrels during his minority over money and his allowance. Her lack of generosity to Henry shocked her peers as unmotherly, and inappropriate behaviour toward a high-ranking nobleman, relative [1] of King Henry VIII of England. In 1534, she was compelled to answer to the charges that she was an "unnatural mother". [2]
On 10 September 1533, she stood as one of the godmothers of the future Queen Elizabeth I of England.
She was the subject of two portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger.
One of her many grandchildren was Lady Jane Grey.
Margaret was born in 1485, the daughter of Sir Robert Wotton of Boughton Malherbe, Kent, and Anne Belknap, daughter of Henry Belknap esquire, [3] and sister of Sir Edward Belknap, [ citation needed ] Two of her brothers held important positions in the government. Sir Edward Wotton was Treasurer of Calais, and Nicholas Wotton was a diplomat who arranged the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves in 1539.
In 1505, Margaret married her first husband, William Medley, esquire, by whom she had one son, George (died 1562). In 1509, sometime after the death of her husband in February of that year, she married as his second wife, Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, the eldest son of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset by Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville. She was styled Marchioness of Dorset upon her marriage.
By her second husband she had four sons and four daughters: [4]
Margaret and her husband were part of the group who accompanied Henry VIII's sister, Princess Mary, to France in the autumn of 1514, for the latter's wedding to King Louis XII of France.
In October 1530, her husband died and she was given custody of all his property during their eldest son, Henry's minority. [9]
On 10 September 1533 at Greenwich Palace, Margaret stood as one of the two godmothers of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, who would later rule as Queen Elizabeth I of England. [10] Three months earlier, on 1 June, Margaret had ridden in Anne Boleyn's coronation procession from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey.
She was the subject of two portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger.
Margaret first began a long series of quarrels with her son, who had succeeded to the Marquessate of Dorset in 1530, when he was forced to pay a fine of £4000 for breach of contract after he had renounced his betrothal to Katherine Fitzalan, daughter of the Earl of Arundel. As a result, she tried to restrict his allowance throughout his minority which caused much consternation from her peers, who labelled her actions "unmotherly", and inappropriate behaviour towards a nobleman closely related to the King. [11] Margaret only agreed to Henry's marriage with Lady Frances Brandon, niece of the King, on the condition that her father, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk would support the couple until her son reached his majority.
In 1534, she felt compelled to answer charges that she was "an unnatural mother". As a result, she offered to contribute to her son's advancement "as my small power is and shall be". [12]
Several years later when he came of age, Henry brought his quarrel with his mother before the Kings' Council, where she belatedly admitted that her son's allowance was not "meet or sufficient to maintain his estate", and she offered to increase it. Henry was not appeased, therefore she moved out of the Grey family seat at Bradgate House; however, Henry would not let her remove her personal property, so she wrote a letter to Thomas Cromwell, pleading with him to order her son to release her goods. [13]
Margaret died on 6 Oct 1535 at the age of 50.
Katherine Seymour, Countess of Hertford, was a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey.
Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, was an English nobleman, courtier and the eldest son of Elizabeth Woodville and her first husband Sir John Grey of Groby. Her second marriage to King Edward IV made her Queen of England, thus elevating Grey's status at court and in the realm as the stepson of the King. Through his mother's assiduous endeavours, he made two materially advantageous marriages to wealthy heiresses, the King's niece Anne Holland and Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington. By the latter he had 14 children.
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, PC was an English military leader and courtier. Through his third wife, Mary Tudor, he was brother-in-law to King Henry VIII.
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, was an English courtier and nobleman of the Tudor period. He was the father of Lady Jane Grey, known as "the Nine Days' Queen".
Lady Mary Keyes was the youngest daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and Frances Brandon, and through her mother had a claim on the crown of England.
Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, was an English noblewoman, the second child and eldest daughter of King Henry VIII's younger sister, Princess Mary, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. She was the mother of Lady Jane Grey, de facto Queen of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553, as well as Lady Katherine Grey and Lady Mary Grey.
Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire was a Cornish administrator and alleged conspirator.
Lady Jane Grey, later known as Lady Jane Dudley and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was a teenage English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553.
Margaret Howard, Duchess of Norfolk was the sole surviving child of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, and Lady Elizabeth Grey, herself the daughter of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and his wife Margaret Wotton.
Sir Francis Willoughby (1546/7–1596) was an English industrialist and coalowner, who built Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire.
Sir Anthony Browne, KG of Battle Abbey and Cowdray Park, both in Sussex, England, was a Member of Parliament and a courtier who served as Master of the Horse to King Henry VIII.
Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset was an English peer, courtier, soldier, and landowner of the House of Grey.
Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington, 2nd Baroness Bonville was an English peer, who was also Marchioness of Dorset by her first marriage to Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and Countess of Wiltshire by her second marriage to Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire.
Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey was an English heiress and lady-in-waiting to two queens. She became the first wife of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey.
Mary Scrope was the granddaughter of Henry Scrope, 4th Baron Scrope of Bolton, and the sister of Elizabeth Scrope, wife of John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, and Margaret Scrope, wife of Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk. She is said to have been in the service at court of King Henry VIII's first four wives. As the wife of Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London, she was in attendance on Anne Boleyn during the Queen's brief imprisonment in the Tower in May 1536, and both she and her husband were among those who walked with the Queen to the scaffold. By her first husband, Edward Jerningham, she was the mother of Sir Henry Jerningham, whose support helped to place Queen Mary I on the throne of England in 1553, and who became one of Queen Mary's most favoured courtiers.
Lord John Grey was an English nobleman and courtier of the Tudor period, who after 1559 was seated at Pirgo Place in Essex.
Mary Arundell, Countess of Arundel, was an English courtier. She was the only child of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, Cornwall, by his second wife, Katherine Grenville. She was a gentlewoman at court in the reign of King Henry VIII, serving two of Henry VIII's Queens, and the King's daughter, Princess Mary. She was traditionally believed to have been "the erudite Mary Arundell", the supposed translator of verses now known to have been the work of her stepdaughter, Mary FitzAlan, later the first wife of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk.
Sir Matthew Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire, known between 1552 and 1554 as Matthew Howard and after his death sometimes called Matthew Arundell-Howard, was an English gentleman, landowner, and member of parliament in the West of England.
Sir John Arundell (1474–1545) Knight Banneret, of Lanherne, St Mawgan-in-Pyder, Cornwall, was "the most important man in the county", being Receiver-General of the Duchy of Cornwall. His monumental brass in the church at St Columb Major in Cornwall was described by Dunkin (1882) as "perhaps the most elaborate and interesting brass to be found in Cornwall."
Lady Eleanor Grey, was an English noblewoman, and the first wife of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne in Cornwall, "the most important man in the county", being Receiver-General of the Duchy of Cornwall. Their monumental brass in the church at St Columb Major in Cornwall was described by E. H. W. Dunkin (1882) as "perhaps the most elaborate and interesting brass to be found in Cornwall." Her father was Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset. Lady Eleanor was an ancestor of the later Barons Arundell of Wardour.