Mistresses of Henry VIII

Last updated

Portrait of Mary Boleyn, one of Henry VIII's mistresses. She was known to be very beautiful by both the English and French courts. Mary Boleyn.jpg
Portrait of Mary Boleyn, one of Henry VIII's mistresses. She was known to be very beautiful by both the English and French courts.

The mistresses of Henry VIII included many notable women between 1509 and 1536. They have been the subject of biographies, novels and films.

Contents

Confirmed mistresses

In addition, Henry VIII was involved in a romantic relationship with three of his future wives before he married them. It is unclear if these relationships became sexual before marriage. He was involved with his second wife, Anne Boleyn, from around 1526, around the time he ended his relationship with her sister, Mary; Anne was also, at the time, maid-of-honour to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Anne was referred to by some as "the king's whore" or a "naughty paike [prostitute]". [7] Henry and Anne's daughter, Elizabeth I, was born (7 September 1533) almost eight months on from their marriage (25 January 1533).

From the beginning of 1536, while still married to Anne Boleyn, he was openly courting his wife's second cousin and maid-of-honour, Jane Seymour. It appears that his lust for mistresses did not abate as he reached middle age; in 1540, he began courting Catherine Howard, the maid-of-honour of his fourth spouse, Anne of Cleves. Catherine was a first cousin of Anne and Mary Boleyn. [4]

Alleged mistresses

Research

Portrait of Anne Hastings. She is often considered to be one of Henry's mistresses. Portrait of Anne Stafford.jpg
Portrait of Anne Hastings. She is often considered to be one of Henry's mistresses.

Kelly Hart's study The Mistresses of Henry VIII was published in 2009. In 2010, Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Favourite Mistress by Josephine Wilkinson was published, and in 2012, Alison Weir published Mary Boleyn: The Great and Infamous Whore. In 2013, this was followed by Bessie Blount: Mistress to Henry VIII by Elizabeth Norton.

Portrayals in media

On Elizabeth Blount

On Mary Boleyn

On Jane Popincourt

On Mary Shelton

On Anne Hastings

On Anne Bassett

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Seymour</span> Queen of England from 1536 to 1537

Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was accused by King Henry VIII of adultery after failing to produce the male heir he so desperately desired. Jane, however, died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, the future King Edward VI. She was the only wife of Henry to receive a queen's funeral; and he was later buried alongside her remains in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford was an English noblewoman. Her husband, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, was the brother of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, and a cousin-in-law to King Henry VIII’s fifth wife Catherine Howard through Jane Boleyn’s marriage to George Boleyn: Catherine Howard’s cousin. Jane had been a member of the household of Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. It is possible that she played a role in the verdicts against, and subsequent executions of, her husband and Anne Boleyn. She was later a lady-in-waiting to Henry's third and fourth wives, and then to his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, with whom she was executed.

Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire was an English noblewoman, noted for being the mother of Anne Boleyn and as such the maternal grandmother of Elizabeth I of England. The eldest daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and his first wife Elizabeth Tilney, she married Thomas Boleyn sometime in the later 15th century. Elizabeth became Viscountess Rochford in 1525 when her husband was elevated to the peerage, subsequently becoming Countess of Ormond in 1527 and Countess of Wiltshire in 1529.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Blount</span> Mistress of Henry VIII

Elizabeth Blount, commonly known during her lifetime as Bessie Blount, was a mistress of Henry VIII of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Carey</span> Daughter of Mary Boleyn and lady of Queen Elizabeth I of England

Catherine Carey, after her marriage Catherine Knollys and later known as both Lady Knollys and Dame Catherine Knollys,, was chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I, who was her first cousin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wives of Henry VIII</span> Queens consort of Henry VIII of England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Carey (courtier)</span> English courtier and favourite of King Henry VIII

William Carey was a courtier and favourite of King Henry VIII of England. He served the king as a Gentleman of the Privy chamber, and Esquire of the Body to the King. His wife, Mary Boleyn, is known to history as a mistress of King Henry VIII and the sister of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn.

<i>The Tudors</i> Historical fiction television series

The Tudors is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among American, British, and Canadian producers, and was filmed mostly in Ireland. While named after the Tudor dynasty as a whole, it is based specifically upon the reign of King Henry VIII.

<i>Henry VIII</i> (TV serial) British TV series or programme

Henry VIII is a two-part British television serial produced principally by Granada Television for ITV from 12 to 19 October 2003. It chronicles the life of Henry VIII of England from the disintegration of his first marriage to an aging Spanish princess until his death following a stroke in 1547, by which time he had married for the sixth time. Additional production funding was provided by WGBH Boston, Powercorp and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset</span> English noblewoman

Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset, born Mary Howard, was a daughter-in-law of King Henry VIII of England, being the wife of his illegitimate son Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset.

Margaret Shelton was the sister of Mary Shelton, and was once thought to be a mistress of Henry VIII of England.

Sir Thomas Clere was a successful poet at the court of Henry VIII. He is commemorated in several poems by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, with whom he had a very close friendship. He was engaged to Mary Shelton, a former mistress of the King's, in 1545, but died before their love match could be made into a marriage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Carew</span> Mistress of Henry VIII

Elizabeth Carew was an English courtier and reputed mistress of King Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Boleyn</span> English noblewoman (1499–1543)

Mary Boleyn, also known as Lady Mary, was the sister of English queen consort Anne Boleyn, whose family enjoyed considerable influence during the reign of King Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Shelton</span> English poet and courtier

Mary Shelton was one of the contributors to the Devonshire manuscript. Either she may have been a mistress of King Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Howard</span> Queen of England from 1540 to 1541

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.

Mary Fiennes (1495–1531) was an English courtier. She was the wife of Henry Norris. Norris was executed for treason as one of the alleged lovers of her cousin, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England. Mary lived for six years at the French court as a Maid of Honour to queens consort Mary Tudor, wife of Louis XII; and Claude of France, wife of Francis I.

Elizabeth Norton is a British historian specialising in the queens of England and the Tudor period. She obtained a Master of Arts in archaeology and anthropology from the University of Cambridge, being awarded a Double First Class degree, and a master's degree in European archaeology from the University of Oxford. She is the author of thirteen non-fiction books.

Henry VIII of England had several children. The best known children are the three legitimate offspring who survived infancy and would succeed him of England, successively, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Mother of the Maids was a position at the English royal court. The Mother of the Maids was responsible for the well-being and decorum of maids of honour, young gentlewomen in the household of a queen regnant or queen consort.

References

  1. Beverley Murphy, 2004, The bastard prince: Henry VIII's lost son, 172–174
  2. Ives, Eric William (2004). "The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn", p. 369 (note 75). Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
  3. Wilkinson, Josephine (2009). Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Favourite Mistress. Amberley Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84868-089-0.
  4. 1 2 Hart, Kelly (1 June 2009). The Mistresses of Henry VIII (First ed.). The History Press. ISBN   978-0752448350.
  5. Calendar of State Papers, Spanish, V, pt.2, p.126
  6. Norton, Elizabeth. The Illustrated Six Wives of Henry VIII.
  7. Farquhar, Michael (2001). A Treasure of Royal Scandals, p.67. Penguin Books, New York. ISBN   0-7394-2025-9.
  8. 1 2 3 The Mistresses of Henry VIII, Kelly Hart
  9. Young Henry: The Rise of Henry VIII Robert Hutchinson