Sir Richard Clement (c. 1482-1538) of Ightham Mote in Kent, England, was a courtier to King Henry VII and to his son Henry VIII.
He was born in about 1482, [2] the only son and heir of William Clement (d.1494) of Bersted in Sussex, a member of a minor gentry family. His uncle, Richard Clement, served as Chamberlain of Pagham and Bailiff of Aldwick Hundred between 1493-5. [3] His mother was a sister of John Goring II of Burton in Sussex. [4] He had four sisters, Alice, Elizabeth, Joan and (probably) Anne.
His career as a courtier started in about 1503-8 as a page of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VII (1485-1509). He was present at the king's death at Richmond Palace, as is recorded in the drawing (British Library Additional MS 45131, folio 54 [5] ) by Sir Thomas Wriothesley(d.1534), Garter King of Arms, a courtier who though not present on the day, shortly thereafter wrote an account of the proceedings, from discussions with those present. Following the death of Henry VII, he served as a Gentleman Usher to his son King Henry VIII. [6] However soon after the accession of Henry VIII in 1509, having gained no career advancement as a courtier, he moved north to Northamptonshire.
In 1521, having moved south from Northamptonshire, [7] he purchased the estate of Ightham Mote in Kent [8] from Thomas Welles, a clerk, who had acquired it in 1519 from Edward Haute, forced to sell due to financial problems. [9] At the same time he acquired further nearby estates in Shipbourne, Wrotham and Seal. He carried out much building work on his new residence between 1521-9 including reglazing the windows of the great hall, adding a long gallery to connect the two halves of the family quarters, [10] and rebuilding and refronting the private apartments. In the decoration he made liberal use of the royal badges of King Henry VIII and his first wife Katherine of Aragon, thus displaying his loyalty to the Tudor dynasty. [11]
In 1528 he assisted his near neighbour at Knole House in Kent William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, to fend off "a host of belligerent Kentishmen" demanding repayments from him, and the event appears to have assisted Clement's subsequent rise. [12] He was knighted in 1529 and served as Sheriff of Kent 1531-2. [13] In the opinion of Mercer (1995), Clement's patron was Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, of Hever Castle in Kent, father of Queen Anne Boleyn, [14] and Clement's career suffered after the queen's execution in 1536 and the downfall of her family.
In 1534, following conviction in the Star Chamber, he was imprisoned in the Fleet for having used force, in his capacity as a justice of the peace for Kent, during a property dispute in Shipbourne between the rector and Robert Brenner of Hadlow, a servant of Sir Edward Guildford (father-in-law of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland). Clement had expelled Brenner with the assistance of a force of 200 men he had raised for the purpose, [15] but the Star Chamber found that he was at fault for not having enquired sufficiently into the case before resorting to force. Clement appears to have been acting against the Guildford faction, formerly the pre-eminent family in Kent until replaced by the Boleyns. [16]
He married twice, but had no legitimate issue:
He had three illegitimate daughters: [22]
He died in 1538, between 28 October and 2 December, [23] and was buried in Ightham Church, where survives the upper fragment of his monumental brass, which shows his coat of arms upright in an inverted shield, to indicate his death, an unusual depiction. [24] A separate shield shows the arms of Clement impaling Catesby (Argent, two lions passant sable crowned or). [25] The inscription (with Sir Richard's date of death left blank) is as follows: [26]
Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.
Anne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 British period historical drama film based on the life of Anne Boleyn, directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The screenplay by Bridget Boland and John Hale is an adaptation of the 1948 play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson.
Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire, 1st Earl of Ormond, 1st Viscount RochfordKGKB, of Hever Castle in Kent, was an English diplomat and politician who was the father of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, and was thus the maternal grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. By Henry VIII he was made a knight of the Garter in 1523 and was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Rochford in 1525 and in 1529 was further ennobled as Earl of Wiltshire and Earl of Ormond.
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 endeavors, he made two materially advantageous marriages to wealthy heiresses, the King's niece Anne Holland and the King’s cousin, Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington. By the latter, he had 14 children.
William Catesby was one of Richard III of England's principal councillors. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Commons during Richard's reign. The Catesbys’ medieval wealth derived from livestock and the zenith of their political achievement came during his career.
Ightham Mote, Ightham, Kent is a medieval moated manor house. The architectural writer John Newman describes it as "the most complete small medieval manor house in the county". Ightham Mote and its gardens are owned by the National Trust and are open to the public. The house is a Grade I listed building, and parts of it are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon KG PC, was an English nobleman and courtier. He was the patron of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, William Shakespeare's playing company. The son of Mary Boleyn, he was a cousin of Elizabeth I.
Penshurst Place is a historic building near Penshurst, Kent, 32 miles (51 km) south east of London, England. It is the ancestral home of the Sidney family, and was the birthplace of the great Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney. The original medieval house is one of the most complete surviving examples of 14th-century domestic architecture in England. Part of the house and its gardens are open for public viewing. Many TV shows and movies have been filmed at Penshurst.
Sir Francis Weston KB was a gentleman of the Privy Chamber at the court of King Henry VIII of England. He became a friend of the king but was later accused of high treason and adultery with Anne Boleyn, the king's second wife. Weston was condemned to death, together with George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, Henry Norris, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton. They were all executed on 17 May 1536, two days before Anne Boleyn suffered a similar fate.
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.
William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, Earl of Essex, 1st Baron Parr, 1st Baron Hart, was the only brother of Queen Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII. He was a "sincere, plain, direct man, not crafty nor involved", whose "delight was music and poetry and his exercise war" who co-authored a treatise on hare coursing. He was in favour with Henry VIII and his son Edward VI, under whom he was the leader of the Protestant party, but having supported the desire of the latter to be succeeded by the Protestant Lady Jane Grey, was attainted by Edward's Catholic half-sister, Queen Mary I. He was restored by her Protestant half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I. He married thrice but died without issue.
Sir Geoffrey Boleyn was an English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London from 1457 to 1458. He purchased the manor of Blickling, near Aylsham, in Norfolk from Sir John Fastolf in 1452, and Hever Castle in Kent in 1462. He was the great-grandfather of Queen Anne Boleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Sir Geoffrey built the domestic, mercantile and civic fortunes of the Boleyn family, and raised its status from the provincial gentry, as his brother Thomas Boleyn made a career of distinction in church and university, together building the family's wealth, influence and reputation.
Sir Edward Neville was an English courtier. He was born at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. He was the son of George Neville, 4th Baron Bergavenny and his wife Margaret, daughter of Hugh Fenn. He married Eleanor Windsor, daughter of Andrew Windsor, 1st Baron Windsor and Elizabeth Blount, before 6 April 1529. He was the brother of George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny and the two of them became close to King Henry VIII and the Queen, Catherine of Aragon.
Dame Eleanor Carey was an early modern English noblewoman and nun, known for being endorsed as a candidate for abbess of Wilton Abbey by Anne Boleyn until her scandalous life was discovered.
Sir William Coffin was a courtier at the court of King Henry VIII of England. He was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII and Master of the Horse to Queen Jane Seymour. He was elected MP for Derbyshire in 1529.
Sir John Cary (or Carey) (c. 1491 – 1552), of Pleshey in Essex, was a courtier to King Henry VIII, whom he served as a Groom of the Privy Chamber, and of whom he was a third cousin, both being 4th in descent from John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1371-1410).
Lady Eleanor Beaufort was the daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1406-1455), KG, and was a sister of the 3rd and 4th Dukes of Somerset.
The Boleyn family was a prominent English family in the gentry and aristocracy. They reached the peak of their influence during the Tudor period, when Anne Boleyn became the second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII, their daughter being the future Elizabeth I.
Sir Henry Heydon was the son of John Heydon of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk, 'the well-known opponent of the Paston family'. He married Anne Boleyn, the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, great-grandfather of Henry VIII's queen Anne Boleyn.
Lady Anne Boleyn was an English noblewoman, noted for being the great grandmother of Anne Boleyn and therefore the maternal great-great grandmother of Elizabeth I of England. She was the only child of Thomas Hoo, Baron Hoo and Hastings, and his first wife Elizabeth Wychingham, she married Sir Geoffrey Boleyn in c.1445.
This article needs additional or more specific categories .(March 2021) |