Thomas Clere

Last updated

Sir Thomas Clere (died 1545) 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, [1] but died before their love match could be made into a marriage.

Thomas Clere was the third son of Sir Robert Clere (c.1493 - 10 August 1529) of Ormesby St. Margaret, Norfolk, and his wife Alice, the daughter of Sir William Boleyn and his wife Margaret Ormond (otherwise Butler), daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. Alice was the sister of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and the aunt of King Henry VIII's second Queen, Anne Boleyn. Sir Thomas Clere was thus Queen Anne Boleyn's first cousin. [2]

His mother Alice Clere died in 1538, and left the family estates to his older brother John Clere. She left Thomas "a salt of gold with a cover having a rose in the knop, and a pair of beads of gold" set with stones (a rosary) which had been gifts from Anne Boleyn. [3]

Clere died on 14 April 1545 from wounds received at the siege of Montreuil in 1544, fighting for the Earl of Surrey. [4]

Thomas Clere was buried in the Church of St Mary at Lambeth in Surrey. In his will, he made a bequest to his cousin Mary Shelton. [5] His monumental brass is currently in storage. [6]

His nephew, Robert Clere was killed at the battle of Pinkie in 1547.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Hart, Kelly (1 June 2009). The Mistresses of Henry VIII (First ed.). The History Press. pp.  126–128. ISBN   978-0-7524-4835-0.
  2. ↑ Richardson 2004 , pp. 35, 179.
  3. ↑ Descriptive catalogue of ancient deeds in the Public Record Office, 5 (London: HMSO, 1906), p. 255, A. 12173
  4. ↑ Visitation of Norfolk in the Year 1563, 2 (Norwich, 1895), p. 267.
  5. ↑ Visitation of Norfolk in the Year 1563, 2 (Norwich, 1895), p. 267.
  6. ↑ Thomas Clere memorial, IWM

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire</span> English nobleman, diplomat and politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk</span> English nobleman, politician and military commander

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was a prominent English politician and nobleman of the Tudor era. He was an uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom were beheaded, and played a major role in the machinations affecting these royal marriages. After falling from favour in 1546, he was stripped of his dukedom and imprisoned in the Tower of London, avoiding execution when Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547.

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.

Viscount Rochford is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Edmund Howard</span> 16th-century English nobleman

Lord Edmund Howard was the third son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and his first wife, Elizabeth Tilney. His sister, Elizabeth, was the mother of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, and he was the father of the king's fifth wife, Catherine Howard. His first cousin, Margery Wentworth, was the mother of Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Browne (died 1548)</span> English politician and nobleman

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.

Sir William Boleyn, KB of Blickling Hall in Norfolk and Hever Castle in Kent, was a wealthy and powerful landowner who served as Sheriff of Kent in 1489 and as Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1500. He was the father of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, whose daughter was Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII.

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

Sir William Stafford, of Chebsey, in Staffordshire was an Essex landowner and the second husband of Mary Boleyn, who was the sister of Anne Boleyn and one-time mistress of King Henry VIII of England.

John Sackville MP was a member of parliament for East Grinstead, and a local administrator in Essex, Sussex and Surrey. His first wife was Margaret Boleyn, an aunt of Henry VIII's second Queen, Anne Boleyn, and a great-aunt of Queen Elizabeth I.

Anne, Lady Shelton née Boleyn was a sister of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and one of the aunts of his daughter, Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir John Shelton</span>

Sir John Shelton of Shelton in Norfolk, England, was a courtier to King Henry VIII. Through his marriage to Anne Boleyn, a sister and co-heiress of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire of Blickling Hall in Norfolk, he became an uncle of Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. He was appointed comptroller of the joint household of Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, the King's daughters, and together with his wife was Governor to the King's children.

Lady Elizabeth Stafford was an English aristocrat. She was the eldest daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Lady Eleanor Percy. By marriage she became Duchess of Norfolk. Her abusive marriage to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, created a public scandal.

<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 or her sister Madge Shelton may have been a mistress of King Henry VIII.

Alice Clere was the third daughter of Sir William Boleyn and his wife Margaret Ormond, the daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. Alice was thus the sister of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and the aunt of King Henry VIII's second Queen, Anne Boleyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Stafford</span> English noblewoman

Dorothy Stafford, Lady Stafford was an English noblewoman, and an influential person at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England, to whom she served as Mistress of the Robes. Dorothy Stafford was the second wife of Sir William Stafford, widower of Mary Boleyn. She and her family sought exile in Geneva during the reign of Mary I to escape the persecution of their Protestant religion. The Protestant reformer John Calvin stood as godfather to her youngest son.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Arundell (courtier)</span> Courtier

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Knyvet</span> Member of the Parliament of England

Sir Edmund Knyvet was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Knyvet, a distinguished courtier and sea captain, and Muriel Howard, the daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.