Elizabeth I is considered one of the greatest monarchs that England has ever had, and she
is certainly considered the greatest Tudor monarch.
Throughout her reign, she was a defiant symbol against religious turbulence, plotting and
also the influence of other empires such as the Spanish and the Spanish Armada.
But she had a strong group of women around her who helped to raise her, including Kat
Ashley who remained with her throughout most of her life.
She didn’t conform to what people wanted from her, including marrying and having a
child which would secure an heir onto the throne.
But there was one woman who’s husband was incredibly powerful across England, but in
her own right she was also a prominent member of Henry VIII’s court, and she later became
the godmother to the future Elizabeth I.
Gertrude Courtenay is known as the Marchioness of Exeter, and she was born to William Blount,
the 4th Baron Mountjoy who was the Chamberlain of Catherine of Aragon.
This was a prominent position inside the court of Henry VIII’s first wife and also her
household.
Her father’s closeness with Henry VIII’s outcasted wife Catherine would later cause
problems for Gertrude and her husband, as rivals at court including Thomas Cromwell
sought to dig in their talons to try and bring down the influential couple.
One of her stepmothers was Inez de Venegas, who was one of the original ladies in waiting
who came from Spain with Catherine of Aragon as she married the previous heir to the Tudor
throne, Prince Arthur Tudor.
But Arthur later passed away shortly after death, and Inez remained int eh household
of Catherine of Aragon.
In 1519, she married and her husband was the powerful and influential Henry Courtenay who
was very close with Henry VIII.
The King and Gertrude’s husband were also first cousins, and the pair had grown up together
closely and were very good friends.
Henry Courtenay later rose to the position of the Marquess of Exeter, and along with
him Gertrude became the Marchioness of Exeter through her marriage.
But Exeter was a prominent and influential member at court, and was considered the most
powerful man inside of the Privy Council’s meetings alongside the King.
He was a very rich man, and Henry Courtenay was also a prominent landowner in the south
and the west of England, and many considered him to be almost a regent and King in these
lands.
But he was known for being someone who would listen to his tenants, and his power over
the King and closeness with him also brought him into confrontation with Thomas Cromwell.
He was also a commissioner at the Trial of Anne Boleyn, and his rulings helped to secure
the execution of the second wife of Henry VIII, and with this he was one of the men
who signed her death warrant.
He was a prominent soldier also, and he was tasked with putting down the Pilgrimage of
Grace, a rebellion that rose up in the North against Henry VIII and Cromwell’s changes
to the church and especially the Dissolutions of the Monastery.
But Essex then was later forced to retreat as he was defeated by the rebels.
But before this, Gertrude Courtenay had come to court, and she was also very close with
Catherine of Aragon.
She attended the Field of the Cloth of Gold, the huge celebration and meeting of the French
and English King, and she attended to Catherine of Aragon during this.
It’s known that the pair were close, and she was considered one of her most trusted
advisors.
But following the downfall and ousting of Catherine of Aragon from the royal apartments,
Gertrude must have been a good player at court as she would not fall from grace also, and
she would remain at the royal court.
Following the marriage of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn which divided the country,
Gertrude remained closely by the royal couple along with her husband who remained in favour.
Anne Boleyn in 1533 would give birth to a baby girl, who was named Elizabeth.
This child would later go on to be Elizabeth I, but as Princess Elizabeth was baptised,
Gertrude was chosen as the godmother at the ceremony and the confirmation which occurred
straight after the christening.
This was rather shocking at the time as she remained a close friend of Catherine of Aragon,
and would until she died, but it’s considered that Anne’s decision to appoint Gertrude
in this position was rather spiteful, and Anne wanted to bring her under control, and
to rub it in her nose that Princess Elizabeth was a symbol of Anne’s rise over Catherine
who fell from grace.
It was said Gertrude wanted nothing to do with it, but she agreed to serve in the role
as the Godmother as to not upset the King or bring problems for her husband at court.
The ceremony was a huge public spectacle, and the godparent was expected also to provide
a very expensive present, and this is believed to have been part of Anne Boleyn’s thinking
to appoint her to Elizabeth’s godmother.
In a sense Anne was forcing Gertrude Courtenay to part with a significant amount of cash.
But she through gritted teeth served as Elizabeth’s godmother, and later on she continued to be
loyal to Catherine of Aragon and also her daughter Princess Mary, the future Mary I.
Gertrude in October 1537 represented Princess Mary at the pre-funeral ceremonies for Jane
Seymour which took place at Hampton Court Palace.
She attended the ceremony in replacement for Mary, and she was there at the funeral of
Henry VIII’s third wife who died following giving birth to Edward VI.
But later the links between Gertrude and Catherine of Aragon would come back to haunt her, as
her husband was implicated in a rather scandalous plot.
The Exeter Conspiracy was a alleged plot devised that aimed to rise up against the King’s
policies and the Dissolutions of the Monasteries.
It was known the Henry Courtenay the Marquess of Exeter hated Thomas Cromwell, but Cromwell
attacked accusing the Courtenay’s of being involved in a plan to overthrow Henry VIII
and spark an uprising in their lands.
With this Gertrude was arrested with her husband and also their son Edward, and they were held
inside of the Tower of London.
It’s likely though that the conspiracy was nothing more than a few friends voicing their
discontent against Cromwell, and that the pair were not actually involved in organising
a rebellion.
Cromwell played on the hatred the King had for Reginald Pole, a prominent cardinal who
opposed the Tudor monarch’s changes, and Gertrude’s husband was later executed for
allegedly being in correspondence with him.
But Cromwell wanted to bring the whole of the family down.
Following the execution of her husband, who was executed by sword at Tower Hill, Getrude
became a widow and she was held in the Tower of London along with her son under an act
of attainder.
This meant that the King could have ordered her execution at any point, and everyday its
likely that she would have wondered if the day would be her last.
Henry would also execute other prominent landowners including Margaret Pole, but thankfully for
her in 1540 Gertrude Courtenay was released from prison at the Tower of London.
Following her husband’s death, she lost the rights to all of her lands as she had
been attainted and the King took control of these.
She remained a very close friend of Princess Mary, and when Mary I came onto the throne
she was invited back to the royal court, and she remained close with the Queen until Gertrude
Courtenay died on the 25th September 1558.
Gertrude Courtenay’s life was certainly very interesting and different.
She married a man who became incredibly powerful during the reign of King Henry VIII, and her
husband was very close with the King, but he attracted a lot of negative attention especially
from Thomas Cromwell who orchestrated his downfall, as expertly as he had organised
the execution of Anne Boleyn.
Cromwell destroyed the Exeter family by killing the Marquess, but his wife later returned
to court following the death of Henry VIII and Edward VI.
Ultimately she was very loyal to Catherine of Aragon, and despite being the Godmother
of the Elizabeth I, she never wanted this position as she saw this as a great disrespect.
It’s likely she resented Anne Boleyn who usurped Catherine as the King’s Queen, and
with this she found the title of Godmother to Princess Elizabeth as insulting and obscene.
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