(Music)
The third mother-in-law of Henry the eighth was Margery Wentworth the mother
of Jane Seymour. Margery was also known as Margaret and was born in 1478.
The daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth and Anne Say. Margerys first cousins, courtiers
Elizabeth Boleyn and Edmund Howard were parents to an earlier and later royal
wife than her daughter, those being Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard respectively.
Elizabeth Cheney's first husband was Frederick Tilney, father of Elizabeth
Tilney Countess of Surrey. This made Anne Say although not of peerage level nobility
herself the half-sister of a countess. Wentworth was also a descendent of King
Edward the third this remote royal ancestry is partly why Henry the eighth
found Jane Seymour a potential marriage partner.
Margerys father Henry Wentworth rose to be a critical component of Yorkshire and Suffolk politics, however
in 1489 during the Yorkshire uprising the future King Henry attained the
throne when his forces defeated King Richard the third at the Battle of
Bosworth Field. The culmination of the War of the Roses.
He was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle and he
cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York. He left his home and was named
the steward of Knaresborough earning him the privilege to keep the peace in the
name of the first Earl of Surrey. After this he was awarded the title of the
Sheriff of Yorkshire. The name Seymour comes from the old english word 'sae'
which translates into sea and mere meaning lake or pond. In the anglo-saxon
community Seymour originated in the Yorkshire, Norfolk and Suffolk regions.
The Seymours were descendants of a companion of William the Conqueror who took his
name from St. Maur-ser-Loire in Touraine, and who was an ancestor of William de St. Maur.
Margery was given a place in the household of her aunt the Countess of
Surrey, Elizabeth Tilney where she met the poet John Skelton whose muse she became.
She was considered a great beauty by Skelton and others. In poetry
dedicated to her he praised her demeanor. Skeltons poem Garland of Laurel in
which ten women in addition to the countess weave a crown of laurel for
Skelton himself. It portrays Margery as a shy, kind girl and compares her to
primrose and columbine.
On October the 22nd 1494, Margery married
Sir John Seymour of Wulfhall in Wiltshire. On the same day her father Henry
remarried Lady Elizabeth Scrope. Margery and her husband had ten children
together including the future Queen Jane. In the early years of marriage Margery
very rarely left the confines of Wulfhall, however on the second of Henrys
visits to the manor she and her children moved out to Tottenham Lodge this was
so the Kings most important courtiers could be as comfortable as possible
during their visit. However, it is thought that the King would have rode out to
Tottenham Lodge to visit Margery and thank her for the hospitality.
King Henry visited Wulfhall for three days and Margery made sure her daughter Jane wore
her prettiest gowns as she realised that her daughter would look radiant and
bejeweled in the latest fashions. The visit by Henry proved to be, well let's
say not a cheap exercise, if you're about to invite royalty around the sums of
money involved are pretty astronomical. The cost of this particular visit was
288 pounds 19 shillings and 10 pence in today's market that's equivalent to
around 121 thousand pounds. In 1536 when Margerys husband Sir John died at the
age of 62, Jane had not seen him since her wedding day and was unable to go to
his funeral at Easton Priory due to a role she was to play in a long-planned
state occasion two days later. It was a devastating time for Margery.
In 1550 on October the 18th Margery Wentworth, Lady Seymour passed
away of natural causes. Her son Edward Duke of Somerset asked
for a state funeral and mourning as it seemed fitting the Kings grandmother
should receive such reverence. In a long-winded reply he was told that
public mourning was dying out and such outward demonstrations of mourning and
the expense of a public funeral would cause criticism and that now people
should reserve their right to private sorrows within their own house.
The fourth of Henrys mothers-in-law came from Germany, Maria of Julich Burg.
She was a straight-laced no-nonsense lady, she was strict and a traditional Catholic
and not one who advocated educating princesses and noble women.
Maria of Julich Berg was born on the 3rd of August 1491. Maria came from a line of
German princesses and she was the daughter of Wilhelm the 4th Duke of
Julich Berg and Sibylle of Brandenburg. One of the lesser powers in Germany at
the time of Henry the eighth was the Duchy of Cleves it lacked dignity
influence and importance to other European sovereigns at this time. The one
monarch who went on to unify such principalities into one government was
the marriage between Maria and John of Cleves.
She married John the 3rd Duke of Cleves in 1509 by whom she had three daughters and a son.
Sybille, William, Amalia and Anne who was
queen consort of England from the 6th of January 1540 to King Henry the 8th.
Maria became heiress to her father's estates of Julich, Berg and Ravensberg after his
death in 1511. Marias estates and titles will eventually merge with the Duchy of
Cleves. John who inherited the Duchy of Cleves - Mark in 1521 then became the first
ruler of the United Dutchess of Julich, Cleves and Berg which would exist until 1666
Maria of Julich Berg was no Isabella of Castile, nor were the exciting ideas of the Renaissance concerning the education
of women allowed to hold sway. It seems the Duchess Maria was herself a strict
Catholic not subject to liberal reforms and notions of her father or husband.
She was strict and had strict ideas on bringing up her children,
and they were never allowed to wander too much away from her.
Maria was said to be unwilling to allow her daughter to go to England due to the
fact she just loved her so much but when a king comes calling Annes destiny
seems to be sealed. Shakespeare said of Henry 'In such a business give me leave
to use my own eyes, I cannot love her nor will strive to try'. One reason Henry the
eighth disliked Anne so much was that unlike his first two wives and many of
the court ladies around him, Anne did not possess educational and musical
accomplishments and was ill equipped to function in the contentious English court.
Duchess Maria herself appears not to have favoured sending her daughter to
England in the first place. She wrote in a later correspondence she
loved her daughter so much that she was 'loathe to suffer' her departure.
Hans Holbein was dispatched to Cleves to paint a portrait of Anne for the king and
despite speculation that Holbein painted her in an overly flattering light, it is
more likely the portrait was accurate. However it was not long before Henry wished
to annul the marriage so he could marry another. Anne did not argue and confirmed
that the marriage had never been consummated. When the annulment of Annes
marriage to Henry was proclaimed Maria like any other mother made a fuss and
annoyance of the outcome, she said the envoys must make their excuses politely and leave.
She would never see Anna again as the now dethroned Queen would stay in
England not as captive but of her own free will.
In 1543 no one remarked over Annes usual jollity, she was in fact completely
distraught and saddened by the news her mother Maria who had cherished her
daughter so much had passed away on the 29th of August.
Anne was swept away to the fringes of the English Court
and she herself died at Chelsea Old Manor on the 16th of July 1557.
Join us next time as we look at the next two mothers-in-law of Henry the Eighth.