The mothers of Katherine Howard

Katherine Howard (1525-42) was born the daughter of Edmund Howard (1478-1539) and his wife Joyce Culpeper (b.1480). Edmund was the youngest son of the Duke of Norfolk, and as such did not have much of an inheritance, and therefore had very little money to support his family. In 1527 Joyce had to plead with Cardinal Wolsey to spare Edmund from being imprisoned for debt. Joyce Culpeper died when Katherine was still young, in around 1528.

Edmund and Joyce had the following children;
+ Charles Howard (b.1511)
+ Margaret Howard (1515-71) m. Thomas Arundell
+ Mary Howard (b.1518) m. Edmund Trafford
+ Henry Howard m. Anne (b.1510)
+ George Howard (1519-80)
+ Katherine Howard (b.1525) m. King Henry VIII

Joyce had previously married in around 1592 to Ralph Legh (1479-1509), a relative of her stepfather, and they had five children together;
+ Isabel Legh (d.1573) m1. Edward Baynton m2. James Stumpe m3. Thomas Stafford
+ Ralph Legh (b.1505) m. Margaret Ireland
+ John Legh (1502-66) m. Elizabeth Darcy
+ Joyce Legh m. John Stanney
+ Margaret Legh m. Mr Rice

When Katherine Howard became queen in 1540 many of her siblings and relatives came to the royal court, and her sisters Margaret Howard and Isabel Legh became her ladies-in-waiting.

Katherine Howard

When his wife Joyce died, Edmund was then solely responsible for a household of eleven children. Needing to provide his young family with a maternal figure he soon remarried, to Dorothy Troyes (1487-1530), daughter of Thomas Troyes, and the widow of William Uvedale (1483-1528).
Dorothy and William, who married in 1501, had eight children together;
+ Arthur Uvedale (1502-38) m. Anne Haselwood
+ John Uvedale (1504-45)
+ William Uvedale (b.1506)
+ Agnes Uvedale (b.1508) m. Richard Cooke
+ Elizabeth Uvedale (b.1510) m. Thomas Cheeke
+ Richard Uvedale (1512-56)
+ Anne Uvedale (b.1514)
+ Francis Uvedale (1516-45)
Due to the ages of Dorothy's children, it is unlikely that they came to live with her and her new husband Edmund, as it was probable that they were already married themselves or being educated outside of the family home.
This marriage did not last long as Dorothy died in 1530, leaving Edmund Howard a widow for the second time within two years.

Edmund Howard married again for a third time between 1533 and 1537 to Margaret Munday (1510-66), the widow of Nicholas Jennings (d.1533). Margaret was the daughter of Sir John Munday, the Lord Mayor of London.
Margaret and Nicholas, who had married in 1526, had the following children together;
+ Anna Jennings
+ Bernard Jennings
+ Juliana Jennings (d.1595) m. Thomas Holcroft
At the time of Nicholas Jennings' death in 1533, only his daughter Juliana was still living and was his sole heir. Due to her young age it could be presumed that she went with her mother to live in the Howard household.
Edmund Howard died on the 19th March 1539, just one year before his daughter became Queen of England. His widow Margaret married for a third time to Henry Maddocks, MP, with whom she had Margaret Maddocks (1545-1612), who married Francis Cromwell, and a son who was disinherited by his father for "naughty, light and lewd behaviour".

Katherine Howard was living with her step-grandmother the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, Agnes Howard (nee Tilney) by 1536. Her father had sent her brother George and herself to live there around 1533, as they would receive an education there far better than one he would be able to provide. It has been surmised by some historians that prior to this Katherine had been sent to live with one of her maternal aunts, Margaret or Elizabeth, in 1531 when her father was sent to take up his posting as Controller of Calais. He had gained this position through the influence of his niece, Anne Boleyn, with the king, and would remain in the position until his death.

Agnes Howard, nee Tilney

Katherine Howard spent her entire childhood in the country, receiving little education or supervision, until she went to serve at the royal court in the winter of 1539. Her father had barely been able to support his family financially, possibly due to the large number of children. He had also spent most of his time working away from his family, and Katherine would have only spent a minimal amount of time with her two stepmothers. Later, living in the Dowager Duchess' household, Katherine was still deprived of a real family atmosphere. The household was home to a large number of Howard relatives, and so Katherine probably received very little attention and had very few of her own possessions. Therefore when King Henry began courting Katherine, showering her with expensive gifts, and the attention she then began to receive from everyone, was foreign to her. As any young girl would, Katherine relished all of it; possibly resulting in a reputation for being materialistic and fanciful.

Queen Elizabeth's two Blanches

Blanche Parry (1508-90) was the daughter of Harry Myles, Sheriff of Herefordshire, and his wife Alice Milborne (b.1475). The family were a Welsh speaking household, as Harry Myles was a Welshman, and Blanche is sometime recorded by her Welsh name; Blanche ap Harry.

Tomb of Blanche Parry (left) kneeling to Queen Elizabeth I

The children of Harry and Alice were;
+ Blanche
+ Symond - never married but had four illegitimate children; Myles, John, Elizabeth and Jane (who                         married Griffith Jones).
+ Myles m. Elinor Scudamore
               + Joan m. Watkyn Vaughan
                            + Rowland Vaughan (1559-1629)
               + Elizabeth m. Rowland Vaughan
+ Elizabeth m. Thomas Vaughan
+ Olive m. William Cecil (d.1598)
+ Sybell
+ John

Blanche Parry aided her relatives with positions at court; her great-nephew Rowland Vaughan (b.1559) spent time at the royal court in the 1590's. Blanche's sister Olive married a member of the Cecil family, a connection acknowledged by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as he often referred to Blanche Parry as 'cousin'.

Alice Milborne was the eighth of thirteen daughters, and heiresses, to Simon Milborne (1435-1522) and his wife Jane Baskerville (b.1451) of Herefordshire. On both her paternal and maternal lines of descent, Alice Milborne was able to trace her family back to knights who had come over with William the Conqueror from Normandy.
Simon and Jane's children included;
+ Alice m. Harry Myles m2. Thomas Baskerville
+ Blanche m1. James Whitney m2. Sir William Herbert
                  + Robert                    + Charles
                  + James                     + Thomas m. Anne Lucy
                  + Watkin
                  + Elizabeth m. Mr Morgan
+ Anne (b.1465) m. William Rudhall
+ Catherine (b.1466) m. Thomas Barton
                                   + Griffin Barton
+ Joyce (b.1467) m. Thomas Hyett
                             + James Hyett
+ Sybil (1468-1537) m1. Richard Hackluyt m2. John Breynton
+ Margaret (1480-1522) m. John Bishop
                                         + Anthony Bishop
+ Juliana (b.1485)
+ Eleanor (1493-1530) m. John Moore
+ Agnes (b.1480) m. Thomas Walwyn
+ Joan (b.1484)
+ Jane (1498-1535) m. Richard Cornwall
+ Elizabeth (1470-1514) m1. Thomas Mornington m2. John Whittington
+ Henry (1482-1520)

As Simon's only son Henry had predeceased him two years earlier, his fortune was inherited equally between his thirteen daughters, and if they had died, their portion would pass to their oldest living child; as seen in the case of his daughters Catherine, Joyce and Margaret.

It was Simon's daughter Blanche Milborne, Lady Troy who brought her niece, and goddaughter, Blanche Parry to the royal court. Blanche Milborne was a close friend of Queen Anne Boleyn through Elizabeth Somerset, Countess of Worcester. In 1533 she recommended a Welshwoman, Mrs Pendred, as wet nurse for Queen Anne to employ for Princess Elizabeth, a decision which was later overruled by King Henry VIII. Therefore, it follows that Blanche would be involved in the Tudor princess' life. Due to her position as Mistress of the Household for all three children of King Henry VIII, her niece Blanche Parry knew Princess Elizabeth from the time she was a baby, and would continue to serve her loyally throughout her life until her own death in 1590. Blanche Herbert finished her term as Lady Mistress of the royal children's household in 1545, and from a letter written by Roger Tyrwhitt it can be surmised that Blanche Herbert had trained her niece Blanche Parry to be her successor, however the position was instead given to Kat Ashley. Despite her retirement, Blanche Herbert was paid a pension by Princess Elizabeth as late as 1552; she received 70 shillings twice a year, which was half the amount of her wage when she was employed.
Blanche Milborne's daughter Elizabeth Whitney married a Mr Morgan, and the couple were the parents of Anne Morgan. Anne Morgan married the queen's cousin Henry Carey; a prestigious marriage.

The life and loves of Frances Vavasour

Frances Vavasour (1568-1606), was the daughter of Henry Vavasour and Margaret Knyvett (b.1537), and sister to Anne Vavasour (1562-1650) the mistress of Edward de Vere and Sir Henry Lee.
Frances came to the royal court in the late 1580's to serve Queen Elizabeth I as a maid of honour, and in November 1590 she was observed by Sir John Stanhope, the vice chamberlain, to have "flourisheth like the lily and the rose". Her elder sister Anne's romantic adventures may have served as a warning to Frances, however Frances was to find herself in her own romantic entanglements.

By 1591 Frances was the mistress of Sir Robert Dudley (1574-1649), the illegitimate son of Robert Dudley - the queen's favourite - and Douglas Sheffield, nee Howard (1542-1608). Frances and Robert became contracted to marry with the queen's consent, although the queen wished Robert to wait a few years until he was older to marry.
It can be understood why Frances had fallen for Robert Dudley, as he was probably very much like his father; he had been raised in his father's household and inherited his good looks and charm. Robert was educated at Oxford University, stood alongside his father during the Spanish Armada, and also received a large inheritance from his father in the shape of Kenilworth Castle; by sixteenth century standards he was an ideal husband.

No marriage to Robert Dudley took place, as later in 1591 Frances had married in secret to Sir Thomas Shirley (1564-1633), and Robert Dudley went on to marry Margaret Cavendish (d.1595). Thomas' father did not approve of the match with Frances, perhaps providing a reason for the secrecy of the marriage. Whilst Frances' marriage was still a secret, her husband Thomas publicly courted the widowed Frances Brooke, Lady Stourton (b.1561), behaving as if he were free to marry her.
Frances Brooke, was the sister to Elizabeth Brooke who married Sir Robert Cecil. Frances and Elizabeth were the daughters of Lord Cobham. The behaviour of Thomas Shirley had greatly offended the family of Frances Brooke, and by extension also Robert Cecil. Thomas wrote to Thomas Heneage in order to ask him to reconcile himself with the Cobham family, that he had caused so much offense to.

"I do hold myself much bounden unto your honour in that you will please to do your best to reconcile me unto Sir Robert Cecil and my Lady Cobham both which I have mightily wronged in the carriage of my marriage. For in very truth I, being moved with the worth of my Lady Sturton, and the great honour of her house, had a desire to make her possessor of all my love and thoughts, till love (whose quality I doubt not but your honour is acquainted withal) forced me to settle all my fancies and resolutions on another, whose love I now possess. Yet during the time of my affection unto her I was often wandering, sometimes being shaken with the slanders she was subject unto, some other time deeply continuing the inestimable worth of my Lady Sturton; all which things rightly weighted, I hope that Sir Robert Cecil and all those honourable ladies, who I have thus wronged will be pleased rather to blame love. Yet is there behind a greater offence which I will unfold unto your honour that when you know it you may the better excuse it; that is, that being married I continued going to my Lord Cobham, which I assure your honour I did for fear of offending my father with my double dealing, neither durst in outward shew to him seem to leave my first desires till I had found some good means to win to like the second. In which course though I did very ill yet no so badly as some do think, for I never spake unto that lady of marriage, neither indeed would her honourable father suffer me to do, being moved by some holy influence that I was not fit for such a motion. Now your honour perceiveth the depth of my case. I humbly beseech you to hold such a course as may win the whole noble family once again to think me honest and I will ever hold those direst courses and be so thankful unto your honour as you shall have no cause to be ashamed of that you shall do fore me." - Thomas Shirley to Sir Thomas Heneage, 6th September 1595.

In September 1591 Frances and Thomas' marriage was discovered, as a result the couple were banished from court and Thomas was imprisoned in Marshalsea prison for his deceitful behaviour. He was released in the spring of 1592, after sending a penitent letter to William Cecil on the 28th December 1591.
Frances and Thomas had seven children together;
+ Cheyney Shirley (d.1605)
+ Henry Shirley (1591-1627)
+ Thomas Shirley (1597-1664) m. Ann Blundell
+ Frances Shirley (1598-1639) m. John Mole
+ Elizabeth Shirley m. Arthur Daking
+ Catherine Shirley
+ Dorothy Shirley

Wiston House, owned by Thomas Shirley

Married life was not to be any less eventful for Frances and Thomas. Due to the dire financial situation of his father, Thomas sold his company to Thomas Vavasour, Frances' brother, and went into privateering hoping to improve the family fortunes. In 1600 he came under attack from his creditors, and one incident involved supporters of Sir Richard Weston breaking into Thomas' father's house in Blackfriars in London, and threatened both father and son, demanding payment. Early in 1602, Thomas pillaged two small hamlets in Portugal, each containing only a dozen houses; this event seems to be a typical example of his unsuccessful privateering career. In 1602 Thomas took two ships to the Levant to strike a blow against the Turks, however in January 1603 he was captured by Turks and held prisoner in Constantinople. He was not released until ransom was paid in December 1605, and he did not return to England until a year later, by which time his wife Frances had died.  In 1607 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for interfering in the actions of the Levant Company. Thomas remarried in December 1617 to Judith Taylor, nee Bennet, with whom he went on to have eleven children. In 1627, Frances and Thomas' son Henry Shirley, a playwright, was murdered in London. The high costs of Thomas' failed expeditions at sea, as well as the family debts he had inherited, meant that much of the Shirley inheritance had been sold or lost. The last property left was the Park on the Isle of Wight, which he permitted to keep due to his age and infirmity, and he died there.
The children of Thomas Shirley and his second wife Judith Taylor were;
+ John Shirley
+ Hugh Shirley
+ Thomas Shirley (d.1658)
+ Robert Shirley
+ Richard Shirley
+ Judith Shirley
+ Anne Shirley
+ Judith Shirley
+ Elizabeth Shirley
+ Bridget Shirley
+ Elizabeth Shirley

Robert Dudley, c.1590's

In 1605 Robert Dudley tried to use his previous relationship with Frances to sort out his own marital problems. He claimed that he had in fact been married to Frances, and therefore both of his first two marriages - to Margaret Cavendish and Alice Leigh (1579-1669) - had not been legal as Frances had still been alive. His reason behind this was that he wished to get an annulment of his second marriage to Alice Leigh, in order to marry his cousin and lover Elizabeth Southwell (1586-1631). Elizabeth Southwell had arrived at court in 1599 to become a maid of honour to the queen, she was a great-granddaughter of Henry Carey (1525-96), and therefore related to Robert through his Howard mother. The claim of the previous marriage to Frances was not accepted, and so Robert Dudley and Elizabeth Southwell - disguised as a male page - left England on July 2nd 1605 and travelled first to France, and then on to Tuscany in Italy. They were married in Lyon in 1606 in the Catholic faith - this may also have been done as a means to nullify his married to Alice Leigh as it would not have been recognised by the Catholic church due to the fact it had ben a Protestant marriage - after being granted a papal dispensation due to the fact that they were close blood relatives, and went on to have thirteen children. After using his skills as a navigator and ship builder for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Robert went on to become a grand chamberlain at the Medici court in Florence. The couple never returned to England.

"The Queen...is much put out because a married cavalier, Sir Robert Dudley, who they say is a natural son of the Earl of Leicester, has last night carried off a maid of honor of whom he was enamoured. Strict orders were promptly given out, but at present we have heard no news. This gentleman is about 35 years of age, of exquisite stature, with a fair beard, and noble appearance. The fact has created great scandal." - Ottaviano Lotti to Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Robert had married his first wife Margaret Cavendish in 1591, which lasted until her death from the plague in 1595. The couple had no children together. Robert soon remarried to Alice Leigh on the 11th September 1596. Robert and Alice had seven daughters together, only five of which survived to adulthood;
+ Alice Dudley (1597-1621)
+ Douglas Dudley
+ Katherine Dudley (1598-1673) m. Richard Levenson
+ Frances Dudley m. Gilbert Kniveton
+ Anne Dudley m. Robert Holborne
After Robert left England and abandoned his wife and daughters, King James I ordered him to return and when he failed to do so, James confiscated his lands and declared him and outlaw for deserting his family.
Robert and Elizabeth had the following children together;
+ Maria Dudley (b.1609)
+ Cosimo Dudley (b.1610)
+ Anna Dudley (1611-29)
+ Carlo Dudley (1614-1686) m. Mary Magdalen of Picardy
+ Teresa Dudley (b.1623) m. Earl of Carpegna
+ Maria Christina Dudley (b.1628)
+ Enrico Dudley (b.1631)
+ Ambrogio Dudley
+ Ferdinando Dudley
+ Maria Magdalena Dudley
+ Antonio Dudley
+ Giovanni Dudley
+ dau Dudley m. Duke of Castillion del Lago

The Caesars of Elizabethan London

The Caesar family of Elizabethan London can be seen as a shining example of the importance of education during this era. The medical education which Dr Guilio received in Italy was key to his immigration to England and led to his court career. As a result of this, he was able to ensure that his children also were highly educated and could forge out successful careers for themselves. They were an immigrant family who used education to gain connections and to integrate themselves into leading contemporary events which dominated English culture, such as expeditions to the New World.

Dr Guilio Caesar Adelmare, born in 1540 in Treviso, Italy, was a court physician under Queens Mary and Elizabeth Tudor. He came to England around 1550 and became naturalized as an English citizen in 1558. Guilio (Julius) was the son of Dr Pietro Maria Adelmare and Paola Caesarino - Paola was descended from the Dukes of Caesarino.
He and his wife Margery Peryent (d.1583) had several highly accomplished children together;
+ Julius Caesar, a judge, MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1558-1636)
+ Henry Caesar, Dean of Ely
+ Thomas Caesar, lawyer and MP (1561-1610)
+ Charles Caesar
+ Elizabeth Caesar, married Dr John Hunt
+ William Caesar, merchant in the Mediterranean
+ Anne Caesar, married Damian Peck, lawyer of Grey's Inn
+ Margaret Caesar, married Nicholas Wright, lawyer of Grey's Inn

Thomas Caesar married three times within four years;
1) Susanna Longe in January 1589, who then died in 1590
2) Anne Beeston (nee Lynne)
3) Susan Ryder on 18th January 1593, with whom he had eight children including Alice and Thomas. Susan was the daughter of Sir William Ryder, a haberdasher and the Lord Mayor of London.
Like his father before him, Thomas served the monarchy of England. Thomas was raised to the position of Clock Keeper to Prince Henry and in 1610 was made Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer and was knighted, however later that year Thomas died.

It is a result of Guilio's own experience of education at Padua University that his sons were also sent to university to gain Bachelor's and Masters degrees. His eldest son Julius was educated at Oxford University, and later as University of Paris, gaining four degrees within six years. Henry Caesar had studied at Cambridge University in his younger years, after which he was a Roman Catholic priest abroad, however he later on renounced his faith and became a Protestant preacher. Julius organised for his younger brother Henry to study at Oxford University in the 1590's, where he gained a BA, MA and Phd in Divinity. Julius was also responsible for promoting his brother William to the service of William Harborne in Turkey in September 1584. Julius and Thomas both being lawyers often consulted each other concerning cases as their focuses were different; Julius often asked for Thomas' help with cases concerning the law of property. Although family loyalty did not mean that Julius always found in favour of his brother's clients; Julius found in favour of his opponent on several noted occasions.

Julius Caesar, MP and Judge

In 1563 when the plague was rife in England, Dr Caesar wrote to William Cecil from Hatfield that in order to contain the spread of the disease, Italian practices should be employed. Possibly influenced by Caesar's ideas, on the 12th March 1564 Cecil issued a proclamation in Westminster, which was an area of particular concern as this is where the government convened and was therefore key to the spread of the disease, of plague orders.

After Dr Guilio Caesar died in 1569, his widow Margery married Michael Lok after 1571, when his first wife had died. It is possible that the couple had up to seven children together as in 1579 Lok states he has fifteen children, and he had at least eight with his first wife. Lok was a merchant and traveller, having been captain of a ship which traded in the Levant, as well as the governor of the Cathay Company, founded in 1577, who funded the explorations of Martin Frobisher. It is this family connection which meant that in 1577 when Lok was finding sponsors and funding for Frobisher's exploration of Cathay, four of Lok's Caesar step-children each gave £25; Julius, Thomas, Charles and Elizabeth. Lok and his own children all gave money towards the expedition too; Lok himself invested £900, whilst seven of his sons each gave £25; Matthew, Henry, Michael, Zachary, Eleazer, Gerson and Benjamin. The expedition was not financed solely by fellow merchants, it also included payments from many prominent court figures; Dr John Dee, Robert Dudley, Francis Walsingham, William Cecil and Queen Elizabeth, to name a few.