Ladies

The Other Seymours: Dorothy Seymour Smith Leventhorpe

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Written by Rebecca Larson In my previous post about Sir Henry Seymour, I briefly mentioned another sister called Dorothy. As far as all the living Seymour siblings go it is Henry and Dorothy that we know very little about. When I decided to write an article the lesser known Seymour daughter I hoped that I could come across something that had never been published about her - that I would find some contemporary evidence that would give a glimpse at who she was as a person. [More]

Book Review: Uncrowned Queen by Nicola Tallis

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Margaret Beaufort is quite possibly the most misrepresented characters of the Tudor era, but thanks to Dr. Nicola Tallis' meticulous research we are exposed to a Margaret Beaufort that many of us have never seen before. Book Synopsis: In 1485, Henry VII became the first Tudor king of England. His victory owed much to his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Over decades and across countries, Margaret had schemed to install her son on the throne and end the War of the Roses. [More]

Looking for the Real Amy Robsart (Guest Post)

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Guest article by Nicola Cornick Amy Robsart is a woman from the footnotes of history who is most often defined as either a wife (of Robert Dudley, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I) or as a victim (of an unexplained death.) When I came to study and write about Amy, I wanted to find out as much as I could about the woman behind these different identities, which is no easy task. There are however clues to Amy and her life that shed some light on both her character and her [More]

The Mysterious Nan Cobham

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The downfall of Anne Boleyn is one of the most talked about pieces of Tudor history. Her execution is the one event that all Tudor lovers are aware familiar with – people are fascinated by her because she was unjustly executed. Most of us can agree that she did not deserve the end she met, but that is not what this article is about. This article touches base on the three women who may have been responsible for the events to take motion, but in particular, we want to look [More]

The Disappearance of Lady Mary Seymour

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Born At Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire on 30 August 1548, Lady Mary Seymour was the long-awaited child of dowager queen Kateryn Parr, and her fourth husband Sir Thomas, Baron Seymour of Sudeley. The unexpected pregnancy left both parents overjoyed. In a letter from 9 June 1548, Thomas Seymour writes to his wife: I do desyer your hignes to kepe the letell knaue so leanne and gantte with your good dyett and walkynge that he may be so small that he may krepe owt of a mowse [More]

Tudor Women (Guest Post)

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Today I welcome Kathy Lynn Emerson to my blog. This one is long overdue as I have used Kathy's website as source material for many years. She has been kind enough to let me use her research as long as I linked to her site and give her credit - which I am more than happy to do. She put in a lot of time and energy to build such a wonderful resource for all of us. Because of this, I wanted to draw attention to her and TudorWomen.com today. --- 2351 Tudor Women and [More]

Katherine – Tudor Duchess (Guest Post)

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Attractive, wealthy and influential, Katherine Willoughby is one of the most unusual ladies of the Tudor court. A favourite of King Henry VIII, Katherine knows all his six wives, his daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and his son Edward, as well as being related by marriage to Lady Jane Grey. She marries Tudor knight, Sir Charles Brandon, and becomes Duchess of Suffolk at the age of fourteen. Her Spanish mother, Maria de Salinas, is Queen Catherine of Aragon's lady in waiting, [More]

The Unfortunate Countess: Margaret Pole

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At Farleigh Castle on the 14th of August 1473, a daughter was born to the Duke and Duchess of Clarence. They called her Margaret, most likely after the Duke's sister's Margaret of Burgundy. Margaret was born during the brutal and bloody time of the Wars of the Rose - a powerful family divided by the House of York and House of Lancaster, and each believed the throne of England belonged to them. Margaret Plantagenet was born in the middle of this English chaos. At the time of [More]

The Life of Elizabeth Stafford, Duchess of Norfolk

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Who was the wife of the 3rd Duke of Norfolk and what do we know about her? Elizabeth Stafford was the daughter of the ill-fated Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Eleanor Percy, eldest daughter of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland. She was born in 1497, so one can assume that she was named for the queen consort, Elizabeth of York. Before we go too deep into the life of Elizabeth, let’s understand her family a bit better. Elizabeth’s father, the 3rd Du [More]

Most Influential Tudor Women: Margaret Beaufort

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On my Facebook page called, Tudors Dynasty, I asked my followers who they believed to be the most influential women of the Tudor era. It is because of this poll that I decided to turn this into a series of episodes about some amazing Tudor women. Before I start, let's understand what influential truly means. The Definition of Influential is: having great influence on someone or something. Now that we know the definition of the word, does that change our ideas about [More]

The Life of Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset

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As the only child of Sir Edward Stanhope and Elizabeth Bourchier, Anne Stanhope became the sole heiress of her father's estate at the age of one. Through her mother's side of the family Anne was descended from King Edward III of England through his son, Thomas of Woodstock. After the death of Edward Stanhope, Anne's mother eventually married again, her third marriage was to Sir Richard Paget, who was also well-connected to King Henry VIII. Paget was a gentleman of th [More]

Early Letter from Princess Elizabeth to Lady Knollys

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Catherine Carey, Lady Knollys was the daughter of Mary Boleyn and William Carey. When Catherine's cousin Queen Mary came to the throne they fled the country for fear they would be persecuted for their Protestant beliefs. This letter was written in 1553 making Elizabeth twenty years old. Elizabeth and Catherine always had a close relationship - is it possible because Elizabeth had a feeling they were sisters instead of cousins? We'll never know for certain. “Relieve you [More]

The Princess and the Knight (Guest Post)

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  The Princess and the Knight Guest post by Sarah Bryson The story of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor reads like a fairy tale. Born in 1496 she was the youngest surviving child of King Henry VII and his beautiful wife Queen Elizabeth. Mary was raised to be the perfect image of a princess. Mary was educated in all the necessities for royal women of the time including singing, dancing, embroidery, and playing a musical instrument. In fact Mary was an excellent [More]

Jane and George Boleyn’s Children (Guest Post)

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Guest post by Danielle Marchant Anne Boleyn’s younger brother, George, was married to Jane Parker for over ten years. However, they never had children of their own. Often in Historical Fiction, one of the reasons why their marriage is viewed as an unhappy one is due to the lack of children produced. However, was it true that the couple never had children? There have been several people linked to George Boleyn, raising the question of whether he may have had an illegitima [More]

Book Review: “The Raven’s Widow” by Adrienne Dillard

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It is through my connections to the Tudor world online that I ran into author Adrienne Dillard. Adrienne is a total sweetheart and sent me her book to review after I asked her to write an article about Jane Boleyn for my site. I already had a growing "To Be Read" pile going on but I moved her book closer to the top because I was reading about Katheryn Howard at the time and I thought Jane Boleyn would be a great follow-up book. I wasn't sure what to expect since this is the [More]