Posts
As my eyesight slowly weakens in concert with the general bodily entropy that creeps up on us octogenarians, I have found it more and more difficult to read through a book with my eyes. I have become increasingly reliant on audio versions of books and feel blessed to live in a period when they are increasingly available. I have always been especially fond of a good mystery. Nowadays, though I have found that in addition to finding authors one enjoys, we also are dependent upon them having good readers who enhance rather than detract from the enjoyment of a well-crafted book!
There are a number of books, radio, and TV series centering on the melodramatic political, religious, and dynastic turmoil centering around the bloody reign of Henry VIII. Recently I stumbled upon [thanks to Good Reads] a series of seven “mystery” novels by C.J. Sansom featuring a Tudor era lawyer named Matthew Shardlake whose career becomes entangled with struggles between Roman Catholic conservatism and Martin Luther-inspired Protestant reformation forces in the persons of Thomas Cromwell, Cardinal Woolsey, Bishop Cranmer, and King Henry VIII, inter alia.
Sansom was a Scottish-born lawyer who had earned a PhD in history before deciding to retrain as a solicitor under the British legal system. He specialized in cases involving the poor and disadvantaged [which is reflected in his themes and concerns]. Sansom died in 2024 at the age of 71 while working on an eighth book of this series.
I have finished the first three books in the series in the last few weeks and have had trouble focusing on other things as I kept wanting to move on in the stories. The first title, Sansom’s maiden novel, was Dissolution, a novel which finds the protagonist Matthew Shardlake being given a special mission by Lord Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Vicar General, to investigate the murder of a commissioner overseeing the dissolution of a Catholic monastery in the hinterlands.
The second novel, Dark Fire, takes place a few years later. In it we find Shardlake, formerly an ardent reformer, having cooled somewhat in his ardor due to the increasingly violent and cruel measures being employed by the reformers and the greed to exploit the properties of the Catholic church. Shardlake is given a special assignment by Archbishop Cranmer of the Church of England to uncover a technology of naval significance for King Henry VIII.
The third novel, Sovereign, takes place mainly during Henry VIII’s “Royal Progress” through the country and up to Yorkshire, and focuses squarely on the tragic series of six wives of Henry VIII and the normalized violence of their world.
So, why am I posting this here on our Langdon genealogy page? Well, I began to realize that several of the main, non-fictional characters, have popped up in my genealogical researches of our Langdon forebears so I thought I’d check them out and share them here. If anyone is interested in a particular line, I’ll be glad to put it up here for you.
The six wives of Henry VIII Tudor, King of England [2c 14x] :
1. Catharine of Aragon, Queen Consort of England Catharine was the youngest child of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. When she was three she was betrothed to Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII. They married in 1501, but Arthur died five months later. Catharine spent several years in limbo as ambassador of the Aragonese crown to England—the first known woman ambassador in Europe. She married Henry VIII in 1509 shortly after his accession. She served as his regent for six months while Henry was in France. During that time the English defeated a Scottish invasion at the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part with an emotional speech about courage and patriotism. By 1526, Henry was infatuated with Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter Mary as heir presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne. He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England's schism with the Roman Catholic Church. After being banished from court by Henry, Catherine lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, dying there in January 1536 of cancer.
2. Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, [12g great aunt]: In early 1526, Henry VIII began to pursue Anne. She refused to be his mistress as her sister Mary Boleyn [ 12 g grandmother] had been. Henry focused on annulling his marriage to Catherine to be free to marry Anne. Cardinal Wolsey failed to get an annulment from Pope Clement VII. So Henry and his advisers, such as Thomas Cromwell [14 g great uncle], began breaking the Roman Church's power in England, closing monasteries (and selling off their lands and treasures to feed Henry’s profligate expenditures). Henry and Anne formally married on 25 January 1533. Pope Clement excommunicated Henry and Archbishop Cranmer. Henry VIII then took control of the Church of England and Anne was crowned queen on 1 June 1533. On 7 September, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Anne subsequently had three miscarriages and by March 1536, Henry was courting Jane Seymour. Anne Boleyn was accused by Henry of adultery after failing to produce a male heir. Anne was beheaded by sword in the French fashion on 19 May 1536 at the Tower of London having been charged with adultery, incest, and treason.
3. Jane Seymour, Queen of England, [half 2c 14x]: was the third wife of Henry VIII from 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen after the execution of Anne Boleyn, however, Jane died less than two weeks after the birth of her son, the future King Edward VI [ half 3c 13x]. She was the only wife of Henry VIII to receive a queen's funeral; and Henry was later buried alongside her in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
4. Anne of Cleves, Queen of England, [2c 13x]: In March 1539, negotiations for Anne's marriage to Henry began. Henry and Cromwell hoped to form a political alliance with Anne’s brother, William [2c 13x, Herzog Wilhelm V von Julich-Kleve-Berg ], a leader of the Protestants of Western Germany, to strengthen his position against potential attacks from Catholic France and the Holy Roman Empire. Anne arrived in England in December 1539 and married Henry a week later, but the marriage was declared unconsummated after six months and annulled. Henry was turned off by Anne from the start and blamed Cromwell for the predicament. Following the annulment, Henry gave Anne a generous settlement and Anne was thereafter known as the King's Beloved Sister. Remaining in England, she lived to see the reigns of Henry's children, Edward VI and Mary I [ step daughter of 13 g great aunt], and attended Mary's coronation in 1553. Anne outlived the rest of Henry's wives.
5. Catherine Howard, Queen of England, [1c 13x]: was Queen from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn, and the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Howard was a prominent politician at Henry's court. He had secured Catharine a place in the household of Anne of Cleves where she caught the King's interest. She married Henry on 28 July 1540 just 19 days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne. Henry was 49 and Catherine was about 17. Catherine was officially stripped of her title as queen in November 1541 and beheaded by axe three months later at the Tower of London for treason and adultery.
6. Catherine Parr, Queen of England and Ireland, [1c 13x]: Catharine was the last wife of Henry from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen consort ever. She was the first woman in England to publish in print an original work under her own name in the English language.
Catherine was personally involved in the education of Elizabeth and Edward. She was appointed regent from July to September 1544 while Henry was on a military campaign in France; in the event that he lost his life, she was to rule as regent until Edward came of age. However, Henry did not leave her any function in government in his will.
On account of her Protestant sympathies, she provoked the enmity of anti-Protestant officials, who sought to turn the King against her; a warrant for her arrest was drawn up, probably in the spring of 1546. However, she and the king soon reconciled.
After Henry's death on 28 January 1547, Catherine was allowed, as queen dowager, to keep the queen's jewels and dresses. She assumed the role of guardian to her stepdaughter Elizabeth, and took Henry's great-niece Lady Jane Grey into her household. About six months after Henry's death, she married her fourth and final husband, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley. As brother of Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, Seymour was uncle to Henry's son and successor Edward VI, and the younger brother of Lord Protector of England Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. Catherine's fourth and final marriage was short-lived, as she died on 5 September 1548 due to complications of childbirth. Her funeral, held on 7 September 1548, was the first Protestant funeral in England, Scotland, or Ireland to be conducted in English.[
Daughter of Henry VIII & Anne Bolelyn, Elizabeth I, Queen of England, [1c 13x]
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain [14g great uncle]: was an English statesman and lawyer who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the King, who later blamed false charges for the execution.
Cromwell was one of the most powerful proponents of the English Reformation. As the King's chief secretary, he instituted new administrative procedures that transformed the workings of government. He helped to engineer an annulment of the King's marriage to Catherine of Aragon so that Henry could lawfully marry Anne Boleyn. Henry failed to obtain the approval of Pope Clement VII for the annulment in 1533, so Parliament endorsed the King's claim to be Supreme Head of the Church of England, giving him the authority to annul his own marriage. Cromwell subsequently charted an evangelical and reformist course for the Church of England from the unique posts of Vicegerent in Spirituals and Vicar-general (the two titles refer to the same position).
During his rise to power, becoming Baron Cromwell, he made many enemies, including Anne Boleyn, with his fresh ideas and lack of inherited nobility. He played a prominent role in her downfall. He fell from power in 1540, despite being created Earl of Essex that year, after arranging the King's marriage to the German princess Anne of Cleves. The marriage was a disaster for Cromwell, ending in an annulment six months later. Cromwell was arraigned under an act of attainder and was executed for treason and heresy at the Tower of London on 28 July 1540. The King later expressed regret at the loss of his chief minister, and his reign never recovered from the incident.
Mary Boleyn, Lady Mary Carey Stafford, former mistress of future King Henry VIII [12g grandmother]: sister of Queen Anne Boleyn; daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire [13 g grandfather] and Elizabeth Howard, Viscountess Rochford [13 g grandmother], the eldest daughter of Thomas Howard [14g grandfather], then Earl of Surrey and future 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and his first wife Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey [ 14 g grandmother].
In 1514 when Mary was about 15, she was sent to France, to accompany Mary Tudor as one of her Maids of Honor when the princess went to marry King Louis VII of France. Several of the attendants were sent back to England after the wedding. The French King chose to keep Mary at the French court as one of the new Queen’s attendants. Life in the French court was very different and morals were much looser than in the English court. Mary became one of King Louis' mistresses. This displeased her father who had higher aspirations for his daughters.
By 1519, Mary had returned to England. She married Sir William Carey on 4 February 1520/1 in the presence of the King Henry VIII. Their marriage was a useful alliance combining the bloodlines of the Beaufort, Bohun, Butler, and Howard's. Sir William was a Beaufort descendant through his mother.
Mary became one of Queen Catherine's attendants. Sir William was rising as a gentleman of the Privy Council. Several grants were made to Sir William between 1522 and 1525. Mary had become the King's mistress. In 1523 the King named one of his ships the Mary Boleyn. Mary left the court after becoming pregnant in 1525. Her children Henry, and Catherine Carey possibly were illegitimate children of Henry VIII. Her son Henry was born on 4 Mar 1526.
In 1528 the King requested a dispensation from Pope Clement VII so that he could marry Anne, Mary’s younger sister. The King declared that he was related to Anne's sister, Mary, as she had been his mistress. In 1535 John Hale the Vicar of Islesworth told the Council...
"Moreover,
Mr. Skydmore dyd show to me yongge Master Care,
saying that he
was our suffren Lord the Kynge's son by our suffren Lady
the
Qwyen's syster, whom the Qwyen's grace myght not suffer to be yn the
Cowrte"
William Carey died of the sweating sickness on 23 Jun 1528, leaving Mary a widow with two young children. Mary's sister, Anne was granted wardship of Mary's son, Henry Carey. The King ordered Mary's father, Thomas to support Mary and ordered an £100 annuity previously awarded to her late husband, William Carey to be awarded to Mary’s father for her support.
In 1534, Mary fell in love with, and secretly married, a much younger William Stafford KB, a member of the Calais garrison. He was the 2nd son of a minor midland family. Mary married him without the King's consent or the approval of her father. She quickly fell into disfavor and disgrace. Forbidden from appearing at the court, her sister Anne refused to see her, and her father cut off her allowance.
Mary wrote several letters pleading for forgiveness for marrying for love and without consent. She often requested that her husband be restored to his previous position, but her pleas seem to have been ignored. In 1536, her sister Anne miscarried a son. She insisted that she would only allow Mary to take care of her. This was the only time Mary was allowed contact.
Mary and William settled down and lived a life of obscurity. Mary did reconcile with her father who allowed them to live at Rochford Hall in Essex. Having been banished from court, kept Mary and William from being caught up in the downfall of her sister and brother. Mary was clear of any accusations when Anne and George Boleyn were executed in 1536.
Mary died on 19 July 1543 at Rochford Hall in Essex. Mary's son Henry received the Butler inheritance. In her Will, she left William Stafford the manor of Abinger which had been formerly held by Lady Mary Carew of Essex.
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford [13 g great uncle]: Was the son of Thomas Boleyn and his wife Elizabeth Howard ; and brother of Queen Ann Boleyn and Mary Boleyn. In 1536, Anne Boleyn miscarried a son. This loss of the much desired son and male heir coincided with Henry's infatuation with Jane Seymour, one of his wife's maids-of-honour. To rid himself of his wife, Henry and his chief advisor, Thomas Cromwell, devised a plot whereby Anne was accused of adultery with five men, one of whom was her brother, George. George was charged with incest with the Queen and plotting with Anne to kill the King. George Boleyn and the four men accused of adultery with the queen were beheaded at the Tower of London on the morning of 17 May 1536.
Lord Edmund Howard (c. 1478 – 19 March 1539) [14 g great uncle] 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, Katherine Howard. His first cousin, Margery Wentworth [half 1c 15x], was the mother of Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour.
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (née Parker; c. 1505 – 13 February 1542) [ wife of 13g great uncle] was an English noblewoman, daughter of Henry Parker, 10th Baron Morley. Her husband, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, was the brother of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, and a cousin to King Henry VIII's fifth wife Catherine Howard, making Jane a cousin-in-law. Jane had been a member of the household of Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. It is possible that she played a role in the verdicts against, and subsequent executions of, her husband and Anne Boleyn. She was later a lady-in-waiting to Henry's third and fourth wives, and then to his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, together with whom she was executed at the Tower of London on 13 Feb 1542.
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG, PC (c. 1508 – 20 March 1549) [half 2c 14x]: He was a brother of Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII.] With his brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England, he vied for control of their nephew, the young King Edward VI (r. 1547–1553). In 1547, Seymour married Catherine Parr, the widow of Henry VIII. During his marriage to Catherine, Seymour involved the future Queen Elizabeth I (then 14 years old), who resided in his household, in flirtatious and possibly sexual behavior.
Despite his great wealth and high position, Thomas Seymour could not come to terms with his brother's appointment as protector; and in his struggle with Somerset, he tried to ingratiate himself with the king, who was merely a child. He sought the nine-year-old Edward to write a letter on his behalf in support of his marriage to the dowager queen, Catherine Parr. The letter was obviously dictated by Thomas for Edward's signature and only enraged Somerset. He began to visit Edward frequently, secretly giving him an extravagant allowance of coins, so that Edward might be satisfied in feeling more grown-up and more king-like, giving gifts to his servants, teachers, and friends. Even though he lived in sumptuous splendour and wanting for nothing, no provisions had been made for Edward's pocket money; he became accustomed to these regular payments and began to ask Seymour freely for his allowance.
Thomas continued his manipulation of the king. In trying to get a bill through Parliament making him Edward's personal governor, Seymour requested Edward's royal signature on the bill. But Edward was uncertain and reluctant to go behind the back of the protector, Somerset, and of the regency council, and he would not sign it. Seymour persistently pressured Edward, until Edward felt threatened. But Seymour did not give up. He tried to persuade Edward that he did not need a protector, getting Edward to admit that it might be better for Somerset to die. It is not known what the king meant by this, but it was probably uttered innocently. Seymour intended that the king's royal signature and personal support would destabilise Somerset's position as protector, and as a member of the regency council. In his frustration and inability to gain any significant influence over the king, Thomas Seymour began to think in terms of open rebellion
In the summer of 1547, Somerset invaded Scotland. During his absence from the court, his brother, Thomas, fomented opposition to his authority, voicing open disapproval of his brother's administrative skills. Because his activities seemed suspicious, several members of the nobility advised him to be content with his position, but he would not listen. As Lord High Admiral, he was able to control the English navy, and he openly asked for support in case of a rebellion. Although it was his duty to suppress piracy, he entered into relations with pirates on the western coasts, with a view to securing their support.Thomas seems also to have hoped to finance a rebellion through crooked dealings with the vice-treasurer of the Bristol Mint, Sir William Sharington.
By 1548, the regency council was becoming aware of Thomas's bid for power. Somerset tried to save his brother from ruin, calling a council meeting so that Thomas might explain himself. However, Thomas did not appear. On the night of 16 January 1549, for reasons that are not clear (perhaps to take the young king away in his own custody), Seymour was caught trying to break into the King's apartments at Hampton Court Palace. He entered the privy garden and woke one of the King's pet spaniels. In response to the dog's barking, he shot and killed it. The next day, he was arrested and sent to the Tower of London. The incident, being caught outside the king's bedroom, at night, with a loaded pistol, was interpreted in the most menacing light, even casting suspicion on Elizabeth's involvement with Thomas. On 18 January, the council sent agents to question everyone associated with Thomas, including Elizabeth. On 22 February, the council officially accused him of thirty-three charges of treason. He was attainted of treason, condemned to death and executed on 20 March 1549. Catherine's brother William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, inherited Sudeley Castle.
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp KG, PC (1500– 22 January 1552) [half 2c 14x]: was an English nobleman and politician who served as Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the minority of his nephew King Edward VI. He was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward VI.
Seymour grew rapidly in favour with Henry VIII following Jane's marriage to the king in 1536, and was subsequently made Earl of Hertford. On Henry's death in 1547, he was appointed protector by the Regency Council on the accession of the nine-year-old Edward VI. Rewarded with the title Duke of Somerset, Seymour became the effective ruler of England. Somerset continued Henry's military campaign against the Scots and achieved a sound victory at the Battle of Pinkie, but ultimately he was unable to maintain his position in Scotland. Domestically, Somerset pursued further reforms as an extension of the English Reformation, and in 1549 imposed the first Book of Common Prayer through the Act of Uniformity, offering a compromise between Protestant and Roman Catholic teachings. The unpopularity of Somerset's religious measures, along with agrarian grievances, resulted in unrest in England and provoked a series of uprisings (including the Prayer Book Rebellion and Kett's Rebellion). Costly wars and economic mismanagement brought the Crown to financial ruin, further undermining his government.
In October 1549, Somerset was forced out of power and imprisoned in the Tower of London by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and a group of privy councillors. He was later released and reconciled with Warwick (now Duke of Northumberland), but in 1551 Northumberland accused him of treason, and he was executed in January 1552.
Lady Jane Grey Queen of England and Ireland “the Nine Days Queen”[ wife of 2c 12x Lord Guildford Dudley] : Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned until she was deposed by the Privy Council of England, which proclaimed her cousin, Mary I, as the new Queen on 19 July. Jane was later beheaded for high treason.
Jane was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII (through his youngest daughter, Mary Tudor), the grandniece of Henry VIII, and the first cousin once removed of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I. Under the will of Henry VIII, Jane was in line to the throne after her cousins. She had a humanist education and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day. In May 1553, she was married to Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward VI's chief minister, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. In June, the dying Edward VI wrote his will, nominating Jane and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, in part because his half-sister Mary was Catholic, whereas Jane was a committed Protestant and would support the reformed Church of England, whose foundation Edward laid. The will removed both of his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, from the line of succession because of their illegitimacy, subverting their lawful claims under the Third Succession Act. Through the Duke of Northumberland, Edward's letters patent in favour of Jane were signed by the entire privy council, bishops, and other notables.
After Edward's death, Jane was proclaimed queen on 10 July 1553 and awaited coronation in the Tower of London. Support for Mary grew rapidly and most of Jane's supporters abandoned her. The Privy Council suddenly changed sides and proclaimed Mary as queen on 19 July, deposing Jane. Her primary supporter, her father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland, was accused of treason and executed less than a month later. Jane was held prisoner in the Tower, and in November 1553, she was also convicted of treason, which carried a sentence of death.
Mary initially spared her life, but Jane soon became viewed as a threat to the Crown when her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, became involved with Wyatt's rebellion against Mary's intention to marry Philip of Spain. Jane and her husband were executed on 12 February 1554. At the time of her execution, Jane was either 16 or 17 years old.
Note on Pope Clement VII who refused to sanction the annulment HenryVIII’s marriage with Catharine of Aragon: (Born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the most unfortunate of the popes", Clement VII's reign was marked by a rapid succession of political, military, and religious struggles—many long in the making—which had far-reaching consequences for Christianity and world politics. Nevertheless, Clement left a significant cultural legacy in the Medici tradition. He commissioned artworks by Raphael, Benvenuto Cellini, and Michelangelo, including Michelangelo's The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.[ In matters of science, Clement is best known for approving, in 1533, Nicolaus Copernicus's theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun—99 years before Galileo Galilei's heresy trial for similar ideas.
In the early 16th century, Europe was in the grip of a devastating syphilis epidemic. Originating in the newly discovered Americas, this disease swept through the continent, causing immense suffering and societal disruption. Pope Clement VII, the then leader of the Catholic Church and a pivotal figure in European politics, found himself caught in this health crisis. Despite the availability of mercury treatments, which were rudimentary but widely used at that time, Clement VII shockingly refused any medical treatment for his infection. His refusal was rooted in a complex web of personal belief, fear of the side effects of mercury treatments, and possibly a desire to meet his end in a state deemed more 'natural' or 'godly' by the theological standards of the day. This decision led to his untimely death in 1530, a moment that marked a significant historical pivot. The Pope's death not only left the Vatican in disarray but also highlighted the fatal grip of the epidemic on Europe, affecting the highest echelons of societal leadership.
[NB: Bio material mainly from Wikipedia, lines of descent and relationship based mainly on Family Search;s world family tree]
