A WHO’S WHO OF TUDOR WOMEN: U-V

compiled by

Kathy Lynn Emerson

to update and correct

her very out-of-date

WIVES AND DAUGHTERS, THE WOMEN OF SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND (1984)

NOTE: this document exists only in electronic format

and is ©2008-10 Kathy Lynn Emerson (all rights reserved)

ANNE UNTON

see ANNE SEYMOUR

DOROTHY UNTON
see DOROTHY WROUGHTON

CECILY UNTON (d.1617+)
Cecily Unton was the daughter of Sir Edward Unton of Wadley, Berkshire (d. September 16, 1583) and Anne Seymour (1538-February 1587/8). She married first Sir John Wentworth of Gosfield Hall, Essex, by whom she had a son, also named John Wentworth, and second, c.1613, as his second wife, Sir Edward Hoby (1560-March 1, 1617).

MARY UVEDALE
see MARY NORTON

DINGHEN VAN DEN PLASSE (d.1565+) (maiden name unknown)
Dinghen, Dingen, or Dingham Van Den Plasse, Van Den Passe, or Vanderplasse was born in Taenen in Flanders (some sources say Brabant), where her father was a knight, but his name has not been preserved. In 1564 or 1565, Dinghen and her husband, William Van Den Plasse, fled to England to escape religious persecution. To support her family, Dinghen set up as a starcher and soon set a new court fashion for starched ruffs. Her handiwork was first seen at the wedding of Ann Russell to Ambrose Dudley in November 1565. Starch soon replaced wire supports and was so popular that Dinghen could charge £5 to teach others the art of starching. For 20s more she would show them how to manufacture the starch.

VANE

see FANE

ISABEL or ELIZABETH VARGAS (d.1536+)
Isabel (later Elizabeth) Vargas or Vergas was one of Catherine of Aragon's Spanish ladies. So was Blanche Vargas, probably her sister. On October 18, 1511, she was listed as a chamberer to the queen, a position she still held on November 18, 1514. On January 3, 1517, she obtained letters of denizenation. At that time she was listed as one of the queen's gentlewomen. Isabel and Blanche were both still with Catherine of Aragon when she died in 1536, along with Elizabeth Darrell. In her will, Catherine left Isabel £20, but it is doubtful she ever received this legacy. An aside here: Testamenta Vestusta (vol. 1, p. 37) transcribes this bequest as going to "the Sabell of Vergas."

ANNE VAUGHAN (c.1535-c.1595)

Anne Vaughan was the daughter of Stephen Vaughan (d. December 25,1549) and his first wife, Margery Gwynneth or Guinet (d.October 1544). Vaughan’s second wife (d.1557) was also named Margery. She was the widow of Henry Brinklow (d. c. January 20,1545/6), a London mercer who was also famous as an evangelist and as a pamphleteer. Both Margery Vaughans were royal silkwomen. Anne stepmother is generally credited with providing Anne’s education and influencing her religious beliefs. Anne married Henry Locke (Lock; Lok) (d.1571), another London mercer. They had three sons and a daughter, including Henry (1553-1608), Michael, and Anne. By 1552, both were followers of John Knox. When Mary Tudor became queen, Knox was concerned about their safety and urged them to leave England. Locke remained in England but sent his wife and two youngest children to Geneva. They arrived there in May 1557 and remained there until after Mary Tudor’s death. Some accounts say that her daughter died during their exile. Others indicate Anne Locke grew up and married, so perhaps it was the unnamed son who died. Thirteen letters from Knox to Anne Locke, written between 1556 and 1562 are extant. Later, when she provided printer John Field with Knoxiana, rumormongers claimed that Knox had lured her away from her husband. In 1560, Anne Locke translated John Calvin’s Sermons upon the Song that Ezechias made after he had been sick and afflicted by the Hand of God. After she was widowed, Anne Locke married a second time in 1572, taking as her husband Edward Dering (1540-June 26,1576), a preacher with Puritan leanings. In late 1573, Dering described his wife as “rich in grace and knowledge.” Dering died of tuberculosis at Thoby in Essex at the height of his fame. His widow had married a third time by 1583, this time to an Exeter merchant named Richard Prouze or Prowse (d.1607), by whom she had at least two sons. In 1590, Anne Prouze’s translation of John Taffin’s Of the Marks of the Children of God was published. Biography: There is more information on the Locke family in Mary Prior, ed., Women in English Society 1500-1800; Oxford DNB entry under "Locke [née Vaughan; other married names Dering, Prowse], Anne."

ANNE VAUGHAN

see ANNE PERCY; ANNE PICKERING

ELIZABETH VAUGHAN

see ELIZABETH ROYDON

JANE VAUGHAN (d.1610)

Jane Vaughan was probably the daughter of Cuthbert Vaughan (c.1519-July 23,1563) and Elizabeth Roydon (1523-August 19, 1595), even though they were noted puritans and she was a recusant. Jane married Thomas Wiseman of Braddocks, Essex (1528-December 7,1585), by whom she had eight children: William, Jane (c.1570-July 8,1633), John (1571-1592), Thomas (1572-1596), Robert, Anne (d.1650), Barbara (d.1649), and Bridget (1582-1627). In January 1593, she was indicted for hearing mass at Braddocks in September 1592. She had had lived there with her son William (sometimes called Walter) and his wife for a time after her husband’s death. In December 1593, her own house at Bullocks was searched for evidence that she’d been harboring priests, and although none were found, it is likely that it is at this point that she was imprisoned. By July 1594, the authorities had learned that all four of her daughters had been sent to the Continent to become nuns. Anne and Barbara joined the Bridgettines and both became abbesses. Jane and Bridget entered St. Ursula’s in Louvain and Jane later became the first prioress of that convent’s English offshoot, St. Monica’s. Since the Jesuit John Gerard was the Wiseman family chaplain in 1591, there was no question of Mrs. Wiseman’s guilt. While in prison, she associated with the priests also being held there and in December 1595 gave first aid to one of them. Charged with “helping and maintaining” priests, she was sentenced to death on July 3, 1598. Reportedly, she was eager to become a martyr, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison and when James I took the throne she was pardoned. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under “Wiseman [née Vaughan], Jane.”

MARGARET VAUGHAN (c.1540-1619)

Margaret Vaughan was the daughter of Charles Vaughan of Hergist, Kington, Hertfordshire and Elizabeth Baskerville of Eardisley. She was said to have been one of the women of Queen Elizabeth’s bedchamber but what position she held is not clear. Sometime after his first wife’s death in 1591, she married Sir John Hawkins (1532-November 12,1595). In March 1595, she sent for Simon Forman the astrologer. This was just before the voyage on which her husband perished. One wonders what the horoscope he drew up for her might have said. At the time Sir John died, his son, Richard Hawkins, had been a prisoner in Spain for some two years. His ransom had been set at £12,000 and Sir John left £3000 in his will to contribute toward that amount. Richard, still a prisoner in June 1602, accused his stepmother of interfering with the payment of this money. He returned to England in January of 1603. Lady Hawkins seems to have maintained her contacts with the court. In 1601, when Mary Fitton was about to give birth to an illegitimate child, she was sent to Lady Hawkins for keeping. The child’s father was sent to the Fleet. Lady Hawkins lived primarily in London, in Mincing Lane, although she had properties elsewhere. She made a detailed will on April 23,1619. It was proved on January 4,1620, indicating that she died between those two dates. She endowed a school, left money and jewelry to a considerable number of relatives and friends, including the countess of Leicester and Lady Mary Wroth, and asked to be buried in St. Dunstans in the East in London “near the monument there erected for my late beloved husband.”

JACQUINETTA VAUTROLLIER
see JACQUINETTA DUTWITE

ANNE VAUX (July 1562-c.1637)
Anne Vaux was the daughter of William Vaux, 3rd baron Vaux of Harrowden (August 14, 1542-August 20, 1595) and Elizabeth Beaumont (d. August 1562). From 1571, she and her siblings lived at Grace Dieu, Leicestershire with their maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Beaumont (née Hastings; d. 1588). By a deed dated in February of that year, their father agreed to pay £10 a year for the upkeep of each of his daughters for a period of ten years. A dedicated recusant, Anne used the alias “Mrs. Perkins” to hire houses for use as meeting places for missionary priests. She also occasionally impersonated her sister Eleanor Brooksby, to confront the authorities, as Eleanor was exceedingly timid. Anne was arrested when the Gunpowder Plot was uncovered but released soon after. At one point it was thought that she was the one who sent a letter to Lord Monteagle, warning him of the plot, but this is unlikely. She was arrested again the following March and this time confined in the Tower of London. She was released in August 1606. She and her sister, Eleanor (see below) lived quietly at Shoby, Leicestershire for some years but were arrested for recusancy in 1625. After her sister’s death, Anne moved to Stanley Grange, Derbyshire, which became a center of Jesuit activities in England and the site of a school for the sons of the Catholic gentry. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under “Vaux, Anne.”

ELEANOR VAUX (c.1560-1625)
Eleanor Vaux was the daughter of William Vaux, 3rd baron Vaux of Harrowden (August 14, 1542-August 20, 1595) and Elizabeth Beaumont (d. August 1562). From 1571, she and her siblings lived at Grace Dieu, Leicestershire with their maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Beaumont (née Hastings; d. 1588). By a deed dated in February of that year, their father agreed to pay £10 a year for the upkeep of each of his daughters for a period of ten years. In about 1577, Eleanor married Edward Brooksby of Shoby, Leicestershire (d.1581). They had two children, William (d. June 1606) and Mary (c.1579-1628) and Eleanor adopted a motherless cousin, Frances Burroughs (1576-March 3, 1637) shortly after her husband’s death. At that point she was living in the manor house of Great Ashby, part of her jointure. Her sister, Anne, lived with her. The third sister, Elizabeth, was smuggled out of England in 1582 and became a Poor Clare at Rouen. From 1586, Jesuit Henry Garnet was a regular member of Eleanor’s household, which by that time was situated in Warwickshire. After his arrest, Eleanor was in hiding. In 1625, Eleanor was convicted of recusancy at Leicester and fined £240, but she never paid the fine. She died later that same year. Her adopted daughter, Frances Burroughs, became a nun. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under “Brooksby [née Vaux], Eleanor.”

ELIZABETH VAUX
see ELIZABETH CHENEY; ELIZABETH ROPER

JOAN or JANE VAUX (c.1463-September 4, 1538)
Joan Vaux, better known as "Mother Guildford," was the daughter of Sir William Vaux (d. May 4, 1471) and Katherine Penyson (1440-1509+). She was a protégée of Margaret Beaufort, countess of Richmond (Henry VII's mother) and in 1489 married Sir Richard Guildford (1455-September 6, 1506) as his second wife. Both the king and queen attended the wedding. She was in the household of Elizabeth of York and by 1499 had become "lady governess" to Margaret and Mary Tudor. She met the great scholar and philosopher Erasmus when he visited the royal children and apparently impressed him during the two conversations she had with him. In 1519, he referred to Joan in a letter to her son, Henry Guildford, as "the noble lady your Mother" and wished her happiness and prosperity. Joan was again in Elizabeth of York’s service when Catherine of Aragon married Prince Arthur in 1501. Many years later, when Henry VIII was attempting to divorce Catherine, Joan gave a deposition concerning whether or not Catherine's marriage to Arthur had been consummated. She reported that they had spent their wedding night together in the same bed, from her personal knowledge, and that she had heard from Queen Elizabeth herself that Arthur and Catherine "lay together in bed as man and wife all alone five or six nights after the said marriage." Joan's husband, in a move most unusual at that time, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When he died there, he was deeply in debt. The previous year he had lost his post as controller of the king's household due to poor management of money and had spent six months in the Fleet before being released by the king's order. He was pardoned just before he left England. As his widow, Joan was again one of Margaret Beaufort's ladies in 1509. By 1510 she had retired and was living on a small pension in a house in Blackfriars. That same year she inherited a second house, this one in Southwark, "with my lease, which I have of my Lord of Winchester," along with lands in Norfolk and Suffolk, from Sir Thomas Brandon. The latter were "for life, she to pay my nephew, William Sidney, twenty marks a year." She leased the Southwark house back to Brandon's principal heir, Charles Brandon. Lady Guildford was called out of retirement to travel to France with Mary Tudor in 1514. Her dismissal by King Louis, along with most of Mary's English attendants, on the day after the French wedding ceremony, caused a furor. In particular, Mary objected to sending her "Mother Guildford" away. On October 12, in a letter to Cardinal Wolsey, Mary wrote "I have not yet seen in France any lady or gentleman so necessary for me as she is." Upon Lady Guildford's return to England, she resumed her retirement. In 1515, she was granted two pensions by the king totaling £60 per annum. In 1519, she was granted for life an annual gift of a tun of duty-free Gascon wine. She also received several New Year's gifts from the king, including a garter with a gold buckle and pendant in 1531/2. She may have remained at court as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine. At some point, she remarried, taking as her second husband Anthony Poyntz (1480-1533). After her second husband's death, Joan spent some of her time at the house of the black friars called Gaunts in Bristol (some sources call this the Hospital of St. Mark). A proposed injunction forbidding women to come within the precincts led to a letter from Lady Guildford to Lord Cromwell, written from Hill on September 6, 1535. Gaunts, she wrote, was where she had "a lodging most meetest, as I have chosen, for a poor window to serve God now in my old days." She asked for an exception to be made to the new rules for herself and her women. The reply is missing, but in 1536 the Hospital of St. Mark was suppressed. Joan’s primary lodgings continued to be in Blackfriars and she was one of the last people to be buried in the convent of the Blackfriars, on September 9, 1538. Joan's only child was Sir Henry Guildford (1489-1532) but in her will, dated August 30, she also left bequests to, among others, a cousin, Sir William Penison, a niece, Bridget Walsh, her nephew, the Lord Vaux (she left him her book of French and her "hanging of tapestry that has his arms"), and Maud, her fool. Her ready money, plate, and jewels were valued at 12,000 marks.

KATHERINE VAUX

see KATHERINE PENYSON

ANN VAVASOUR (c.1560-c.1650)

Ann Vavasour was the daughter of Henry Vavasour of Tadcaster, Copmanthorpe, Yorkshire and Margaret Knyvett (b.c.1537). She came to court as a maid of honor, probably sometime in 1580, and on March 23, 1581 scandalized everyone by giving birth to an illegitimate child fathered by Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford (April 12,1550-June 24,1604). Together with the child, named Edward Vere after his father, Ann was imprisoned in the Tower. The date of her release is not known, but by 1588 she was free and had resumed her affair with Oxford. By 1590 she had married a sea captain named John Finch, about whom little is known, and had taken a second aristocratic lover, becoming the mistress of Sir Henry Lee (1533-February 12,1611). She had a second illegitimate child, Thomas Vavasour, alias Freeman, by Lee. In 1605, Lee pensioned off John Finch, granting him an annuity of £20. By all accounts, Lee looked on Ann as his wife, leaving her in his will an income of £700 a year, the use of a house, and money to pay for her burial with him at Quarrendon, Buckinghamshire. The tomb he erected there was for both of them. The church stepped in, however, to object to this plan. By 1618, Ann married John Richardson, but because John Finch was still alive, Ann was charged with bigamy and brought before the High Commission on August 8, 1618. This case dragged on until February 1,1622, when Ann was ordered to pay a fine of £2000. She should have been obliged to perform public penance as well, but was granted a dispensation. Ann is said to have been over ninety years old when she died. She did not marry Sir Richard Warburton (d.1610). He was the husband of another, younger Anne Vavasour, who was brought up in the household of Lucy Harington, countess of Bedford and then was a maid of honor from 1601-3. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under "Vavasour [married names Finch: Richardson], Anne." Portrait: attributed to John de Critz, c.1605.


DOROTHY VAVASOUR
see DOROTHY KENT

FRANCES VAVASOUR (1568-c.1606)
Frances Vavasour was the daughter of Henry Vavasour of Tadcaster, Copmansthorpe,Yorkshire, and Margaret Knyvett (b.c.1537) and the younger sister of Ann Vavasour. Frances came to court as a maid of honor around 1590 and in 1591 secretly married Sir Thomas Sherley or Shirley (1565-1633). At about the same time she had an affair with Sir Robert Dudley and her husband, without mentioning that he already had a wife, was courting Frances Brooke, the widowed Lady Stourton, as if he was free to marry her. In September 1591, the secret marriage was revealed and Sherley was imprisoned until the spring of 1592 as punishment for his deceitful behavior. In 1606, after Frances’s death, Dudley claimed he had married her around 1591 and thus had never been legally married to Alice Leigh. Dudley was trying to free himself from an unwanted marriage in order to wed his mistress, Elizabeth Southwell, with whom he had eloped to the Continent. A. L. Rowse, in Sex and Society in Shakespeare’s Age records a visit by Frances, in July 1600, to inquire who she will marry. This seems unlikely, since by then she had been Lady Sherley for some time. She had three sons and four daughters with her husband, including Cheyney (d.yng.), Henry (d.1627), and Thomas (b. June 30, 1597).

ELIZABETH VENABLES (c.1525-1580+)

Elizabeth Venables was the daughter of Sir William Venables of Kinderton (1480-1541) and Catherine Grosvenor (d.1558). She was married to James Marbery (Marberye/Marbry/Marberry/Marbury) (d. July 25,1558) and both were members of Elizabeth Tudor’s household at Woodstock in 1554. When Elizabeth Sandes was sent away in June of that year, Marbery suggested that his wife be promoted to replace her instead of bringing in a new lady-in-waiting for the imprisoned princess. Elizabeth Marbery was granted a pension of £20 per annum for life at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign and received material for a livery gown (satin guarded with velvet) every Christmas. In 1574, she resigned her pension in exchange for the lease on the manors of Warden and Southill, Bedfordshire, which she received with Thomas Marbery (d.1620), her son. She also had a son named George. Elizabeth was listed as one of the queen’s chamberers in 1570 and as a gentlewoman of the bedchamber in 1580. One genealogy has her remarried, to Christopher Davenport of Swettenham, Cheshire, by 1566, but others make him the second husband of another, later Elizabeth Venables.

INEZ DE VENEGAS (AGNES DE VANEGAS) (1475-1514)
Inez de Venegas was one of Catherine of Aragon’s Spanish ladies. She married William Blount, Lord Mountjoy (1479-November 8, 1534), as his second of four wives, on July 30, 1509 and at that time King Henry VIII wrote on her behalf to Ferdinand of Aragon to claim a legacy from his late wife, Isabella of Castile. Inez still had kin in Spain, but their names are elusive and it is not known if she ever received her legacy. She had no surviving children from her brief marriage.

ANN de VERE

see ANN CECIL

BRIDGET de VERE (April 6, 1584-c.1630)
Bridget de Vere was the daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford (April 12,1550-June 24,1604) and Ann Cecil (December 5,1556-June 5,1588). She was brought up by her grandfather, Lord Burghley, who intended, in 1597, that she marry William Herbert, heir to the earl of Pembroke. He refused the match and in April 1599, Bridget married Francis Norris of Rycote, Oxfordshire (July 6,1579-January 29,1622) instead. They had one child, Elizabeth (c.1603-November 1645) and had separated by 1606. In 1621, Norris was created earl of Berkshire. He was contemplating divorce when he committed the crime of elbowing Lord Scrope in the presence of royalty and was sent to the Fleet. Upon his release, he went home to Rycote and killed himself using a crossbow. His estate was then forfeit to the Crown. Bridget died between December 1630 and March 1631. Portraits: effigy on the tomb of her mother and grandmother in Westminster Abbey.


DIANA de VERE
see DIANA CECIL

ELIZABETH de VERE
see ELIZABETH SCROPE: ELIZABETH TRENTHAM; ELIZABETH TRUSSELL

ELIZABETH de VERE (July 2, 1575-March 10,1627)
Elizabeth de Vere was the daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford (April 12,1550-June 24,1604) and Ann Cecil (December 5,1556-June 5,1588). She was brought up by her grandfather, Lord Burghley, who wanted her to marry Henry Wriothesley, 3rd earl of Southampton, whose wardship he held. When Wriothesley refused to wed her in 1591, he was fined £5000. After a period as a maid of honor, she married William Stanley, 6th earl of Derby (1561-September 29, 1642) on June 26,1594 at Greenwich in the presence of Queen Elizabeth. They had waited to be sure his sister-in-law’s posthumous child would be a girl, making his title secure, before they wed. This wedding is sometimes said to have been the occasion for the first performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, although there are other contenders. In late 1596 and again in late 1597, Elizabeth was rumored to be having an affair with the earl of Essex. These rumors were probably unfounded. She was the mother of James, 7th earl of Derby (January 31,1607-October 15,1651), Elizabeth (d. yng.), Robert (d.1632), Anne (d. February 15,1657), and another Elizabeth, who also died young. Portrait: unknown artist; effigy on the tomb of her mother and grandmother in Westminster Abbey.


FRANCES de VERE (1517-June 30, 1577)
Frances de Vere was the daughter of John de Vere, 15th earl of Oxford (1490-March 21,1540) and Elizabeth Trussell (1496-c.1527). In the summer of 1532 she married Henry Howard, earl of Surrey (1517-x.January 19,1547), but they lived apart until 1535 because of their youth. According to one of her grandson’s biographers, Frances was also a poet. Her children were clever and well educated, although Frances did not have charge of their education. They were Jane (1537-1593), Thomas (March 10, 1538-June 2,1572), Catherine (1539-April 7,1596), Henry (February 1540-1614), and Margaret (January 1543-March 17,1592). Frances miscarried in 1547, the year her husband was executed for treason. She was ill for some time afterward. By 1553, she had married Thomas Steyning of Woodbridge, Suffolk (d. October 20, 1575+), where she owned the manor of Earl Soham. She was granted nine manors in all by the duke of Norfolk, her father-in-law, after his restoration in 1553. In July, 1554, Frances represented Queen Mary at the christening of the French ambassador’s son and in December 1557 she was chief mourner at the funeral of her sister-in-law, Mary Howard. She was also chief mourner for her daughter-in-law, Margaret Audley, in 1563. Frances had a daughter, Mary, by her second husband, and possibly a son. She died at East Soham. Portrait: sketch by Hans Holbein, 1535.


KATHERINE de VERE (c.1541-January 17, 1600)
Katherine de Vere was the daughter of John de Vere, 16th earl of Oxford (1512-August 3, 1562) and his first wife, Dorothy Neville (1515-c. January 1548). On February 1, 1548, while still a child, she was promised in marriage to the duke of Somerset's son, Henry Seymour, age seven. This marriage contract was cancelled after Somerset's execution. Katherine instead married Edward, 3rd baron Windsor (1532-January 24, 1575) and was the mother of Frederick, 4th baron (February 2, 1559-December 24, 1585), Henry, 5th baron (August 10, 1562-April 6, 1605), Andrew, Edward, William (b.1566), Catherine (c.1567-December 15, 1640), Elizabeth, and Margaret. On her father’s death, Katherine brought suit against her half brother, claiming that his mother’s marriage to her father had not been valid because there had been a precontract between her father and Katherine’s lady-in-waiting, Dorothy Fosser. Portraits: alone, 1567; with her family, 1568; both by the Master of the Countess of Warwick.


MARGERY de VERE

see MARGERY GOLDING

MARY de VERE (1554-June 24, 1624)
Mary de Vere was the daughter of John de Vere, 16th earl of Oxford (1512-August 3, 1562) and his second wife, Margery Golding (1525-December 2, 1568). She was sworn in as one of the Privy Chamber in 1576/7. She was soon after reported to be headed for marriage with a "Lord Garrat," possibly a member of the Fitzgerald family, but by July 1577, she was being courted by Peregrine Bertie (October 12, 1555-June 25, 1601). Both families objected to the match, but by December Bertie's mother, Catherine Willoughby, duchess of Suffolk, had been won over. The couple married early in 1578, as evidenced by a letter written by the duchess in March. There were some initial difficulties, but after Bertie succeeded his mother and became 11th baron Willoughby d’Eresby in 1580, they seem to have worked them out. They lived at first in the Barbican in London, but in 1582 Bertie went to Denmark as ambassador. Mary stayed behind in England. They had daughter who died young and sons Peregrine, Henry, Vere, and Robert (December 16,1582-October 23, 1642). Their second daughter, born in 1586, was to be named Sophia after the queen of Denmark but there was some confusion over gaining permission for the name from Queen Elizabeth and the child ended up being given the name Sophia by one godmother and Katherine by the other. A number of letters from and about Mary are extant and several are reprinted in Cecily Goff's biography of Catherine Willoughby, A Woman of the Tudor Age.

MARY de VERE
see MARY TRACY

SUSAN de VERE (May 24, 1587-January 1629)
Susan de Vere was the daughter of Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford (April 12,1550-June 24,1604) and Ann Cecil (December 5,1556-June 5,1588). She was brought up by her grandfather, Lord Burghley. At fifteen, she was the subject of a poem by Nathaniel Baxter that lamented her lack of a dowry. She married Philip Herbert (October 16,1584-January 23,1650) at Whitehall on December 27, 1604. It was said to be a love match. The nuptials were celebrated with a masque at court and the king gave the newlyweds land worth £10,000 at Shurland, Kent. Herbert was one of the king’s favorites and the honors and gifts continued to roll in. In 1605, he was created, earl of Montgomery. Susan was at court that year to dance in The Masque of Blackness and both Susan and Philip danced in Hymenaei the following January. They had seven sons and three daughters, three of whom died young. Among the others were Anna Sophia (c.1610-1695), Charles (1619-1636), Philip (1621-1669), James (1623-1579), William, and John. Susan’s niece, Elizabeth Norris, her sister Bridget’s daughter, was living in the earl of Montgomery’s house in 1622, giving rise to rumors that she was his mistress, but Elizabeth’s elopement with Edward Wray early that year tends to cast doubt on that allegation. Like her husband, Susan was a patron of the arts. Portraits: effigy on the tomb of her mother and grandmother in Westminster Abbey.


ANNE VERNEY
see ANNE DANVERS

ELEANOR VERNEY

see ELEANOR POLE

ELIZABETH VERNEY (1558-1590+)
Elizabeth (sometimes called Eleanor) Verney was the daughter of Sir Henry Verney. Queen Elizabeth was her godmother. She married William Palmer (c.1545-1587?) and was the mother of Catherine (1580-1661), Thomas (1582-1605), Abraham (1583-1653), Walter (1587-1638), Sarah (1587-1633), John (b.1589), and William (1590-1661). Some sources say that William Palmer was her first husband, married in 1575, by whom she had no children, and that her second husband was William’s brother, John (b.1544), father of those listed above plus Nathaniel and a second John. The date of this second marriage is listed as 1579. Portrait: c.1590.


JANE VERNEY (1532-1591+)
Jane Verney was the daughter of Sir Ralph Verney of Pendley, Herfordshire and Clayton, Buckinghamshire (1509-1546) and Elizabeth Bray. She married Sir Francis Hynde (1533-March 21, 1595) and their children were Jane (c.1633), William, Ursula, Edward, and John. Portrait: by Hieronimo Custodis, 1591.


MARY VERNEY

see MARY BLAKENEY

DOROTHY VERNON (1545-1584)

The name Dorothy Vernon is known to many people otherwise uninterested in Tudor women. They have only to visit Haddon Hall in Derbyshire to hear the story of her elopement and see “Dorothy Vernon’s Bridge” in the garden. Dorothy was the younger daughter of Sir George Vernon (1508-1565), known as “King of the Peak,” and his first wife, Margaret Talboys. There are various accounts of Dorothy’s elopement, and opinions differ as to exactly when it took place, but all agree that Sir George Vernon took a dislike to the man Dorothy wanted to marry. He was Sir John Manners (d.1611), second son of the earl of Rutland. The story goes that the young man disguised himself as a minstrel during a gathering at Haddon Hall. It was either the wedding of Dorothy’s older sister, Margaret (b.1540) to Thomas Stanley (d.1576), second son of the earl of Derby, or a banquet at the end of a hunt, and took place either in 1558 or in 1563. The cruel stepmother of some versions of Dorothy’s elopement is also questionable. In fact, Maud Longford (d.June 14, 1596) was only a few years older than her stepdaughter. Sir George Vernon was more than twice Maud's age. According to her epitaph, Maud made a second match after Sir George’s death “by her own choice/Pleasing herself, who others pleased before.” She married Sir Francis Hastings (d.1610), a younger son of the 2nd earl of Huntingdon, in 1567, giving up her life interest in Haddon Hall to her stepdaughter, Dorothy. Dorothy's children were Sir George (1573-1623), Grace, John (1576-1590), and Sir Roger (d. 1632). Portraits: Dorothy Vernon’s likeness is preserved in the effigy on her tomb in Bakewell, Derbyshire.


ELIZABETH VERNON (1573-1655+)

Elizabeth Vernon was the daughter of John Vernon of Hodnet (1546-1592) and Elizabeth Devereux (c.1541-c.1583). She came to court as a maid of honor, became pregnant, and secretly married Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton (October 6, 1573-November 10,1624) at Leez Priory in Essex before August 30,1598. The queen was not pleased. Their children were Penelope (November 1598-July 16,1667), James (1605-1624), Thomas (March 10,1608-May 16,1667), Elizabeth (b.1609), and Mary (1611-1645). Southampton was involved in the earl of Essex’s treason in 1601 but escaped execution. He spent two years as a prisoner in the Tower of London. After his release, both he and his wife were high in favor at the court of James I. In 1647, King Charles took refuge with Lady Southampton at Titchfield in Hampshire after escaping from Carisbrook Castle. Portraits: There are five, including the most famous one, which shows her combing her hair, c.1595-1600. A full length portrait is dated c.1610. Another was painted by Paul van Somer c.1620.


MARGARET VERNON

see MARGARET BASSETT; MARGARET DYMOKE

MARGARET VERNON (c.1475-1538+)
Margaret Vernon the daughter of Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon Hall, Derbyshire (1441-April 13, 1515) and Anne Talbot (c.1445-May 17, 1494). The Victoria County History (1905), online as British History Online, characterizes Margaret as "a scheming and worldly woman with a keen eye for her own advancement and no real love for the little priory over which she ruled." A number of her letters to Thomas Cromwell have been preserved, several of them concerning Cromwell's son, Gregory, who was under Margaret Vernon's supervision at some point, although the letters to his father that mention him are not dated. Gregory had a schoolfellow, Nicholas Sadler, and their tutor, Mr. Copland, with him, and there was also a "little gentlewoman" with Master Sadler. Margaret asked permission to educate her. Gregory Cromwell is usually said to have been born around 1514, Usually young boys did not stay in nunneries past the age of ten, which would place this correspondence before 1524. Margaret was elected prioress of Little Marlow in Buckinghamshire in 1528. In 1529, she wrote to Cromwell to offer a bribe in return for the post of prioress at St. Helen's, Bishopsgate. She did not get the job. Another letter to Cromwell asks when he will be in the neighborhood, as she would like his counsel on several matters. In 1530, there were only six nuns at Little Marlow, including Margaret. In 1535, three of them were dismissed for being under twenty-four years of age (the minimum age at which one could take final vows). One of the nuns dismissed was Katherine Picard, who had complained to Bishop Longland in 1530 that Little Marlow had no sub-prioress. Margaret was left with only two men servants, two women servants, and two nuns, both of whom told commissioners that they wished to enter other houses of religion. After the surrender of Little Marlow on September 23, 1536, Margaret became abbess of Malling. She surrendered Malling on October 28, 1538. Her pension, had she been merely prioress of Little Marlow, would have been £4 or £5. As Abbess of Malling, she received an annuity of £50.

MARY VICTORIA (d. 1536+) (maiden name unknown)
The name Mistress Victoria appears among the gentlewomen attending Catherine of Aragon at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520 and Mary Victoria is listed in the household of Princess Mary at Ludlow Castle in 1525. Joycelyne Russell, in The Field of Cloth of Gold, suggests she may be the wife of Dr. Ferdinand/Fernando Victoria/Vittorio, Spanish physician to the queen and this seems to be supported by an entry in the Letters and Papers, foreign & domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, Vol. II Part II which lists a payment of £66 13s. 4d. in February 1518 to Dr. Fernando for transporting his wife out of Spain. They had a son, who was the king's godchild. Plans were discussed in 1523 and 1524 to send him to Emperor Charles V as a page but it is not clear if he ever left England. Mary is probably the "Mistress Mary, my physician's wife," to whom Catherine of Aragon left £40 in her will.

MARY VILLIERS

see MARY BEAUMONT

JANE VINCENT
see JANE LYFIELD

HELENA VON SNAKENBORG (1548-April 10,1635)

Helena von Snakenborg (Elin Ulfsdotter of Fyllingarum) was the daughter of Ulf or Wulfgang Henriksson Snakenborg of Ostargotland (d.c.1565) and Agneta Knuttson (d.1568+). She came to England as a maid of honor to Princess Cecilia of Sweden on a state visit in the autumn of 1565 and stayed on when Cecilia left in May 1566. She was being courted by William Parr, marquis of Northampton (August 14,1513-October 28, 1571), who had asked her to marry him, even though he was not legally free to remarry. He promised her a house of her own. At that point, Queen Elizabeth stepped in, taking Helena into her keeping at court, possibly as a maid of honor. Later she was a gentlewoman of the privy chamber, although without pay. Helena and Parr finally married in May 1571, after the death of his first wife, from whom he had been separated for decades. He died soon after, leaving Helena a wealthy widow and, as marchioness of Northampton, senior to every other lady at court save the queen and the queen’s cousin, Margaret Douglas. Around 1577 she remarried, taking as her second husband Thomas (later Sir Thomas) Gorges (1536-March 30,1610). Helena was a patron of the arts, rebuilt Langford House in Wiltshire, and was chief mourner at the funeral of Elizabeth Tudor. Her children, all by her second husband, were Elizabeth (June 1578-1659), Francis (c.1579-c.1599), Frances (1580-1649), Edward (c.1582-c.1652), Theobald (1583-1648), Bridget (1584-c.1634), Robert (1588-1648), and Thomas (1589-1624+). Biography: Gunnar Sjögren, “Helena, Marchioness of Northampton,” History Today, September 1978; there is also an older full-length biography, C. A. Bradford's Helena, Marchioness of Northampton (1936), but I have not been able to find a copy; Oxford DNB entry under "Gorges [née Snakenborg], Helena." Portraits: c.1569 by the Master of the Countess of Warwick (identity unproven); c.1603 by Robert Peake.


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