Bessie Blount

Lady in Waiting to Catalina of Aragon when Catalina was married to Arthur

May 1512: maid of honour

very bright

Friend of Elizabeth Bryan, another of Henry VIII's mistresses

---

Elizabeth Blount

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blount

Elizabeth Blount (c. 1502 - 1539/1540)[1], who was better known by her nickname of "Bessie", was a mistress of Henry VIII of England. She was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of Kinlet, Shropshire. Sir John Blount was a loyal, if unremarkable, servant to the Royal Family, who accompanied King Henry to France in 1513 when he waged war against Louis XII of France.

Little is known of Elizabeth Blount's early years, except for her reputation as a beauty, and for her famous affair with King Henry VIII. There is no known portrait of her in existence. As a young girl, she came to the King's Court as a maid-of-honour to the King's wife, Katherine of Aragon. It was there that she caught the eye of the King and became his mistress, sometime around 1514.

Their relationship lasted for some length of time, compared to King Henry's other affairs, which were generally short-lived and unacknowledged. On 15 June, 1519, Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy, and who was later created Duke of Richmond and Somerset. He was the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII that the King recognized as his own.[2] After the child's birth, the affair ended for unknown reasons. For proving that King Henry was capable of fathering healthy sons, Elizabeth Blount prompted a popular saying — "Bless 'ee, Bessie Blount" — often heard during and after this period, and persists today in some social quarters of England.

Soon after the birth of his son, the King began an affair with Mary Boleyn, who may have been partly the reason for Blount's dismissal. Like Blount, Boleyn was never officially recognised as the King's official mistress and the position of public maitresse-en-tître was only ever offered by Henry to Anne Boleyn, who rejected it.[3]

Bessie was conveniently married-off through an arranged marriage in 1522 to Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme, whose family was said by some to have a history of insanity. (The family name is sometimes spelt "Talboys.") After her marriage, Blount does not figure much into the day-to-day affairs of the Tudor monarchy or in the official records. A fleeting comment was made about her in 1529, when a palace chaplain remarked that she was (or had been) better-looking than Henry's then-fiancée, Anne Boleyn, who he concluded was competent belle ("quite beautiful") in her own right.[4]

On 18 June, 1536, her son Henry FitzRoy died, probably of tuberculosis ("consumption"). Her husband, Gilbert, Lord Tailboys, also preceded her by dying in 1530, leaving her a widow of comfortable means. Through her marriage to Gilbert Tailboys, she had three children - two sons, George and Robert and one daughter, Elizabeth. After the death of Tailboys, Elizabeth Blount married a younger man whose Lincolnshire lands adjoined hers, Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln. They were married sometime between 1533 and 1535. This union produced three daughters. For a short while, she was a lady-in-waiting to Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, but owing to her own health problems she left the Queen's service at around the time the royal marriage was dissolved and did not serve Anne's successor, Catherine Howard. Blount returned to her husband's estates, where she died very shortly afterwards. It has traditionally been asserted that the cause of her death was consumption.

Reputation and importance

In comparison to Henry's first two wives, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Blount's importance to history was negligible.[5] However, she was certainly of far more interest and importance to her contemporaries than any of the King's other previous or subsequent mistresses - including Mary Boleyn, who is more widely known nowadays thanks to the fame of her younger sister and the popularity of The Other Boleyn Girl, a highly fictionalised account of her life. Blount was the mother of Henry's only acknowledged illegitimate child and, at one point in the 1520s, it was suggested that her son should be named the King's legal heir.[6] Although nothing came of these plans, and Blount had little to do with her son's upbringing, the fact that she was the mother of such an important child made her an object of interest to many of her contemporaries.

Blount's children

From her relationship with King Henry VIII:

Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond and Somerset, Earl of Nottingham, born 1519, died 1536.

From her first marriage to Gilbert, Baron Tailboys[7]:

Elizabeth Tailboys, 4º Baroness Tailboys, b. c. 1520-1563. Married Thomas Wymbish, of Nocton (died 1553) and Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick [1] (1529-1589)

George Tailboys, 2º Lord Tailboys, b. c. 1522-1540. Married Margaret Skipwith 1539

Robert Tailboys, 3º Lord Tailboys, de Jure Lord Kyme, b. c. 1523-1541

From her second marriage to Lord Clinton:

Bridget Clinton (born c. 1536). She married Robert Dymoke of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, sometime around 1556 and had ten (10) children. Dymoke (sometimes spelt Dymock) was a devout Catholic and named a martyr after his death. (See [2] for more information.)

Katherine Clinton (b. c. 1538 - d. August 1621) She married William Burgh, 2nd Lord Burgh (c. 1522 - September 10, 1584) and had two children by him.

Margaret Clinton (b. c. 1539.) She married Charles Willoughby (2nd. Baron Willoughby of Parham) and had five children.

Further reading

Beverley A. Murphy's 'Henry VIII's Lost Son'

Notes

^ Alison Weir, Henry VIII: King and Court (2002)

^ Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1991)

^ E.W. Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (2004)

^ Ives, Boleyn

^ K. Lindsey, Divorced Beheaded Survived; A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII (1995)

^ J.J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (1968)

^ Gilbert Tailboys, 1º Baron Tailboys b. d. 15 Apr 1530 : If the Legends Are True

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blount"

and had two children by him.

Margaret Clinton (b. c. 1539.) She married Charles Willoughby (2nd. Baron Willoughby of Parham) and had five children.

Further reading

Beverley A. Murphy's 'Henry VIII's Lost Son'

Notes

^ Alison Weir, Henry VIII: King and Court (2002)

^ Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1991)

^ E.W. Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (2004)

^ Ives, Boleyn

^ K. Lindsey, Divorced Beheaded Survived; A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII (1995)

^ J.J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (1968)

^ Gilbert Tailboys, 1º Baron Tailboys b. d. 15 Apr 1530 : If the Legends Are True

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blount"

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Elizabeth Blount

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elizabeth Blount (c. 1502 - 1539/1540)[1], who was better known by her nickname of "Bessie", was a mistress of Henry VIII of England.

Early life

She was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of Kinlet, Shropshire. Sir John Blount was a loyal, if unremarkable, servant to the Royal Family, who accompanied King Henry to France in 1513 when he waged war against Louis XII of France.

Little is known of Elizabeth Blount's early years, except for her reputation as a beauty, and for her famous affair with King Henry VIII. There is no known portrait of her in existence. As a young girl, she came to the King's Court as a maid-of-honour to the King's wife, Catherine of Aragon. It was there that she caught the eye of the King and became his mistress, sometime around 1514.

[edit]King's mistress

Her relationship with Henry VIII lasted for some length of time, compared to his other affairs, which were generally short-lived and unacknowledged. On 15 June, 1519, Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy, and who was later created Duke of Richmond and Somerset. He was the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII that the King recognized as his own.[2] After the child's birth, the affair ended for unknown reasons. For proving that King Henry was capable of fathering healthy sons, Elizabeth Blount prompted a popular saying — "Bless 'ee, Bessie Blount" — often heard during and after this period.

Soon after the birth of his son, the King began an affair with Mary Boleyn, who may have been partly the reason for Blount's dismissal. Like Blount, Boleyn was never officially recognised as the King's official mistress and the position of public maîtresse en titre was only ever offered by Henry to Anne Boleyn, who rejected it.[3]

[edit]Later life

Bessie was conveniently married-off through an arranged marriage in 1522 to Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme, whose family was said by some to have a history of insanity. (The family name is sometimes spelt "Talboys.") After her marriage, Blount does not figure much into the day-to-day affairs of the Tudor monarchy or in the official records. A fleeting comment was made about her in 1529, when a palace chaplain remarked that she was (or had been) better-looking than Henry's then-fiancée, Anne Boleyn, who he concluded was competent belle ("quite beautiful") in her own right.[4]

On 18 June, 1536, her son Henry FitzRoy died, probably of tuberculosis ("consumption"). Her husband, Gilbert, Lord Tailboys, also preceded her by dying in 1530, leaving her a widow of comfortable means. Through her marriage to Gilbert Tailboys, she had three children - two sons, George and Robert and one daughter, Elizabeth. After the death of Tailboys, Elizabeth Blount married a younger man whose Lincolnshire lands adjoined hers, Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln. They were married sometime between 1533 and 1535. This union produced three daughters. For a short while, she was a lady-in-waiting to Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, but owing to her own health problems she left the Queen's service at around the time the royal marriage was dissolved and did not serve Anne's successor, Catherine Howard. Blount returned to her husband's estates, where she died very shortly afterwards. It has traditionally been asserted that the cause of her death was consumption.

[edit]Reputation and importance

In comparison to Henry's first two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Blount's importance to history was negligible.[5] However, she was certainly more important than any other extra-marital relationship the king had during his first marriage. Blount was the mother of Henry's only acknowledged illegitimate child and, at one point in the 1520s, it was suggested that her son should be named the King's legal heir.[6] Although nothing came of these plans, and Blount had little to do with her son's upbringing, the fact that she was the mother of such an important child made her an object of interest to many of her contemporaries.

[edit]Blount's children

From her relationship with King Henry VIII:

Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond and Somerset, Earl of Nottingham, born 1519, died 1536.

From her first marriage to Gilbert, Baron Tailboys[7]:

Elizabeth Tailboys, 4º Baroness Tailboys, b. c. 1520-1563. Married Thomas Wymbish, of Nocton (died 1553) and Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick [1] (1529-1589)

George Tailboys, 2º Lord Tailboys, b. c. 1522-1540. Married Margaret Skipwith 1539

Robert Tailboys, 3º Lord Tailboys, de Jure Lord Kyme, b. c. 1523-1541

From her second marriage to Lord Lincoln:

Bridget Clinton (born c. 1536). She married Robert Dymoke of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, sometime around 1556 and had ten (10) children. Dymoke (sometimes spelt Dymock) was a devout Catholic and named a martyr after his death.

Katherine Clinton (b. c. 1538 - d. August 1621) She married William Burgh, 2nd Lord Burgh (c. 1522 - September 10, 1584) and had two children by him.

Margaret Clinton (b. c. 1539.) She married Charles Willoughby (2nd. Baron Willoughby of Parham) and had five children.

Elizabeth BLOUNT

Henry VIII, King of England

Lord Gilbert TALBOYS

Edward CLINTON, Earl of Lincoln

Wife: Elizabeth BLOUNT

Birth: ca. 1502

Death: 1539

Father: Sir John BLOUNT

Mother: Catherine PERSHALL

Consort:

Consort: Henry VIII, King of England

Marriage-1:

Husband-1: Gilbert TALBOYS/TAILBOYS of Kyme, Lord Talboys

Death: 1539

Event: 1536, summoned to parliament as Baron Talboys by Henry VIII

Marriage-2: 1540

Husband-2: Edward CLINTON, 1st Earl of Lincoln

Child with Henry VIII:

1. Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond, b. 1519

Children with Gilbert TALBOYS (birth order unknown):

2. Gilbert TALBOYS, b. ca. 1520s/30s; d.s.p., v.p.

3. Robert TALBOYS, b. ca. 1520s/30s; d.s.p., v.p.

4. Elizabeth TALBOYS, b. ca. 1520s/30s; d.s.p.; m1. Thomas WIMBISH, Esq.; m2. Ambrose DUDLEY, Earl of Warwick

Children with Edward CLINTON:

?

Sources:

1. Encyclopedia Britannica CD 98.

2. Bernard Burke. 1883. A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire. New ed. Harrison, London. Excerpt entitled "Elizabeth BLOUNT, consort to King HENRY VIII" posted to the BLOUNT Biographies board at GenConnect. Burke states that Elizabeth had her son with Henry VIII after the death of Lord Talboys, but this does not jibe with Henry FitzRoy's birthdate of 1519.

3. Directory of Royal Genealogical Data [link died] by Brian C. Tompsett. Tompsett gives her death date as 1539, but this cannot be accurate, not if she is the Elizabeth who married Edward Clinton.

4. Tompsett citing Burke's Complete Peerage, vol. XII, pt. I, p. 59: "The only Bastard that Henry VIII acknowledged."

5. Messages in the Blount Family Genealogy Forum (online at GenForum.com).

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blount

Elizabeth "Bessie" Blount One of only two acknowledged mistresses of King Henry VIII.

Bessie was approximately 17 when she reached the height of her power in 1518. However in 1514 when she was probably only 13, Henry danced with her so much that even the docile and accepting Queen Katherine of Aragon was so jealous that she persuaded Henry to exclude her from the Twelfth Night festivities.

By 1517 the king was reputed to be “in the chains of love with her,” and in the spring of 1519, Bessie gave birth to a son who was Henry Fitzroy (son of the king). Once she had fulfilled her main purpose, she was married off to Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme, one of Henry's courtiers whose family was said to have a history of insanity. She was remembered fondly by Henry with the occasional New Years gift

Elizabeth Blount was the Mistress of Henry VIII, King of England for 8 years during his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon. In 1519, their child Henry FitzRoy was born. On 15 June 1526, Henry FitzRoy was created Duke of Richmond. He married Mary Howard and then died on 22 July 1536 at age 17.

For proving that King Henry VII was capable of fathering healthy sons, Elizabeth Blount prompted a popular saying, "Bless 'ee, Bessie Blount", often heard during and after this period.

A fleeting comment was made about her in 1529, when a palace chaplain remarked that she was (or had been) better-looking than Henry's then-fiancée, Anne Boleyn, who he concluded was competent belle ("quite beautiful") in her own right.

Bessie Blount is a character in the television show The Tudors, where she is played by the actress Ruta Gedmintas. It is the first time that a comprehensive portrayal of Blount has appeared on screen.

One of the two acknowledged mistresses of King Henry VIII, Elizabeth Blount possibly began her affair with the King some time in 1514, as a very young girl. It was recorded that she accompanied Henry as the lead in a Christmas mummery that year. Elizabeth may not have been the first pre-teen to be Henry VIII's mistress. Her friend Elizabeth Bryan was given a diamond necklace and a mink coat, as well as a husband--Nicholas Carew. When Elizabeth Bryan (Carew) gave birth to a son at the age of 12, she was called "the young wife". However, Bessie clearly wanted more than a diamond necklace or a husband, and made the King's attentions to her public. It did not take much skill to notice the hidden agenda. No doubt the situation was reported to the Queen by ladies who did not fail to notice that Bessie Blount was also plumper and blooming. The Queen was so upset that she went into premature labour. Her tiny son died after a few days, and she never became pregnant again. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey arranged for Bessie Blount to live in Jericho Priory, Blackmore, Essex. The King visited her and his baby son, Henry Fitzroy (meaning "son of the king") so often in 1519, that it become a standing joke with courtiers that the King had "gone to Jericho".

For a while Henry took an interest in the child, visiting him and his mother often at the Jericho Priory in Essex. Around 1522, Henry stopped seeing Elizabeth because, as some historians believe, he moved on to Mary Boleyn. Henry treated his discarded mistress well. He arranged a marriage for her to Gilbert Talboys, a Baron, in the same year. Gilbert was knighted in 1524, and in 1525 he was appointed Sheriff of Lincolnshire. They had a son, George, followed by Robert and Elizabeth. Elizabeth became Baroness Talboys after the early deaths of her husband's brothers.

In 1525, Elizabeth and Gilbert Talboys were ordered to take up residence in Lincolnshire. They moved into the castle of South Kyme. The castle had been built by Gilbert's ancestor, Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, in the mid-14th century.

Gilbert Talboys died in 1530, and in 1533 or 1535 Bessie married a younger man whose Lincolnshire lands adjoined hers--Edward Clinton de Fiennes, 1st Earl of Lincoln. They had three daughters, Bridget, Katherine, and Margaret. She returned briefly to court as a lady-in-waiting to Henry's fourth wife Anne of Cleves, but was excused shortly before the Cleves marriage was dissolved. She returned to her husband's estates and died in her thirties. Her death occurred either in late 1539 or early 1540, and was apparently due to consumption or tuberculosis.

[song written by Bessie, set to music

by William Cornish, Master of the

King's Chapel and sung by her at

a masked entertainment organised

by Cardinal Wolsey as part of the

celebrations of the treaty with France

in 1518]

Whilles lyve or breth is in my brest

My soverayne lord I shall love best.

My soverayne lord, for my poure sake,

Six courses at the ryng dyd make,

Of which four tymes he did it tak;

Wher for my hart I hum beqwest,

And, of all other, for to love best

My soverayne lord.

My soverayne lorde of pursantce pure

As the chefteyne of a waryowere,

With spere & sword at the barryoure

As hardy with the hardyest

He provith hym selfe, that I say, best

My soverayne lorde....

---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blount

Elizabeth Blount (1500/c. 1502 - 1539/1540), who was better known by her nickname of "Bessie", was a mistress of Henry VIII of England.

Early life

She was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of Kinlet, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Sir John Blount was a loyal, if unremarkable, servant to the Royal Family, who accompanied King Henry to France in 1513 when he waged war against Louis XII of France.

Little is known of Elizabeth Blount's early years, except for her reputation as a beauty, and for her famous affair with King Henry VIII (born 28 June 1491, he was 8-to-10 years older than Bessie). There is no known portrait of her in existence. As a young girl, she came to the King's Court as a maid-of-honour to the King's wife, Catherine of Aragon. It was there that the young teenager caught the eye of the King and became his mistress, beginning sometime around 1514 or 1515, and continuing for approximately eight years.[4]

King's mistress

Her relationship with Henry VIII lasted for some length of time, compared to his other affairs, which were generally short-lived and unacknowledged. On 15 June 1519, Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy, and who was later created Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham. He was the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII whom the King recognized as his own.[5] After the child's birth, the affair ended for unknown reasons. For proving that King Henry was capable of fathering healthy sons, Elizabeth Blount prompted a popular saying, "Bless 'ee, Bessie Blount", often heard during and after this period.

Soon after the birth of his son, the King began an affair with Mary Boleyn, who may have been partly the reason for Blount's dismissal. Like Blount, Boleyn was never officially recognised as the King's official mistress and the position of public maîtresse en titre was never offered by Henry to anyone but Anne Boleyn, who rejected it.[6]

Later life

Bessie had an arranged marriage in 1522 to Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme (sometimes spelt "Talboys"), whose family was said by some to have a history of insanity. After her marriage, Blount does not figure much into the day-to-day affairs of the Tudor monarchy or in the official records. A fleeting comment was made about her in 1529, when a palace chaplain remarked that she was (or had been) better-looking than Henry's then-fiancée, Anne Boleyn, who he concluded was competent belle ("quite beautiful") in her own right.[7]

On 23 July 1536, her son Henry FitzRoy died, probably of tuberculosis ("consumption"). Her husband, Gilbert, Lord Tailboys, also preceded her by dying in 1530, leaving her a widow of comfortable means. Through her marriage to Gilbert Tailboys, she had three children - two sons, George and Robert, and one daughter, Elizabeth.

After the death of Tailboys, Elizabeth Blount was wooed in 1532, but unsuccessfully, by Lord Leonard Gray.[8] She subsequently married a younger man whose Lincolnshire lands adjoined hers, Edward Clinton or Fiennes, 9th Baron Clinton (therefore becoming Elizabeth Fiennes). They were married sometime between 1533 and 1535. This union produced three daughters. For a short while, she was a lady-in-waiting to Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, but owing to her own health problems she left the Queen's service at around the time the royal marriage was dissolved and did not serve Anne's successor, Catherine Howard. Blount returned to her husband's estates, where she died very shortly afterwards. It has traditionally been asserted that the cause of her death was consumption.

Reputation and importance

In comparison to Henry's first two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Blount's importance to history was negligible.[9] However, she was certainly more important than any other extra-marital relationship the king had during his first marriage. Blount was the mother of Henry's only acknowledged illegitimate child and, at one point in the 1520s, it was suggested that her son should be named the King's legal heir.[10] Although nothing came of these plans, and Blount had little to do with her son's upbringing, the fact that she was the mother of such an important child made her an object of interest to many of her contemporaries.

It precisely because he fathered a healthy son with Elizabeth that Henry was convinced his wife's inability to bear him a son was Catherine's fault. She gave birth to at least three boys, yet only the first lived as long as seven weeks. These facts led Henry to believe there was something wrong with his marriage to Catherine, and that he needed to annul his marriage.

Blount's children

From her relationship with King Henry VIII:

1.Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, 1st Earl of Nottingham, born 1519, died 1536. Married Lady Mary Howard. No issue.

From her first marriage to Gilbert Tailboys or Talboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme[11]:

1.Elizabeth Tailboys, 4th Baroness Tailboys of Kyme, born c. 1520, died 1563, who at her brother's death became the 3rd Baroness Tailboys of Kyme. Married firstly Thomas Wymbish, of Nocton (died 1553), who claimed the title in his wife's right. It was, however, ruled that a husband could not so bear his wife's title unless he had issue by her; this ruling was the final decision on the point. Married secondly, before 13 November 1553, as his second wife, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick [1] (1529–1589) She died about 1560, and, as she had no issue, the barony became extinct.

2.George Tailboys, 2nd Baron Tailboys of Kyme, born c. 1522, who succeeded as 2nd Baron Tailboys of Kyme, and died on 6 September 1539. Married Margaret Skipwith in 1539. No issue.

3.Robert Tailboys, 3rd Baron Tailboys of Kyme, de Jure Lord Kyme, born c. 1523, died 1541.

From her second marriage to Edward Clinton or Fiennes:

1.Lady Bridget Clinton (born c. 1536). She married Robert Dymoke, of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, sometime around 1556 and had ten children. Dymoke (sometimes spelt Dymock or Dymocke) was a devout Catholic and named a martyr after his death.

2.Lady Katherine Clinton (b. c. 1538 - d. 14 August 1621). She married William Borough, 4th Baron Borough of Gainsborough (c. 1522 - 10 October 1584) and had two children by him.

3.Lady Margaret Clinton (b. c. 1539). She married Charles Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby of Parham (died 1603), and had five children.

Fiction

Bessie Blount is a character in the television show The Tudors, where she is played by the actress Ruta Gedmintas. It is the first time that a comprehensive portrayal of Blount has appeared on screen.

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Elizabeth (Bessie) was known as Henry's most lengthy and acknowledged mistress, during his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon (approximately 8 years).

She bore his first illegitimate child, Henry Fitzroy (also the only officially acknowledged bastard son of Henry VIII)

---

Elizabeth Blount (c.1498[1]/c.1500[2]/c.1502[3] – 1539/1540),[3] commonly known during her lifetime as Bessie Blount, was a mistress of Henry VIII of England.

Blount is an ancestor of Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who is the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II.

] Early life

Blount was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of Kinlet, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Sir John Blount was a loyal, if unremarkable, servant to the English Royal family, who accompanied King Henry to France in 1513 when he waged war against Louis XII of France.

Little is known of Elizabeth Blount's early years, except for her reputation as a beauty, and for her famous affair with King Henry VIII (born in 1491, he was about nine years older than "Bessie"). There is no known portrait of her in existence. As a young girl, she came to the King's Court as a maid-of-honour to the King's wife, Catherine of Aragon. It was there that the young teenager caught the eye of the King and became his mistress during 1514 or 1515, a relationship which continued for about eight years.[4]

Royal mistress

Blount's relationship with Henry VIII lasted for some length of time, compared to his other affairs, which were generally short-lived and unacknowledged. On 15 June 1519, Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy, later created Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham. He was the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII whom the King acknowledged as his own.[5] After the child's birth, the affair ended for unknown reasons. For proving that King Henry was capable of fathering healthy sons, Elizabeth Blount prompted a popular saying, "Bless 'ee, Bessie Blount", often heard during and after this period.

Soon after the birth of his son, the King began an affair with Mary Boleyn, who may have been partly the reason for Blount's dismissal. Like Blount, Boleyn was never formally recognised as the King's mistress and the position of public maîtresse en titre was never offered by Henry to anyone but Anne Boleyn, who rejected it.

Later life

In 1522 Blount entered an arranged marriage with Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme (sometimes spelt "Talboys"), whose family was said by some to have a history of insanity. After her marriage, Blount does not figure much in the day-to-day affairs of the Tudor monarchy or in the official records. A fleeting comment was made about her in 1529, when a palace chaplain remarked that she was (or had been) better-looking than Henry's then-fiancée, Anne Boleyn, whom he concluded was competent belle ("quite beautiful") in her own right.[7]

On 23 July 1536, Blount's son Henry FitzRoy died, probably of tuberculosis ("consumption"). Her husband, Gilbert, Lord Tailboys, also predeceased her by dying in 1530, leaving her a widow of comfortable means. By her marriage to Tailboys, she had three further children, two sons, George and Robert, and one daughter, Elizabeth.

After the death of Tailboys, in about 1532, Blount was wooed unsuccessfully by Leonard Gray.[8] She subsequently married a younger man whose Lincolnshire lands adjoined hers, Edward Clinton or Fiennes, 9th Baron Clinton, thus becoming Elizabeth Fiennes. They were married some time between 1533 and 1535, and this union produced three daughters. For a short while, she was a lady-in-waiting to Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, but due to her own health problems she left the Queen's service around the time the royal marriage was dissolved and did not serve Anne's successor, Catherine Howard. Blount returned to her husband's estates, where she died shortly afterwards. It has traditionally been asserted that the cause of her death was consumption.

Reputation and importance

In comparison to Henry's first two wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Blount's importance to history was negligible.[9] However, she was certainly more important than any other mistress the king had during his first marriage. Blount was the mother of Henry's only acknowledged illegitimate child, and at one point in the 1520s it was suggested that her son should be named the King's legal heir.[10] Although nothing came of these plans, and Blount had little to do with her son's upbringing, the fact that she was the mother of such an important child made her an object of interest to many of her contemporaries.

It is precisely because he fathered a healthy son with Elizabeth that Henry was convinced his wife's inability to bear him a son was Catherine's fault. She gave birth to at least three boys, yet only the first lived as long as seven weeks. These facts led Henry to believe there was something wrong with his marriage to Catherine, and that he needed to annul his marriage.

Children

From King Henry VIII:

Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, 1st Earl of Nottingham, born 1519, died 1536. Married Lady Mary Howard. No children. From a first marriage to Gilbert Talboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme:[8]

Elizabeth Tailboys, 4th Baroness Tailboys of Kyme, born c. 1520, died 1563, who at the death of her brother, the 3rd baron, became the 4th Baroness Tailboys of Kyme. Married firstly Thomas Wymbish, of Nocton (died 1553), who claimed the title in his wife's right. It was, however, ruled that a husband could not so bear his wife's title unless he had a child by her; this ruling was the final decision on the point. Married secondly, c.1552, as his second wife, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick (c.1530–1590) She died in 1563, and, as she had no children, the barony became extinct. George Tailboys, 2nd Baron Tailboys of Kyme, born c. 1523, who succeeded as 2nd Baron Tailboys of Kyme, and died on 6 September 1540. Married Margaret Skipwith in 1539. No children. Robert Tailboys, 3rd Baron Tailboys of Kyme, de Jure Lord Kyme, born c. 1523, died 1541. She possibly had other children with Gilbert who had died young and are buried with him in South Kyme Church. From a second marriage to Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln:

Lady Bridget Clinton (born c. 1536). She married Robert Dymoke, of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, some time around 1556 and had ten children. Dymoke (sometimes spelt Dymock or Dymocke) was a devout Catholic and named a martyr after his death. Lady Katherine Clinton (b. c. 1538 – d. 14 August 1621). She married William Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh of Gainsborough (c. 1522 – 10 October 1584), son of Thomas Burgh, 1st Baron Burgh.[11][12] Had children including Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh.[12] Lady Margaret Clinton (b. c. 1539). She married Charles Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby of Parham (died 1603), and had five children. Fiction[edit] Bessie Blount is a character in the television show The Tudors, where she is played by the actress Ruta Gedmintas. It is the first time that a comprehensive portrayal of Blount has appeared on screen.[citation needed] Bessie's son Henry Fitzroy dies of the sweating sickness at age three in the series.

Further reading[edit] Norton, Elizabeth, Bessie Blount: Mistress to Henry VIII, Amberley Publishing 2011, 384pp, 77 illus

Murphy, Beverley A. Bastard Prince: Henry VIII's Lost Son Hart, Kelly. The Mistresses of Henry VIII Haeger, Diane. The Queen's Rival Notes[edit] Jump up ^ Norton, Elizabeth., Bessie Blount mistress to Henry VIII (Stroud, 2011) Pg. 47 Jump up ^ Karen Lindsey, xv, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived, Perseus Books, 1995 ^ Jump up to: a b Weir, Alison (1 June 2001). Henry VIII: King and Court. Jonathan Cape Ltd. ISBN 978-0-224-06022-6. Jump up ^ Hart, Kelly (6 March 2009). The Mistresses of Henry VIII. The History Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7524-4835-0. Jump up ^ Weir, Alison (10 January 1991). The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-3683-1. Jump up ^ Ives, Eric (30 Jun 2004). The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn. WileyBlackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-23479-1. Jump up ^ Ives, Boleyn ^ Jump up to: a b "Talboys, William". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. Jump up ^ Lindsey, Karen (12 April 1996). Divorced Beheaded Survived; A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII. Da Capo Press Inc. ISBN 978-0-201-40823-2. Jump up ^ Scarisbrick, J. J. (May 1968). Henry VIII (English Monarchs Series). Methuen Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-413-25600-3. J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (1968) Jump up ^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 587. ^ Jump up to: a b George Edward Cokayne. Complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, Volume 2, G. Bell & sons, 1889. pg 76–77. Google eBook

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Elizabeth Blount

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blount

Elizabeth Blount (c. 1502 - 1539/1540)[1], who was better known by her nickname of "Bessie", was a mistress of Henry VIII of England. She was the daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of Kinlet, Shropshire. Sir John Blount was a loyal, if unremarkable, servant to the Royal Family, who accompanied King Henry to France in 1513 when he waged war against Louis XII of France.

Little is known of Elizabeth Blount's early years, except for her reputation as a beauty, and for her famous affair with King Henry VIII. There is no known portrait of her in existence. As a young girl, she came to the King's Court as a maid-of-honour to the King's wife, Katherine of Aragon. It was there that she caught the eye of the King and became his mistress, sometime around 1514.

Their relationship lasted for some length of time, compared to King Henry's other affairs, which were generally short-lived and unacknowledged. On 15 June, 1519, Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy, and who was later created Duke of Richmond and Somerset. He was the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII that the King recognized as his own.[2] After the child's birth, the affair ended for unknown reasons. For proving that King Henry was capable of fathering healthy sons, Elizabeth Blount prompted a popular saying — "Bless 'ee, Bessie Blount" — often heard during and after this period, and persists today in some social quarters of England.

Soon after the birth of his son, the King began an affair with Mary Boleyn, who may have been partly the reason for Blount's dismissal. Like Blount, Boleyn was never officially recognised as the King's official mistress and the position of public maitresse-en-tître was only ever offered by Henry to Anne Boleyn, who rejected it.[3]

Bessie was conveniently married-off through an arranged marriage in 1522 to Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme, whose family was said by some to have a history of insanity. (The family name is sometimes spelt "Talboys.") After her marriage, Blount does not figure much into the day-to-day affairs of the Tudor monarchy or in the official records. A fleeting comment was made about her in 1529, when a palace chaplain remarked that she was (or had been) better-looking than Henry's then-fiancée, Anne Boleyn, who he concluded was competent belle ("quite beautiful") in her own right.[4]

On 18 June, 1536, her son Henry FitzRoy died, probably of tuberculosis ("consumption"). Her husband, Gilbert, Lord Tailboys, also preceded her by dying in 1530, leaving her a widow of comfortable means. Through her marriage to Gilbert Tailboys, she had three children - two sons, George and Robert and one daughter, Elizabeth. After the death of Tailboys, Elizabeth Blount married a younger man whose Lincolnshire lands adjoined hers, Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln. They were married sometime between 1533 and 1535. This union produced three daughters. For a short while, she was a lady-in-waiting to Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, but owing to her own health problems she left the Queen's service at around the time the royal marriage was dissolved and did not serve Anne's successor, Catherine Howard. Blount returned to her husband's estates, where she died very shortly afterwards. It has traditionally been asserted that the cause of her death was consumption.

Reputation and importance

In comparison to Henry's first two wives, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Blount's importance to history was negligible.[5] However, she was certainly of far more interest and importance to her contemporaries than any of the King's other previous or subsequent mistresses - including Mary Boleyn, who is more widely known nowadays thanks to the fame of her younger sister and the popularity of The Other Boleyn Girl, a highly fictionalised account of her life. Blount was the mother of Henry's only acknowledged illegitimate child and, at one point in the 1520s, it was suggested that her son should be named the King's legal heir.[6] Although nothing came of these plans, and Blount had little to do with her son's upbringing, the fact that she was the mother of such an important child made her an object of interest to many of her contemporaries.

Blount's children

From her relationship with King Henry VIII:

Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond and Somerset, Earl of Nottingham, born 1519, died 1536.

From her first marriage to Gilbert, Baron Tailboys[7]:

Elizabeth Tailboys, 4º Baroness Tailboys, b. c. 1520-1563. Married Thomas Wymbish, of Nocton (died 1553) and Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick [1] (1529-1589)

George Tailboys, 2º Lord Tailboys, b. c. 1522-1540. Married Margaret Skipwith 1539

Robert Tailboys, 3º Lord Tailboys, de Jure Lord Kyme, b. c. 1523-1541

From her second marriage to Lord Clinton:

Bridget Clinton (born c. 1536). She married Robert Dymoke of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, sometime around 1556 and had ten (10) children. Dymoke (sometimes spelt Dymock) was a devout Catholic and named a martyr after his death. (See [2] for more information.)

Katherine Clinton (b. c. 1538 - d. August 1621) She married William Burgh, 2nd Lord Burgh (c. 1522 - September 10, 1584) and had two children by him.

Margaret Clinton (b. c. 1539.) She married Charles Willoughby (2nd. Baron Willoughby of Parham) and had five children.

Further reading

Beverley A. Murphy's 'Henry VIII's Lost Son'

Notes

^ Alison Weir, Henry VIII: King and Court (2002)

^ Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1991)

^ E.W. Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (2004)

^ Ives, Boleyn

^ K. Lindsey, Divorced Beheaded Survived; A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII (1995)

^ J.J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (1968)

^ Gilbert Tailboys, 1º Baron Tailboys b. d. 15 Apr 1530 : If the Legends Are True

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