I'm delighted to hand over the blog today to author Tony Riches, who has a new book out - Bess: Tudor Gentlewoman
Over to you, Tony:
Bess Raleigh's Family Conspirators
Bess Throckmorton was unusual to be chosen as the queen’s gentlewoman – in spite of her family background rather than because of it. Her family began well, as her great-grandfather, Sir Robert Throckmorton, was a courtier and councillor to King Henry VII. Her grandfather, Sir George Throckmorton, was esquire of the body to King Henry VIII and married Katherine Vaux, whose maternal half-brother was Sir Thomas Parr, father of Catherine Parr, and together they had eight sons and seven daughters.
One of his sons, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, was the father of Bess. A distant cousin to Queen Catherine Parr, he served in her household as a lawyer. He became a favourite of King Edward VI, and during the attempt to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne after the death of Edward in 1553, Sir Nicholas was in contact with both supporters of her and Queen Mary I. In 1554 he was arrested for involvement in the Wyatt Rebellion and sent to the Tower of London. Pardoned in 1557, he became Ambassador to France under Queen Elizabeth.
 |
| Sir Nicholas Throckmorton (c. 1516 – 1571) |
Bess’ mother was Lady Anne Carew, daughter of Sir Nicholas Carew, a courtier diplomat during the reign of King Henry VIII, who was executed for his part in the Exeter Conspiracy, an attempt to overthrow the king. Bess’ maternal grandmother was Lady Elizabeth Bryan, also a courtier of King Henry VIII - and possibly one of the king’s mistresses.
 |
| Anne Carew, Lady Throckmorton (1520-1587) |
Things began to go wrong for the Throckmorton family in 1583, when Bess’ cousin, Francis Throckmorton, a devout Catholic, began carrying messages between Mary, Queen of Scots and King Philip II of Spain's ambassador in London, Bernardino de Mendoza. These secret messages were discovered, and Francis Throckmorton was arrested, tortured and executed for leading the ‘Throckmorton Plot’, a Catholic conspiracy to overthrow Queen Elizabeth.
It was only through her brother Arthur that Bess was accepted at court. It’s said he paid for her place as a lady in waiting, but I suspect Queen Elizabeth was keen to keep a close eye on Bess, given her family connections.
If her connections to all these plots were not enough, Bess found she knew or was in some way related to almost all the men behind the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ against Queen Elizabeth’s successor, King James. Their leader, Robert Catesby, was another cousin to Bess through his mother, Anne Throckmorton. Despite the inevitable suspicion, Bess survived them all to live to the age of eighty two, becoming one of the last true Elizabethans.
Tony Riches
Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Bess – Tudor Gentlewoman is available in eBook and paperback: HERE
Author Bio
No comments:
Post a Comment