Elizabeth Blount (//
– 1540),
commonly known during her lifetime as Bessie Blount, was a
mistress of Henry VIII of England.
Early life
Blount was the daughter of
Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall, of
Kinlet
Kinlet is a small village and civil parish in the south-east of the county of Shropshire, England. The parish is on the northern edge of the Wyre Forest and is in the Bridgnorth District of Shropshire. The parish incorporates the hamlets of Kin ...
,
Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079.
History
B ...
,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
. 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
Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...
.
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 seven 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
A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts.
Role
Traditionally, a queen ...
to the King's
wife
A wife (plural, : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally Dissolution (law), dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, ...
,
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...
. It was there that the young woman caught the eye of the King and became his mistress during 1514 or 1515, a relationship which continued for about eight years.
Royal mistress
Blount's relationship with Henry VIII lasted for some time, compared to his other affairs, which were generally short-lived and unacknowledged. On 15 June 1519, Blount bore the King an
illegitimate
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...
son who was named
Henry FitzRoy, later created
Duke of Richmond and Somerset and
Earl of Nottingham
:''See also Earl of Winchilsea''
Earl of Nottingham is a title that has been created seven times in the Peerage of England. It was first created for John de Mowbray in 1377, at the coronation of Richard II. As this creation could only pass to ...
. He was the only
illegitimate son of Henry VIII whom the King acknowledged as his own. 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
''maîtresse-en-titre'' () was the chief royal mistress of the King of France. The title came into use during the reign of Henry IV and continued through the reign of Louis XV. It was a semi-official position which came with its own apartme ...
'' was never offered by Henry to anyone but
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
, who rejected it.
Later life
In 1522, Blount entered an arranged marriage with
Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme
Gilbert Tailboys or Talboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme (c.1497/98 – 30 April 1530) was an English courtier and Member of Parliament during the reign of Henry VIII of England.
Life
He was only son of Sir George Talboys (1467–1538), by Eliza ...
(sometimes spelled "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, who, he concluded, was ''competent belle'' ("quite beautiful") in her own right.
On 23 July 1536, Blount's son Henry FitzRoy died, probably of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
("consumption"). Her husband, Gilbert, Lord Tailboys, also predeceased her, dying in 1530 but 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, Blount was wooed unsuccessfully by
Leonard Gray
Leonard Earl Gray (December 19, 1951 – June 13, 2006) was an American professional basketball player.
Early life
Gray was born at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas and raised in Kansas City, Kansas. Because of ...
.
She subsequently married a younger man whose
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
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
A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
to Henry's fourth wife,
Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves (german: Anna von Kleve; 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Not much is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of ...
, 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
Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the s ...
. Blount returned to her husband's estates, where she died shortly after July 1540. It has traditionally been asserted that the cause of her death was consumption.
Importance
Compared with Henry's first two wives,
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...
and
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
, Blount's importance to history was negligible. 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. Although nothing came of these plans, and Blount had little to do with her son's upbringing, that she was the mother of such an important child made her an object of interest to many of her contemporaries.
Henry was convinced that because he fathered a healthy son with Elizabeth that his wife's inability to bear him a son was Catherine's fault. The queen gave birth to at least three boys, yet only the first lived as long as seven weeks. This 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
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
and
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, 1st Earl of
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, born 1519, died 1536. Married
Lady Mary Howard. No children.
From a first marriage to Gilbert Talboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme:
[
# ]Elizabeth Tailboys, 4th Baroness Tailboys of Kyme
Elizabeth Tailboys, 4th Baroness Tailboys of Kyme () was the daughter of Elizabeth Blount and Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme, and the second wife of Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick. Through her mother she was a half-sister o ...
, 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
Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG (c. 1530 – 21 February 1590) was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Their father was John Dudley, Duke ...
(c. 1530–1590). She died in 1563, and, as she had no children, the barony became extinct.
# George Tailboys, 2nd Baron Tailboys of Kyme
George Tailboys (c. 1523 – c. 6 September 1540) was the eldest son of Elizabeth Blount and Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme. Through his mother he was the half brother of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, who was t ...
, 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
Robert Tailboys (c. 1528 – c. 26 June 1542) was a younger son of Elizabeth Blount and Gilbert Tailboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme. Through his mother he was the half brother of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, who was the on ...
, de jure Lord Kyme, born c. 1523, died 1541.
From a second marriage to Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln
Edward Fiennes, or Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln KG (151216 January 1584/85) was an English landowner, peer, and Lord High Admiral. He rendered valuable service to four of the Tudor monarchs.
Family
Edward Clinton, or Fiennes, was born a ...
:
# Lady Bridget Clinton (born c. 1536). She married Robert Dymoke (1531-1580), 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
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
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
Thomas Burgh, 1st Baron Burgh also spelt ''Borough'', KG (; ; pronounced: ''Borough''; c. 1488 – 28 February 1550), 1st Baron Borough of Gainsborough, also ''de jure'' 5th Baron Strabolgi and 7th Baron Cobham of Sterborough, was an English ...
.[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.][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. pp. 76–77]
Google eBook
/ref> Had two children, one of them being Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh
Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh KGCharles 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. (; ; pronounced: ' ...
.
# Lady Margaret Clinton (b. c. 1539). She married Charles Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby of Parham (died 1603), and had five children.
In popular culture
Bessie Blount appeared as a character in the 2007 television series ''The Tudors
''The Tudors'' is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among ...
'', portrayed by Ruta Gedmintas
Ruta Gedmintas ( lt, Rūta Gedmintas; ) is a British actress known for her work on television, primarily in ''The Strain'', '' Spooks: Code 9'', '' The Borgias'', ''The Tudors'', ''Lip Service'' and ''His Dark Materials''.
Early life
Gedmintas ...
.
The character Bessie Blount appeared in the 2019 television series ''The Spanish Princess
''The Spanish Princess'' is a historical drama television limited series developed by Emma Frost and Matthew Graham for Starz. Based on the novels ''The Constant Princess'' (2005) and ''The King's Curse'' (2014) by Philippa Gregory, it is a seque ...
'', portrayed by Chloe Harris.
Notes
Further reading
* Haeger, Diane. ''The Queen's Rival''
* Hart, Kelly. ''The Mistresses of Henry VIII''
* Murphy, Beverley A. ''Bastard Prince: Henry VIII's Lost Son''
* Norton, Elizabeth, ''Bessie Blount: Mistress to Henry VIII'', Amberley Publishing 2011, 384pp, 77 illus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blount, Elizabeth
1502 births
1540 deaths
16th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
English courtiers
Tailboys
Mistresses of Henry VIII
People from Bridgnorth
Tuberculosis deaths in England
Household of Catherine of Aragon