Sir Edward Burgh (pronounced "Borough"; died before April 1533)
[Linda Porter. Katherine, the Queen. Macmillan. 2010.][James, Susan E. ''Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love'' Gloucestershire, England: The History Press 2009. pg. 60–63.][David Starkey. ''Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII''. HarperCollins, 2004. pg 697.][Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham. ''Magna Carta ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families'', Genealogical Publishing Company, 2005. pg 838.] was the eldest son and heir to Sir
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 ...
and his wife Agnes Tyrwhit. He is known for being the first husband of
Catherine Parr,
later queen of England. 18th-century historians have mistaken him for his grandfather, the elderly,
Edward Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh
Edward Burgh, 2nd Baron Burgh of Gainsborough (; ; pronounced: ''Borough''; c. 1463 – 20 August 1528)Charles Mosley, editor, ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes'' (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peer ...
.
Background
The
Boroughs of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire were an old and well-established gentry family. Sir Edward's great-grandfather, the
1st Baron had been an outstanding
Yorkist
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
in the reign of King
Edward IV in the neighbourhood of fanatical
Lancastrians. He was a tough-minded and hard-handed individual, who was given the
Order of the Garter in 1496 by King
Henry VII, proving his ability to change and adapt with the constant royal change. Sir Thomas' son, Sir
Edward Borough, who in 1496 became baron in name only, was not so fortunate. In 1510, only a few years after succeeding to the barony, Borough was declared a lunatic and was kept under restraint in his own home,
Gainsborough Old Hall
Gainsborough Old Hall in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire is over five hundred years old and one of the best preserved medieval manor houses in England.
The hall was built by Sir Thomas Burgh in 1460. The Burghs were rich, flamboyant and powerful. Ga ...
. After his incarceration, Sir
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
, his eldest son, took over as head of the family. By August 1528, the 2nd Baron was dead.
[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.]
For centuries, historians, such as
Agnes Strickland, and antiquarians alike have confused the grandfather, Lord Borough, with the grandson, Sir Edward, throwing the Scrope-Parr marriage negotiations into the mix for good measure. The idea of twelve-year-old
Catherine Parr being sent away to marry an aged lunatic was a wonderful story filled with drama – but nonetheless was a myth.
Through recent research of documents and the will of
Catherine Parr's mother, biographers
Susan E. James,
Linda Porter,
David Starkey
David Robert Starkey (born 3 January 1945) is an English historian and radio and television presenter, with views that he describes as conservative. The only child of Quaker parents, he attended Kendal Grammar School before studying at Cambr ...
, and
Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and p ...
all confirm that Catherine married the 2nd Baron's grandson, who coincidentally shared his first name.
As the
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...
had not been fully paid,
Maud Parr in her will, dated May 1529, mentioned Sir Thomas, father of Edward, saying ''I am indebted to Sir Thomas Borough, knight, for the marriage of my daughter''. At the time of his son's marriage, Sir Thomas, was thirty-five which would have made Edward around Catherine's age.
When Edward and
Catherine
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Christ ...
married in 1529,
Sir Edward was in his early twenties and, although almost nothing is known about his character, it appears that his health kept him in a frail condition. Whether his physical health was frail or whether he shared his grandfather's mental health issues is uncertain. There were also rumours that Edward may have been homosexual. Whatever the case, Edward was competent enough for his father to allow him the duties and responsibilities of part of his inheritance – he served as both a
feoffee
Under the feudal system in England, a feoffee () is a trustee who holds a fief (or "fee"), that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use ...
and a justice of peace.
Life at
Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to:
Places
* Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England
** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich
* Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England
** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency)
* Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...
, was under an over-bearing father given to violent rages, and the memories of the recently deceased lunatic were prevalent. Sir Edward's father ruled his family with an iron hand, requiring absolute obedience. Some time after his marriage to Catherine, his father had another daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Owen, thrown out of the household and her children with his younger brother, Thomas, declared bastards. Sir Edward lived in constant fear of his own father.
The duty of Sir Edward's wife, Catherine, was to bear sons, which did not happen. Failure to do so, however, may not have been all her fault. Having been raised in a liberal and enlightened household maintained by her mother, Edward Borough's new bride was unused to the paternal tyranny of the household at Gainsborough. If Sir Thomas attempted to intimidate his daughter-in-law, he did not succeed. In fact, Sir Thomas came to find that Catherine was made of sterner stuff than his own sons.
The historical record on whether or not Catherine was ever pregnant by Edward is silent. If she was, certainly no child lived to full term or survived infancy. Although her immediate family would have known, they, along with Catherine, never spoke of it and there is no record of children by Sir Edward.
For a time, Edward and Catherine lived with Edward's family at
Gainsborough Old Hall
Gainsborough Old Hall in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire is over five hundred years old and one of the best preserved medieval manor houses in England.
The hall was built by Sir Thomas Burgh in 1460. The Burghs were rich, flamboyant and powerful. Ga ...
. If his wife was homesick or unhappy, she had reason to be and wrote frequently to her mother for advice.
Maud Parr traveled north in 1530 to see Catherine and it is most likely at her urging that the couple move out of the Old Hall after two years of marriage. Sir Thomas was a steward to the manor of the
soke of
Kirton-in-Lindsey
Kirton in Lindsey, also abbreviated to Kirton Lindsey, is a market town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It is south-east from Scunthorpe.
History
Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII lived at Kirton-in-Lindsey af ...
, a small town about ten miles above Gainsborough. Thomas was persuaded to secure a joint patent in survivorship with his son. In October 1530, Edward and Catherine moved to
Kirton-in-Lindsey
Kirton in Lindsey, also abbreviated to Kirton Lindsey, is a market town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It is south-east from Scunthorpe.
History
Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII lived at Kirton-in-Lindsey af ...
. It was a modest residence, but mainly it was away from Edward's family and was a household in which the couple could manage their own affairs. Instead of becoming the passive lady of the household, Edward's wife, Catherine, took control of the household immediately. It brought both Edward and Catherine great joy to be away from the Old Hall.
In 1532, Edward was named to the various commissions of peace that held session in the area, but by April 1533, Edward and Catherine's marriage came to an end when Edward Borough died.
His widow, Catherine, unable to remain at Kirton-in Lindsey, which belonged to her father-in-law, had limited options. Her in-laws showed no desire to have her move back into Gainsborough Old Hall. Lord Burgh turned over the income of two of his manors in Surrey and one in Kent as her dowry and that was the end of it. With no children from their marriage, she no longer had ties to the Boroughs.
Biographers of Catherine Parr,
Susan E. James and
Linda Porter, state that the younger Sir Edward Burgh died in the spring of 1533. Others state ''before April 1533''.
[Cole, Robert Eden George. ''History of the manor and township of Doddington, otherwise Doddington-Pigot, in the county of Lincoln and its successive owners, with pedigrees'', James Williamson, Printer, 1897. pg 41–50.] Burgh had no issue.
On 28 February 1550, Edward's father was succeeded by Edward's younger brother, William, 2nd Baron Burgh.
References
* James, Susan E. ''Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love''. Gloucestershire, England: The History Press, 2009. pg. 60–63.
Further reading
* Cole, Robert Eden George. ''History of the manor and township of Doddington, otherwise Doddington-Pigot, in the county of Lincoln and its successive owners, with pedigrees'', James Williamson, Printer, 1897. pg 41–50
''Google ebook''
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Edmard
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People from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Year of birth missing
1533 deaths
English knights
Husbands of Catherine Parr