Mary Wriothesley, Countess Of Southampton
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Mary Wriothesley, Countess of Southampton (22 July 1552 – October/November 1607), previously Mary Browne, became the wife of
Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton (pronunciation uncertain: ''RYE-zlee'' (archaic), ''ROTT-slee'' (present-day) and ''RYE-əths-lee'' have been suggested) (24 April 1545 – 4 October 1581), was an English peer. Family Henry Wriot ...
, at the age of thirteen and the mother of
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, (pronunciation uncertain: "Rezley", "Rizely" (archaic), (present-day) and have been suggested; 6 October 1573 – 10 November 1624) was the only son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Sou ...
. Widowed in 1581, she was Dowager Countess of Southampton until 1595, when for a few months until his death she was married to the courtier Sir Thomas Heneage. In 1598 she married lastly Sir William Hervey.


Life

The daughter of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, by his first marriage to Lady Jane Radcliffe, a daughter of
Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex Robert Radcliffe, 10th Baron Fitzwalter, 1st Earl of Sussex, KG, KB, PC (c. 148327 November 1542), also spelt Radclyffe, Ratcliffe, Ratcliff, etc., was a prominent courtier and soldier during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII, who serve ...
, and Lady Margaret Stanley. Mary Browne had a twin brother,
Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...
, but they lost their mother in the childbirth. Before 10 December 1558 Montagu married Magdalen Dacre, by whom he had three sons, Sir George, Thomas and Henry, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Mabel and Jane.G. E. Cokayne, ed. Geoffrey H. White, ''The Complete Peerage'' vol. XII, part I (London: St Catherine Press, 1953), p. 127 On 19 February 1565/66 at the age of thirteen Mary Browne married, at her father's house in London,
Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton (pronunciation uncertain: ''RYE-zlee'' (archaic), ''ROTT-slee'' (present-day) and ''RYE-əths-lee'' have been suggested) (24 April 1545 – 4 October 1581), was an English peer. Family Henry Wriot ...
, a royal ward who himself was aged only twenty, the son of Jane Cheney and the deceased 1st Earl of Southampton. Later in 1566 Southampton reached the age of twenty-one, but he did not gain control of his estates until 7 February 1568. He then found himself with six residences and an income of between £2,000 and £3,000, so "lived in a grand way, maintaining a large and lavish household". However, Mary's life with Southampton was troubled by his political difficulties stemming from his "fervent Catholicism".
By Southampton Mary had an only son,
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, (pronunciation uncertain: "Rezley", "Rizely" (archaic), (present-day) and have been suggested; 6 October 1573 – 10 November 1624) was the only son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Sou ...
, and two daughters, Jane, who died before 1573, and Mary, who married
Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour 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 ...
.J. G. Elzinga, 'Wriothesley, Henry, second earl of Southampton (bap. 1545, d. 1581)' in ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'
online text
(subscription required), accessed 30 November 2012
Akrigg (1968), p. 12 On 6 October 1573 Southampton wrote with great happiness to his friend Sir William More to give news of the birth of his son. The next six years were a period of stability, with the Queen granting Southampton small signs of favour. Following his mother's death in 1574 he began to build a great new
country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
at
Dogmersfield Dogmersfield is a small village lying between the towns of Fleet and Hartley Wintney in Hampshire, England. The M3 motorway and railway stations at Fleet and Winchfield provide routes to London. Places of interest include the village church, w ...
. Mary and Southampton continued on affectionate terms until about 1577, but by then he had forbidden her to see a man named Donsame, described as "a common person", and after that development the couple's relationship worsened. In 1580, Southampton learned that Mary had been seen at Dogmersfield with Donsame and he put her away from him, after which she was forced to live under surveillance on one of her husband's Hampshire estates. Mary denied adultery and accused a servant, Thomas Dymock, of having caused the suspicion between herself and her husband. There then arose a dispute between Southampton and his father-in-law over his treatment of his wife, which years later Robert Persons blamed on the Roman Catholic conspirator Charles Paget. Lord Montagu wrote to Mary, asking his daughter to explain herself, and Mary sent him a copy of a letter she had sent Southampton by their son, which her husband had refused to read.Charlotte Carmichael, ''The Life of Henry, Third Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare's Patron''
pp. 3–4
/ref> She said to her father in a postscript
Mary did not see her son again until after his father died the following year, on 4 October 1581, leaving an estate worth £1097 a year, when she became Dowager Countess of Southampton. In his Will, Southampton named Thomas Dymock and Charles Paget as executors, and Mary contested this with some success, supported by the
Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. History Earl ...
. By 11 December 1581 there was a settlement between her and the executors under which Dymock was still to receive generous bequests but had to relinquish the administration of the estate to Edward Gage. Queen Elizabeth sold the wardship and custody of Mary's young son to Lord Howard of Effingham for £1,000. Howard then transferred the custody to Lord Burghley, but kept control of the young peer's estates, and as a result late in 1581 or early in 1582 the new Earl of Southampton, then aged eight, came to live at
Cecil House Cecil House refers to two historical mansions on the Strand, London, in the vicinity of the Savoy. The first was a 16th-century house on the north side, where the Strand Palace Hotel now stands. The second was built in the early 17th century on th ...
in the Strand. This did not prevent Henry from spending some time with his mother, who on 14 October 1590 wrote to Burghley to thank him for entrusting her son to her for a long time. For almost fourteen years the Dowager Countess remained a widow. On 2 May 1594, she married as his second wife the courtier Sir Thomas Heneage, Vice-Chamberlain of the Queen's Household, but Heneage lived barely another five months. Having drawn in advance substantial sums in connection with his office, he died owing the crown £12,000. In 1596, his widow, who was also his executrix, had already made two large payments, but the Queen's auditors advised her that there was still more than £7,800 owing. According to Akrigg, in order to repay this substantial debt Mary probably had to draw on her own resources. Between 5 November 1598 and 31 January 1598/99, Mary Heneage married thirdly Sir William Hervey (died 1642), and lived almost another nine years, dying in October or November 1607. She left a will proved on 14 November in which she gave instructions for her burial at
Titchfield Titchfield is a village and former civil parish in the Borough of Fareham, Fareham district, in southern Hampshire, England, by the River Meon. The village has a history stretching back to the 6th century. During the medieval period, the villa ...
"as near as may be unto the body of my honorable and dearlie beloved Lord and husband Henrie late Earle of Southampton". On 17 November 1607
Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel KG, (7 July 1585 – 4 October 1646) was an English magistrate, diplomat and courtier who lived during the reigns of James I and Charles I. He made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather tha ...
, wrote to the
Earl of Shrewsbury Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...
that "Old Southampton... is dead, and hath left the best of her stuff to her son, and the greatest part to her husband, the most of which I think will be sold and dispersed into the hands of many men".Lodge, Edmund, ''Illustrations of British History'' (London: John Chidley, 1838), p. 209.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southampton, Mary Wriothesley, Countess Of 1552 births 1607 deaths 16th-century English nobility 17th-century English nobility 16th-century English women 17th-century English women Mary Daughters of viscounts English countesses People from Midhurst Mary English twins