Elizabeth Bourchier (died 1557)

Elizabeth Bourchier (before 1473 – 8 August 1557) was a descendant of King Edward III. By her third husband, Sir Edward Stanhope, she was the mother of Anne Stanhope, wife of the Protector Somerset. Her fourth husband was the courtier Sir Richard Page. She died in 1557, and was buried at Clerkenwell.

Family

Elizabeth Bourchier (before 1473 – 8 August 1557)^[1] was a descendant of King Edward III. Her father, Fulk Bourchier, 10th Baron FitzWarin (25 October 1445 – 18 September 1479),^[2] was the eldest son of William Bourchier, 9th Baron FitzWarin (died c. 1469),^[3] and the grandson of William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu (d. 28 May 1420) by Anne of Gloucester (d. 16 October 1438), elder daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, King Edward III's youngest son.^[4]

Elizabeth Bourchier's mother was Elizabeth Dynham (d. 19 October 1516).^[5] She was the daughter of Sir John Dynham (d. 25 January 1458) by Joan Arches (d.1497), and the sister and coheir of John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham (d. 1501). After the death of her first husband, Fulk Bourchier, she married Sir John Sapcotes (d.1501) of Elton, Huntingdonshire, and after his death, Sir Thomas Brandon (d. 27 January 1510) of Duddington, Northamptonshire.^[6] There were no issue of Elizabeth Dynham's marriage to Thomas Brandon, and according to Gunn, after his death she took a vow of celibacy before Bishop Fisher on 21 April 1510.^[7] She died 19 October 1516, and was buried in the Greyfriars, London.^[5][8]

By her mother's first marriage, Elizabeth Bourchier had a brother and sister:

• John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath (d. 30 April 1539),^[9]
• Joan Bourchier (d. 3 March 1532), second wife of James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley, who was beheaded 28 June 1497 on Tower Hill for his part in the Cornish rebellion, and buried at the Blackfriars, London.^[10] Audley's younger brother, John Audley, was married to Isabel Mylbery, an illegitimate daughter of King Edward IV, by whom he had no issue. He too took part in the Cornish rebellion in 1497, as well as the Warbeck conspiracy in 1499, but was pardoned in 1505.^[11][12]

Career

Elizabeth Bourchier married firstly Henry Beaumont, and secondly a husband surnamed Verney, by whom she had a daughter, Katherine Verney.^[13] Her third husband was Sir Edward Stanhope (d. 6 June 1511)^[14] of Rampton, Nottinghamshire. Stanhope had earlier been married to Adelina Clifton, the daughter of Sir Gervase Clifton, of Clifton, Nottinghamshire,^[15] by whom he had two sons, Richard Stanhope (d. 21 January 1529),^[16] who married Anne Strelley (d. 12 October 1554),^[17] and Sir Michael Stanhope, who married Anne Rawson. Sir Edward Stanhope fought in 1487 at the Battle of Stoke and in 1497 at the Battle of Blackheath, where he was knighted on the field for his valour. He was a Knight of the Body and Constable of Sandal Castle.^[18][19] Elizabeth Bourchier's stepson, Sir Michael Stanhope, was beheaded on Tower Hill on 26 February 1552.^[15]

Monument to Elizabeth Bourchier's daughter, Anne Stanhope, in Westminster Abbey

By Sir Edward Stanhope Elizabeth Bourchier had a daughter, Anne Stanhope, who married, as his second wife, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset.^[20] Elizabeth Bourchier's son-in-law, Somerset, was beheaded on Tower Hill on 22 January 1552.^[21]

After the death of Sir Edward Stanhope, Elizabeth Bourchier married her fourth husband, the courtier Sir Richard Page,^[22] by whom she had a daughter, Elizabeth Page, who married Sir William Skipwith.^[14] In the month of June 1537, Lady Page's servant is recorded as having received two shillings as a reward for bringing strawberries and cream to the future Queen Mary.^[23][24] When her daughter, Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1552, her mother Elizabeth, then styled Lady Page, was granted permission to visit her.^[14]

Elizabeth Bourchier died 8 August 1557, and was buried at Clerkenwell, as noted in Machyn's diary.^[14][25]

Notes

References

• Arthurson, Ian (2004). "Tuchet, James, seventh Baron Audley (c.1463–1497)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27576.  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Beer, Barrett L. (2004). "Seymour, Edward, duke of Somerset (c.1500–1552)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25159.  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Burke, John (1831). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland and Scotland, Extinct, Dormant and in Abeyance. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 73. Retrieved 5 April 2013. 
• Burke, John; Burke, John Bernard (1841). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland. London: Scott, Webster and Geary. p. 488. Retrieved 4 April 2013. 
• Cokayne, George Edward (1910). The Complete Peerage, edited by Vicary Gibbs. I. London: St Catherine Press. pp. 341–2. 
• Cokayne, George Edward (1912). The Complete Peerage, edited by Vicary Gibbs. II. London: St Catherine Press. p. 16. 
• Cokayne, George Edward (1926). The Complete Peerage, edited by Vicary Gibbs and H.A. Doubleday. V. London: St Catherine Press. pp. 508–11. 
• Cokayne, George Edward (1953). The Complete Peerage, edited by Geoffrey H. White. XII, Part I. London: St Catherine Press. pp. 59–65. 
• Gunn, S.J. (2004). "Brandon, Sir Thomas (d. 1510)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3268.  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Davies, Catharine (2004). "Page, Sir Richard (d. 1548)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/70795.  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Madden, Frederick, ed. (1831). Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary, Daughter of King Henry the Eighth, Afterwards Queen Mary. London: William Pickering. pp. 31, 254. Retrieved 4 April 2013. 
• Marshall, George William, ed. (1871). The Visitations of the County of Nottingham in the Years 1569 and 1614. London: Harleian Society. p. 7. Retrieved 4 April 2013. 
• Nichols, John Gough, ed. (1857). Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth. I. London: J.B. Nichols and Sons. pp. xxx–xxxi. Retrieved 4 April 2013. 
• Noble, Thomas, ed. (1829). The History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby, Part II. Derby: Henry Mozley and Son. pp. 163–4. Retrieved 11 April 2013. 
•  Pollard, Albert Frederick (1898). "Stanhope, Michael". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 54. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 21–2.  |access-date= requires |url= (help)
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G., ed. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. p. 282. ISBN 1449966373. 
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G., ed. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. p. 87. ISBN 1449966381. 
• Stanhope, Philip Henry (1855). Notices of the Stanhopes as Esquires and Knights. London: A. and G.A. Spottiswoode. Retrieved 31 March 2013. 
• Warnicke, Retha M. (2004). "Seymour, Anne, duchess of Somerset (c.1510–1587)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68053.  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

• Will of Sir Richard Page of Flamsted, Hertfordshire, proved 14 April 1551 Retrieved 4 April 2013
• 'The Fortunate Sir Richard Page', History Refreshed by Susan Higginbotham, 5 May 2012 Retrieved 4 April 2013
• Skipwith, Sir William (by 1510–1586), History of Parliament Retrieved 4 April 2013