Celebrated women
of the
16th Century
Elizabeth Barton ( the
Holy Maid of Kent) ..... born
1506 died April 20th 1534 when she was hanged at Tyburn for high treason having
announced that as Henry V111 had not died after his marriage he was no longer
King in the eyes of God and that his subjects did not owe allegiance to him.
In 1512 as a serving girl, she claimed direct communication with the mother of
God and her pronouncements made her famous and money-seeking clergy persuaded
her to enter a convent in Canterbury. In 1533 she made the mistake of
prophesying the death of Henry V111 if he divorced Queen Catherine and married
Anne Boleyn. For this she was hanged
Anne Boleyn
..... born 1507 died 1536 ..... the second wife of Henry V111 who he secretly
married whilst still married to Catherine of Aragon. She was the daughter of Sir
Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. Henry had
already had an affair with her sister and Anne did not particularly favour him
until negotiations began for his divorce from Catherine. They were married in
January 1533 and in May she was declared Henry's legal wife by Archbishop Thomas
Cranmer and was crowned with great splendour in Westminster Hall. Three years
later she was beheaded on a charge of adultery leaving behind a daughter
Elizabeth, who at the age of 25 years and on the death of Mary 1 Tudor, ascended
to the throne of England and reigned for 45 years
Jane Seymour
..... born 1509 died 1537 ..... third wife of Henry V111 whom he
married ten days after the execution of Anne Boleyn. He also passed an act
regarding the succession of her children thereby making Mary and Elizabeth
illegitimate. Jane was the daughter of Sir John Seymour and the sister of the
Duke of Somerset who became Protector of England when Henry died. Sadly she died
within a year of her marriage to Henry after giving birth to Edward V1, Henry's
only legitimate son
Catherine Parr .....
born 1512 died 1548 ..... sixth and final wife of Henry V111 and the only one to
outlive him. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal and was married
first to Edward Brough, then Lord Latimer and then in 1543 married Henry. She
was distinguished for her learning and knowledge and persuaded Henry to restore
the rights of succession to his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Soon after Henry's
death in 1547 she married a former lover Thomas Seymour but died in childbirth
the following year
Anne of Cleves .....
born 1515 died 1557 ..... German princess, daughter of John, duke
of Cleves, she became the fourth wife of Henry V111 on the death of Jane
Seymour. She was selected to marry Henry for political reasons and they never
met until their marriage. When he saw her in person he refused to stay married
to her calling her " the Flanders Mare". Six months later, in July 1540, their
marriage was annulled and she was pensioned off
Joan Bocher .....
born 1520 died 2nd May 1550 ..... Anabaptist Martyr who was
condemned by the commissioners appointed to enquire into heresy in 1549. Their
report was damaging and she was burnt to death at Smithfield. She was also known
as Joan of Kent and was a friend of Anne Askew and in 1542 was examined by
Cranmer but released. Seven years later the justices were informed that she was
again spreading heresy by saying that Christ had not taken flesh of the Virgin
but had miraculously passed through her as if through glass. The heresy
acts had just been repealed but she was arrested and told to recant. When she
refused she was excommunicated. There were no powers to burn heretics but the
Lord Chancellor discovered that they had been burnt before any law against them
had been passed in 1401 and so she was condemned to die by fire. Her execution
was postponed for more than a year to give her time to recant but she defied
them and died screaming and cursing them all
Catherine Howard
..... born 1522 died 1542 ..... granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of
Norfolk and niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, she became the fifth
wife of Henry V111 within a matter of days after his annulment to Anne of Cleves.
In November 1541 after having affairs with two other men whom she had known
before she was charged with sexual intercourse before her marriage and on her
confession both men were executed and Catherine was tried for treason. In
February 1542 she was beheaded
Jane Grey - Lady
..... born 1537 died 12th February 1554 ..... born in Leicester, the eldest
daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, her mother was a granddaughter of Henry
V11. In 1553 she married the son of the ambitious and scheming Duke of
Northumberland who had hoped to secure a Protestant succession to the throne by
the marriage and by persuading Edward V1 to name her as his heir. When Edward
died she was proclaimed queen against her will but was never crowned as Mary's (
of the Tudors) friends were too strong. After reigning for only nine days she
was arrested, tried and sentenced to death for high treason. She was beheaded on
Tower Hill and her ghost is said to haunt the Tower each year on the anniversary
of her death
Elizabeth of Austria
..... born 5th June 1554 died 1592 ..... daughter of the Emperor Maximilian 11,
she married Charles 1X, King of France, in 1570. The Queen Mother , Catherine de
Medici, treated her with indifference and her influence over her son was so
strong that Elizabeth was not allowed to take part in public events. During the
night of the massacre of St Bartholomew, the slaughter was kept from her so that
she could not appeal to the weak-minded King. His respected for her
equalled his affections and during his many illnesses she personally attended to
his needs. Elizabeth ranks among the royal authoresses, writing a book on the
word of God and another on the principal events which occurred during the time
she lived in France. When her husband died she retired to her family home in
Vienna and devoted herself to the Convent of St Clair which she had founded. Her
only child, a daughter, died in infancy
Elizabeth Bathory ..... born
1560 died 21st August 1614 ..... known as the female Dracula, the countess of
Evil she died having been walled up in her Castle Cachtice for nearly four
years. However unlike her male counterpart she did not drink blood but bathed in
it. She was also responsible for the torture and murder of over 600 young girls,
mostly virgins, in an age when extreme cruelty such as hers was commonplace.
Some girls were beaten to death, others were stripped naked and made to stand in
the courtyard in mid-winter and had cold water poured over them until they froze
to death. She also used other elaborate torture devices with trick mechanisms
and if all else failed she would rip out chunks of their bodies with her own
teeth and feed them, highly spiced, to local youths. As a young girl she had
enjoyed watching offenders being tortured for their crimes and when she was
brought to justice herself her accomplices were tortured for days in ways as
repulsive as they had used. The Countess had long been suspected but no-one had
bothered too much when she had lured only peasant girls into her castle, but
when she began choosing victims from noble families, families began to take
notice and political reasons eventually made it necessary for her to be dealt
with. The servants who had assisted her were put to death and she was confined
alone in a room in her castle with the doors and windows walled up
Marie de Medici
..... born 26th April 1573 died 1642 ..... born in Florence, daughter of Francis
1, Grand Duke of Tuscany, she became Queen of France as the wife of Henry 1V in
1600. He was murdered in 1610 and she was made regent for her son Louis X111 and
acted to solidify relations with Austria and Spain, fellow Catholic nations. In
1612 the double Spanish marriage of Louis X111 to Anne of Austria and of
Elizabeth of France to the infant Phillip, caused great alarm among the French
protestants and during her regency were often on the point of re-commencing a
civil war. The treaty of Saint Menehould in 1614 bribed them into temporary
submission but the troubles broke out again the following year. Large sums of
money were distributed among the discontented nobles but whilst Concino Concini,
her Italian lover, governed the Queen, so settlement seemed possible. When
Concini was murdered in 1617 the young King asserted his intention of ruling the
kingdom himself. Marie obtained permission to retire to Blois but was kept under
strict surveillance. In 1619 however, she escaped and fled to Angouleme and once
more assumed a position more suited to her rank. She was soon restored to favour
and took into her Richelieu into her confidence but her feelings soon
turned to hatred when she discovered that the man she had made Cardinal and
Minister of State had resolved to rule without her. She tried unsuccessfully to
overthrow him and in 1631 was sent to Compiegne to be confined. However she
escaped, settled in Brussels and continued her war against the Cardinal. In 1638
she went to England where her daughter Henrietta Maria was Queen, retired to
Cologne in 1641 and died there the following year. Her lasting achievement was
the building of the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, whose galleries were decorated
by the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens
Anne of Denmark - Queen
..... born 12th
December 1574 died 2nd March 1619 ..... second daughter of Frederick 11, King of
Denmark. In 1589 she became the wife of James V1 of Scotland and 1 of England
and together they had five children. At her coronation she refused to receive
the sacrament according to the rites of the English Church. She took little part
in politics and sought more to amuse the King and his courtiers. Not being on
very good terms with her husband she took great joy in exposing him to ridicule
and making him jealous. It has been said of her " she was a woman eminent
neither for her vices nor her virtues"