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What I love about this next alleged mistress is the mystery behind her story and the arguments for and against her being named one of Henry’s mistresses. Obviously, it is easier for historians to definitively prove that a woman was Henry’s mistress or at least slept with him through evidence such as letters, documents recording any gifts on Henry’s or the woman in question’s behalf, witness accounts etc but it can prove a little more difficult to prove rumours or to conclusively prove that an affair took place hence why the rumour that Lady Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew was yet another woman that Henry VIII took as his mistress.
However, I will try my very hardest to explain the evidence and the facts that I have thoroughly researched and give my opinion on why I believe that Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew was one of Henry VIII’s many mistresses.
So, let us take a look at the story of Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew’s story!
. . .
Born circa.1500 to Sir Thomas Bryan, the future vice-chamberlain to Catherine of Aragon, and his wife, Margaret Bourchier, who was the governess to all three of Henry’s legitimate children (Mary I, Elizabeth I and Edward VI) as well as Henry’s only acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, who he fathered with Bessie Blount; Elizabeth is believed to be the youngest of their three children with her having an older sister Margaret (who I assume did not live into adulthood considering there are no records of her) and her older brother Francis who served as Chief Gentleman of the Privy chamber and Lord Justice of Ireland but his rakish sexual life and his lack of principle earned him the nickname ‘the Vicar of Hell’ during Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn.
Speaking of Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew had a direct link to not only Henry’s former mistress and second wife but his third wife (also his mistress)! Elizabeth’s mother Margaret was the half-sister of Elizabeth Boleyn (they shared a mother; Elizabeth Tilney), who was the mother of Anne Boleyn (Henry’s second wife)—and get this, Elizabeth Tilney was the half-sister of Jane Seymour’s grandmother. This, to make matters simple, meant that Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew and Anne Boleyn were half first-cousins, Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew and Jane Seymour were possibly half second (or third) cousins, and Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour were half second-cousins. So, Henry liked to keep things in the family, that’s for sure!
Well—kind of hard not to do that when most Tudor families tended to have links with each other because they liked to keep their two families interlinked and keep the ‘money’ in the family bloodline.
Anyway…!
. . .
It was Elizabeth Bryan’s marriage to Sir Nicholas Carew that might have instigated the sparks that brought on the fire of the affair between Henry VIII and herself.
Since Elizabeth’s assumed year of birth is 1500 and the normal societal expectation that girls could marry from the age of ten-years-old and up (as well as the fact that there is no recorded date of when the marital ceremony for Elizabeth and Nicholas took place), it can safely be said that Elizabeth might have been married to Nicholas Carew in 1514 when she was fourteen-years-old and when she first would have been taken on into Catherine of Aragon’s household.
The reason why this is an important piece of information to suggest is because it is through the wedding of Elizabeth to Nicholas that historians believe signifies when the affair between Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew and Henry VIII ignited—which is subsequently the same year that Henry started his affair with Bessie Blount and perhaps Jane Poppincourt—it wasn’t uncommon for a King to take multiple women to his bed at the same time as his ever-wandering eye wouldn’t have been able to resist any fresh ‘fruit’ to sample and later devour. But still, he had a busy year!
. . .
The piece of ‘evidence’, as it were, that leads to this assumption that an affair took place is because not only did the King attend the wedding of Elizabeth and Nicholas, whilst he gifted the happy couple six sovereigns (or most likely shillings) and eight pieces of silver, he bestowed more kingly gifts on Elizabeth such as five-hundred pounds (although there is a misconception that this gift might have in fact been gifted to her mother, not Elizabeth herself) along with beautiful diamonds, pearls and very expensive fabrics that were the rightful possessions of his wife, Catherine of Aragon, which definitely raises eyebrows over the question of the relationship between Henry VIII and Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew which went far beyond the expected relationship between a king and not just his close friend’s wife but one of his wife’s ladies in waiting. Some might read this as Henry bestowing his favour on the young wife of one of his ‘best’ friends, but others might read this as a more sordid gesture, rather than a generous one.
And this wasn’t the only time that Henry VIII would gift Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew beautiful jewels that went beyond a friendly gesture; in fact, the next instance was on New Year’s when he gifted her unrecorded jewels after the birth of her son not long after. Actually, these overly friendly gifts continued on as late as 1529, nearly sixteen-years later when he was supposed to be loyal to his ‘only’ mistress Anne Boleyn, which leaves the burning question; does this act as evidence to prove that Elizabeth was warming the King’s bed behind her husband’s back and was Henry betraying one of his closest friends by sleeping with his wife?
Who knows but I would, in my personal opinion, say that this might have been likely considering how involved Sir Nicholas Carew was in his King’s love life, it is even suggested that Nicholas offered the King his home in order to meet up with his royal mistresses without the rest of the court (and, of course, his wife) from finding out about them.
One thing that can be said is that whilst Elizabeth certainly managed to stay in the King’s favor for an extended period of time, her husband sadly did not.
. . .
In fact, Sir Nicholas’ strong opinions is what led him to the chopping block on March 3rd 1539 after being found guilty of treason for his involvement in the Exeter Plot—a plot which sought to remove Henry VIII from power and replace him with the ambitious Cardinal Reginald Pole who disagreed with Henry’s political decisions such as his marriages (as Henry was currently planning to marry his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, at that point in time). Inevitably, Elizabeth suffered further downfall following the execution of her husband as her family fell into ruin through her brother acting as a member of the Privy Chamber and sending their sister’s husband to the chopping block which subsequently reduced both Elizabeth and her sister Margaret to penury (which is poverty, basically).
Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew died in 1546 at the assumed age of forty-six-years-of-age after having five children with her treacherous husband: Anne, Francis, Mary, Elizabeth, Isabel.
Her cause of death and her place of burial are sadly unknown but, regarding her societal and financial status towards the end of her life, it can be assumed that she died due to complications with a common disease such as consumption and that she was buried in the poorest burial possible that her family could afford.
Shows that her husband’s treachery really did not do her any favours because, maybe if he stayed loyal to Henry, he might have secured his wife a better life and potentially all of his family longer lives and more extravagant burials that would leave the whereabouts known to this day.
What a caring, considerate husband, right?
Hopefully, the next mistress will have better luck than Elizabeth?
One can hope, right?
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
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