Mary, Lady Heveningham, by Hans Holbein the Younger
As you might expect from our previous post on Henry VIII’s interest in a ‘very handsome young lady’, it was just the first of multiple affairs on the King’s behalf which only caused further strain on the marriage of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. The saying ‘once a cheater, always a cheater’ could not be more true here with Henry VIII and sadly, despite how much Anne believed Henry’s love for her might prevent infidelity from her husband, Henry did not know how to be faithful to any of his wives—even Jane Seymour, who is believed to be the love of the King’s life.
A marriage of love was a rarity in the Tudor times and only a handful of Kings or Queens marrying for love can be seen throughout history, but even those marriages were not free from the ever-present danger of a husband being unfaithful. One of the most famous and scandalous royal marriages, prior to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was that of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville—where a King married a commoner. Edward and Elizabeth were deeply in love and the couple, very scandalous, were secretly married when King Edward was in talks for an arranged marriage with the French. Out of love and fierce devotion to his wife, King Edward declared their marriage to be valid, officially crowned Elizabeth as Queen and the couple had a total of ten children with Edward becoming the stepfather to Elizabeth’s two sons from her previous marriage. Even with the intense love Edward bore for his wife, he was a known womanizer prior to their marriage and would have multiple affairs during their marriage, although his love for his wife did not wane. However, unlike some of the mistresses of the Kings that followed such as Charles II, almost all of Edward’s mistresses, with the most famous being Elizabeth "Jane" Shore, never asked for any rewards, gifts or familial gain during their affair with the King—a rarity for royal mistresses.
Whilst Henry VIII was not the first King to cheat on a wife he loved, he was most certainly one of the busiest as he ties in quite closely with his future successor, Charles II who had an estimated total of thirteen confirmed mistresses and fathered between thirteen to nineteen illegitimate children, maybe even more!
. . .
A famous argument between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn where Anne confronted him about his affairs gives us an insight into how fragile Anne’s hold on the King truly was. We are given this information, once again, from the Spanish ambassador; Eustace Chapuys who wrote:
“It appears that she being sometime ago very jealous of the King, and not without legitimate cause, made use of certain words which the King very much disliked, telling her that she must shut her eyes and endure as those who were better than herself had done, and that she ought to know that he could at any time lower her as much as he had raised her.” [5].
Whilst Anne Boleyn’s outburst at the shocking knowledge that her loving husband was now bedding women of the court once again was not as calm and graceful as her predecessor, Catherine of Aragon, there is one method of ‘dealing’ with her husband’s constant infidelities that Anne Boleyn attempted that is quite interesting to learn about.
Instead of Anne Boleyn attempting to prevent her husband from having another affair altogether, she decided on another method of preventing another woman from potentially taking her place, just as she had done with Catherine of Aragon—she decided that she would control whom the King had affairs with by ensuring his mistresses were women she could both trust and control. This method, whilst it may seem odd that Anne wanted to let women she trusted and formed relationships with sleep with her husband, was quite ingenious to say the least. Not only would it allow her husband to have affairs as he clearly loved to do without causing any bickering between the two, it would also allow her to influence the King through his mistresses as the mistresses could relay any information or concerns that may prove useful to the Queen.
At this point, Anne seemed to have accepted that her husband would not change his adulterous ways and that if she was going to live with the knowledge that other women were warming her husband’s bed rather than her, it was better that they were women she had influence over rather than women who were not supporters of her queenship.
We cannot conclusively prove that Anne did arrange the affair between her husband and one of her cousins but it is highly believed that she was somewhat involved. Although I do not necessarily agree with this since it seems out of character for Anne, a highly jealous woman, to agree as well as engage with the idea that a female relative of hers, a younger and very attractive one at that, should attempt to have an affair with her husband, the very man who rose her and her family to the power that she held and the man who would easily destroy them if he so wished.
Sadly, a man who would do just that.
. . .
Now, before we move on to discuss the affair, we do need to clarify that there is a slight confusion and uncertainty in regards to the confirmed mistress’ identity. We do know that Henry VIII had an affair with a Lady Shelton with the majority of historians believing the mistress to be Lady Margaret ‘Madge’ Shelton as can be seen through the popular television series The Tudors. However, more recent research has come to suggest that it was actually Margaret’s sister, Mary, who was the King’s mistress but which of the sisters actually had an affair with the King is unknown but it can be confirmed that one did take place.
Therefore, we will be exploring both of the sisters’ lives to cover all bases.
. . .
There is not much information available for the births and early lives of both Margaret and Mary Shelton; however, we do know that Mary is believed to have been born between 1510 and 1515 and Margaret has no known year of birth. We do not know if Margaret was older or younger than her sister Mary however, we do know that she would have been born anywhere between 1501 and 1520 as her parents’ youngest child, a son called Thomas Shelton, was born in 1520.
Mary and Margaret were the daughters of Sir John Shelton, a courtier to Henry VIII, and Lady Anne Shelton, formerly Boleyn. Lady Anne Shelton was the sister of Sir Thomas Boleyn, the father of Anne Boleyn, the future second wife of Henry VIII. The couple were married somewhere between the years of 1497 and 1503 when both were in their twenties/thirties and we do know that the couple had either nine or ten children and those are believed to have been: Margaret, John, Mary, Ralph, Thomas, Anne, Gabriella, Elizabeth, Amy and Emma. The name Gabriella does sound a little out of place with the rest of these names so this might be an inaccuracy. Either way, the couple had a very successful marriage in producing so many children with at least three sons.
Margaret and Mary, through their mother, were first cousins to Anne, Mary and George Boleyn. Whilst there is no evidence to suggest what the relationship between Anne Boleyn and the sisters was like, it might have been possible that Margaret and Mary maintained a close relationship with Anne Boleyn both prior and during her time as Queen of England because they were first cousins. I doubt very much that Thomas Boleyn and his sister Anne (now Lady Shelton) would have distanced themselves from one another as the Boleyn family appears to be one that stuck together quite a lot and tried to better every family member rather than just themselves. Additionally, the fact that Margaret ‘Madge’ did become a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne shows how close the cousins were especially since Anne had every right to be cautious of her cousin who was known through the English court as ‘Pretty Madge’ for her exquisite beauty.
Madge’s beauty was even used later on after Anne Boleyn’s death when the King was searching for his fourth wife, who he would later chose to be Anna von Kleve or Anne of Cleves. In The Queens of Henry VIII, David Starkey wrote that John Hutten, the man sent to meet with Anne of Cleves, told King Henry VIII that Anne ‘resembleth much one Mistress Shelton, that sometime waited in Court upon Queen Anne (Boleyn)’ whilst Antonia Fraser’s book, The Wives of Henry VIII, she wrote that “Madge Shelton must have been extremely appealing; a few years later when the noted beauty Duchess Christina of Milan was being investigated as a possible royal bride, it was declared in the Duchess’ favor that she ‘resembleth much one Mistress Shelton, late of the queen’s chamber, who had dimples–‘pits’-in her cheeks, and was ‘very gentle of countenance’ and ‘soft of speech.'”
Regardless of whether or not Madge had indeed been Henry VIII’s mistress, it must have feel so flattering to have such compliments of your beauty—and for Tudor women, beauty and skills went hand-in-hand—said by highly regarded men and relayed to the King of England.
Madge’s purpose as a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn is unclear. We do not know when she became a lady-in-waiting and we do not know if Anne herself had chosen her or if she had been influenced by male family members to promote other female relatives within the English court. If the affair is believed to have taken place in February 1535, it seems only probable that Madge had been a lady-in-waiting for either a few months or less than a year if she was to have caught the attention of Henry VIII so quickly. In Z. F. Shelton’s novel on the family’s history The Sheltons, the comment is made that, now Madge was attending Queen Anne, she was ‘instructed by her to distract the attention of King Henry VIII when he was making love to Jane Seymour’ [2].
This, of course, is a little inaccurate as, firstly, we do know that, similar to Anne, Jane Seymour refused to become Henry VIII’s mistress nor sleep with him. Secondly, whether Anne Boleyn was aware at this point of the growing infatuation and desire that Henry VIII held for Jane Seymour is known, she would have most certainly been aware that Jane Seymour could prove dangerous in attracting the King’s attention however we simply do not know what Anne knew or thought at this time.
As for Mary Shelton, she too was a great beauty in the eyes of the English court and, more so than her sister Madge, posed a great threat to Queen Anne Boleyn. As I mentioned before, now that Anne Boleyn was Queen of England, many of her relatives would have benefited and according to Kelly Hart in her novel The Mistresses of Henry VIII that;
“The Sheltons were some of the many enjoying the benefits of being closely related to the queen. Mary and her family were therefore indebted to Queen Anne and would hopefully support her rather than put forward a rival. This is why some historians think it highly convenient that Henry’s new mistress was a member of the Boleyn family and that Anne herself arranged for her cousin to try and attract the king, to lure him away from someone who was more of a threat.” [3]
However, whilst both of the sisters were ladies-in-waiting to the Queen and might have experienced a loving or close relationship with the Queen, Kelly Hart argues that “this did not mean that their families were allies – not all Boleyns supported the queen and so she could not rely on Mary Shelton’s loyalty” [3]. What also made things worse was the fact that Mary Shelton was a known poet who wrote a great many poems on love, specifically courtly love. This was a massive problem for Queen Anne; as we mentioned beforehand, she was quite a jealous woman (although who could argue she didn’t have a right to be so with a husband like Henry VIII), and any woman who was beautiful, younger than she and showed signs of attraction towards the King was a threat to her status and power as Queen of England.
Anne Boleyn was well aware that her position of Queen of England rested on two abilities; her ability to produce a male heir and her ability to remain in favour with the King. Henry VIII had divorced his first wife and married Anne Boleyn not only because he was madly in love with her but because he believed that she would be able to produce the male heir (or perhaps more) that he was desperate for. Queen Anne knew that any woman posed a risk to her queenship for as long as a son had not been born. Even whilst pregnant with a potential male heir, Queen Anne was insecure about her husband’s infidelities as most Kings tended to engage in affairs more when their Queen was carrying a future heir. In the simplest of terms, since Queen Anne couldn’t warm her husband’s bed, another woman would.
You might be wondering why being a poet posed Mary Shelton as a threat to her cousin and Queen, well…
Think of it in this way—it’s February 1535 when the affair is believed to have begun, Queen Anne Boleyn has, so far, only produced one child which was the future Queen Elizabeth I, and is believed to have been pregnant in 1534 which may or may not have been a phantom pregnancy or ending in miscarriage/stillbirth [4]. At this point, she is feeling very insecure about her position at court and is hoping to fall pregnant again and successfully deliver a son for her desperate and irritable husband. Then her eye falls on her cousin, let us assume Mary was the mistress rather than Madge in this instance, a woman whom openly and passionately writes about courtly love, a woman whom she cannot completely trust as some of her family members do not support her as Queen. Wouldn’t you be concerned if your poet cousin was writing about courtly love, knowing that her beauty would attract your husband’s eye and that the poems she was wrote might have been about her husband, the King?
I cannot imagine what stress and paranoia Queen Anne must have been suffering from during her time as Queen. Even if she was a jealous and had public outbursts, she was still a woman and a woman who was desperately clinging to the power she knew was fading day by day?
Regardless of whether it was Madge or Mary who became the mistress of Henry VIII or whether Queen Anne arranged it, the affair did not last very long—six months, to be exact. Not long after, it was clear that Henry VIII had his eye firmly set on Anne Boleyn’s rival, Jane Seymour.
. . .
But what happened to Madge and Mary Shelton after this affair?
After the affair, Margaret ‘Madge Shelton’ was betrothed to Henry Norris (or Norreys as it is sometimes spelt) who was Groom of the Stool in the privy chamber of King Henry VIII and sadly, one of the men Madge’s cousin Queen Anne Boleyn would be accused of being adulterous with. Indeed, Madge herself was involved in one of the incidents used as ‘evidence’ to prove Anne Boleyn had engaged in carnal relations or at least had carnal knowledge of with Henry Norris. Shortly after her arrest in 1536, Queen Anne told one of the four unsympathetic ladies who attended her (women who would not be loyal or protect Anne in any way from Thomas Cromwell’s scrutiny) about the incident.
Queen Anne told Mrs Coffin, one of these ladies, that she had once reprimanded Francis Weston (yet another innocent man condemned to die for his crimes with the Queen) for flirting with Madge Shelton who had now become betrothed to Henry Norris and spoke to Francis Weston of why the couple had not yet married. His reply was scandalous and would cost both of them their lives; he commented that “[Norris] came more to her [Anne’s] chamber for her than for Madge]” [6].
This conversation was promptly reported to Thomas Cromwell and within months, both Madge’s cousin the Queen, her betrothed Henry Norris and the innocent Francis Weston were all executed on the charge of treason against the King through their supposed carnal relations with Queen Anne Boleyn. This must have been a horrifying time for both Madge and Mary Shelton though arguably more horrific for young Madge who not only lost her beloved cousin and Queen but her betrothed also. Imagine how shocking and shameful it must have felt for her to be related to those people and have others within the King’s court gossip about the people you cared about and judge you also.
Lady Margaret ‘Pretty Madge’ Shelton in The Tudors
There are some differentiating accounts of what occurred in Madge’s life following the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn and the innocent men accused of being her lovers. One account talks about how Madge went away to a convent following her father’s death leaving her family with financial troubles whilst others discuss her marriage to Thomas Woodhouse who was the son of Sir Roger Woodhouse (or Wodehouse) and his wife Elizabeth Radcliffe. Not much is known about their marriage other than their son Roger Woodhouse who was born in 1541 and the fact that Madge’s husband was present at the Battle of Pinkie in September 1547 where some sources claim he was killed.
We do not have a year of death for Madge, however many historians believe it is likely that she died before 1555 as there is no record of her from this date onwards. Whether Madge entered into a convent following the death of her husband in 1547 or lived there momentarily, it is not known.
Her sister Mary, on the other hand, appears to have had a similar tragedy-filled life.
At some point, Mary entered into an engagement with her first cousin and fellow poet Thomas Clere although this engagement would be short-lived as Thomas died soon following their engagement. Interestingly, Mary did still benefit from this match as Thomas had bequeathed all of his lands to Mary in his will, something he likely did shortly before his death in case he died very early into their marriage.
Whilst a precise date for their marriage is unknown, we do know that by 1546, Mary had gone on to marry yet another cousin called Sir Anthony Heveningham and they had five children together which included Arthur Heveningham and their youngest daughter Abigail who later attended her cousin Queen Elizabeth in 1588 [7].
However, Mary would actually found herself in quite a bit of trouble when there was a suspicion of a conspiracy between Mary and Lord Surrey which was under investigation by the Privy Council. What this conspiracy involved we do not know although this must have been frightening for Mary, regardless of whether she was involved or not in this supposed conspiracy.
Following the death of her husband in 1557, Mary would marry a Philip Appleyard in 1558 and she would be buried in Heveningham chirch in Suffolk on 8th January 1571 so it is probable that her date of death was in December 1570 or at the latest the first few days of January 1571.
Whilst the sisters may not have lived the most memorable or extraordinary of lives, they most certainly did leave a lasting mark on history and of the legacy of Queen Anne Boleyn.
Until next time!
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
References:
https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/lady-margaret-shelton-or-pretty-madge/
Kelly Hart, The Mistresses of Henry VIII, The History Press, 2009
Cal.Span. IV, 11, p.788 – this reference was graciously provided by Dr Owen Emmerson
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