Catherine carey daughter of mary boleyn

Catherine Carey

Daughter of Mary Boleyn and lady of Queen Elizabeth I of England

For her niece, watch Catherine Howard, Countess of Nottingham.

Catherine Carey, Mary (Boleyn) Carey’s daughter, was born in about , not (as has been thought) in about Henry Carey was called “the Kynge’s son” in a contemporary () provider. Evidence of the non-sexual marriage of William and Mary (Boleyn) Carey.

For the Clerk of the New York State Assembly, see Catherine A. Carey.

Catherine Carey
Portrait often identified as Catherine,
Born	c. England
Died	15 January (aged ) Hampton Court Palace, England
Buried	St Edmund's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, England
Spouse(s)	Sir Francis Knollys
Issue	Mary Stalker Sir Henry Knollys Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury Edward Knollys, MP Sir Robert Knollys, MP Richard Knollys, MP Elizabeth Leighton, Lady Leighton Sir Thomas Knollys Sir Francis Knollys, MP Anne West, Lady De La Warr Catherine, Baroness Offaly, Lady Butler Maud Knollys Abigail Knollys Dudley Knollys
Father	William Carey
Mother	Mary Boleyn

Catherine Carey, after her marriage Catherine Knollys and later known as both Lady Knollys and Dame Catherine Knollys,^[2] (c.

– 15 January ), was chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I, who was her first cousin.

Biography

Catherine Carey was born in , the daughter of William Carey of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and his wife Mary Boleyn, who had once been a mistress of the king.^[3] Catherine was thus Elizabeth I's maternal first cousin.^[4] Some historians believe that Catherine was an illegitimate child of Henry VIII, which would make her also Elizabeth I's paternal half-sister through their shared father, Henry VIII.^[6]^[7] Other historians suggest that this was a rumour spread by supporters of Catherine of Aragon.^[8]

Catherine was said to be a witness to the execution of her aunt, Anne Boleyn, in ; however, claims that she had stayed overnight to entertain and distract her aunt Anne in the Tower of London before the latter's execution have been dismissed.

Catherine went on to be appointed Maid of Honour to both Anne of Cleves, in November , and Catherine Howard, who were the fourth and fifth wives of Henry VIII.^[10]

On 26 April she married Sir Francis Knollys.^[6]^[11] Her husband was knighted in and was named a Knight of the Garter in He was also Treasurer of the Royal Household.

From the time of her marriage, Catherine became established as Mistress Knollys, and from as Lady Knollys. When not in London, the couple lived at Reading in Berkshire and Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire.

As Catherine and her husband were staunch Protestants, they fled to Germany in spring during the reign of Queen Mary I.^[3] Princess Elizabeth wrote to her cousin whilst she lived on the continent, and Catherine is known to have resided in Basel and Frankfurt am Main whilst on the continent.^[3]

Catherine was appointed Chief Lady of the Bedchamber after Elizabeth became queen.

Catherine and Henry Carey were the children of Mary Boleyn. This post will examine the evidence for each side, and look at the futures of the pair. However, Mary Boleyn was already married, unlike Bessie Blount. If Mary was sleeping with both the King and her husband, then she herself may have been unsure of their paternity.

For the first ten years of the reign, Lady Catherine combined the most senior post among the ladies-in-waiting with motherhood to more than a dozen children.^[6] Elizabeth never recognized Catherine as her half-sister, and it was certainly not a relationship that Catherine or Sir Francis ever openly claimed.

At court, Catherine was known as the queen's favourite among her first cousins, and Elizabeth's lack of other female relatives to whom she felt shut may be adequate to define this favoured position.^[6]

She died on 15 January at Hampton Court Palace, being outlived by her husband and children.

At the time of her death, her husband was in charge of the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots.^[12]

Catherine was buried the accompanying April in St Edmund's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, with the grieving Queen herself paying £ 2s.

11d. for the interment.^[3]^[13] There is a small commemorative plaque in the abbey, although her chief monument is at Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire.

Catherine's epitaph reads:

The Right Honourable Lady Catherine Knollys, chief Lady of the Queen's Majesty's Bedchamber, and Wife to Sir Francis Knollys, Knight, Treasurer of Her Highnesses Houshold, departed this Animation the Fifteenth of January, , at Hampton-Court, and was honourably buried in the Floor of this Chapel.This Lady Knollys, and the Lord Hunsdon her Brother, were the Children of William Caree, Esq; and of the Lady Mary his Wife, one of the Daughters and Heirs to Thomas Bulleyne, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde; which Lady Mary was Sister to Anne Queen of England, Wife to K. Henry the Eighth, Father and Mother to Elizabeth Queen of England.

Issue

Sir Francis and Lady Knollys produced sixteen children:^[6]

Mary Knollys (c.
Catherine Carey - Wikipedia: Catherine Carey was born in , the daughter of William Carey of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and his wife Mary Boleyn, who had once been a mistress of the king. [3].
– ). She married Edward Stalker.
Sir Henry Knollys (c. – ). He was a member of parliament representing first Shoreham, Kent () and then Oxfordshire. Esquire of the Body to Elizabeth I. He was married to Margaret Cave (–), daughter of Sir Ambrose Cave and Margaret Willington.

Their daughter Lettice Knollys (–) married before 19 June William Paget, 4th Baron Paget.
Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex and of Leicester (8 November – 25 December ). She married first Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, secondly Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and thirdly Sir Christopher Blount.
William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury, (c.

– 25 May ).^[15] He was married first to Dorothy Bray, who was 20 years his senior; and secondly to Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk and his second wife Catherine Knyvett.
Edward Knollys (–).

He was a member of Parliament.
Sir Robert Knollys (–). Member of Parliament showing Reading, Berkshire (–), Brecknockshire (–), Abingdon, Oxfordshire (, –) and finally Berkshire (). He married Catherine Vaughan, daughter of Sir Rowland Vaughan, of Porthamel.
Richard Knollys ( – 21 August ).

Member of Parliament representing first Wallingford () and then Northampton (). Married Joan Heigham, daughter of John Heigham, of Gifford's Hall, Wickhambrook, Suffolk.
Elizabeth Knollys (15 June – c. ). Lady Elizabeth^[16] married Sir Thomas Leighton of Feckenham, Worcester, son of John Leighton of Watlesburgh and Joyce Sutton, in Her husband served as Governor of Jersey and Guernsey.
Maud Knollys ( –&#;?).

Died young.
Sir Thomas Knollys (died ). Known for service in the Eighty Years' War (–).
I just discovered I’m descended from Mary Boleyn through her daughter, Catherine. No one seems to be sure whether or not Catherine was King Henry’s child. I would love for DNA to clear this up.
Governor of Ostend in Married Ottilia de Merode, daughter of Jean IX de Merode, Sire de Petershem and Margareta van Pallant.
Sir Francis Knollys "the Younger" (c. – ). Member of Parliament representing first Oxford (–) and then Berkshire (, ). Married Lettice Barrett, daughter of John Barrett, of Hanham.

Father-in-law of John Hampden.
Anne Knollys (19 July – 30 August ). Married Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr. Mother to Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, after whom the state of Delaware is named.
Catherine Knollys (21 October – 20 December ).

Married first Gerald FitzGerald, Baron Offaly (son of Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare and Mabel Browne) and secondly Sir Phillip Butler, of Watton Woodhall. She was the mother of Lettice Digby, 1st Baroness Offaly.
Cecily Knollys (c.

-&#;?).
Catherine Carey was the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth I. She was nominally the daughter of William Carey and Mary Boleyn. Only circumstantial evidence supports this assertion, although she was certainly one of Elizabeth's favourites. Francis and Catherine's family grew prodigiously during the s and s.
No known descendants.
Margaret Knollys. No known descendants.
Dudley Knollys (9 May – June )^[6]

In literature

The possibility that Catherine, and perhaps her brother Henry, were illegitimate children of Henry VIII, appears in many works of fiction, including Wendy J.

Dunn's The Light in the Labyrinth and Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl. Carey is also a character in Gregory's The Boleyn Inheritance, where she is sent to the royal court during the time of Queens Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard, and in The Virgin's Lover, where, as the mother of the seventeen-year-old Lettice Knollys, she is among Elizabeth I's closest companions.

In Henry VIII's Wives by Alison Prince, the book's narrator has a friend, Catherine "Kitty" Carey, whose father died of sweating sickness and whose mother is Mary Boleyn. In this book, Catherine was consideration to be the king's daughter. Catherine is the featured subject in the novel Cor Rotto: A Novel of Catherine Carey by Adrienne Dillard and in The Lady Carey by Anne R.

Bailey.

References

^Vivian, p
^Doran, John (). "The history and antiquities of Reading in Berkshire". John Doran. Retrieved 30 October
^ ^a^b^c^dVarlow, Sally (8 January ) [28 September ].

"Knollys [née Carey], Katherine, Lady Knollys (c. –), courtier". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online&#;ed.). Oxford University Press. doi/ref:odnb/ Retrieved 16 November (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^Cole, Mary Hill (2 December ).

"Maternal memory: Elizabeth Tudor's Anne Boleyn". Explorations in Renaissance Culture. 30 (1): 41– doi/ ISSN&#;
^ ^a^b^c^d^e^fVarlow, Sally (August ).

"Sir Francis Knollys's Latin dictionary: new evidence for Katherine Carey". Historical Research. 80 (): – doi/jx. ISSN&#;
^Stedall, Robert (30 June ). Elizabeth I's Closing Years: Her Favourites & Her Fighting Men.

Pen and Sword History. ISBN&#;.
^Levin, Carole (). "Elizabeth I as Sister and "Loving Kinswoman"". In Cruz, Anne J.; Suzuki, Mihoko (eds.). The Command of Women in Early Latest Europe. University of Illinois Push.

p.&#; ISBN&#;.
^Merton, Charlotte Isabelle (28 January ). Women who served Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth&#;: Ladies, Gentlewomen and Maids of the Privy Chamber, . PhD Thesis (Thesis).
Catherine was said to be a witness to the execution of her aunt, Anne Boleynin ; [ 9 ] however, claims that she had stayed overnight to entertain and distract her aunt Anne in the Tower of London before the latter's execution include been dismissed. On 26 April she married Sir Francis Knollys. He was also Treasurer of the Royal Household. From the time of her marriage, Catherine became known as Mistress Knollys, and from as Lady Knollys.
doi/CAM &#; via Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository.
^Wiliams, Penry (1 March ). "Court and polity under Elizabeth I". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 65 (2): – doi/BJRL ISSN&#;
^Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica ().

Who's Who in Shakespeare's England: Over Concise Biographies of Shakespeare's Contemporaries. Palgrave Macmillan. p.&#; ISBN&#;.
^Mayhew, Mickey (21 September ). Imprisoning Mary Queen of Scots: The Men Who Kept the Stuart Queen.

Pen and Sword History. ISBN&#;.
^Levin, Carole (), "The Privy Council", The Reign and Life of Queen Elizabeth I: Politics, Customs, and Society, Queenship and Force, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp.&#;19–48, doi/_3, ISBN&#;, retrieved 16 November
^Campbell, H.

(28 February ). CampbellTree. Harold Campbell - Lulu. p.&#; ISBN&#;. Retrieved 30 October

Sources

Guillim, John; Kent, Samuel (). The Banner Display'd: or, An Abridgment of Guillim: Being a Compleat System of Heraldry, in all its Parts Vol.&#;I.

By Samuel Kent. London: Printed for Thomas Cox.
Ives, Eric (). The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn: 'The Most Happy'. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Catherine was thus Elizabeth I's maternal first cousin. Catherine was said to be a witness to the execution of her aunt, Anne Boleyn, in ; however, claims that she had stayed overnight to entertain and distract her aunt Anne in the Tower of London before the latter's execution have been dismissed. On 26 April she married Sir Francis Knollys. Her husband was named a Knight of the Garter inalthough he had already been knighted in
ISBN&#;.
Lee, Sidney (). "Knollys, Francis"&#;. In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol.&#; London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp.&#;–
Prince, Alison (). Henry VIII's Wives. London: Scholastic.

ISBN&#;.
Varlow, Sally (August ). "Sir Francis Knollys's Latin Dictionary: Brand-new evidence for Katherine Carey". Historical Research. 80 (): – doi/jx.
Weir, Alison (). The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn.

Queen of England Series. London: Vintage. ISBN&#;.
Weir, Alison (). The Six Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Random House. ISBN&#;.
Weir, Alison (). Mary Boleyn: 'The Great and Infamous Whore'. London: Vintage.

ISBN&#;.