‘When the Queen Should Have Taken her Chamber’
Chronicle of heartbreak in the reign of Mary I
Over the last few years researching the life of Queen Anne Boleyn, I’ve studied some truly fascinating documents that have helped broaden and deepen my understanding of Anne and the world in which she lived. Some of the sources have confirmed things I already knew or at least suspected, while others have strongly challenged ideas I’ve held for decades. It’s been quite the journey!
While Anne has been the primary focus of my work, I’ve inevitably come across information related to other prominent Tudors along the way. Let me tell you about one of these occasions. Last year, while looking through some digital scans of folios from BL Add MS 71009, I stumbled upon a record that threw into stark relief two heartbreaking moments from the reign of Mary I.
Some background information to begin with. The aforementioned manuscript is well known to Tudor historians, as it’s a collection of sixteenth-century papers related to the organisation of the royal household and provides invaluable information on Tudor court ceremony. The manuscript also contains a number of narrative accounts of important Tudor events, including the interment of Jane Seymour, the reception of Anne of Cleves in Calais and the coronations of Edward VI and Anne Boleyn. (See an itemised list here.)
Dr Fiona Kisby has published extensively on this intriguing manuscript. Her article, ‘Religious Ceremonial at the Tudor Court’ includes a detailed introduction which outlines its physical characteristics and also explores its contents, provenance and dating. Kisby concludes that the manuscript is a copy of papers assembled by John Norris, following the accession of Elizabeth I in November 1558. Norris served as gentleman usher to both Elizabeth’s father and half-sister, so it’s likely that he was summoned to court to share his expertise and help Elizabeth form her royal household. Kisby summarised the function of the book as follows:
‘The MS contains highly topical items and can be seen as a precedent book providing guidance for those matters concerning royal ceremonial and household organization which preoccupied the new Queen as an unmarried female monarch (only the second in English history and significantly younger than her predecessor) only days after her accession.’1
On a side note, John Norris was in fact the brother of Sir Henry Norris who was executed alongside Anne Boleyn in May 1536. His career, however, as we have seen, was not negatively impacted by his brother’s demise.
One intriguing inclusion that is not itemised on the contents page can be found on folios 59v-60r. Under the heading ‘Officers apouintid when the queen shoulde have taken her Chamber’ is a list of women who were appointed to serve Mary I during her confinement. Tudor queens usually entered this all-female space around four to six weeks before their due dates and would remain ensconced in their apartments until the churching ceremony, when they’d return to public life. The fact that the word ‘shoulde’ has been included in the heading is particularly poignant, as Mary I experienced what most historians agree were two false or phantom pregnancies.
On the first occasion, Mary and her physicians were so sure of her condition that in late April 1555 she did indeed ‘take to her chamber’. The royal nursery was prepared, but heartbreakingly for Mary there was no baby. In August of that year, she reluctantly re-entered public life. Similarly, in 1557, Mary’s pregnancy was once again announced, but by the spring of the following year it was clear that the queen was not expecting new life but that rather her own was ebbing away. Mary died on 17 November 1558 aged 42 and was succeeded by her half-sister, Elizabeth. The word ‘shoulde’ then, I think, is a poignant embodiment of Mary’s greatest hopes and her shattered dreams.
More broadly and less sentimentally, this account provides a revelatory window into Mary’s household and royal protocol around a Tudor queen ‘taking to her chamber’. Presumably the roles listed came into direct contact with the queen or at the very least required access to her private apartments, which is why women were assigned to them for this period. The fact that this information was considered a useful precedent is also revealing. Of course, Elizabeth’s court expected her to marry and provide the realm with heirs, but did Elizabeth herself in the opening days of her reign envisage that this would be her path? I think we best leave that question for another day!
I would like to thank Dr Oscar Patton for transcribing the following list and the British Library for granting me permission to share it online. Original spelling and capitalisation have been maintained. The layout, though, has been slightly altered, and I’ve put the headings and roles in bold to help readers navigate the list.
Officers apouintid when the queen shoulde have taken her Chamber.2
Cu^p^berers
The ladi Anne Graye Cham[ber]llayne
The lady margret Strang
The ladi Anne warton
Karwars [Carvers]
The ladi Shandos
The ladi hawarde
Sewers
The ladi mordante
mystres dacres
mystres briggis
A[l]m[o]ner
The lady kempe
gentilmen usshers
The lady petre
The ladi mansfelde
yomen usshrs
mystres lustyn
the mother of the maides
The ladi frestone Sargente of the pantrey
The ladi broune Sergente of the Seller
The ladi white Sergente of thewery
The ladi lovell Sergente of the Chaundri
The ladi Cumpton Sergente of the cqulleri [sic - scullery]
Sewers of the Chambre
mustres[sic] sidnei
mystres mansfelde
yomen of the seller
mystres Arundell
yomen of the pantrei
mystres dormer
yeomen of the squlleri
mystres Cursone
The ladi peckham [No roles appear next to these last two women]
The ladi hodlistone
Remembrancs for officers
To be appoyntid more
The Sergente of the Confeccionary
The yeomen of those offices
A yeoman of thewery
A yeoman of the chandrie
A grome porter
The gentilewomen to waite upon the l. Chambreleine
The gentilewomen to cari Torches in the Rome of pages
While there are many challenges associated with working with primary sources, the rewards are manifold and the insights they offer unparalleled. For me, this record reminds me of how these documents are powerful portals into the past and how they illumine significant moments, long gone.
I have more gems to share in the coming weeks, so make sure you hit the subscribe button!
As far as I’m aware, this list has not previously been made available online, so I kindly ask that you credit Dr Oscar Patton, myself and this article if you incorporate this research or list into your own work.
Kisby, Fiona, ‘RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL AT THE TUDOR COURT: EXTRACTS FROM ROYAL HOUSEHOLD REGULATIONS’, Camden Fifth Series, 22 (2003), 1–33 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0960116303000113>
From the British Library Collection: Add MS 71009, ff. 59v-60r.
Very interesting!