Notes:

Anne Bourchier (1517 – 28 January 1571) was the suo jure 7th Baroness Bourchier, suo jure Lady Lovayne, and Baroness Parr of Kendal. She was the first wife of William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, Earl of Essex, and the sister-in-law of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII of England.

She created a scandal in 1541 when she deserted her husband to elope with her lover, John Lyngfield, the prior of St. James's Church, Tanbridge, Surrey, by whom she would have several illegitimate children. In 1543, Lord Parr obtained an Act of Parliament repudiating Anne.

Family
Lady Anne Bourchier was born in 1517, the only child of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, 6th Baron Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier, 2nd Count of Eu, and Mary Say, who was a lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII's first Queen consort, Catherine of Aragon. Her paternal grandparents were Sir William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier and Lady Anne Woodville, a younger sister of the English queen consort Elizabeth Woodville. Her maternal grandparents were Sir William Say and Elizabeth Fray. Anne was related to three queen consorts of Henry VIII; Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Howard who all shared the same great-grandmother Elizabeth Cheney.

As the only child of the last Bourchier Earl of Essex, as well as the contingent heiress of the Countess of Oxford, Anne was one of the wealthiest heiresses in England. The Bourchier wealth derived from the 14th century marriage of Sir William Bourchier to Eleanor de Lovayne (27 March 1345 – 5 October 1397), a rich heiress in her own right.

Marriage and inheritance
On 9 February 1527, Anne was married to Sir William Parr, the only son of Sir Thomas Parr, Sheriff of Northamptonshire and Maud Green. Anne was approximately ten years old at the time of her marriage which had been diligently arranged by her ambitious mother-in-law. Anne later succeeded to the titles of suo jure 7th Baroness Bourchier and Lady Lovayne on 13 March 1540 at the time of her father's accidental death. His viscounty of Bourchier and earldom of Essex did not pass to her, however, and both titles became extinct upon his death. Her husband had been created 1st Baron Parr of Kendal in 1539.

Adultery
Anne and Parr were unhappy from the very start of their marriage. After their marriage in 1527, the couple did not live with each other until twelve years later. Anne was described as having been poorly-educated; and she appeared to prefer the peace of the countryside to the excitement of Henry VIII's court, as her first recorded appearance at court where she attended a banquet was on 22 November 1539 when she was aged 22.

In 1541, a scandal erupted when Anne eloped with her lover, John Lyngfield, the prior of St. James's Church, in Tanbridge, Surrey, and by whom she had an illegitimate child. He was also known as John Hunt or Huntley. The birth of Anne's child prompted Baron Parr to take action against her to protect his own interests, lest the baby should later in the future lay claim to his estates. In January 1543, he applied to Parliament, asking for a separation from Anne on the grounds of her adultery. From the Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of Henry VIII, dated 22 January 1543, there is the following item:

"Whereas lady Anne, wife of Sir Wm Parre lord Parre continued in adultery notwithstanding admonition, and, finally, two years past, left his company and has since had a child begotten in adultery and that the said child and all future children she may have shall be held bastards."

In 1541, after Anne had left Baron Parr, he began an affair with Dorothy Bray, who served as a Maid of Honour to Queen Catherine Howard.

Parr's sister, Catherine Parr, in March of 1543 used her influence to help her brother and on 17 April 1543, he obtained an Act of Parliament, repudiating Anne and her child, who was declared a bastard, and unfit to inherit. The act was styled in the Lords' journal as a Bill "to bar and make base and bastards, the child which be, or shall be borne in adultery by the Lady Anne, wife of the Lord Parr". This act was read for the first time on 13 March 1543. The Act stated in the 34th Year Hen. VIII:

"That for the last two years she [Anne] had eloped from her husband, William Lord Parr, and had not in that time ever returned to nor had any carnal intercourse with him, but had been gotten with child by one of her adulterors and been delivered of such child, which child 'being as is notoriously known, begotten in adultery, and born during the espousals' between her and Lord Parr 'by the law of this realm is inheritable and may pretend to inherit all &c;' and the Act therefore declared the said child to be a bastard.

At this time, his sister Catherine was being courted by King Henry VIII. Anne spent the next few years living in exile at the manor of Little Wakering, in Essex. She was allegedly reduced to a state of poverty.

In that same year, 1543, William Parr had begun his courtship of Elizabeth Brooke, who was the niece of his mistress, Dorothy Bray, as well as a former Maid of Honour of Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. He was created 1st Earl of Essex on 23 December 1543. On 31 March 1552, a bill was passed in Parliament which declared the marriage between Parr and Bourchier to be null and void.

Later years
Upon the ascension of Queen Mary, Parr was arrested and was committed to the Tower after his traitorous complicity with John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland's failed plot against Mary to place Lady Jane Grey upon the throne. After Parr was sentenced to death on 18 August 1553, Anne went to court and intervened on Parr's behalf with Queen Mary I in hopes that they [she] would be able to keep their estates. Parr was released. The bill which had declared their marriage null and void was reversed on 24 March 1554. That December, Anne used the reversal to her advantage and was granted an annuity of £100. Again in December 1556, Anne was granted another annuity of £450. She remained at the royal court until the ascension of Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth held Parr in high favour and Anne most likely knew that her adulterous history would not endear her to the queen. Parr was restored to blood and was re-created Marquess of Northampton, re-elected to the Order of the Garter, and was made a privy councillor among other things.

She had several more children by John Lyngfield but they, like her first child, were legally declared bastards. Only one daughter, Mary, is documented as having lived to adulthood. She married a Thomas York by whom she had children, but they all lived in obscurity. Author Charlotte Merton suggested that Katherine Nott, who held an unspecified position in Queen Elizabeth I's household from 1577 to 1578, was also a daughter of Anne.

Sir Robert Rochester and Sir Edward Waldegrave held Benington Park, in Hertfordshire, as feoffees for her use; however, upon the death of Rochester in 1557, Waldegrave transferred the property to Sir John Butler. In response, Anne brought a lawsuit against Waldegrave and Butler which was heard in the Court of Chancery.[1] She won the case but Butler petitioned to retry the case and continued to regard the park as his own.[1] Butler's petition was apparently unsuccessful because following Queen Elizabeth I's accession to the throne in November 1558, Anne had retired to Benington Park where she quietly spent the rest of her life.

Death
Anne Bourchier died on 28 January 1571 at Benington. Parr died the same year and was buried in the Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Warwick. His funeral and burial was paid by the Queen. He had married two times after Anne, but only his third wife, Helena Snakenborg, whom he had married after Anne's death in May was considered legal. He fathered no children by any of his wives and the little money and estates he had left were passed to his cousins.

Upon Anne's death, the barony of Bourchier passed to her cousin, Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bourchier,_7th_Baroness_Bourchier
see also http://www.tudorwomen.com/?page_id=646

Anne married William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, 1st Earl of Essex and 1st Baron Parr on 9 Feb 1526. William (son of Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green) was born on 14 Aug 1513; died on 28 Oct 1571 in Warwick, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Hunt of Huntley. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Henry Bourchier was born after 1543; died in 1598.

Notes:

Member of the privy council of Henry VII. In 1492 he was present at the siege of Boulogne. At the knighthood of Henry, Duke of York (Henry VIII), the Earl took a prominent part in the ceremonies, and was one of the challengers at the jousts held in honour of the event. In 1497 he commanded a detachment against the rebels at Blackheath. He accompanied the King and Queen when they crossed to Calais in 1500, to hold an interview with the Duke of Burgundy. The next year he was one of those appointed to meet Catalina de Aragon.

On the accession of Henry VIII he was made captain of the new bodyguard. During the early years of the king's reign he took a prominent part in the revels in which Henry delighted. Constant references may be found in the State Papers to the earl's share in these entertainments. For example, in 1510 he and others, the King among the number, dressed themselves as Robin Hood's men in a revel given for the Queen's delectation. He was also constantly employed in state ceremonies, such as meeting papal envoys, as in 1514, when the Pope sent Henry a cap and sword; in 1515, when he met the prothonotary who brought over the cardinal's hat for Wolsey; and in 1524, when Dr. Hanyball came over with the golden rose for the King. These and such like engagements necessarily put him to great expense. He received some grants from Henry, and appears both as a pensioner and a debtor of the crown. On one occasion his tailor seems to have had some difficulty in getting his bill settled. He served at the seiges of Terouenne and Tournay as 'leiutenant-general of the spears' (Herbert) in 1513, and the next year was made chief captain of the king's forces. When the king's sister Margaret, widow of James IV and wife of the Earl of Angus, sought refuge in England, the Earl of Essex, in company with the King, Suffolk, and Sir George Carew, held the lists in the jousts given in her honour. In 1520 he attended the King at the celebrated meeting held at Guisnes. He sat as one of the judges of the Duke of Buckingham, and received the Manor of Bedminster as his share of the Duke's estates.

In 1525, when engaged in raising money for the crown from the men of Essex, he wrote to Wolsey, pointing out the danger of an insurrection, and by the king's command took a company to the borders of Essex and Suffolk to overawe the malcontents. On a division being made of the council in 1526 for purposes of business, his name was placed with those who were to treat of matters of law. He joined in the letter sent by a number of English nobles to Clement VII in 1530, warning him that unless he hastened the king's divorce, his supremacy would be endangered. Bore the Sword of State at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

Henry Bourchier died in 1539 when his neck was broken after being thrown from a horse. As he had no male issue by Mary, his wife, his Earldom of Essex and Viscounty of Bourchier became extinct. His Barony descended to his daughter Anne, who married William Parr, afterwards Earl of Essex.

see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Bourchier,_2nd_Earl_of_Essex

Henry married Mary Say on 12 Mar 1497. Mary (daughter of Sir William Say and Elizabeth Fray) was born in 1485 in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire; died on 5 Jun 1535. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Mary Saye

Notes:

Mary Say was the daughter of Sir William Say of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire (1450- December 4, 1529) and Elizabeth Fray and the sister of Elizabeth Say, first wife of William Blount, 4th baron Mountjoy. Because of this connection, she is often misidentified as Blount’s sister.
She married Henry Bourchier, earl of Essex (1471-March 30, 1540). The marriage settlement was dated March 12, 1497. Elizabeth married Mountjoy in 1499. By mid-1505, Essex and Mountjoy were engaged in litigation over the sisters’ dowries. The matter was not settled until 1515. Meanwhile, in 1501, Mary was in attendance on Catherine of Aragon after her marriage to Prince Arthur. In 1529, she was one of those to give testimony about whether or not Catherine’s marriage had been consummated. In 1506, the Essex household included both Charles Brandon, who was Essex’s master of horse, and Anne Browne, former maid of honor to Elizabeth of York and Brandon’s on again, off again wife. The household, in Knightriders Street, London and Stanstead Hall in Halstead, became a center for young courtiers including Brandon, Walter, Lord Ferrers, Richard, earl of Kent, Sir John Hussey, and Hussey’s eldest son, William. Mary was one of Catherine of Aragon’s ladies in waiting in 1509. She had only one child, a daughter, Anne (1517-January 28, 1571). from http://www.tudorwomen.com/?page_id=707

Notes:

On 14 April 1471, William fought at the Battle of Barnet on the side of the Yorkists who won a decisive victory.

William married Anne /Woodville Viscountess Bourchier, Countess of Kent before 15 Aug 1467. Anne (daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta, of Luxembourg) was born about 1438 in Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, England; died on 30 Jul 1489; was buried in Warden, Bedfordshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Anne Wydeville

Notes:

Anne Woodville, Viscountess Bourchier (c. 1438 – 30 July 1489) was an English noblewoman. She was a younger sister of Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville to whom she served as a lady-in-waiting. Anne was married twice;[1] first to William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier, and secondly to George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent. Anne was the grandmother of the disinherited adulteress Anne Bourchier, 7th Baroness Bourchier, and an ancestress of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.

William + Elizabeth Fray. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Henry Bourchier, 5th Baron Bourchier, 2nd Count of Eu, 1st Viscount Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, KG (c. 1404/c. 1406 – 4 April 1483), was the eldest son of William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu and Anne of Gloucester. On his mother's side, he was a great-grandson of Edward III of England.

Titles
He inherited the title of 5th Baron Bourchier from his cousin Elizabeth Bourchier, 4th Baroness Bourchier on her death in 1433. He became the 1st Viscount Bourchier in 1446, a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1452, and was created 1st Earl of Essex in 1461.

Career
He saw considerable military action in France and for his services was created Viscount Bourchier during the parliament of 1445–6 and elected Knight of the Garter on his third nomination in 1452. He later saw action in 1461 as a Yorkist supporter at the Second Battle of St Albans and the Battle of Towton, soon after which Edward IV created him Earl of Essex.

He held the post of Lord High Treasurer from 29 May 1455 - 5 October 1456, 28 July 1460 - 14 April 1462, and 22 April 1471 - 4 April 1483. He also became Justice in Eyre south of the Trent in 1461, holding that title until his death.

He died on 4 April 1483 and was buried at Beeleigh Abbey, although his tomb was subsequently moved to Little Easton church.

Marriage and issue
Prior to 1426, he married Isabel of Cambridge, another descendant of Edward III. She was the elder sister of Richard Plantagenet, which made her the aunt of Richard's two sons, the future Edward IV and Richard III.

Henry and Isabel were parents to at least eleven children.

William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier (d. 1480). Married Anne Woodville, daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. They were parents of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex and Cicely Bourchier, wife of John Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley.[3]
Henry Bourchier (d. 1462). Married Elizabeth de Scales, Baroness Scales. No known children.[3]
Humphrey Bourchier, 1st and last Lord Bourchier of Cromwell (d. 14 April 1471). Killed in the Battle of Barnet.[3]
John Bourchier (d. 1495). Married first Elizabeth Ferrers and secondly Elizabeth Chichele. No known children.[3]
Edward Bourchier (d. 30 December 1460). Killed in the Battle of Wakefield.[3]
Thomas Bourchier (d. 1492). Married Isabella Barre. No known children.[3]
Florence Bourchier (d. 1525).[3]
Fulk Bourchier. Considered to have died young.[3]
Hugh Bourchier. Considered to have died young.[3]
Isabella Bourchier. Considered to have died young.[3]
Laura Bourchier (1440- ) married John Courtenay (killed at Tewkesbury, 1471)

On his death she did not remarry and died more than a year later.

The title of Count of Eu appears to have gone into abeyance on the death of Henry, and reverted to the French - Eu was a fiefdom in the Normandy region fo France.
see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counts_of_Eu

Henry married Isabel Plantagenet, of Cambridge, Countess of Essex before 25 Apr 1426. Isabel (daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Cambridge and Anne Mortimer) was born in 1409; died on 2 Oct 1484; was buried in Little Easton Church, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex (1409 – 2 October 1484) was the only daughter of Richard, 3rd Earl of Cambridge and Anne Mortimer. She was the sister of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and like him a great-grandchild of Edward III of England.

Early life
Isabel of York, the only daughter of Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, and Lady Anne de Mortimer, was born about 1409.[1] On her father's side she was the granddaughter of King Edward III's fourth surviving son, Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his first wife, Isabella of Castile. On her mother's side she was the granddaughter of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (grandson of Lionel of Antwerp) and Lady Alianore Holland (granddaughter of Lady Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales).

Isabel's father, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, was beheaded on 5 August 1415 for his part in the Southampton Plot against King Henry V, and although the Earl's title was forfeited, he was not attainted,[2] and Isabel's brother, Richard, then aged four, was his father's heir.[3] Moreover within a few months of his father's death, Richard's childless uncle, Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, was slain at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415, and Isabel's brother was eventually his uncle's heir as well.

Marriages and issue
In 1412, at three years of age, Isabel was betrothed to Sir Thomas Grey (1404 – d. before 1426), son and heir of Sir Thomas Grey (c.1385-1415) of Heaton in Norham, Northumberland, and his wife, Alice Neville, the daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland. They had one son.[4]

She married secondly, before 25 April 1426, the marriage being later validated by papal dispensation, Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, by whom she had seven sons and one daughter, Isabel.[5]

William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier (d. 1480), who married Anne Woodville, daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, parents of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex and Cecily Bourchier, wife of John Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley;
Sir Henry Bourchier (d. 1462), who married Elizabeth Scales, 8th Baroness Scales.
Humphrey Bourchier, 1st Baron Cromwell (d. 14 April 1471), slain at the Battle of Barnet.
John Bourchier, 6th Baron Ferrers of Groby (d.1495), who married firstly Elizabeth Ferrers, and secondly Elizabeth Chichelle.
Sir Thomas Bourchier (b. prior to 1448 d. 1492), who married Isabella Barre.
Edward Bourchier (d. 30 December 1460), slain at the Battle of Wakefield.
Fulk Bourchier, died young.
Isabel Bourchier, died young.[6]

Death
Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, died on 4 April 1483. Isabel remained a widow and died on 2 October 1484.[7] A manuscript calendar records her death on VI Non Oct in 1484. Both were buried at Beeleigh Abbey near Maldon, Essex, but later reburied at Little Easton, Essex.[8]

Footnotes[edit]
1. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 400–404.
2. Cokayne states that he was attainted.
3. Harriss 2004.
4. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999 Page: 15, 1222
5. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 401–3.
6. Weir states that there were three additional children, Laura Bourchier (b.1440), who married John Courtenay, 7th Earl of Devon; Florence Bourchier (d. 1525); and Hugh Bourchier, died young.
7. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 401–3.
8. Richardson IV 2011, pp. 401–3.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Richard Wydvill

Richard + Jacquetta, of Luxembourg. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Jacqueline de Luxembourg
• _UID: 28EAF64C29D7D711BA22AAFF03D374364106