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'''Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kildare''' (c.1497- after 1548), was an English noblewoman, and the second wife of Irish peer [[Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare]]. Her father was [[Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset]].
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She went to France in 1514 as one of the [[Maids of Honour]] of [[Mary Tudor, Queen of France]], and remained to serve the latter's successor, Queen [[Claude of France|Claude]], in the same capacity.
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== Family and early years ==
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Lady Elizabeth Grey was born in about 1497, a daughter of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and [[Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville]], one of the wealthiest heiresses in England in the latter half of the 15th-century. Elizabeth's paternal grandmother was [[Elizabeth Woodville]], Queen consort of King [[Edward IV of England]].
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Elizabeth had 13 siblings, including her eldest brother [[Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset]], who succeeded their father when he died in September 1501, when she was about four years old. Two years later, their mother, Cecily married [[Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire]], which caused many quarrels over their inheritance. On one occasion, [[Cardinal Thomas Wolsey]] was forced to intervene on behalf of King [[Henry VIII of England]], and he ordered both Cecily and Thomas to contribute to the dowries of Elizabeth and her three surviving sisters.<ref>Harris, Barbara Jean. ''English Aristocratic Women, 1450-1550: Marriage and Family, Property and Careers''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.114-115.</ref>
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She was appointed one of the Maids of Honour to [[Mary Tudor, Queen of France|Princess Mary Tudor]] in 1514, and accompanied her to France when the princess set out to marry King [[Louis XII of France|Louis XII]]. She remained at the French court when Queen Mary's other English ladies were sent home, and stayed on to serve Mary's successor, Queen Claude, consort of the new King [[Francis I of France|Francis I]], in the same capacity. Elizabeth's fellow English Maids of Honour, who also were allowed to remain behind in Queen Claude's household, were [[Anne Boleyn]], and [[Mary Boleyn]].<ref>Fraser, Antonia (1992). ''The Wives of Henry VIII''. New York: Knopf. p.121. ISBN 0-679-73001-X</ref>
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Elizabeth was one of Queen [[Catherine of Aragon]]'s attendants at the [[Field of the Cloth of Gold]] in 1520.
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== Marriage and issue ==
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She married Gerald "Gearóid Og" FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare in London in about 1522. His first wife, Elizabeth Zouche had died, leaving him a son, [[Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare|Thomas]], and three daughters. By his marriage to Elizabeth, who was Henry VIII's cousin, Gerald gained much influence at court.<ref>Marquis of Kildare, ''The Earls of Kildare and their Ancestors: from 1057 to 1773'', 1864, chapter 85, Google Books, retrieved 23-11-09</ref> Elizabeth was styled as the '''Countess of Kildare'''. The match, while advantageous to Gerald, was also partially based on the physical attraction the couple had for one another. Historian [[Mary Anne Everett Green]] described Gerald as having been quite handsome in appearance, and he in turn was pleased by Elizabeth.<ref>Emerson, retrieved 4 October 2010</ref> He had been a kindly husband to his first wife, and his second marriage was also happy.<ref>Lennon, Colm ''Sixteenth-century Ireland- the Incomplete Conquest'' Gill and Macmillan 1994 p.78</ref> According to historian Barbara Jean Harris, Elizabeth married Gerald against her father's will; however in 1527 her mother forgave her by granting Elizabeth a dowry of £1000. She added the following as means of explanation for the money: "forasmuch as the said marriage is honourable and I and all her friends have cause to be content with the same".<ref>Harris, p.58</ref>
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In 1523, Elizabeth returned with her husband to [[Ireland]], where he served as Lord Deputy of Ireland (1524–1525, 1532–1534), and as Deputy to the King's Lieutenant of Ireland (1533).<ref name="thePeerage.com">http://www.thePeerage.com</ref> Extant letters she wrote home to England, show that Elizabeth had taken a keen interest in the Irish political situation.<ref>Kathy Lynn Emerson, ''A Who's Who of Tudor Women'', sourced from Elizabeth Grey's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved on 23-11-09</ref>
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Together Gerald and Elizabeth had at least six children:
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* Lord [[Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare]], known to history as "The Wizard Earl", (25 February 1525- 16 November 1585), married [[Mabel Browne]], by whom he had issue.
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* Lady [[Elizabeth Clinton, Countess of Lincoln|Elizabeth FitzGerald]], known as "The Fair Geraldine" (1527- March 1590), married firstly, [[Sir Anthony Browne (d.1548)]], by whom she had two children who both died young; and secondly [[Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln]]. Her last marriage was childless.
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* Lord Edward FitzGerald (17 January 1528 – 1597), married Agnes Leigh, by whom he had issue, including [[Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Kildare]].
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* Lady Mary FitzGerald,<ref name="thePeerage.com"/> married Richard Nugent, 3rd [[Baron Delvin]], by whom she had issue.<ref>http://www.the Peerage.com</ref>
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* Lord Thomas FitzGerald
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* Lady Cecily FitzGerald (died after 7 April 1547)
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[[File:Elizabeth Fitzgerald.jpg|thumb|Elizabeth "the fair Geraldine", daughter of Gearóid Og and Elizabeth Grey]]
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In 1531, a private [[Act of Parliament]] assured her an income of £200 per annum as well as the Irish manor of Portlester.<ref>Emerson, ''A Who's Who of Tudor Women''</ref>
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In October 1533, Elizabeth brought her daughter, Elizabeth FitzGerald to the English court. The girl, aged six, became a companion to the infant [[Elizabeth I of England|Princess Elizabeth]], daughter of King Henry VIII, and Elizabeth Grey's erstwhile companion at the French court, Anne Boleyn, whom the King had married in January of that year.
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Later, Elizabeth Grey was allegedly part of the conservative faction at court who plotted against Queen Anne.<ref>''Earlymodernengland, 20 October 2007'', accessed 23-11-09</ref>
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Elizabeth's husband, the Earl of Kildare, who was imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]] on charges of corruption and plotting rebellion in Ireland, died in 1534. Elizabeth had remained with him, nursing him throughout his imprisonment from July 1534 until his death on 12 December. The Earl had received a gunshot wound at the end of 1532 in an attack he had led against the O'Carroll clan at [[Birr, County Offaly|Birr]].
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Elizabeth retired to her brother Leonard's manor of Beaumanoir, in [[Leicestershire]], while her younger sons were raised at court alongside [[Edward VI of England|Prince Edward]]. Later her son, Edward joined her.
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==Rebellion in Ireland==
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Elizabeth's stepson, "Silken Thomas" and her five brothers-in-law were executed for rebellion at [[Tyburn]] in 1537. Her own brother [[Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane]], the incumbent Lord Deputy of Ireland had put down the rebellion. Her eldest daughter, Elizabeth was sent to the household of [[Mary I of England|Princess Mary]] at [[Hunsdon]], and it was during that time that the poet [[Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey]] would immortalise the ten-year-old girl as "The Fair Geraldine" in his sonnet, ''The Geraldine'' which he wrote while he was briefly imprisoned for striking a [[courtier]].
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Her eldest son, Gerald, who could not succeed to the earldom of Kildare as a result of its having been forfeited to the Crown, immediately went on the run in Ireland, where in [[County Donegal|County Tyrconnell]], along with other disgruntled clans, formed the Geraldine League. When the federation was defeated in [[Monaghan]] in 1539, he fled to the Continent. As a result of Gerald's successful escape, Leonard Grey was [[attainted]] and executed for [[High Treason]] in July 1541 at the Tower of London by the orders of Henry VIII. Gerald first went to France, and then Italy, where he would remain until his return to England in 1548, in the company of Elizabeth's chaplain. He was received at court by the new King, Edward VI, who returned his confiscated lands. He succeeded to the title of 11th Earl of Kildare in 1554 in the reign of Queen [[Mary I of England|Mary]]. After a career of fluctuating fortunes, he died in London in 1585, technically a free man but forbidden to return home to Ireland.
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Elizabeth Grey died on an unknown date sometime after 1548.
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==Ancestry==
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{{ahnentafel top|width=100%}}
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{{ahnentafel-compact5
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|style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%;
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|border=1
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|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
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|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
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| 1= 1. '''Lady Elizabeth Grey'''
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| 2= 2. [[Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset]]
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| 3= 3. [[Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville]]
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| 4= 4. [[John Grey of Groby]]
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| 5= 5. [[Elizabeth Woodville]]
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| 6= 6. [[William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington]]
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| 7= 7. [[Katherine Neville, Baroness Hastings|Lady Katherine Neville]]
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| 8= 8. Sir Edward Grey
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| 9= 9. [[Elizabeth Ferrers, 6th Baroness Ferrers of Groby]]
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|10= 10. [[Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers]]
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|11= 11. [[Jacquetta of Luxembourg]]
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|12= 12. Sir William Bonville
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|13= 13. Elizabeth Harrington
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|14= 14. [[Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury]]
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|15= 15. [[Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury|Lady Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury]]
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|16= 16. [[Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn]]
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|17= 17. Joan Astley, Baroness Astley
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|18= 18. Sir Henry Ferrers
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|19= 19. Lady Isabel Mowbray
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|20= 20. Sir Richard Wydevill
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|21= 21. Elizabeth Bodulgate
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|22= 22. [[Peter of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol|Pierre I de Luxembourg, Comte de St. Pol, Brienne and Conversano]]
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|23= 23. [[Margaret de Baux|Margherita del Balzo]]
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|24= 24. [[William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville]]
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|25=25. [[Margaret Grey, Lady Bonville|Margaret Grey]]
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|26=26. William Harington, 5th Baron Harington
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|27=27. Margaret Hill
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|28=28. [[Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland]]
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|29=29. [[Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland|Lady Joan Beaufort]]
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|30=30. [[Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury]]
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|31=31. [[Eleanor Holland, Countess of Salisbury|Lady Eleanor Holland]]
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}}</center>
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{{ahnentafel bottom}}
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== References ==
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{{Reflist}}
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{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
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| NAME = Grey Elizabeth, Countess of Kildare
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| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION = English noblewoman
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| DATE OF BIRTH = 1497
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| PLACE OF BIRTH = England
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| DATE OF DEATH =
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| PLACE OF DEATH = England
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}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey Elizabeth, Countess Of Kildare}}
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[[Category:Women of the Tudor period]]
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[[Category:Maids of Honour]]
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[[Category:1497 births]]
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[[Category:16th-century deaths]]
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[[Category:Daughters of barons]]
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[[Category:Grey family|Kildare, Elizabeth Grey, Countess of]]
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[[Category:FitzGerald dynasty]]
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[[Category:16th-century women]]
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[[Category:16th-century English people]]
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[[Category:English countesses]]
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[[Category:15th-century women]]
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[[Category:15th-century English people]]

Revision as of 09:25, 15 February 2016


Elizabeth Grey was born 1497 to Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset (1451-1501) and Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington (1460-1529) and died after 1530 of unspecified causes.

Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kildare (c.1497- after 1548), was an English noblewoman, and the second wife of Irish peer Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare. Her father was Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset.

She went to France in 1514 as one of the Maids of Honour of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and remained to serve the latter's successor, Queen Claude, in the same capacity.

Family and early years

Lady Elizabeth Grey was born in about 1497, a daughter of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville, one of the wealthiest heiresses in England in the latter half of the 15th-century. Elizabeth's paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort of King Edward IV of England.

Elizabeth had 13 siblings, including her eldest brother Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, who succeeded their father when he died in September 1501, when she was about four years old. Two years later, their mother, Cecily married Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, which caused many quarrels over their inheritance. On one occasion, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was forced to intervene on behalf of King Henry VIII of England, and he ordered both Cecily and Thomas to contribute to the dowries of Elizabeth and her three surviving sisters.[1]

She was appointed one of the Maids of Honour to Princess Mary Tudor in 1514, and accompanied her to France when the princess set out to marry King Louis XII. She remained at the French court when Queen Mary's other English ladies were sent home, and stayed on to serve Mary's successor, Queen Claude, consort of the new King Francis I, in the same capacity. Elizabeth's fellow English Maids of Honour, who also were allowed to remain behind in Queen Claude's household, were Anne Boleyn, and Mary Boleyn.[2]

Elizabeth was one of Queen Catherine of Aragon's attendants at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.

Marriage and issue

She married Gerald "Gearóid Og" FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare in London in about 1522. His first wife, Elizabeth Zouche had died, leaving him a son, Thomas, and three daughters. By his marriage to Elizabeth, who was Henry VIII's cousin, Gerald gained much influence at court.[3] Elizabeth was styled as the Countess of Kildare. The match, while advantageous to Gerald, was also partially based on the physical attraction the couple had for one another. Historian Mary Anne Everett Green described Gerald as having been quite handsome in appearance, and he in turn was pleased by Elizabeth.[4] He had been a kindly husband to his first wife, and his second marriage was also happy.[5] According to historian Barbara Jean Harris, Elizabeth married Gerald against her father's will; however in 1527 her mother forgave her by granting Elizabeth a dowry of £1000. She added the following as means of explanation for the money: "forasmuch as the said marriage is honourable and I and all her friends have cause to be content with the same".[6]

In 1523, Elizabeth returned with her husband to Ireland, where he served as Lord Deputy of Ireland (1524–1525, 1532–1534), and as Deputy to the King's Lieutenant of Ireland (1533).[7] Extant letters she wrote home to England, show that Elizabeth had taken a keen interest in the Irish political situation.[8]

Together Gerald and Elizabeth had at least six children:

  • Lord Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, known to history as "The Wizard Earl", (25 February 1525- 16 November 1585), married Mabel Browne, by whom he had issue.
  • Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, known as "The Fair Geraldine" (1527- March 1590), married firstly, Sir Anthony Browne (d.1548), by whom she had two children who both died young; and secondly Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln. Her last marriage was childless.
  • Lord Edward FitzGerald (17 January 1528 – 1597), married Agnes Leigh, by whom he had issue, including Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Kildare.
  • Lady Mary FitzGerald,[7] married Richard Nugent, 3rd Baron Delvin, by whom she had issue.[9]
  • Lord Thomas FitzGerald
  • Lady Cecily FitzGerald (died after 7 April 1547)
Elizabeth Fitzgerald

Elizabeth "the fair Geraldine", daughter of Gearóid Og and Elizabeth Grey

In 1531, a private Act of Parliament assured her an income of £200 per annum as well as the Irish manor of Portlester.[10]

In October 1533, Elizabeth brought her daughter, Elizabeth FitzGerald to the English court. The girl, aged six, became a companion to the infant Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VIII, and Elizabeth Grey's erstwhile companion at the French court, Anne Boleyn, whom the King had married in January of that year.

Later, Elizabeth Grey was allegedly part of the conservative faction at court who plotted against Queen Anne.[11]

Elizabeth's husband, the Earl of Kildare, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London on charges of corruption and plotting rebellion in Ireland, died in 1534. Elizabeth had remained with him, nursing him throughout his imprisonment from July 1534 until his death on 12 December. The Earl had received a gunshot wound at the end of 1532 in an attack he had led against the O'Carroll clan at Birr.

Elizabeth retired to her brother Leonard's manor of Beaumanoir, in Leicestershire, while her younger sons were raised at court alongside Prince Edward. Later her son, Edward joined her.

Rebellion in Ireland

Elizabeth's stepson, "Silken Thomas" and her five brothers-in-law were executed for rebellion at Tyburn in 1537. Her own brother Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane, the incumbent Lord Deputy of Ireland had put down the rebellion. Her eldest daughter, Elizabeth was sent to the household of Princess Mary at Hunsdon, and it was during that time that the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey would immortalise the ten-year-old girl as "The Fair Geraldine" in his sonnet, The Geraldine which he wrote while he was briefly imprisoned for striking a courtier.

Her eldest son, Gerald, who could not succeed to the earldom of Kildare as a result of its having been forfeited to the Crown, immediately went on the run in Ireland, where in County Tyrconnell, along with other disgruntled clans, formed the Geraldine League. When the federation was defeated in Monaghan in 1539, he fled to the Continent. As a result of Gerald's successful escape, Leonard Grey was attainted and executed for High Treason in July 1541 at the Tower of London by the orders of Henry VIII. Gerald first went to France, and then Italy, where he would remain until his return to England in 1548, in the company of Elizabeth's chaplain. He was received at court by the new King, Edward VI, who returned his confiscated lands. He succeeded to the title of 11th Earl of Kildare in 1554 in the reign of Queen Mary. After a career of fluctuating fortunes, he died in London in 1585, technically a free man but forbidden to return home to Ireland.

Elizabeth Grey died on an unknown date sometime after 1548.

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ Harris, Barbara Jean. English Aristocratic Women, 1450-1550: Marriage and Family, Property and Careers. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.114-115.
  2. ^ Fraser, Antonia (1992). The Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Knopf. p.121. ISBN 0-679-73001-X
  3. ^ Marquis of Kildare, The Earls of Kildare and their Ancestors: from 1057 to 1773, 1864, chapter 85, Google Books, retrieved 23-11-09
  4. ^ Emerson, retrieved 4 October 2010
  5. ^ Lennon, Colm Sixteenth-century Ireland- the Incomplete Conquest Gill and Macmillan 1994 p.78
  6. ^ Harris, p.58
  7. ^ a b http://www.thePeerage.com
  8. ^ Kathy Lynn Emerson, A Who's Who of Tudor Women, sourced from Elizabeth Grey's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved on 23-11-09
  9. ^ http://www.the Peerage.com
  10. ^ Emerson, A Who's Who of Tudor Women
  11. ^ Earlymodernengland, 20 October 2007, accessed 23-11-09
Persondata
NAME Grey Elizabeth, Countess of Kildare
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION English noblewoman
DATE OF BIRTH 1497
PLACE OF BIRTH England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH England

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