The Waiting Game
Of late, individuals other than the monarchs who were members of the Tudor court have been the subject of historical enquiry. In this volume, Dr Nicola Clark examines the role of attendant to Henry VIII’s wives, painting a picture of a range of women of different backgrounds, educational levels, social standing, and courtly skill, but all sworn to serve their mistress loyally.
Katharine of Aragon’s court was very much in the medieval foreign consort tradition – a few individuals who came to England with their mistress who perhaps formed an inner core of trusted friends, while the majority of the attendants were the wives, sisters, and daughters of the great magnates. A particularly interesting element is Clark’s detailed investigation into Maria de Salinas. Maria came to England in 1501, and she is typically portrayed in fiction and non-fiction as her mistress’s devoted friend. Initially, however, Clark sees the relationship rather differently. Maria was unhappy in England, keen to have a good marriage at home arranged for her, and desperate for news of her family. It was not until after Katharine’s marriage to Henry VIII that the two women seem to have become close. In a story that moves full circle, Maria’s daughter, Katherine Willoughby, who became the fourth wife of Henry’s brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was a leading figure at the court of Katherine Parr. In a welcome change from some of the sentimental accounts of queens’ attendants, Clark’s in-depth research shows Maria de Salinas as quite a harsh landlord.
Anne Boleyn had more complex problems to negotiate than Katharine. Her father’s promotion to an earldom was, while not undeserved as he was a long-standing servant of the king, likely to have been influenced by Anne’s position and she had to work harder to attract the respect and deference that came more easily to women born into royalty. She had to move from attendant to mistress and was widely resented by many of her former colleagues. Her court was peopled extensively by her family, who, like the queen, were avid poets and musicians. Among these women were her sister-in-law, Jane Parker, Viscountess Rochford. Clark follows Jane into the tenure of Anne’s cousin, Katheryn Howard and tries to make sense of Jane’s involvement in Katheryn’s downfall.
One of the elements of the book that I really love is the way that Clark weaves the stories of the women in and out over time – Maria de Salinas, Elizabeth Stafford, Duchess of Norfolk, and her daughter, Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond, the Bassett sisters, and others come and go. This gives an excellent feel for a court that changed yet remained the same.
One of the elements of the book that I really love is the way that Clark weaves the stories of the women in and out over time – Maria de Salinas, Elizabeth Stafford, Duchess of Norfolk, and her daughter, Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond, the Bassett sisters, and others come and go. This gives an excellent feel for a court that changed yet remained the same.
