16 APRIL 1587: THE DEATH OF Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset (c.1510-April 16, 1587) was the daughter of Sir Edward Stanhope of Rampton, Northamptonshire (d. 1511) and Elizabeth Bourchier (1474-1557).
In 1529, Sir Edward Seymour (1502-January 22,1552) fell in love with Anne, who may have been at court as a maid of honor, and repudiated his wife in order to marry her, which he did before March 9, 1535. They had ten children.
Anne had apartments at court and for a time her sister-in-law, Jane Seymour, met King Henry there. When Jane became queen, her brother was elevated in the peerage so that Anne became, in rapid succession, Viscountess Beauchamp and Countess of Hertford. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, wrote a sonnet about her called “a lady who refused to dance with him,” which portrayed her as haughty and cold.
Anne managed to stay on good terms with both Princess Mary and Queen Katherine Parr (while she was Queen consort) but her religious leanings were Protestant. Lady Hertford was present for the King's last marriage to the Dowager Lady Latimer (Katherine Parr). She became a Lady to Queen Katherine Parr and was part of the queen's circle.
Upon King Henry’s death in 1547, Anne’s husband nominated himself to become Lord Protector for his nephew, Edward VI and elevated himself in the peerage to Duke of Somerset. Anne quarreled with the Queen Dowager Katherine Parr and after her death claimed the manor of Hanworth for herself. As early as 1547, Anne was urging her husband to arrest his brother, Thomas Seymour, who had been married to Queen Katherine Parr, on charges of treason. An issue developed between the two Seymour brothers about the Dowager Queen's jewels and Anne has been blamed in history for several situations.
A contemporary attack in print on the Duchess referred to her as "that imperious and insolent woman . . . whose ambitious wit and mischievous persuasions led him [Somerset] and directed him also in the weighty affairs and government of the realm to the great harm and dishonor of the same."
She was buried in St. Nicholas's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
In 1529, Sir Edward Seymour (1502-January 22,1552) fell in love with Anne, who may have been at court as a maid of honor, and repudiated his wife in order to marry her, which he did before March 9, 1535. They had ten children.
Anne had apartments at court and for a time her sister-in-law, Jane Seymour, met King Henry there. When Jane became queen, her brother was elevated in the peerage so that Anne became, in rapid succession, Viscountess Beauchamp and Countess of Hertford. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, wrote a sonnet about her called “a lady who refused to dance with him,” which portrayed her as haughty and cold.
Anne managed to stay on good terms with both Princess Mary and Queen Katherine Parr (while she was Queen consort) but her religious leanings were Protestant. Lady Hertford was present for the King's last marriage to the Dowager Lady Latimer (Katherine Parr). She became a Lady to Queen Katherine Parr and was part of the queen's circle.
Upon King Henry’s death in 1547, Anne’s husband nominated himself to become Lord Protector for his nephew, Edward VI and elevated himself in the peerage to Duke of Somerset. Anne quarreled with the Queen Dowager Katherine Parr and after her death claimed the manor of Hanworth for herself. As early as 1547, Anne was urging her husband to arrest his brother, Thomas Seymour, who had been married to Queen Katherine Parr, on charges of treason. An issue developed between the two Seymour brothers about the Dowager Queen's jewels and Anne has been blamed in history for several situations.
A contemporary attack in print on the Duchess referred to her as "that imperious and insolent woman . . . whose ambitious wit and mischievous persuasions led him [Somerset] and directed him also in the weighty affairs and government of the realm to the great harm and dishonor of the same."
She was buried in St. Nicholas's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
![Photo: From Kathy Lynn Emerson's "Who's Who in Tudor Women":
Anne Stanhope (c.1510-April 16, 1587) was the daughter of Sir Edward Stanhope of Rampton, Northamptonshire (d. 1511) and Elizabeth Bourchier (1474-1557). Her mother was a sister of the earl of Bath and a descendant of King Edward III.
In 1529, Sir Edward Seymour (1502-x.January 22,1552) fell in love with Anne, who may have been at court as a maid of honor, and repudiated his wife in order to marry her, which he did before March 9, 1535. They had ten children: Edward (October 12,1537-1539), Anne (1538-1588), Edward (1539-April 6,1621), Margaret (b.1540), Henry (b.1540), Jane (1541-1561), Mary (d.1619/20), Katherine, a third Edward (1547-1574), and Elizabeth (1550-June 3,1602).
Anne had apartments at court and for a time her sister-in-law, Jane Seymour, met King Henry there. When Jane became queen, her brother was elevated in the peerage so that Anne became, in rapid succession, viscountess Beauchamp and countess of Hertford.
Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, wrote a sonnet about her called “a lady who refused to dance with him,” which portrayed her as haughty and cold.
Anne managed to stay on good terms with both Princess Mary and Queen Katherine Parr but her religious leanings were Protestant. She sent aid to Anne Askew in 1545.
Upon King Henry’s death in 1547, Anne’s husband nominated himself to become Lord Protector for his nephew, Edward VI and elevated himself in the peerage to duke of Somerset. Anne quarreled with the Queen Dowager Katherine Parr and after her death claimed the manor of Hanworth for herself.
As early as 1547, Anne was urging her husband to arrest his brother, Thomas Seymour, who had been married to Queen Katherine Parr, on charges of treason. Meanwhile, Anne herself was scheming to marry her son Edward to Lady Jane Grey and her daughter Jane to King Edward.
In October 1549, Somerset was removed from power and held in the Tower of London. In an effort at reconciliation, Anne and the earl of Warwick’s wife, Jane Guildford, arranged a marriage between Anne’s daughter, Anne Seymour and Warwick’s eldest son, John Dudley, who became earl of Warwick when his father was elevated in the peerage to duke of Northumberland. Somerset was arrested again on October 16, 1551, accused of plotting against Northumberland. This time he was executed.
Anne was also arrested and remained a prisoner in the Tower of London until May 30,1553, even though she was never charged with any crime.
A contemporary attack in print on the duchess referred to her as "that imperious and insolent woman . . . whose ambitious wit and mischievous persuasions led him [Somerset] and directed him also in the weighty affairs and government of the realm to the great harm and dishonor of the same."
Under Mary Tudor, three of Anne's daughters were at court. Her oldest son, Edward, was restored in blood. Anne was granted a number of Northumberland’s confiscated properties and Hanworth, Middlesex, where she chose to live. It was at Hanworth that a romance secretly blossomed between Anne’s son Edward and Lady Catherine Grey, younger sister of Lady Jane Grey. When the young couple eloped in 1560 and were subsequently confined in the Tower of London, Anne was careful to distance herself from them. The next year, Anne married Francis Newdigate (c.1500-January 26,1581/2), who had been Somerset’s steward. When her son was released from the Tower, Anne was given custody of him and also of the older of the two sons he had with Lady Catherine Grey. Anne tried to advance Lady Catherine’s claim to the throne by backing John Hales’s Discourse on the Succession but met with little success. Although she was rarely at Elizabeth's court, on one visit she had with her nineteen servants, including a chaplain and seven stable lads.
She was buried in St. Nicholas's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
Biography: Oxford DNB entry under "Seymour [née Stanhope], Anne." NOTE: the DNB gives her birthdate as c.1510, Edward Seymour's as c.1500, and Francis Newdigate's as 1519.](https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p480x480/543651_345576878830377_869298242_n.jpg)
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