The king was in residence at his palace York Place which later came to be called Whitehall. There he and 12 members of “his company” prepared to present an impromptu masque for the entertainment of the wedding guests. Their arrival at the wedding reception made it a far grander occasion still.
This year, the 3rd day of July, [1536,] being Monday, was a great solemnity of marriage kept at the nunnery of Holywell3, beside London, in the Earl of Rutland's place, where the Earl of Oxford's Son and heir, called Lord Bulbec4, married the Earl of Westmoreland's eldest daughter, named Lady Dorothy, and the Earl of Westmoreland's son and heir, called Lord Nevill5, married the Earl of Rutland's eldest daughter, named Lady Anne, and the Earl
of Rutland's son and heir, called Lord Roos6, married the Earl of Westmoreland's daughter, named Lady Margaret; and all these three lords were married at one mass, going to churche all 3 together one by another, and the ladys, there wives, following one after another, every one of the young ladies having 2 young lords going one every side of them when they went to church, and a young lady bearing up every of their gowne trains; at which marriage was present all the great estates of the realm, both lords and ladys; the Lord Chancellor of England and the Duke of Norfolk leading the Lord Bulbek's wife home from the church, the Duke of Suffolk and the Lord Marques of Dorset leeding the Lord Nevell's wife, and the Earl of Derby and the Earl of Surrey leading the Lord Roos' wife; and after mass there was a great dinner, and diverse great dishes and delicate meats with subtleties, and diverse manner of instruments playing at the same, which were too longe to express; and after dinner the King's grace came thither in a mask, ridinge from Yorke Place, with 11 more with him, whereof the King and 7 more with him wore garments after the Turk's fashion, richly embroidered with gold, with Turk's hats of black velvet and white feathers on their heads and visors on their faces, and 4 other ware arrayed in purple sarcenet, like Turks, which were as their pages, and so they danced with the ladies a good while; and then the King put off his visor and showed himself; and then the King had a great banquet of 40 dishes, wherein was diverse subtleties and meats, which was a goodly sight to behold. The banquet ended, the King with his company departed thence, and rode again to York Place in their masking garments as they came thither.
History was rushing onward at that point toward many fateful events. Henry himself had married Jane Seymour only a month before. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had died in January. His second, Anne Boleyn, had been executed in May, two weeks before he took his third. Three days after the triple wedding he met with his estranged daughter, Lady Mary, at the instigation of Seymour, at King's Place in nearby Hackney. Henry's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, had just fallen ill and would die of a mysterious consuming disease on July 23rd.
[Three days latter, on...] the Thursday afore Reliques Sunday the Lady Mary, daughter to the King by Queen Katheryn, was brought riding from Hunsdon secretly in the night to Hackney, and [that] after-noon the King and the Queen came thither, and there the King spake with his dear and well-beloved daughter Mary, which had not spoken with the King her father in five year afore, and there she remained with the King till Friday at night, and then she rode to Hunsdon again secretly.
The Nunnery of St. John the Baptist would be dissolved in 1539. The nuns having submitted to their fate without resistance received modest pensions on which to live out their lives. Bird's Survey of London informs us that
A note dated 31 Henry VIII. (i.e., not later than April 1540) refers to the receipt of £74 14s. 9d. in respect of the "superplus” of moveables, jewels and “base” silver taken at the surrender of five monasteries, including Holywell. In July, 1540, three indentures were made between James Nedeham, the clerk and surveyor of the king's works, and Thomas Spylman, one of the receivers of the Augmentations, for the taking of lead from the priories of St. Mary Spital, Holywell, and St. Mary, Clerkenwell. The contract had been completed by 30th April, 1541, by which time 30 fother7, 4 cwt., 3 qrs. And 7 Ibs. of lead had been taken from Holywell and employed for repairing the roof of Westminster Hall Moreover, the chapter house (specified to include "the rooffe . . . with the selyng of waynescott, the tyle stones, the pavyng stones, the glasse, the iron and the walles ") was sold entire to William Bromles and Anthony Dunwyche, and seems to have been pulled down some time before 10th August, 1541.8
1Wriothesley, Charles. A Chronicle of England (Camden Society, 1875). I.50-2.
2Bird. James. Survey of London (London City Council, 1922). VIII.154.
3 St. John the Baptist Benedictine nunnery at Holywell, in the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. A c.1540 sketch is inset in the header illustration.
4 John de Vere, son of Sir John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and Baron Bulbeck or Bolebec, which latter title was inherited by the De Veres from Isabel, sole danghter and heiress of Walter de Bolebec, married to Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, in the reign of Henry II.
5 Henry, son of Ralph Nevill, Baron Nevill of Rahy, and Earl of Westmoreland.
6 Henry, son of Thomas Manners, Baron Roos of Hamlake, and Earl of Rutland.
7Fother] approximately 1 ton.
8Bird. VIII.167.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- Catherine Gray Elopes and Honeymoons in The Tower. June 15, 2023. “The Queen went one morning to Eltham to hunt, when Lady Jane and Lady Catherine,...”
- Seeking Out the Elusive Tudor Masque. June 4, 2023. “...for new making of divers garments & altering & translating of sundry other garments for the furnishing of a mask...”
The Stanley Family Papers on the Earl of Derby's Mysterious Death. April 8, 2023. “Strange events, of course, occurred at Lathom, according to statements later given under oath.”
Queen Elizabeth I’s Heart and the French Ambassador. March 21, 2023. "The reason to delay his first audience under this pretext would soon be known."
A Brief Introduction to the Tudor Inn. February 5, 2023. "A London inn was homey enough, it would seem."
Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the Queen Elizabeth I Biography Page for many other articles.
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