Anne Bassett was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 courtier of the Tudor period

Tudor period

The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...

, whose charms attracted the attention of King Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

.

Family background

Anne was born in 1521, the fourth child of Sir John Bassett and Honor (daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville of Stowe in Kilkhampton, Cornwall and his wife Isabella). As her father died when she was young, Anne was brought up by her mother and stepfather, Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle

Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle

Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was an illegitimate son of King Edward IV of England, and an important figure at the court of Henry VIII...

, in the English enclave

Enclave and exclave

In political geography, an enclave is a territory whose geographical boundaries lie entirely within the boundaries of another territory.An exclave, on the other hand, is a territory legally or politically attached to another territory with which it is not physically contiguous.These are two...

 of Calais

Calais

Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....

. Lord Lisle was the illegitimate son of Edward IV of England

Edward IV of England

Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...

, and thus Henry VIII's uncle.

Biography

Lady Honor, Anne's formidable mother, had attempted to secure a place for her two daughters (Anne and her sister Elizabeth Bassett

Elizabeth Bassett (maid-of-honour)

Elizabeth Basset was an English noblewoman who served at the court of King Henry VIII, and was briefly jailed for speaking against him....

) in the service of Queen Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...

 several times, but to no avail. She persisted in her efforts to secure them positions and eventually, after sending a large consignment of quails to Anne's successor, Queen Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...

 the latter relented. She allowed Lady Lisle to send her daughters but warned her that only one position could be found. Anne was the sister accepted and was sworn into service the day after the pregnant queen took to her chamber for her lying-in.

Anne is rumoured to have attracted Henry VIII in 1538 and 1539, and is rumoured to have been the king's mistress. The ambassadors thought that she might become his fourth wife in 1540, and again in 1542, just after Queen Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard , also spelled Katherine, Katheryn or Kathryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....

 was sentenced to death.

Anne was maid of honour to Queen Mary I

Mary I of England

Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

, and Mary granted Sir Walter Hungerford (Knight of Farley)

Walter Hungerford (Knight of Farley)

Sir Walter Hungerford, of Farley , was an English landowner called "the Knight of Farley".-Biography:Hungerford was granted land by Edward VI in 1552, and in 1554 was restored by Queen Mary to the confiscated estate of Farley, in Somerset, when the attainder on his father, Walter Hungerford, 1st...

 the right to marry Anne in 1554. Anne died before 1558 when Sir Walter—with the permission of Mary—married Anne Dormer.