Anne Bray, Baroness Cobham
Encyclopedia
Anne Brooke, Baroness Cobham, born Anne Braye (21 March 1501 – 1 November 1558), was the wife of Sir George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham
. She was the attendant horsewoman at Anne Boleyn
's coronation as Queen Consort on 1 June 1533, and she was allegedly one of the first accusers of Queen Anne in 1536. Anne Brooke was Baroness Cobham from 1529 until her death in 1558.
, England, the eldest daughter of Sir Edmund Braye
(c.1480- 18 October 1539), who would be created 1st Baron Braye
on 4 December 1529 by King Henry VIII of England
, and Jane Halliwell (c.1480- 24 October 1558. She had a brother, John Braye, 2nd Lord Braye, of whom she was one of his co-heirs, along with her younger sisters, Elizabeth, Frideswide, Mary, Frances, and Dorothy Bray, Baroness Chandos
. The latter was 23 years Anne's junior.
In 1517 or before 1526, she married George Brooke (1497- 29 September 1558), the brother-in-law of poet Sir Thomas Wyatt
. He was knighted in July 1523 by the Earl of Surrey
after the taking of Morlaix, and he would succeed his father as 9th Baron Cobham on 19 July 1529; henceforth, Anne was styled as Baroness Cobham. They lived at Cobham Hall
in Kent
and Cowling Castle.
Together George and Anne had 10 sons and four daughters. These included:
. She was allocated the role of Queen Anne's attendant horsewoman for the royal procession from the Tower of London
to the Queen's coronation at Westminster Abbey
, and as such was required to find white palfreys for herself and her ladies. Although her own robes and long cloth of gold trapper for her horse were provided for, Anne was expected to equip her attendants herself.
Her husband was a distant cousin of Anne Boleyn, through his mother, Dorothy Heydon whose own mother, Anne was an aunt of Sir Thomas Boleyn.
Barbara J. Harris, in her book, Women and Politics in Early Tudor England, states that according to John Hussey in a letter to Lord Lisle, Anne was one of Queen Anne Boleyn's first accusers in 1536 and was a source of information against the Queen. Her husband was one of the 27 peers who presided at Anne Boleyn's trial in May of that year.
, to depose Mary I of England
, and replace her with her half-sister, Elizabeth
. After paying a large fine, they were eventually released. Her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who had bigamously married William Parr, Marquess of Northampton while his wife, Anne Bourchier still lived, was allegedly behind the earlier, failed plot in 1553 to place Lady Jane Grey
upon the English throne.
Lady Brooke wrote her last will
on 7 October 1558; she died on 1 November. She was buried in the chancel of St Mary Magdalene Church, in Cobham, Kent, beside her husband, who had died the previous September. A magnificent tomb, with an effigy, was erected in 1561 and the Latin
inscription was placed there by her eldest son, William, Baron Cobham. The English translation reads in part: "Here Anna lies, a lady chaste and fair, Blest with her children's love and husband's care. 'Twas in the last sad year of Mary's reign That first the husband, then the wife, was ta'en".
George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham
George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham was an aristocrat during the early Tudor dynasty in England. A soldier and magnate, he participated in the English wars of his days and in the political turmoil following the death of Henry VIII....
. She was the attendant horsewoman at 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...
's coronation as Queen Consort on 1 June 1533, and she was allegedly one of the first accusers of Queen Anne in 1536. Anne Brooke was Baroness Cobham from 1529 until her death in 1558.
Marriage and issue
Anne Braye was born on 21 March 1501 in Eaton Bray, BedfordshireBedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, England, the eldest daughter of Sir Edmund Braye
Edmund Braye, 1st Baron Braye
Edmund Braye , 1st Baron Braye , was an English peer.Edmund Braye was the son of John Braye of Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire and the older brother of Sir Edward Braye....
(c.1480- 18 October 1539), who would be created 1st Baron Braye
Baron Braye
Baron Braye, of Eaton Bray in the County of Bedford, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1529 for Sir Edmund Braye. The barony was created by writ, which means that it can descend through both male and female lines. He was succeeded by his son, the second Baron. He died from...
on 4 December 1529 by King Henry VIII of England
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...
, and Jane Halliwell (c.1480- 24 October 1558. She had a brother, John Braye, 2nd Lord Braye, of whom she was one of his co-heirs, along with her younger sisters, Elizabeth, Frideswide, Mary, Frances, and Dorothy Bray, Baroness Chandos
Dorothy Bray, Baroness Chandos
Dorothy Bray, Baroness Chandos was an English noblewoman, who served as a Maid of Honour to three queens consort of King Henry VIII of England; Anne Of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr...
. The latter was 23 years Anne's junior.
In 1517 or before 1526, she married George Brooke (1497- 29 September 1558), the brother-in-law of poet Sir Thomas Wyatt
Thomas Wyatt (poet)
Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet credited with introducing the sonnet into English. He was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent – though his family was originally from Yorkshire...
. He was knighted in July 1523 by the Earl of Surrey
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...
after the taking of Morlaix, and he would succeed his father as 9th Baron Cobham on 19 July 1529; henceforth, Anne was styled as Baroness Cobham. They lived at Cobham Hall
Cobham Hall
Cobham Hall is a country house in Cobham, Kent, England. There has been a manor house on the site since the 12th century. The current building consists of a pair of Tudor wings built for William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham in the 16th century and a later classical central block, and a kitchen court...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
and Cowling Castle.
Together George and Anne had 10 sons and four daughters. These included:
- Dorothy Brooke (b.1518)
- Elizabeth Brooke (25 June 1526- 2 April 1565), married bigamously William Parr, 1st Marquess of NorthamptonWilliam Parr, 1st Marquess of NorthamptonWilliam Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, 1st Earl of Essex and 1st Baron Parr, KG was the son of Sir Thomas Parr and his wife, Maud Green, daughter of Sir Thomas Green, of Broughton and Greens Norton...
, while he was still wed to Anne Bourchier, 7th Baroness BourchierAnne Bourchier, 7th Baroness BourchierAnne Bourchier was the suo jure 7th Baroness Bourchier, suo jure Lady Lovayne, and Baroness Parr of Kendal. She was the first wife of William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, Earl of Essex, and the sister-in-law of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII of England.She created a scandal in...
. - Sir William Brooke, 10th Baron CobhamWilliam Brooke, 10th Baron CobhamWilliam Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and a Member of Parliament for Hythe. Although he was viewed by some as a religious radical during the Somerset protectorate, he entertained Elizabeth at Cobham Hall in 1559, signalling his acceptance of the moderate regime.His...
(1 November 1527- 6 March 1597), married firstly, Dorothy Neville, by whom he had one daughter; and secondly in 1560, Frances NewtonFrances Newton, Lady CobhamFrances Newton, Lady Cobham was an English aristocratic woman who served Queen Elizabeth I of England as a Lady of the Bedchamber, and was one of her closest female friends....
, one of Queen Elizabeth I'sElizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
Ladies of the BedchamberLady of the BedchamberThis is an incomplete list of those who have served as Lady of the Bedchamber in the British Royal Household...
by whom he had seven children. - Catherine Brooke (b.c.1527), married John Jerningham, by whom she had issue.
- George Brooke (27 January 1533- 1570), married Christian Duke, by whom he had issue.
- Thomas Brooke (1533–1578), married and had issue.
- John Brooke (1535–1594)
- Sir Henry Brooke (5 February 1537/1538- c. 1591 or January 1592), married Anne Sutton (- c. January 1611/1612), daughter of Sir Henry Sutton, from NottinghamshireNottinghamshireNottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
, by whom he had issue John Brooke, 1st Baron Cobham and Philippa Brooke (- c. September 1613, bur. Stockeston, Leicestershire, 28 September 1613), wife of Walter Calverley and Sir Thomas Burton, 1st Baronet
Anne Boleyn's coronation
In April 1533, Anne received a letter of summons from the King to attend the coronation of his second wife, Anne BoleynAnne 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...
. She was allocated the role of Queen Anne's attendant horsewoman for the royal procession from the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
to the Queen's coronation at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, and as such was required to find white palfreys for herself and her ladies. Although her own robes and long cloth of gold trapper for her horse were provided for, Anne was expected to equip her attendants herself.
Her husband was a distant cousin of Anne Boleyn, through his mother, Dorothy Heydon whose own mother, Anne was an aunt of Sir Thomas Boleyn.
Barbara J. Harris, in her book, Women and Politics in Early Tudor England, states that according to John Hussey in a letter to Lord Lisle, Anne was one of Queen Anne Boleyn's first accusers in 1536 and was a source of information against the Queen. Her husband was one of the 27 peers who presided at Anne Boleyn's trial in May of that year.
Later years and death
In 1554, her husband and two of her sons were sent to the Tower of London under suspicion of having conspired in the rebellion of Thomas WyattWyatt's rebellion
Wyatt's Rebellion was a popular uprising in England in 1554, named after Thomas Wyatt the younger, one of its leaders. The rebellion arose out of concern over Queen Mary I's determination to marry Philip II of Spain, which was an unpopular policy with the English...
, to depose Mary I of England
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 replace her with her half-sister, Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. After paying a large fine, they were eventually released. Her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who had bigamously married William Parr, Marquess of Northampton while his wife, Anne Bourchier still lived, was allegedly behind the earlier, failed plot in 1553 to place Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
upon the English throne.
Lady Brooke wrote her last will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
on 7 October 1558; she died on 1 November. She was buried in the chancel of St Mary Magdalene Church, in Cobham, Kent, beside her husband, who had died the previous September. A magnificent tomb, with an effigy, was erected in 1561 and the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
inscription was placed there by her eldest son, William, Baron Cobham. The English translation reads in part: "Here Anna lies, a lady chaste and fair, Blest with her children's love and husband's care. 'Twas in the last sad year of Mary's reign That first the husband, then the wife, was ta'en".