Joan Vaux, Lady Guildford
Encyclopedia
Joan Vaux, Lady Guildford (c. 1463 – 4 September 1538), also known as Mother Guildford, was an English aristocratic woman who was the Lady Governess to the Princesses Margaret Tudor
and Mary Tudor, and accompanied the latter to France when she married King Louis XII
in 1514.
She had been a lady-in-waiting
and protégée of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and afterwards entered the household of Elizabeth of York
, Queen consort of the Countess's son, King Henry VII of England
. While at court, she met the scholar and philosopher Erasmus, who was favourably impressed by Joan.
Her first husband was Sir Richard Guildford, by whom she had her only child, Sir Henry Guildford
. Her second husband was Anthony Poyntz
.
When King Henry VIII
was attempting to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon
in order to marry Anne Boleyn
, Joan gave a deposition, concerning whether or not Catherine's marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales
had been consummated, in which she confirmed that Prince Arthur and Catherine had lain together "as man and wife all alone five or six nights after the said marriage".
. In 1471, her father died. On an unknown date, she became a lady-in-waiting and protégée of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and later entered the service of Queen consort, Elizabeth of York, wife of Margaret's son, Henry Tudor
.
In 1489, she married her first husband, Sir Richard Guildford (1455- 6 September 1506). King Henry and Queen Elizabeth both attended the wedding.
Sir Richard and Joan had one son:
Erasmus when he paid a visit to the royal children; Erasmus had been so favourably impressed by his conversations with Joan, that years later in 1519, he referred to Joan in a letter to her son, Henry as "the noble lady your mother", wishing her happiness and prosperity.
She was summoned to wait upon Queen Elizabeth for the arrival of Catherine of Aragon in 1501. On one occasion, shortly before the Infanta's marriage to Prince Arthur, Joan is recorded to have partnered the Prince, in a dignified Spanish dance, performed in the English style, right pleasantly and honourably.
After her husband died in Jerusalem in 1506, where he had gone on pilgrimage
, she once again entered the household of Margaret Beaufort where she remained until the latter's death in 1509. By 1510, she had retired from the court, and was living on a small pension in a house in Blackfriars, London. That same year, she inherited a life interest in a house in Southwark
, along with lands in Norfolk
and Suffolk
from Sir Thomas Brandon. She was compelled to pay Brandon's nephew, Sir William Sidney the sum of 20 marks
a year in rent. She leased the Southwark property back to Brandon's heir, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
.
In 1514, she accompanied her former charge, Princess Mary to France on the occasion of the latter's marriage to King Louis XII. Following the wedding ceremony, when he sent Joan home, along with most of Mary's English attendants, Mary became angry and objected to the dismissal of her "Mother Guildford". On 12 October she protested in a letter to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, writing "I have not yet seen in France any lady or gentleman so necessary for me as she is". In a lengthy, tactfully-written letter, Cardinal Wolsey asked King Louis to recall Joan to Mary's service saying "I have no doubt, Sire, that when you know her [Joan] well, you will find her a wise, honourable, and discreet lady". Chapman, p. 173
Queen Mary's protests and Cardinal Wolsey's letter were to no avail, as King Louis had taken an especial dislike to Joan, due to the fact that she had taken it upon herself to rule Mary, and had curtailed Louis's intimacy with his wife, refusing to leave the couple alone with the result that his efforts to establish a relationship with Mary were continually frustrated. Joan was duly sent back to England with the other ladies, and resumed her retirement. In 1515, King Henry VIII granted her two pensions totalling £60 per annum. In 1519, she was granted for life an annual gift of a tun of duty-free Gascon
wine.
It is possible that she later returned to court as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon.
in the Bible), he sought witnesses to testify that Catherine and Arthur had consummated their marriage. (See main article: Henry VIII of England
)
As a former lady in the household of Elizabeth of York, Joan was summoned to give a deposition as to whether Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon had consummated their marriage. She reported that they had spent their wedding night "in together in the same bed", from her personal knowledge; and that she had heard from Queen Elizabeth herself that Arthur and Catherine had lain together "as man and wife all alone five or six nights after the said marriage".
It is recorded that she received several New Year's gifts from Henry VIII, including a garter with a gold buckle and pendant in 1532.
After Poyntz's death in 1533, she retired to the Hospital of St. Mark, a prayer house in Bristol
. When this was closed down in 1536, she returned to Blackfriars where she died on 4 September 1538 at the age of about 75 years. Joan's burial took place on 9 September; she was one of the last people buried in the convent of Blackfriars. Her only son had died in 1532, without having had children by his two wives. In her last will, which was dated 30 August 1538, she left bequests to her cousin, Sir William Penyston, a niece, Bridget Walsh, her nephew, Lord Vaux, and Maud, her lady fool.
Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots. James died in 1513, and their son became King James V. She married secondly Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of...
and Mary Tudor, and accompanied the latter to France when she married King Louis XII
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
in 1514.
She had been a lady-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
and protégée of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and afterwards entered the household of Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York was Queen consort of England as spouse of King Henry VII from 1486 until 1503, and mother of King Henry VIII of England....
, Queen consort of the Countess's son, King Henry VII of England
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
. While at court, she met the scholar and philosopher Erasmus, who was favourably impressed by Joan.
Her first husband was Sir Richard Guildford, by whom she had her only child, Sir Henry Guildford
Henry Guildford
Sir Henry Guildford was an English courtier of the reign of Henry VIII, master of the horse and comptroller of the royal household.-Life:...
. Her second husband was Anthony Poyntz
Anthony Poyntz
-Life:He was knighted in 1513, when he commanded a ship in Thomas Howard's expedition against France. In September 1518 he was sent on an embassy to the French king, and was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in July 1520...
.
When 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...
was attempting to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
in order to marry 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...
, Joan gave a deposition, concerning whether or not Catherine's marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and therefore, heir to the throne of England. As he predeceased his father, Arthur never became king...
had been consummated, in which she confirmed that Prince Arthur and Catherine had lain together "as man and wife all alone five or six nights after the said marriage".
Family and marriage
Joan was born in about 1463, the daughter of Sir William Vaux and Katherine Penyston. She had a brother, Sir Nicholas VauxNicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden
Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden was a soldier and courtier in England and an early member of the House of Commons...
. In 1471, her father died. On an unknown date, she became a lady-in-waiting and protégée of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and later entered the service of Queen consort, Elizabeth of York, wife of Margaret's son, Henry Tudor
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
.
In 1489, she married her first husband, Sir Richard Guildford (1455- 6 September 1506). King Henry and Queen Elizabeth both attended the wedding.
Sir Richard and Joan had one son:
- Sir Henry Guildford (died 1532), courtier, Master of the HorseMaster of the HorseThe Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...
, and comptroller of the royal household; married twice but had no children by either of his wives.
Lady Governess
By the year 1499, she served as the Lady Governess to Princesses Margaret and Mary. It was Joan upon whom Princess Mary chiefly relied on as a child. She met the Dutch philosopher and humanistHumanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
Erasmus when he paid a visit to the royal children; Erasmus had been so favourably impressed by his conversations with Joan, that years later in 1519, he referred to Joan in a letter to her son, Henry as "the noble lady your mother", wishing her happiness and prosperity.
She was summoned to wait upon Queen Elizabeth for the arrival of Catherine of Aragon in 1501. On one occasion, shortly before the Infanta's marriage to Prince Arthur, Joan is recorded to have partnered the Prince, in a dignified Spanish dance, performed in the English style, right pleasantly and honourably.
After her husband died in Jerusalem in 1506, where he had gone on pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
, she once again entered the household of Margaret Beaufort where she remained until the latter's death in 1509. By 1510, she had retired from the court, and was living on a small pension in a house in Blackfriars, London. That same year, she inherited a life interest in a house in Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
, along with lands in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
and Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
from Sir Thomas Brandon. She was compelled to pay Brandon's nephew, Sir William Sidney the sum of 20 marks
Mark (money)
Mark was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and often equivalent to 8 ounces. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages Mark (from a merging of three Teutonic/Germanic languages words, Latinized in 9th century...
a year in rent. She leased the Southwark property back to Brandon's heir, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...
.
In 1514, she accompanied her former charge, Princess Mary to France on the occasion of the latter's marriage to King Louis XII. Following the wedding ceremony, when he sent Joan home, along with most of Mary's English attendants, Mary became angry and objected to the dismissal of her "Mother Guildford". On 12 October she protested in a letter to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, writing "I have not yet seen in France any lady or gentleman so necessary for me as she is". In a lengthy, tactfully-written letter, Cardinal Wolsey asked King Louis to recall Joan to Mary's service saying "I have no doubt, Sire, that when you know her [Joan] well, you will find her a wise, honourable, and discreet lady". Chapman, p. 173
Queen Mary's protests and Cardinal Wolsey's letter were to no avail, as King Louis had taken an especial dislike to Joan, due to the fact that she had taken it upon herself to rule Mary, and had curtailed Louis's intimacy with his wife, refusing to leave the couple alone with the result that his efforts to establish a relationship with Mary were continually frustrated. Joan was duly sent back to England with the other ladies, and resumed her retirement. In 1515, King Henry VIII granted her two pensions totalling £60 per annum. In 1519, she was granted for life an annual gift of a tun of duty-free Gascon
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
wine.
It is possible that she later returned to court as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon.
The King's Great Matter
When Henry VIII became enamoured of Anne Boleyn and sought to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon on the grounds that it was invalid due to Catherine having been his brother's widow (which violated a passage in the Book of LeviticusLeviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
in the Bible), he sought witnesses to testify that Catherine and Arthur had consummated their marriage. (See main article: 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...
)
As a former lady in the household of Elizabeth of York, Joan was summoned to give a deposition as to whether Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon had consummated their marriage. She reported that they had spent their wedding night "in together in the same bed", from her personal knowledge; and that she had heard from Queen Elizabeth herself that Arthur and Catherine had lain together "as man and wife all alone five or six nights after the said marriage".
Later years
Joan married her second husband Anthony Poyntz on an unknown date.It is recorded that she received several New Year's gifts from Henry VIII, including a garter with a gold buckle and pendant in 1532.
After Poyntz's death in 1533, she retired to the Hospital of St. Mark, a prayer house in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. When this was closed down in 1536, she returned to Blackfriars where she died on 4 September 1538 at the age of about 75 years. Joan's burial took place on 9 September; she was one of the last people buried in the convent of Blackfriars. Her only son had died in 1532, without having had children by his two wives. In her last will, which was dated 30 August 1538, she left bequests to her cousin, Sir William Penyston, a niece, Bridget Walsh, her nephew, Lord Vaux, and Maud, her lady fool.
Sources
- Hester W. Chapman, The Thistle and the Rose, Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, New York, 1969