Francis Weston

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Sir Francis Weston

Henry VIII
SpouseAnne Pickering
ChildrenHenry Weston
Parent(s)Sir Richard Weston
Anne Sandys
RelativesSir William Weston
Arms of Weston: Ermine, on a chief azure five bezants

Sir Francis Weston

William Brereton and Mark Smeaton
. They were all executed on 17 May 1536, two days before Anne Boleyn suffered a similar fate.

Origins

He was the only son of Sir

Governor of Guernsey, Treasurer of Calais and Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer. His mother was Anne Sandys, a daughter of Oliver Sandys of Shere in the parish of Dorking in Surrey. His uncle was Sir William Weston (died 1540), the last Prior of the Order of St John
in England, deemed Premier Baron of England. His ancestors had long held high office in the Knights Hospitallers.

Career

In 1526, aged only fifteen, he was listed as a

Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533.[4]

Marriage and children

In 1530, he married Anne Pickering, a daughter to Sir Christopher Pickering of Killington in Cumberland. An oak

Sir Henry Knyvet
(1510–1547) of Charlton in Wiltshire, Master of the Jewel Office. By Anne, he had a son and a daughter:

Arrest

Once arrested, Anne Boleyn was attended by four unsympathetic ladies, who had been instructed by the King's chief minister Thomas Cromwell to report on the Queen's actions. Anne told one of these ladies, Mrs. Coffin, that she had reprimanded Weston for flirting with Madge Shelton, who was betrothed to his fellow courtier Henry Norris. When Anne had wondered aloud to Weston why Norris had not yet married Madge, Weston replied, "[Norris] came more to her [Anne's] chamber for her than for Madge."[7] Ironically Weston was not arrested until a day or two after Anne. The first indication that he was involved in this was in a letter from Sir William Kingston to Cromwell, giving the details of Anne’s converstations after her arrest.

Execution

Francis was executed at the age of twenty-five after being accused of committing adultery with Queen Anne Boleyn, treason and plotting to kill the king.[b] He vehemently denied the charges and protested his innocence but it made no difference. In addition, the evidence supporting the accusations against him is dubious. Even his father is said to have offered all the family had in order to gain a pardon for his son but all to no avail. The family trying to save Francis was backed up by Lancelot de Carle who wrote “no one dared plead for him [Weston]except his mother, who, oppressed with grief, petitioned the King, and his wife [Weston’s wife], who offered rents and goods for his deliverance”.

Francis was

William Brereton; Henry Norris and Mark Smeaton.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ The escutcheon in the top left corner shows the Weston arms: Ermine, on a chief azure 5 bezants and the canvas bears the inscription "Weston Esq. of Sutton, Surrey". Collection of Parham Park, Sussex
  2. ^ A schedule of the charges against all five accused men are in the Baga de Secretis, published in Wriothesley (1875), pp. 189–226

References

  1. ^ a b Hughes 2004.
  2. ^ Lindsey 1996, p. xviii.
  3. ^ Ford 2010.
  4. ^ Shaw 1906, p. 149.
  5. ^ Ridgway 2012, p. 101–102.
  6. ^ "KEILWAY, Francis (d.1602), of Rockbourne, Hants. | History of Parliament Online". historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  7. ^ Ives 2005, pp. 334–335.
  8. ^ Wriothesley 1875, p. 39–40.

Bibliography

External links