Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Justice in Eyre
South of the Trent
In office
1589–1596
Preceded byThe Earl of Leicester
Succeeded byThe Lord Howard of Effingham
Personal details
Born4 March 1526
Died23 July 1596 (aged 70)
Spouse
Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham
Philadelphia Carey, Lady Scrope
Others
Parent(s)William Carey
Mary Boleyn
Quartered Arms of Sir Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, as displayed on his Order of the Garter stallplate in St. George's Chapel (S7/5)
Arms of Cary: Argent, on a bend sable three roses of the field[1]

Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon

Elizabeth I
.

Early life

Henry Carey was the second child of

Catherine came under the wardship of their maternal aunt Anne Boleyn, who was engaged to Henry VIII at the time. The children still had active contact with their mother, who remained on good terms with her sister, until Mary's secret elopement with a soldier, William Stafford
(later Lord of Chebsey) in 1535.

Anne Boleyn acted as her nephew's patron and provided him with an excellent education in a prestigious

Cistercian monastery. He was also tutored at some point by the French poet Nicholas Bourbon, whose life had been saved from the French Inquisition after Queen Anne Boleyn’s
intervention.

Henry's royal aunt was beheaded in May 1536, when he was ten years old. His mother died seven years later in 1543 on her estate in Essex. On 21 May 1545 he married Anne Morgan, daughter of Sir Thomas Morgan, of Arkestone, Herefordshire, and Anne Elizabeth Whitney.

Royal appointments

Carey served twice as

Knight of the Garter
.

Elizabeth appointed Carey

MA.[2] On 25 August 1568, Henry was appointed Governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed
, Northumberland.

Northern Rebellion

The year 1569 was the beginning of the

Roman Catholic Pope Pius V
.

Henry was appointed

Lieutenant General of the forces loyal to the Queen. His February victory over Sir Leonard Dacre was instrumental in crushing the rebellion. Nearly three thousand rebels ambushed Henry Carey's party of half that size, but Carey was nonetheless victorious in fending off the assault. A number of the rebels crossed the border to Scotland but were there targeted by the forces of the Scottish Regent
. Henry could still appreciate the courage of Dacre's soldiers. In his letter to the Queen detailing the victory, he made mention of the rebel charge "the bravest charge that ever I saw!". He was rewarded with a personal note of thanks from Queen Elizabeth I that read in part . .

"I doubt much, my Harry, whether that the victory were given me, more joyed me, or that you were by God appointed the instrument of my glory; and I assure you that for my country's good, the first must suffice, but for my heart's contention the second pleased me . . you have done much for honour . . Your loving kinswoman, Elizabeth R."

The victorious Henry was appointed

Lord Chamberlain of the Household in July 1585 and would hold this position until his death. This did not prevent Elizabeth from appointing him Lord Chamberlain Lieutenant, Principal Captain and Governor of the army "for the defence and surety of our own Royal Person". The appointment occurred on 20 July 1588 in Tilbury
.

Henry also served as Chief

Justice in Eyre, south of the River Trent between 1589 and his death. He was Joined Commissioner of the Office Earl Marshal and High Steward of Ipswich and Doncaster. He served as Chief Justice of the Royal Forces between 20 December 1591 and his death. On 2 March 1592 Henry was appointed High Steward of Oxford
for life.

Affair with Emilia Lanier

Beginning in 1587, Carey began an affair with Emilia Lanier (1569-1645), who was the daughter of a Venetian-born court musician, and she may have been covertly Jewish. Carey, 45 years older than Lanier, was Elizabeth's Lord Chamberlain at the time of their affair and a patron of the arts and theatre (he was the patron of Shakespeare's theatre company, known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men, but not until two years after their affair was over).

Records indicate that Carey gave her a pension of £40 a year. Lanier apparently enjoyed her time as Carey's mistress. An entry from

first cousin once removed, Alfonso Lanier, a Queen's musician. Church records show the two were married in St. Botolph's church, Aldgate, on 18 October 1592.[4]
Lanier gave birth to Carey's son, Henry, in 1593 (presumably named after his father).

Death

Henry Carey died at Somerset House, Strand on 23 July 1596 and was buried on 12 August 1596 at Westminster Abbey. On his deathbed his cousin Elizabeth I offered to create him Earl of Wiltshire; however, he refused, saying:

Madam, as you did not count me worthy of this honour in life, then I shall account myself not worthy of it in death.

Two of his sons, George, and John, successively followed him as Baron Hunsdon.

Relation to Henry VIII

Henry Carey's mother, Mary Boleyn, was mistress to King Henry VIII from 1520.[5] The exact dates when the affair started and ended are unknown, although it is believed to have ended by the time Henry Carey was born on 4 March 1526.[6]

Contemporary rumours stated that Henry was an illegitimate child of Henry VIII. Some 10 years after the child was born, John Hales, vicar of Isleworth, remarked that he had met a "young Master Carey," whom some monks believed to be the king's son. However, as Eric Ives has pointed out, the vicar was hostile towards the Boleyn family and may just have been causing trouble.[citation needed] The idea that Carey was Henry VIII's secret son has inspired modern historical fiction, such as the novel The Other Boleyn Girl. Alison Weir in her biography of Mary Boleyn concluded that the preponderance of evidence points to Henry Carey's sister, Catherine Carey, as being the only offspring of Mary's relations with Henry VIII.

Issue

Henry Carey and Anne Morgan's marriage resulted in the birth of thirteen children.

In addition, Henry had several illegitimate children, including

Valentine Carey, who became a clergyman, ultimately Bishop of Exeter
.

Notes

  1. ^ Vivian, p.150
  2. ^ "Carey, Henry (CRY564H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ Woods, The Poems of Aemilia Lanyer, xviii
  4. ^ Woods, The Poems of Aemilia Lanyer, xviii. McBride, Biography of Aemilia Lanyer, 1–2
  5. ^ Weir, p. 216
  6. ^ Letters & Papers viii.567
  7. ^ 38. Carey, Robert , The Memoirs of Robert Carey, F. H. Mares, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972, Appendix II is 'Notes on the nativities of Henry Carey Lord Hunsdon, found on a blank sheet bound between volumes i and ii of Froissart's Des Chroniques de France.., Paris, 1513 (B.M. call no. 596.h.24).
  8. ^ Carey, Robert , The Memoirs of Robert Carey, F. H. Mares, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972, Appendix II is 'Notes on the nativities of Henry Carey Lord Hunsdon, found on a blank sheet bound between volumes i and ii of Froissart's Des Chroniques de France.., Paris, 1513 (B.M. call no. 596.h.24).
  9. ^ PRO, "List & Index Society, vol. 295, Calendar of Patent Rolls 29 Elizabeth I (1586–1587)," C 66/1286-1303, (2003), Louise Wilkinson. item 352.

References

  • Weir, Alison. The Six Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991. googlebooks. Retrieved 17 May 2009
  • Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Carey, Henry (1524?-1596)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  • Nicolas, Nicholas Harris. A Synopsis of the Peerage of England; Exhibiting, Under Alphabetical Arrangement, the Date of Creation, Descent and Present State of Every Title of Peerage Which Has Existed in This Country Since the Conquest. London: Printed by J. Nichols and Son, 1825. (p. 338) [1]. Retrieved 25 June 2008

External links


Political offices
Preceded by
Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners

1564–1596 		Succeeded by
Lord Chamberlain
1585–1596 		Succeeded by
Unknown Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk
1585–1596 		Vacant
Title next held by
The Earl of Northampton
Vacant
Title last held by
The Earl of Sussex 		Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk
1585–1596 		Vacant
Title next held by
The Earl of Suffolk
Legal offices
Preceded by
Justice in Eyre

south of the Trent
1589–1596 		Succeeded by
Peerage of England
New creation Baron Hunsdon
1559–1596 		Succeeded by
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