Joan Vaux (lady-in-waiting)
Joan Vaux | |
---|---|
Lady Guildford | |
Born | c. 1463 |
Died | 4 September 1538 (aged 74–75) |
Buried | 9 September 1538 Convent of Sir Richard Guildford Sir Anthony Poyntz |
Issue | Henry Guildford |
Father | Sir William Vaux |
Mother | Katherine Penyston |
Occupation | Lady-in-waiting, Lady Governess |
Joan Vaux, Lady Guildford (c. 1463 – 4 September 1538),
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.[4]
Her first husband was
When King
Family and marriage
Joan was born in about 1463, the daughter of Sir William Vaux and Katherine Penyston. She had a brother,
In 1489, she married her first husband,
Sir Richard and Joan had one son:
- Sir Henry Guildford (died 1532), courtier, Master of the Horse, 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.[7] She met the Dutch philosopher and humanist Erasmus when he paid a visit to the royal children. Erasmus referred to Joan in 1519 in a letter to her son, Henry, as "the noble lady your mother", wishing her happiness and prosperity.[8]
She was summoned to wait upon Queen Elizabeth for the arrival of Catherine of Aragon in 1501.[9] Shortly before the Infanta's marriage to Prince Arthur, according to The Recyt of the Ladie Kateryne, on 6 November Joan was at Dogmersfield Park and partnered Prince Arthur in a Spanish dance accompanied by Catherine's musicians,[10] "Lady Guildford danced right pleasant and honourably".[11]
After her husband died in
In 1514, she accompanied her former charge, Princess Mary, to France on the occasion of the latter's marriage to King
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.[17] 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.[18] In 1519, she was granted for life an annual gift of a tun of duty-free Gascon wine.[19]
It is possible that she later returned to court as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon.[20]
The King's Great Matter
When Henry VIII became enamoured of
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.[21] 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".[22]
Later years
Joan married her second husband, Sir 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.[23]
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.[24] 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.
References
- ^ Some sources cite her forename as "Jane"
- ^ Debra Barrett-Graves, 'Joan Vaux Guildford Poyntz', Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, Jo Eldridge Carney, A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen (Routledge, 2017), p. 471.
- ^ Kathy Lynn Emerson, A Who's Who of Tudor Women, retrieved on 1 February 2010
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Hester W. Chapman, The Thistle and the Rose, p. 160
- ^ Emerson.
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, p. 30.
- ^ Gordon Kipling, The Recyt of the Ladie Kateryne (Oxford, 1990), p. 8 (I/153).
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Chapman, p.163
- ^ Debra Barrett-Graves, 'Joan Vaux Guildford Poyntz', Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, Jo Eldridge Carney, A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen (Routledge, 2017), p. 471.
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Chapman, p. 173
- ^ Chapman, pp.173-74
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Debra Barrett-Graves, 'Joan Vaux Guildford Poyntz', Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, Jo Eldridge Carney, A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen (Routledge, 2017), p. 471.
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Emerson
- ^ Emerson
Sources
- Hester W. Chapman, The Thistle and the Rose, Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, New York, 1969