Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland

Henry Percy

Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland , KG (around 1502 - 29 June 1537 ) was an English nobleman and military officer in the north of England. He is best known as Anne Boleyn's fiancé , but he had to end the relationship before Henry VIII became interested in Anne.

Early years

Henry Percy was born around 1502 to the eldest son of Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland and Catherine, daughter of Sir Robert Spencer. Through his mother he was the cousin of William Carey, Anne Boleyn's brother-in-law.

Henry was placed at a very young age as a page in the household of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey . In 1519 he was knighted. The main source for Henry Percy's early years is the biography of Wolsey by George Cavendish.

Relationship with Anne Boleyn

Although his father had already chosen Mary Talbot, daughter of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, as the wife of his son around 1516, the latter fell in love with Anne Boleyn, then a young lady at court. Percy was probably engaged to Anne in the spring of 1523, when he was still serving as a page at Wolsey. On hearing the news, Wolsey Percy scolded the entire household for not having obtained permission from either his father or the king, who, given the importance of Northumberland, had an interest in Percy's marriage. While Cavendish claims that Henry VIII was already interested in Anne at this point, and that was why Wolsey reacted so angrily, this is controversial in research.

Another obstacle to marrying Anne Boleyn was that she should marry James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond (also a page in Wolsey's household) in order to resolve an inheritance dispute over the County of Ormond, since her father Sir Thomas Boleyn over his Grandfather himself had a weak claim on the Ormond estates in Munster .

Another reason why Percy's father refused to consent to the marriage was that he did not consider marriage to Anne Boleyn, the daughter of a simple nobleman, appropriate for his son and heir.

Marriage to Mary Talbot

Percy's father was extremely angry and promptly married his son to Mary Talbot, probably in 1524 or 1525. The old earl barely allowed the couple to earn a living, and Wolsey was probably trying to smuggle his own employees into the Percy's household to control young Henry.

Coat of arms of Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland

In 1528, four years after the marriage, the relationship between the two spouses was irretrievably broken. While Percy suspected that his wife was spying for the Duke of Norfolk, Mary's father feared that Percy was abusing or even intending to poison her. Percy was outraged by these allegations and forbade his father-in-law's employees to see or speak to his wife. When Mary's brother, William Dacre, asked the Duke of Norfolk to defend her, Henry Percy told Norfolk that he, Percy, never wanted to see his wife again for the rest of his life. Presumably the couple separated shortly afterwards, at least temporarily, because Mary gave birth to a dead child in her father's house in April 1529. In 1532 Mary accused her husband of a precontract (a kind of binding promise, like an engagement) with Anne Boleyn. She confided her complaint to her father, who brought it up to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk . Anne Boleyn ordered an investigation, with Percy denying the allegation under oath.

In 1536, Shrewsbury noted that his daughter had now lived with him for two and a half years. Around the same time, Percy announced that he wanted to bequeath all of his inheritance to the king, since he had no children and it seemed unlikely that he and his wife would still have legitimate children. By this point, Percy had become estranged from his brothers and did not want them to inherit his property. Mary Talbot hated Henry Percy until the end of her life and later even sought a divorce.

Offices and activities

In July 1522, Henry Percy was appointed a member of the Council of the North, in October of that year he became Deputy Warden des East Marches and his brother-in-law William Dacre suggested that he be appointed Warden that same year . On May 19, 1527 he succeeded his father as 6th Earl of Northumberland, on June 18 he was administrator of the Honor of Holderness , on December 2, Lord Warden of the East and West Marches.

Northumberland had a chronic fever and was burdened with debt, but still had a large household to support. Wolsey treated him patronizingly. He was hardly allowed to come to court, not even to his father's funeral. His most important friend was Sir Thomas Arundell.

Still, he was very active on the border. In 1528 he was given leave to come to London and in 1530 he received a message from the King to come to Cawood to arrest Wolsey while he was in Topcliffe. He sent his prisoner south to the care of Sir Roger Lascelles while he stayed behind to make an inventory of the cardinal's possessions. In addition, Northumberland was one of the peers who signed the letter to the Pope in July 1530 demanding the divorce of the king's marriage, and was believed to be a reformer himself. On April 23, 1531 he was accepted into the Order of the Garter. On May 11, 1532 Northumberland was appointed High Sheriff of Northumberland for life and on the 26th of that month was admitted to the Privy Council .

Northumberland took part in the trial of his brother-in-law William Dacre in July 1534. In January of the following year, he was charged with negligence at the border. In 1536 he was one of the judges in the trial of Anne Boleyn. It is said that Anne made a binding promise to him in hopes of saving her life. After the verdict was announced, he collapsed and had to be carried out.

Next life

Having no children, Northumberland began to run its business. In February 1535 he wrote to Thomas Cromwell that he had decided to appoint the king as his heir, a decision he later confirmed. In 1536 he was appointed Lord President of the Council of the North.

Wressle Castle in Yorkshire, where Robert Aske asked Henry Percy to join the Pilgrimage of Grace

In September 1536 he was granted £ 1,000 to come to London to make decisions about his lands. The matter was not over when the Pilgrimage of Grace began. Northumberland's brothers and his mother were public supporters of the rebels, the earl himself remaining loyal to the king. The rebel leader, Robert Aske , and his men came to Wressle Castle, where Northumberland lay sick in bed, and asked him to hand over control of his lands to his brothers or to join the rebels. He refused both. Aske sent him to York to protect him from his followers who wanted to have him beheaded.

Northumberland moved to Newington Green, where he died on June 29, 1537. He was buried in Hackney Church.

The county fell into Abeyance after his death , but was later taken over by his nephew Thomas. Northumberland's widow, Mary, did not die until 1572. He also had an illegitimate daughter, Isabel, who married Henry Tempest of Broughton in 1544.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karen Lindsey: Divorced, Beheaded, Survived . Perseus Books, 1995.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Percy, Henry Algernon (1502? -1537) (DNB00) Dictionary of National Biography. In: Wikisource. Retrieved October 27, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . 2005, p. 63 .
4. ↑ David Starkey: Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII . 2004, ISBN 0-06-000550-5 , pp. 22 (English).
5. ↑ RW Hoyle: Percy, Henry . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .
6. ^ GW Bernard: The Tudor Nobility . Manchester University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-7190-3625-9 .
7. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . 2005, p. 166 .
8. ↑ Barbara Harris: English aristocratic women 1450-1500: marriage, family, property and careers . 2002, ISBN 0-19-505620-5 , pp. 177 (English).
9. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . 2005, p. 339-341 .