Anne Bourchier, 7th Baroness Bourchier facts for kids

Anne Bourchier (1517 – 28 January 1571) was the suo jure 7th Baroness Bourchier, suo jure Lady Lovayne, and Baroness Parr of Kendal. She was the first wife of William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, Earl of Essex, and the sister-in-law of Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII of England.

She created a scandal in 1541 when she deserted her husband to elope with her lover, John Lyngfield (John Hunt or Huntley), the prior of St. James's Church, Tanbridge, Surrey, by whom she would have several illegitimate children. In 1543, Lord Parr obtained an Act of Parliament repudiating Anne and nullifying their marriage.

Family

Lady Anne Bourchier was born in 1517, the only child of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, 6th Baron Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier, 3rd Count of Eu, and Mary Say, who was a lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII's first Queen consort, Catherine of Aragon. Her paternal grandparents were Sir William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier and Lady Anne Woodville, a younger sister of the English queen consort Elizabeth Woodville. Anne was related to three queen consorts of Henry VIII; Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Howard who all shared the same great-grandmother Elizabeth Cheney.

As the only child of the last Bourchier Earl of Essex, as well as the contingent heiress of the Countess of Oxford, Anne was one of the wealthiest heiresses in England.

The Bourchier wealth derived from the 14th century marriage of Sir William Bourchier to Eleanor de Lovayne (27 March 1345 – 5 October 1397), a rich heiress in her own right.

Anne had one known son, named John Parr, who was born around 1534.

Marriage and inheritance

On 9 February 1527, Anne was married to Sir William Parr, the only son of Sir Thomas Parr, Sheriff of Northamptonshire and Maud Green. Anne was approximately ten years old at the time of her marriage which had been diligently arranged by her ambitious mother-in-law. Anne later succeeded to the titles of suo jure 7th Baroness Bourchier and Lady Lovayne on 13 March 1540 at the time of her father's accidental death. His viscounty of Bourchier and earldom of Essex did not pass to her, however, and both titles became extinct upon his death. Her husband had been created 1st Baron Parr of Kendal in 1539.

William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, husband of Lady Anne Bourchier

Queen Catherine Parr, the sister-in-law of Lady Anne Bourchier

Later years

Upon the accession of Queen Mary I, Parr was arrested and was committed to the Tower after his traitorous complicity with John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland's failed plot against Mary to place Lady Jane Grey upon the throne. After Parr was sentenced to death on 18 August 1553, Anne went to court and intervened on Parr's behalf with Queen Mary I in hopes that they [she] would be able to keep their estates. Parr was released. The bill which had declared their marriage null and void was reversed on 24 March 1554. That December, Anne used the reversal to her advantage and was granted an annuity of £100. Again in December 1556, Anne was granted another annuity of £450. She remained at the royal court until the ascension of Elizabeth I. ..... Parr was restored to blood and was re-created Marquess of Northampton, re-elected to the Order of the Garter, and was made a privy councillor among other things.

She had several more children by John Lyngfield but they, like her first child, were legally declared bastards. Only one daughter, Mary, is documented as having lived to adulthood. She married a Thomas York by whom she had children, but they all lived in obscurity. Author Charlotte Merton suggested that Katherine Nott, who held an unspecified position in Queen Elizabeth I's household from 1577 to 1578, was also a daughter of Anne.

Sir Robert Rochester and Sir Edward Waldegrave held Benington Park, in Hertfordshire, as feoffees for her use; however, upon the death of Rochester in 1557, Waldegrave transferred the property to Sir John Butler. In response, Anne brought a lawsuit against Waldegrave and Butler which was heard in the Court of Chancery. She won the case but Butler petitioned to retry the case and continued to regard the park as his own. Butler's petition was apparently unsuccessful because following Queen Elizabeth I's accession to the throne in November 1558, Anne had retired to Benington Park where she quietly spent the rest of her life.

Death

Anne Bourchier died on 28 January 1571 at Benington. Parr died the same year and was buried in the Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Warwick. His funeral and burial was paid by the Queen. He had married two times after Anne, but only his third wife, Helena Snakenborg, whom he had married after Anne's death in May was considered legal. He fathered no children by any of his wives and the little money and estates he had left were passed to his cousins.

Upon Anne's death, the barony of Bourchier passed to her cousin, Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex.

Sources

1. Martienssen, Anthony (1973). Queen Katherine Parr. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. ISBN: 0-07-040610-3
2. www.thePeerage.com.