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Sketch for a Portrait of William Parr, Marquis of Northampton, by Hans Holbein, c.1538-40. Tate Gallery.
Signature of William Parr, Marquess of Northampton  from Doyle's 'Official Baronage'
William Parr, Marquess of Northampton (1513-1571)

WILLIAM PARR, Marquis of Northampton (1513-1571), was only son of Sir Thomas Parr, K.G. (d. 1518), of Kendal and of Greens Norton, Northamptonshire, by his wife Maud (d. 1531), daughter and coheiress of Sir Thomas Green of Greens Norton and Boughton; he was nephew of Sir William (afterwards Lord) Parr of Horton (d. 1546), and brother of Catherine Parr.

He was born, probably at Kendal Castle, on 14 Aug. 1513, and was educated at Cambridge under Cuthbert Tunstal, who was one of his father's friends. His father died on 12 Nov. 1518, and he succeeded to the estate. He was knighted on 18 Oct. 1537, took part against the northern rebels, was one of those who tried the Lincolnshire prisoners in 1538, and was created Baron Parr and Ros of Kendal on 9 March 1539. On 16 Dec. of the same year he was made keeper of the parks at Brigstock. On 25 May 1540 he became steward of the manor of Writtle, Essex, and in November following captain of the band of gentlemen-pensioners. In 1541 he was keeper of the park at Moulton, and had trouble with the tenants there.

When it was decided that his sister Catherine should marry Henry VIII, he naturally received additional preferment. In March 1543 he became a privy councillor, and lord warden and keeper of the marches towards Holland; he was also placed upon the council of the north, and made K.G. on 23 April 1543. On 23 Dec. 1543 he was created Earl of Essex, this title being chosen because it had, in 1539, become extinct on the death of his father-in-law, Henry Bourchier, second earl of Essex. Cromwell had been created Earl of Essex in April 1540, but was executed three months later. Parr also received in 1543 the barony of Hart in Northamptonshire. In the expedition to Boulogne in 1544 Essex was chief captain of the men-at-arms; and, as a further proof of Henry VIII's confidence in him, he was an assistant-councillor to the king's executors, Henry leaving him £200 by his will. He was one of the commissioners for the trial of the Earl of Surrey on 13 Jan. 1546-7.

Essex was one of the commissioners to determine claims at the coronation of Edward VI on 5 Feb. 1546-7, and on the 15th of the same month was created Marquis of Northampton. He was a prominent supporter of Somerset, and was called to the privy council on 12 March 1546-7. On 24 June 1549 he was at Cambridge, and heard the disputations as to the sacrament of the altar. In July 1549 he was created lord-lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, and Norfolk, and went against Kett in the same month to raise the siege of Norwich. He was evidently no general, and Kett easily defeated some of his troops. He was therefore deprived in August of the command, which was given to Dudley.

On 4 Feb. 1549-50 he was created great chamberlain; in April he was one of those who received the French hostages after the surrender of Boulogne. In June 1551 he conducted an embassy to France to invest Henry II with the order of the Garter; and he was one of those commissioned to suggest the marriage between Edward VI and the French king's daughter. In the autumn of 1551 Margaret of Scotland paid a visit to the English king, and Northampton, who was still in command of the band of gentlemen-pensioners, received her at Hampton Court. In the same capacity he was fourth captain in the great muster held before the king in Hyde Park on 7 Dec. 1551.

Northampton was a friend of Northumberland, hence his influence had grown on Somerset's fall; Somerset's conspiracy was supposed to be directed against Northumberland, Pembroke, and Northampton. He duly signed the instrument of the council agreeing to the succession of Lady Jane Grey, and went with Northumberland into the eastern counties to maintain her cause. After Queen Mary's triumph he was committed to the Tower on 26 July 1553, and on 18 Aug. was arraigned and condemned to be executed. He was attainted and deprived of the Garter, but he was released from the Tower on 31 Dec. 1553, and pardoned on 13 Jan. 1553-4. Arrested again on suspicion of complicity in Wyat's insurrection on 26 Jan., he was released once more on 24 March 1554. He was also restored in blood on 5 May 1554, but he was not restored to his rank, and was known during the rest of Queen Mary's reign as Sir William Parr; he only recovered part of his estates. Doubtless his relationship to the queen-dowager accounted for the mercy shown him.

On the accession of Queen Elizabeth his fortunes revived. He was made a privy councillor on 25 Dec. 1558, and was one of those whom the queen consulted respecting the prayer-book. He became once more Marquis of Northampton on 13 Jan. 1558-9. When the trial of Wentworth for the loss of Calais took place on 20 April 1559, Northampton acted as high steward. He was again made a knight of the Garter on 24 April 1559; on 22 July 1559 he was one of the commissioners to visit the dioceses of Oxford, Lincoln, Peterborough, and Coventry and Lichfield, and in October of the same year received the Prince of Sweden, then on a visit to England. He is mentioned as a member of Gray's Inn in 1562. On 18 March 1570-1 he was created M.A. by the university of Cambridge. Elizabeth seems to have liked him. She stopped to inquire about his health, when he was ill with an ague, on her way into London both in November 1558 and on July 1561. When he died, on 28 Oct. 1571, at Warwick, she paid for his funeral at St. Mary's Church there. In spite of considerable traffic in abbey lands and of grants made to him at his sister's marriage and later, he did not die rich.

Northampton had a most unfortunate matrimonial history. He married, first, in 1541, Anne, daughter of Henry Bourchier, second earl of Essex. In 1547 he divorced her, and, apparently before the proceedings were properly completed, he married Elizabeth Brook, daughter of Lord Cobham. He had to separate from her for a time in order to get an act of parliament passed, in 1548, to make any children of his first wife illegitimate (a printed copy of this act is in the British Museum). In 1552 he procured another act to secure the legality of his second marriage. The second marchioness was influential at court, and helped to bring about the marriage of Lord Guilford Dudley and Lady Jane Grey. One of the earliest acts of parliament in Queen Mary's reign repealed the act of 1552, so that the position of the marchioness was one of some uncertainty. On her death in 1565, Northampton married, thirdly, Helena, daughter of Wolfgang Suavenberg, who was either a German or a Swede. He left no issue, and what property he had passed to his nephew Henry Herbert, second earl of Pembroke, son of his sister Anne.





      Source:

      Archbold, W. A. J. "William Parr, Marquis of Northampton."
      Dictionary of National Biography. Vol XLIII. Sidney Lee, Ed.
      London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1895. 367-368.




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This page was created on April 16, 2009. Last updated February 24, 2023.







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Isabella of France, Queen of England
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Richard Fitzalan, 4. Earl of Arundel
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Henry IV
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Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland
Sir Henry Percy, "Harry Hotspur"
Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester
Owen Glendower
The Battle of Shrewsbury, 1403
Archbishop Richard Scrope
Thomas Mowbray, 3. E. Nottingham
John Mowbray, 2. Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Fitzalan, 5. Earl of Arundel
Henry V
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John, Duke of Bedford
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Richard, Earl of Cambridge
Henry, Baron Scrope of Masham
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Thomas Montacute, E. Salisbury
Richard Beauchamp, E. of Warwick
Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick
Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter
Cardinal Henry Beaufort
John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset
Sir John Fastolf
John Holland, 2. Duke of Exeter
Archbishop John Stafford
Archbishop John Kemp
Catherine of Valois
Owen Tudor
John Fitzalan, 7. Earl of Arundel
John, Lord Tiptoft

Charles VII, King of France
Joan of Arc
Louis XI, King of France
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy
The Battle of Agincourt, 1415
The Battle of Castillon, 1453



The Wars of the Roses 1455-1485
Causes of the Wars of the Roses
The House of Lancaster
The House of York
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The First Battle of St. Albans, 1455
The Battle of Blore Heath, 1459
The Rout of Ludford, 1459
The Battle of Northampton, 1460
The Battle of Wakefield, 1460
The Battle of Mortimer's Cross, 1461
The 2nd Battle of St. Albans, 1461
The Battle of Towton, 1461
The Battle of Hedgeley Moor, 1464
The Battle of Hexham, 1464
The Battle of Edgecote, 1469
The Battle of Losecoat Field, 1470
The Battle of Barnet, 1471
The Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471
The Treaty of Pecquigny, 1475
The Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485
The Battle of Stoke Field, 1487

Henry VI
Margaret of Anjou
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
Edward IV
Elizabeth Woodville
Richard Woodville, 1. Earl Rivers
Anthony Woodville, 2. Earl Rivers
Jane Shore
Edward V
Richard III
George, Duke of Clarence

Ralph Neville, 2. Earl of Westmorland
Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick
Edward Neville, Baron Bergavenny
William Neville, Lord Fauconberg
Robert Neville, Bishop of Salisbury
John Neville, Marquis of Montagu
George Neville, Archbishop of York
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Henry Beaufort, 3. Duke of Somerset
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Margaret Beaufort
Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond
Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke
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Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
Humphrey Stafford, E. of Devon
Thomas, Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby
Sir William Stanley
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Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex
John Mowbray, 3. Duke of Norfolk
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John Howard, Duke of Norfolk
Henry Percy, 2. E. Northumberland
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William, Lord Hastings
Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter
William Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel
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John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford
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Thomas de Clifford, 8. Baron Clifford
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John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester
Thomas Grey, 1. Marquis Dorset
Sir Andrew Trollop
Archbishop John Morton
Edward Plantagenet, E. of Warwick
John Talbot, 2. E. Shrewsbury
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George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent
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James Touchet, 7th Baron Audley
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Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns
Thomas, Lord Scales
John, Lord Lovel and Holand
Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell
Sir Richard Ratcliffe
William Catesby
Ralph, 4th Lord Cromwell
Jack Cade's Rebellion, 1450


Tudor Period

King Henry VII
Queen Elizabeth of York
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Lambert Simnel
Perkin Warbeck
The Battle of Blackheath, 1497

King Ferdinand II of Aragon
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Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

King Henry VIII
Queen Catherine of Aragon
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Queen Catherine Howard
Queen Katherine Parr

King Edward VI
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Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond

Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland
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The Battle of Flodden Field, 1513
James V, King of Scotland
Mary of Guise, Queen of Scotland

Mary Tudor, Queen of France
Louis XII, King of France
Francis I, King of France
The Battle of the Spurs, 1513
Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1520
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Eustace Chapuys, Imperial Ambassador
The Siege of Boulogne, 1544

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
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Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex
Thomas, Lord Audley
Thomas Wriothesley, E. Southampton
Sir Richard Rich

Edward Stafford, D. of Buckingham
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Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford
John Russell, Earl of Bedford
Thomas Grey, 2. Marquis of Dorset
Henry Grey, D. of Suffolk
Charles Somerset, Earl of Worcester
George Talbot, 4. E. Shrewsbury
Francis Talbot, 5. E. Shrewsbury
Henry Algernon Percy,
     5th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Algernon Percy,
     6th Earl of Northumberland
Ralph Neville, 4. E. Westmorland
Henry Neville, 5. E. Westmorland
William Paulet, Marquis of Winchester
Sir Francis Bryan
Sir Nicholas Carew
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford
Thomas Seymour, Lord Admiral
Edward Seymour, Protector Somerset
Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury
Henry Pole, Lord Montague
Sir Geoffrey Pole
Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland
Henry Manners, Earl of Rutland
Henry Bourchier, 2. Earl of Essex
Robert Radcliffe, 1. Earl of Sussex
Henry Radcliffe, 2. Earl of Sussex
George Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon
Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter
George Neville, Baron Bergavenny
Sir Edward Neville
William, Lord Paget
William Sandys, Baron Sandys
William Fitzwilliam, E. Southampton
Sir Anthony Browne
Sir Thomas Wriothesley
Sir William Kingston
George Brooke, Lord Cobham
Sir Richard Southwell
Thomas Fiennes, 9th Lord Dacre
Sir Francis Weston
Henry Norris
Lady Jane Grey
Sir Thomas Arundel
Sir Richard Sackville
Sir William Petre
Sir John Cheke
Walter Haddon, L.L.D
Sir Peter Carew
Sir John Mason
Nicholas Wotton
John Taylor
Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Younger

Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio
Cardinal Reginald Pole
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester
Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London
Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London
John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester
John Aylmer, Bishop of London
Thomas Linacre
William Grocyn
Archbishop William Warham
Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham
Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester
Edward Fox, Bishop of Hereford

Pope Julius II
Pope Leo X
Pope Clement VII
Pope Paul III
Pope Pius V

Pico della Mirandola
Desiderius Erasmus
Martin Bucer
Richard Pace
Christopher Saint-German
Thomas Tallis
Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent
Hans Holbein, the Younger
The Sweating Sickness

Dissolution of the Monasteries
Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536
Robert Aske
Anne Askew
Lord Thomas Darcy
Sir Robert Constable

Oath of Supremacy
The Act of Supremacy, 1534
The First Act of Succession, 1534
The Third Act of Succession, 1544
The Ten Articles, 1536
The Six Articles, 1539
The Second Statute of Repeal, 1555
The Act of Supremacy, 1559
Articles Touching Preachers, 1583

Queen Elizabeth I
William Cecil, Lord Burghley
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Sir Francis Walsingham
Sir Nicholas Bacon
Sir Thomas Bromley

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick
Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon
Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley
Sir Francis Knollys
Katherine "Kat" Ashley
Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester
George Talbot, 6. E. of Shrewsbury
Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury
Gilbert Talbot, 7. E. of Shrewsbury
Sir Henry Sidney
Sir Robert Sidney
Archbishop Matthew Parker
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich
Sir Christopher Hatton
Edward Courtenay, E. Devonshire
Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland
Thomas Radcliffe, 3. Earl of Sussex
Henry Radcliffe, 4. Earl of Sussex
Robert Radcliffe, 5. Earl of Sussex
William Parr, Marquis of Northampton
Henry Wriothesley, 2. Southampton
Henry Wriothesley, 3. Southampton
Charles Neville, 6. E. Westmorland
Thomas Percy, 7. E. Northumberland
Henry Percy, 8. E. Northumberland
Henry Percy, 9. E. Nothumberland
William Herbert, 1. Earl of Pembroke
Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Howard, 1. Earl of Northampton
Thomas Howard, 1. Earl of Suffolk
Henry Hastings, 3. E. of Huntingdon
Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland
Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland
Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland
Henry FitzAlan, 12. Earl of Arundel
Thomas, Earl Arundell of Wardour
Edward Somerset, E. of Worcester
William Davison
Sir Walter Mildmay
Sir Ralph Sadler
Sir Amyas Paulet
Gilbert Gifford
Anthony Browne, Viscount Montague
François, Duke of Alençon & Anjou

Mary, Queen of Scots
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell
Anthony Babington and the Babington Plot
John Knox

Philip II of Spain
The Spanish Armada, 1588
Sir Francis Drake
Sir John Hawkins

William Camden
Archbishop Whitgift
Martin Marprelate Controversy
John Penry (Martin Marprelate)
Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury
John Dee, Alchemist

Philip Henslowe
Edward Alleyn
The Blackfriars Theatre
The Fortune Theatre
The Rose Theatre
The Swan Theatre
Children's Companies
The Admiral's Men
The Lord Chamberlain's Men
Citizen Comedy
The Isle of Dogs, 1597

Common Law
Court of Common Pleas
Court of King's Bench
Court of Star Chamber
Council of the North
Fleet Prison
Assize
Attainder
First Fruits & Tenths
Livery and Maintenance
Oyer and terminer
Praemunire


The Stuarts

King James I of England
Anne of Denmark
Henry, Prince of Wales
The Gunpowder Plot, 1605
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset
Arabella Stuart, Lady Lennox

William Alabaster
Bishop Hall
Bishop Thomas Morton
Archbishop William Laud
John Selden
Lucy Harington, Countess of Bedford
Henry Lawes

King Charles I
Queen Henrietta Maria

Long Parliament
Rump Parliament
Kentish Petition, 1642

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford
John Digby, Earl of Bristol
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax
Robert Devereux, 3rd E. of Essex
Robert Sidney, 2. E. of Leicester
Algernon Percy, E. of Northumberland
Henry Montagu, Earl of Manchester
Edward Montagu, 2. Earl of Manchester

The Restoration

King Charles II
King James II
Test Acts

Greenwich Palace
Hatfield House
Richmond Palace
Windsor Palace
Woodstock Manor

The Cinque Ports
Mermaid Tavern
Malmsey Wine
Great Fire of London, 1666
Merchant Taylors' School
Westminster School
The Sanctuary at Westminster
"Sanctuary"


Images:

Chart of the English Succession from William I through Henry VII

Medieval English Drama

London c1480, MS Royal 16
London, 1510, the earliest view in print
Map of England from Saxton's Descriptio Angliae, 1579
London in late 16th century
Location Map of Elizabethan London
Plan of the Bankside, Southwark, in Shakespeare's time
Detail of Norden's Map of the Bankside, 1593
Bull and Bear Baiting Rings from the Agas Map (1569-1590, pub. 1631)
Sketch of the Swan Theatre, c. 1596
Westminster in the Seventeenth Century, by Hollar
Visscher's View of London, 1616
Larger Visscher's View in Sections
c. 1690. View of London Churches, after the Great Fire
The Yard of the Tabard Inn from Thornbury, Old and New London




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