Elizabeth Blount
The Blount family held lands at Kinlet in Shropshire, a quiet corner of England far from the noise of London. Sir John Blount served as a loyal servant to the English royal family during the early 1500s. He accompanied King Henry VIII on his campaign to France in 1513 when war broke out against Louis XII of France. The family possessed landed gentry status but lacked significant national influence until Elizabeth gave birth to Henry FitzRoy. Her parents married in childhood in 1491 according to post-mortem records of Sir Thomas Blount of Kinlet. Sir John was the eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Blount who had been knighted by Henry VII at the battle of Stoke in 1487. His wife Katherine came from Knightley in Staffordshire where she inherited many manors. She was the only legitimate child of Sir Hugh Peshall a soldier of high distinction. Sir Hugh served as Knight of the Body to Henry VII and attended that king constantly. He died as a young man in 1488 leaving his daughter Katherine a small child. John Blount appeared not more than seven years old at the time of his marriage to Katherine Peshall. He is stated to have been forty years old and more in 1524.
Elizabeth arrived at Court by the spring of 1512 serving as a maid-of-honour to Katherine of Aragon. A list from the King's Year-book for the following year shows an entry dated from Greenwich on Sunday the 8th of May 1513. The record states that a hundred shillings is due to Elizabeth Blount upon a warrant signed for her last year's wages ended at the annunciation of Our Lady last passed. As a young girl she caught the eye of the King and became his mistress during 1514 or 1515. Her relationship with Henry VIII lasted about eight years after the suggestion of an affair came to light. In the Christmas mummery held at Greenwich in 1514 four ladies including Elizabeth performed together. They wore gowns of white satin lined with blue hoops and mantles of blue velvet. Their bonnets were made of blue velvet while coifs featured damask gold piped fillets of damask gold. William S. Childe-Pemberton writes that the blond beauty of the girl Elizabeth set off to perfection by her blue and white costume was the theme of general admiration. Hall's Chronicle records that this damosel in singing dancing and all goodly pastimes exceeded all others. She excelled everybody in all goodly pastimes high spirits and energy.
On the 15th of June 1519 Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy. He later became Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham. This child stood as the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII whom the King acknowledged as his own. After the child's birth the affair ended for unknown reasons though it is thought the resulting child was more of a happy accident than an attempted career move. Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk wrote from France on the 25th of October 1514 sending a message to King Henry VIII. The postscript reads: And I beseech your Grace to tell Mistress Blount and Mistress Carru the next time that I write unto them or send them tokens they shall either write to me or send me tokens again. For proving that King Henry was capable of fathering healthy sons Elizabeth Blount prompted a popular saying often heard during and after this period. The phrase Blessed ee Bessie Blount circulated widely among contemporaries. Soon after the birth of his son the King began an affair with Mary Boleyn who may have been partly the reason for Blount's dismissal. Like Blount Boleyn was never formally recognised as the King's mistress.
The fact that Henry fathered a healthy son with Elizabeth would later prove important during the king's Great Matter. Katherine experienced at least seven pregnancies during her marriage to Henry. She gave birth to a son named Henry Duke of Cornwall in 1511 but the prince died of unknown causes just seven weeks later. After the birth of Katherine and Henry's daughter Mary their only child to survive infancy all subsequent pregnancies ended in miscarriages or stillbirths. Many suggest that Henry FitzRoy's birth further affirmed Henry's desires to end his marriage to Katherine. The birth of FitzRoy served as evidence of Henry's ability to sire a living albeit illegitimate son. This stirred Henry's skepticism and apprehensions about the validity of his marriage to Katherine. At one point in the 1520s it was suggested that her son should be named the King's legal heir. J. J. Scarisbrick notes in Henry VIII (1968) that although nothing came of these plans she remained an object of interest to many contemporaries. Her status as mother of such an important child made her notable among Henry VIII's mistresses.
In 1522 Blount entered an arranged marriage with Gilbert Tailboys 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme whose family had a history of insanity. The couple settled in Lincolnshire and later had three children including George Robert and Elizabeth. After her marriage Blount does not figure much in the day-to-day affairs of the Tudor monarchy or official records. A letter from John Palsgrave dated 1529 suggests her involvement in the duke's upbringing was greater than previously believed. On the 23rd of July 1536 Blount's son Henry FitzRoy died probably of tuberculosis consumption. Her husband Gilbert Lord Tailboys also predeceased her dying in 1530 but leaving her a widow of comfortable means. By her marriage to Tailboys she had three further children two sons George and Robert and one daughter Elizabeth. After the death of Tailboys Blount was wooed unsuccessfully by Lord Leonard Grey. She subsequently married a younger man named Edward Clinton or Fiennes 9th Baron Clinton thus becoming Elizabeth Fiennes. They were married some time between 1533 and 1535 producing three daughters. For a short while she served as lady-in-waiting to Henry's fourth wife Anne of Cleves.
Blount returned to her husband's estates where she died shortly after July 1540. It has traditionally been asserted that the cause of her death was consumption. She was not buried with either husband. Compared with Henry's first two wives Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn Blount's importance to history is arguably negligible. Nevertheless her status as Henry Fitzroy's mother endows her with notable significance amongst Henry VIII's mistresses. The approximate date of this romantic event is confirmed by the prosaic record of a grant from the King dated February 12 in the twenty-sixth year of his reign 1534-1535. The grant provided three tuns of Gascon wine yearly of the prizes of the port of Boston Lincoln to Elizabeth late Lady Taylbois now wife of the Lord Clinton. Agnes Strickland describes her as a Great Lady of the Queen's Household to Katherine Howard. Her legacy remains tied to the birth of Henry's only acknowledged illegitimate child who briefly held titles including Duke of Richmond and Somerset. No known portrait exists but a stylised brass bears her likeness at Kinlet church.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When was Elizabeth Blount born and who were her parents?
Elizabeth Blount's parents married in 1491 according to post-mortem records of Sir Thomas Blount of Kinlet. Her father was Sir John Blount, the eldest son and heir of Sir Thomas Blount who had been knighted by Henry VII at the battle of Stoke in 1487. Her mother Katherine came from Knightley in Staffordshire where she inherited many manors.
How did Elizabeth Blount become the mistress of King Henry VIII?
Elizabeth arrived at Court by the spring of 1512 serving as a maid-of-honour to Katherine of Aragon. She caught the eye of the King and became his mistress during 1514 or 1515 after performing in Christmas mummery held at Greenwich in 1514. Her relationship with Henry VIII lasted about eight years until the affair ended for unknown reasons shortly after their son was born.
Who was Henry FitzRoy and when was he born to Elizabeth Blount?
On the 15th of June 1519 Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy. He later became Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham. This child stood as the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII whom the King acknowledged as his own.
When did Elizabeth Blount die and what was her cause of death?
Blount returned to her husband's estates where she died shortly after July 1540. It has traditionally been asserted that the cause of her death was consumption. She was not buried with either husband Gilbert Lord Tailboys or Edward Clinton.
What marriages did Elizabeth Blount have after leaving King Henry VIII?
In 1522 Blount entered an arranged marriage with Gilbert Tailboys 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme whose family had a history of insanity. After her husband Gilbert Lord Tailboys also predeceased her dying in 1530, she subsequently married a younger man named Edward Clinton or Fiennes 9th Baron Clinton between 1533 and 1535. They were married some time between 1533 and 1535 producing three daughters.