Mary Percy, Countess of Northumberland
Mary Percy, Countess of Northumberland, died on the 16th of April 1572 holding a secret that had once shaken the court of Henry VIII. She was the wife of a man who had never wanted her, a countess who spent her marriage trying to escape it, and a woman suspected in her final years of sheltering a faith the crown had outlawed. Her story begins not with her own ambitions, but with another woman's: Anne Boleyn.
When Cardinal Thomas Wolsey broke up the love affair between Henry Percy and Anne Boleyn, he did so by invoking a precontract. That precontract was with Mary Talbot. Percy had been betrothed to her since 1516, and Wolsey used that prior bond as the instrument to separate the lovers. Mary had not chosen this role. She had been born one of eleven children to George Talbot, the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and she moved through life in the slipstream of decisions made by men far above her. What happens when a noblewoman turns that passive position into an active weapon is the question her life answers.
George Talbot, the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, was Mary's father, and the family she was born into carried extraordinary weight in the English aristocracy. Her mother was Anne Hastings, whose own father was William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings. Through her grandmother Katherine Neville, Mary was connected to one of the most formidable power brokers of the previous century: Katherine's brother was Richard Neville, the 16th Earl of Warwick, the figure history would come to call the Kingmaker.
On her father's side the lineage reached equally far. Her paternal grandmother, Catherine Stafford, was the daughter of Humphrey Stafford, the 1st Duke of Buckingham. These were not peripheral names in English history. They were the people who had made and unmade kings within living memory. Mary Talbot grew up understanding that noble blood carried obligations as much as privileges, and that marriages among such families were rarely made for love.
In January 1524, Lady Mary was compelled to marry Henry Percy, heir to the earldom of Northumberland. Percy was at that moment infatuated with Anne Boleyn, who was then serving as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon. The relationship between Percy and Anne had grown serious enough that Wolsey felt compelled to intervene personally.
Wolsey reminded Percy that his precontract with Mary Talbot dated back to 1516 and could not simply be set aside. Percy's father, the 5th Earl of Northumberland, was summoned to court and briefed on the situation. He then took his son north to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, removing him from Anne's orbit. The exact wedding date remains disputed; scholars have placed it anywhere between September 1523 and August 1526. What is not disputed is that the marriage was unhappy almost from its first days, and that the couple never had children.
Henry Percy succeeded his father as the 6th Earl of Northumberland on the 19th of May 1527, and Mary took the title Countess of Northumberland. The elevation in rank did nothing to improve the relationship.
In June 1532, Mary made a move that was audacious for a noblewoman of her era: she petitioned for an annulment. Her stated grounds were that her husband had a precontract with Anne Boleyn, which would have invalidated their own marriage. The irony was pointed. Wolsey had originally broken up Percy and Anne by invoking the precontract with Mary herself; now Mary was invoking a precontract with Anne to escape Percy. Henry VIII personally questioned Percy about the claim. Parliament threw out the petition. The Percys remained legally married. Anne Boleyn, by that point, was on her way to becoming queen, and a finding that Percy had a valid precontract with her would have complicated the king's own plans enormously. Henry Percy died on the 30th of June 1537, years before Mary.
Mary outlived her husband by more than three decades, dying in 1572 at an age when England had passed through the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and into the reign of Elizabeth I. During that long widowhood she received a grant of abbey lands from the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the great redistribution of ecclesiastical property that followed the break with Rome.
That grant did not insulate her from suspicion. In her later years, authorities regarded her as a likely Roman Catholic and believed she was a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was also suspected of hearing mass in her own house, an act that carried serious legal risk under Elizabethan religious settlement. She was buried in Sheffield church. The woman who had spent so much of her life entangled in the political calculations of others ended it under the watchful eye of a Protestant state, remembered chiefly as a footnote to Anne Boleyn's story but having outlasted nearly everyone who had defined the terms of her existence.
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Common questions
Who was Mary Percy, Countess of Northumberland?
Mary Percy, Countess of Northumberland, was an English noblewoman and courtier who lived during the reign of Henry VIII and died on the 16th of April 1572. She was born Mary Talbot, daughter of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and became Countess when her husband Henry Percy succeeded to the earldom on the 19th of May 1527.
Why did Henry Percy marry Mary Talbot instead of Anne Boleyn?
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey broke up the affair between Henry Percy and Anne Boleyn by invoking Percy's precontract with Mary Talbot, to whom he had been betrothed since 1516. Percy's father, the 5th Earl of Northumberland, was summoned to court and then took Percy north to Alnwick Castle to separate him from Anne. The marriage to Mary followed, with the date estimated between September 1523 and August 1526.
Did Mary Percy try to get an annulment from Henry Percy?
Mary Percy petitioned for an annulment in June 1532, arguing that her husband had a precontract with Anne Boleyn that invalidated their marriage. Henry VIII personally questioned Percy about the claim, but Parliament rejected the petition and the couple remained legally married.
What family was Mary Percy born into?
Mary Percy was born Mary Talbot, one of eleven children of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his first wife Anne Hastings. Her maternal grandmother Katherine Neville was a younger sister of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and her paternal grandmother Catherine Stafford was the daughter of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham.
When did Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, die?
Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, died on the 30th of June 1537, many years before his wife Mary, who survived until the 16th of April 1572.
Was Mary Percy, Countess of Northumberland, suspected of being Catholic?
In her later years, Mary Percy was suspected of being a Roman Catholic, of favouring Mary, Queen of Scots, and of hearing mass in her own house. She died in 1572 and was buried in Sheffield church, having received a grant of abbey lands from the Dissolution of the Monasteries during her widowhood.