Boleyn, George, Viscount Rochford (c. 1504–1536), courtier and diplomat, was the only son of Thomas Boleyn, earl of Wiltshire (1476/7–1539), and Elizabeth Howard (d. 1538), eldest daughter of Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey and later second duke of Norfolk (1443–1524). He first appears in the public record participating in the Christmas revels of 1514, and he signalled his father's success when he became a royal page in 1516. His earliest recorded grants resulted from his father's service to the crown and his sister ...
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Bourchier, Henry, second earl of Essex (1472–1540), magnate, was the son of Sir William Bourchier (d. 1483) and his wife, Anne (d. 1489), daughter of Richard Woodville (Wydeville), Earl Rivers. His father's death made Henry heir to his grandfather, Henry Bourchier, first ...
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Brandon, Charles, first duke of Suffolk (c. 1484–1545), magnate, courtier, and soldier, was the second but only surviving son of Sir William Brandon (d. 1485) and his wife, Elizabeth Bruyn (d. 1494) of South Ockendon. The manner of Sir William's death, killed at ...
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Charles Brandon, first duke of Suffolk (c. 1484–1545) by unknown artist, c. 1540–45 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Brereton, William (c. 1487x90–1536), courtier and administrator, was the sixth of the nine sons of Sir Randolph Brereton (d. 1530) of Malpas, chamberlain of the county palatine of Cheshire, and Eleanor, daughter of Piers Dutton of Halton. Sir Randolph's family must be distinguished from that of his distant relative ...
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Carew, Sir Nicholas (b. in or before 1496, d. 1539), diplomat and courtier, was the eldest son of Sir Richard Carew (d. 1520) of Beddington, Surrey, and Maline, daughter of Robert Oxenbridge (d. 1488) of Ford Place in Brede, Sussex. The main line of his ancient family had settled at ...
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Sir Nicholas Carew (b. in or before 1496, d. 1539) by unknown artist in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry KT
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Clifford, Henry, first earl of Cumberland (c. 1493–1542), magnate, was the elder son of Henry Clifford, tenth Baron Clifford (1454–1523), magnate, and his first wife, Anne (d. 1508), daughter of Sir John St John of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, and his wife, Alice. He had a brother, ...
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Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex (b. in or before 1485, d. 1540) Hans Holbein the younger, c. 1533–4 © The Frick Collection, New York
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Cromwell, Thomas, earl of Essex (b. in or before 1485, d. 1540), royal minister, was the son of Walter Cromwell of Putney, Surrey, who made his name there as a blacksmith, fuller, and cloth merchant, as well as the owner of both a hostelry and a brewery. All that is known of his mother is that she was the aunt of ...
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Darcy, Thomas, first Baron Darcy of Chiche (1506–1558), courtier and administrator, was born on 4 December 1506, the only son of Roger Darcy (d. 1508) of Danbury, Essex, and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk. His father, who had been an esquire of the body to ...
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Howell A. Lloyd
Devereux, Walter, first Viscount Hereford (c. 1489–1558), administrator and nobleman, was the son and heir of John Devereux, second Baron Ferrers of Chartley (c.1463/4–1501), and his wife, Cecily (d. 1493), heir of the houses of Bourchier and de Bohun and niece of ...
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Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (1532/33–1588) by unknown artist, c. 1575 © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester (1532/3–1588), courtier and magnate, was born on 24 June 1532 or 1533, the fifth son of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland (1504–1553), royal minister, and his wife, Jane Dudley (1508/9–1555) [see under Dudley, John, duke of Northumberland (1504–1553)...
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Fisher [Hawkins], Thomas (1515/16–1577), member of parliament and landowner, said to be aged thirty-three in 1549, was the son of Thomas Hawkins or Fisher of Warwick, a man of complete obscurity. Dugdale states that the son adopted the alternative surname Fisher because his father was a fishmonger, but this seems an inherently unlikely move for a man moving up the social scale; ...
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Gage, Sir John (1479–1556), military administrator and courtier, was born on 28 October 1479 at Burstow, Surrey, the only son of William Gage of Burstow (d. 1497) and Agnes (d. 1501), daughter of Bartholomew Bolney, of Bolney, Sussex. He was baptized the same day at ...
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Sir John Gage (1479–1556) by Hans Holbein the younger The Royal Collection © 2004 HM Queen Elizabeth II
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Narasingha P. Sil
Gates, Sir John (1504–1553), courtier, was born into an Essex gentry family, his grandfather William Gates having purchased the manor of Garnetts in High Easter; this remained the property of his descendants until 1582, and it was where John was born. John's father, ...
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Godsalve, Sir John (b. in or before 1505, d. 1556), administrator and landowner, was the first son and heir of Thomas Godsalve (d. 1542), registrar of the Norwich consistory court, and his first wife, Joan. Nothing is known of John Godsalve's early schooling. He was admitted to ...
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Sir John Godsalve (b. in or before 1505, d. 1556) by Hans Holbein the younger, c. 1532 The Royal Collection © 2004 HM Queen Elizabeth II
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