Shelton, Mary

Maria was born between 1510-1515 in the family of Sir John Shelton and his wife, Anna Shelton , she was the youngest daughter ^[2] . Maternally, Mary was the cousin of the second wife of Henry VIII , Anna Boleyn , whose father, Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire , was the brother of Lady Anne. Shelton was also a blood relative to the Queen's sister, of the same name, Maria Boleyn , and her brother, George, Viscount Rochford .

Mary composed verses, and once, she even wrote down one of the composed poems in her prayer book. Maid of honor, also a member of the company of poets at court, where Sir Thomas Clare (d. April 14, 1545), Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey , and Thomas Wyatt ; with all of them, Mary was connected by a romantic relationship. In the epitaph written after the death of Sir Thomas, Mary was called Claire's "lover."

Two close friends of Mary were Lady Margarita Douglas , the daughter of Queen Margarita Tudor and niece of Henry VIII, as well as Mary Howard, the Duchess of Richmond , the wife of the king's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy . Maria was the editor-in-chief and one of the authors of the famous Devonshire manuscript , in which members of their “poetic circle” wrote poems that they enjoyed or composed on their own.

Mary's father, John Shelton (1472 - December 21, 1539) was the son of Ralph Shelton and Margaret Claire, becoming a knight in 1509; four years earlier, he served as senior sheriff. Maria Shelton was one of ten children in the family.

Mary has been married three times. After the death of her first husband, Thomas Clare, she married one of her cousins, Anthony Havanenham of Ketteringham . In this marriage, she gave birth to seven children: Arthur, John, Abigail, Bridget, Elizabeth, Mary and Ann. Her other son, Anthony, died on November 22, 1557. The last husband of Shelton was Philip Appliard.

Mary and her sister Mudge ( Margaret ) are called the alleged lovers of King Henry VIII . Thanks to the information of Ambassador Eustace Chapui , who is constantly at the English court, it is known for certain that one of the Shelton sisters, in fact, was the king's beloved for a six-month period, starting in February 1535. Biographer Anthony Fraser believes that it was Margaret, and not Maria, while most contemporaries called Mary the “royal favorite”. Confusion could arise from the spelling of the name “Mudge Shelton”, where “y” resembled “g”, which is typical for sixteenth-century writing.

Maria was the court lady of Anna Boleyn, however, she did not get along very well with her, despite the fact that they were cousins ​​to each other; according to Hart: " ... it meant that despite blood relationship, their families were not allies - not all Boleynes supported Queen Anne ." Anna Boleyn was said to be deeply in love with Heinrich, and jealous of his attention to other women, while Mary, known for her great contribution to the writing of the Devonshire manuscript , was also the author of many love poems; Queen Anne was especially jealous of the fact that Mary could write love poems about her husband, the king. Shelton's beauty and talent still influenced this circumstance: educated, court friends of the maid of honor also had a great influence on her. According to one of the historians, " rumors twice connected the name of Mary with the king ." Another rumor that Mudge Shelton supposedly could have become Henry's wife in 1538 is mentioned in The Lisle Letters .

Since there is no exact information about the date of birth of Mary, it is possible she could be fifteen when she began a relationship with the king. Their romance was short-lived and lasted about six months. Mary was also probably happy with her position as a lover and did not seek wealth or title.

In 1539, the Shelton faced financial problems when Mary's father, sir John, died at the age of sixty-two and left the family with little to no livelihood. Helpless Mary was forced to leave for the monastery. Upon returning home, she continued her long-standing relationship with Thomas Claire, who died shortly after their wedding, leaving Mary her legacy in her own right.

A year later, Mary again married her relative, Sir Anthony Havanenham, from whom she had a fifth child, including Arthur Havanenham, and her youngest daughter, Abigail (the wife of Sir George Digby from Warwickshire , who served under Queen Elizabeth I ).

Meanwhile, there was a suspicion of Mary in the conspiracy of Count Surrey Henry Howard , which consisted in an attempt to seize power in the country and restore Catholicism (on false charges of Seymour ). On this issue, an investigation was conducted by the Privy Council , which recognized Shelton's innocence.

Later, in 1558, Mary married a third time to Philip Appliard (born 1528).

Maria Shelton was buried in the cemetery of the Haveningham Church, Suffolk County , on January 8, 1571. Her probable portrait by artist Hans Holbein is in the collection at Windsor Palace .

• Heale E. Shelton, Mary // Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004-2014.