Blanche Parry (1507/8–12 February 1590) of Newcourt in the parish of Bacton,

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, in the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches () is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ''Marchia W ...

, was a personal attendant of Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

, who held the offices of Chief Gentlewoman of the Queen's Most Honourable

Privy Chamber A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...

and Keeper of Her Majesty's Jewels. Copy-Blanche-Pilley Collection

Origins

She was born at Newcourt,

Bacton, Herefordshire Bacton is a small village in a rural area of south-west Herefordshire, England, from Hereford. History One mile to the north are some earthwork remains of a small Motte-and-bailey, motte and bailey castle known as Newcourt Tump – "Tump" is ...

, one of the daughters of Henry Myles of Newcourt, three times Sheriff of Herefordshire, Steward of

Ewyas Lacy Ewyas Lacy was an ancient hundred in south-west Herefordshire. It was part of the ancient Welsh region of Ewyas claimed by the de Lacy family following the Norman Conquest. It equated to the modern civil parishes of Craswall, Cusop, Llancillo, ...

and of Dore Abbey, a relative of the Welsh family of Herbert, Earls of Pembroke, and a relative of the prominent Stradling family of St Donat's Castle in

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

, Wales. Her mother was Alice Milborne, the English daughter and co-heiress of Simon Milborne. Her paternal ancestors were of prominent

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

gentry stock.

Early life

Brought up in a Welsh cultural environment, Parry was bilingual in Welsh and English. Indications exist of earlier family connections to the

Lollards Lollardy was a proto-Protestantism, proto-Protestant Christianity, Christian religious movement that was active in England from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic C ...

, not least her mother's family connection to Sir John Oldcastle. However, it appears that she and her sisters were educated by the Augustinian nuns of Aconbury.

At the Royal Court

Blanche Parry arrived at the

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word ''court'' may also be app ...

with her aunt, Blanche, Lady Troy, who was the Lady Mistress to

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

and his half-sister Elizabeth I as children. From the age of about 25 or 26 until her death, she was a servant of Queen Elizabeth, whom she served from her birth in 1533 onwards, writing in her epitaph in Bacton Church that her "cradle saw I rocked." Thereafter she hardly left Elizabeth and almost certainly attended her during her imprisonment in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

before she came to the throne. Her annuity or wage in the household for six months in 1552 was 100 shillings and she was allowed 30 shillings for horse fodder. After Elizabeth's accession in 1558, and

Kat Ashley Katherine Ashley (née Champernowne; – 18 July 1565), also known as Kat Ashley or Astley, was the first close friend, governess, and Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England. Sh ...

's death in 1565, Parry was appointed the Chief Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, and was one of those who controlled access to the Queen. She was in charge of the Queen's jewels from before Elizabeth's accession, and of the Great Seal of England for two years, also of the Queen's personal papers, clothes, furs and books, many of which were presented to the Queen as New Year gifts. She received considerable sums of money on behalf of the Queen. She passed information to the Queen, including from John Vaughan, Blanche Parry's nephew, during the Northern Rebellion of 1569–1570, and from Sir Nicholas White, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and she received presentations of Parliamentary bills for the Queen. She also wrote letters on the Queen's behalf. In addition, she supervised the Queen's linen "and other things belonging to her majesty"; this included "our musk cat", probably a

ferret The ferret (''Mustela furo'') is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (''Mustela putorius''), as evidenced by the ferret's ability to inter ...

. Blanche Parry's position at the centre of the Court and conduit to royal power, with the ability to make pleas on behalf of those suffering under royal displeasure was fully recognized at the time. She was friends with her cousin Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley, the Queen's chief adviser, and worked closely with him. Amongst the material rewards she received from Elizabeth were two

wardship In law, a ward is a minor or incapacitated adult placed under the protection of a legal guardian or government entity, such as a court. Such a person may be referenced as a "ward of the court". Overview The wardship jurisdiction is an ancient ju ...

s and she acquired lands in

, Yorkshire and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Records show frequent gifts of clothing previously worn by the queen. She gave Elizabeth presents of silver, including a double porringer and four silver boxes with silver gilt covers. For New Year's day 1572 she gave the queen a flower of gold enamelled with rubies and diamonds, which the queen later gave to Elizabeth Howard, in 1573 Parry gave the queen a jewel of mother-of-pearl set with gold hanging from three gold chains with an agate pendant, and in 1575 a gold flower enamelled green with three white roses with sparks of ruby, and in the midst, a fly. Parry commissioned the first known map of Llangorse Lake in 1584 to aid the deliberations in a court case in which she became involved. After 1587, responsibility for the queen's personal jewellery passed to Mary Radcliffe. Parry made an inventory of the jewels, now held by the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, listing 628 pieces delivered into the custody of Mary Radcliffe. William Cecil supervised both her wills; his handwritten notes survive for her first will dated 1578 and he was supervisor for her final will dated 1589.

Death and burial

Blanche Parry died on 12 February 1590, aged 82. She was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, with the rank of baroness, the queen having paid all her funeral expenses. She was buried near her nephew John Vaughan. The chief mourner was Frances, Lady Burgh. Two monuments to her memory survive, the unused monument in St. Faith's Church, Bacton, Herefordshire, and her tomb monument in St Margaret's, Westminster. Thomas Markham of Ollerton sent news of her death to the

Earl of Shrewsbury Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...

; "On Thursday last Mrs Blanshe a Parrye departed; blind she was here on earth, but I hope the joys in heaven she shall see."

Monument in St Margaret's Church, Westminster

Her marble and alabaster mural monument survives on the south west wall of St Margaret's Church, Westminster, although this was not its original position, having been moved several times. It was formerly on the south side of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

; George Ballard saw her tomb in its original location in 1752. It shows a relief-sculpted and painted effigy of Parry kneeling towards the left at a prayer desk, with hands now missing. Above are displayed in a lozenge (appropriate for a female

armiger In heraldry, an armiger is a (natural or juridical) person entitled to use a heraldic achievement (e.g., bear arms, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armig ...

) her paternal arms of eight quarters. Payment for the monument is recorded as having been made by Mr Powell, her executor, in 1595/6. The inscription is as follows (note her executors named her father incorrectly: he used Welsh nomenclature): :Hereunder is intombed Blanche Parrye daughter of Henry Parry of New Courte in the county of Herefd. Esquier, Gentlewoman of Queene Elizabethes most honourable bedchamber and keper of her Maties. juells, whome she faithfullie served from her Highnes birth. Beneficiall to her kinsfolke and countryemen charitable to the poor insomuch that she gave to the poore of Bacton and Newton in Herefordshire seaven score bushells of wheate and rye yearlie for ever wt. (i.e. with) divers somes of money to Westminster and other places for good uses. She died a maide in the eighte two yeers of her age the twelfe of February 1589.

Monument in Bacton Church

Having originally planned her retirement to the family estate of Newcourt, Parry commissioned a monument in the parish church of Bacton, showing sculpted effigies of herself and the queen, with a 28 line inscription, probably composed by herself. Dated to before November 1578, the monument is the earliest known depiction of Queen Elizabeth I as Gloriana and signals the propagation of the queen's

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

and cult of virginity beyond the court. The inscription was designed to both demonstrate her closeness and importance to the queen, and bolster the royal image with the lines '"With maiden Queen a maide did end my life"''.'' The effigy utilizes the religious imagery of the Virgin Mary, with a kneeling Parry praying before the enthroned Elizabeth''.'' The scene has also been interpreted as depicting Blanche Parry giving the queen a gift. Tradition maintained that her monument in Bacton Church contained Blanche's bowels, or according to Bradford, her heart, however there is no evidence of this.

Bacton Altar Cloth

An altar or communion cloth at Bacton, the Bacton Altar cloth, was treasured for centuries, and in the 1870s it was thought the embroidery was the work of Blanche Parry herself. Charles Brothers, the rector of Bacton Church, arranged for the framing and display of the Bacton Altar Cloth in 1909. It was Brothers who first suggested that the Bacton Altar Cloth came from a dress belonging to Queen Elizabeth I. His view was known to Lionel Cust who published it and expanded on the importance of the embroidery. Both had seen similar motifs on other portraits of the queen. Cust theorized the cloth was a gift from the queen to Parry, who had donated it to her parish church. The cloth has been identified as of late 16th-century origin, and while there is no documentary evidence linking it directly to Queen Elizabeth, curators stated that it is extremely likely to have once belonged to the queen. It is now known that the cloth, which is an extremely expensive fabric, was embroidered with the first set of beautiful motifs, made into a dress worn by the queen, the dress was dismantled, the cloth was embroidered with the second set of motifs, cut and sewn into a Ridley Altar Cloth, and finally sent to Bacton Church in memory of Blanche Parry. It was not owned by Blanche Parry but was sent to Bacton Church because of Blanche Parry, possibly by the queen.

Notes

References

External links

Historic Royal Palaces: Blanche Parry Embroidery / Bacton Altar ClothShort video about the Bacton Altar cloth from Historic Palaces
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Blanche English courtiers People of the Elizabethan era 1500s births 1590 deaths Ladies of the Bedchamber First Ladies of the Bedchamber People from Herefordshire 16th-century Welsh women 16th-century Welsh people Court of Elizabeth I Burials at St Margaret's, Westminster