In The House of Echoes my Tudor heroine is Anne Brandon, Baroness Grey. She has been forgotten by history but she was at the heart of the Tudor court at one of its most volatile periods.
During her lifetime, Anne witnessed all six of Henry VIII’s wives be raised high then destroyed. She lived through the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, dying in the year when Elizabeth I took the crown. She saw her niece, Lady Jane Grey, executed for treason. She survived an abusive marriage before finding true love in the arms of a man with whom she lived openly while her husband remained alive. She was made even more fascinating by her brush with the wrong side of the law.
As the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who was the best friend and brother-in-law of Henry VIII, her connections to the crown were unquestionable. Through her father’s marriage to Henry’s younger sister, Princess Mary, Dowager Queen of France, Anne was brought into close contact with the glamorous and dangerous elite of the court. It was perhaps this feeling of entitled invincibility that led Anne to live her life unapologetically.
She was born in c. 1507 and even before her birth, there was a taint of scandal surrounding her. Her mother, Anne Browne, daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, governor of Queensborough Castle and Constable of Calais, and Eleanor Ughtred of Kexby, North Yorkshire had been abandoned by her betrothed: the philanderer, Sir Charles Brandon. Despite their engagement and the fact Anne was pregnant, he had eloped with wealthy widow, Margaret Neville.
Once Charles had helped himself to Margaret’s money and land, this marriage was annulled and he returned to marry Anne Browne. Their daughter, Anne, was followed in 1510 by a second daughter, Mary. Anne Browne died during childbirth, leaving Charles Brandon a widower.
When Anne was seven years old, she was sent to Mechelen the court of Margaret of Austria in the Netherlands. Among the other young ladies was Anne Boleyn the daughter of rising diplomat, Thomas Boleyn.
Anne Brandon remained in the Netherlands for two years, until she was summoned home to live with her father, now the Duke of Suffolk and his new wife, Mary Tudor, youngest sister of Henry VIII and widow of the King of France. This marriage had caused a furore as to marry a member of the royal family without permission was treason. However, Henry VIII was never able to remain angry with his favourite sister and his best friend for long and eventually they were allowed to return to court.
In 1531, Anne Brandon married Edward Grey, Baron Powis, a rising star in Henry VIII’s court. It was an unhappy marriage with no children. Whether Anne never conceived or miscarried is unrecorded but in later life, Edward would go on to have six illegitimate children with his lover Jane Orwell. After his death, his eldest illegitimate son was granted his title.
When Anne met Randall Hanworth is unknown but in 1536, Anne and Edward were estranged and there are documents showing he accused Anne and Randall of plotting his death. The claim was that he caught them together in her bedroom and threw Randall out. However, the claim was not sustained and Charles Brandon petitioned the court to make Anne’s husband pay her an annuity of £100 (approx. £30,000) per year. With the help of the Lord Privy Seal, Thomas Cromwell, Brandon was successful. Charles wanted Anne to follow Cromwell’s advice and live quietly but she ignored him and continued to live with Randall.
When Anne was introduced to the chancery judge John Beaumont, it is not recorded but he was to become an important part of her story. At some point, Anne and her father fell out. The estrangement resulted in Brandon disinheriting Anne. This was unknown to her until her father’s death on 22 August 1545. Although there are no papers directly linked to Anne, her name appears in court documents concerning John Beaumont stating she was involved in a champerty scheme.
Champerty is an illegal action where the plaintiff and the judge have an agreement before a law suit is brought. These cases usually involve land with the plaintiff suing for property they believe is theirs by right but beforehand making a deal with the judge agreeing to sell him the land once it has been granted to them. In other words the judge finds for the plaintiff, he buys the land at a reasonable price and everyone benefits, except the person who really owns the land and is being sued.
There don’t appear to be any records of Anne Brandon ever being charged, fined or imprisoned. Although records do confirm she was connected to the judge’s champerty hearing.
There is very little other information about Anne, Randall or their life together but there is evidence that after the death of Edward Grey in 1555, Anne and Randall married. Sadly, where and when has been lost to time but there are surprising details of her funeral.
The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London confirms that Anne Brandon was married to Randall Hanworth when she died in January 1558. She was buried in Westminster in the parish of St Margaret’s with a decent amount of pomp. There’s an entry where he states she was interred with two white branches, thirteen torches, three great tapers and with her coat of arms.
Anne was determined, impetuous and brave. She, like her father, was an outsider in the glamorous world of the nobility, with no inherited title or fortune. All she had were her wits, her guile, her intelligence, her looks and her courage. In the end, she was successful: she married the man she loved and for a few years, they lived their happily ever after.