Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr Read Online Free PDF Page A

stepbrother. Popularity, erudition and loyalty were important in the court milieu; but what he wanted, above all else, was to be Lord Parr and to pass the title on to his son.
    Thomas died without fulfilling his dream, at the age of thirty-nine, in the autumn of 1517. The onset of his illness appears to have been sudden and its outcome unavoidable, as he made his will only four days before his death. In it, he left marriage portions of £ 400 ( £ 160,000) each to his two daughters, five-year-old Katherine and her little sister, Anne. This was not an overly generous amount and it suggests that he expected them to marry respectably rather than impressively. Maud, who was pregnant again at the time of his demise, was instructed that if she produced another daughter, the girl was to be married at hermother’s expense. This seems a sour farewell to a woman who had been such a lively and committed helpmate, though it may reveal him as nothing more or less than a typical man of the early sixteenth century. His son, predictably, was left with much better provision, inheriting most of the estate. Still, he did nominate his wife as executor, along with Cuthbert Tunstall, the archdeacon of Chester (who was his kinsman), his brother, Sir William Parr of Horton, and Dr Melton, his household chaplain.
    He was buried close to his London home, at the church of St Anne’s, Blackfriars. The inscription on his tomb read: ‘Pray for the soul of Sir Thomas Parr, knight of the king’s body, Henry the Eighth, master of his wards . . . and . . . sheriff . . . who deceased the 11th day of November in the 9th year of the reign of our said sovereign lord at London, in the Black Friars . . .’ 11 His will, with its mention of a signet ring given to him by the king, illustrates how close he was to Henry VIII. But this was only bleak comfort to Maud Parr, pregnant, grieving and left, at the age of twenty-five, a widow with three small children to bring up in a difficult world.

 

CHAPTER TWO
     

A Formidable Mother

‘Remembering the wisdom of my said Lady Parr . . . I assure you he might learn with her as well as in any place that I know.’

Lord Dacre’s advice on the education of his grandson

    I T MUST BE ASSUMED that Maud Parr lost the child she was carrying, whether through miscarriage, stillbirth or death in early infancy we do not know. Nothing more is heard of it. But whatever the cause, the outcome of Maud’s last pregnancy, even if it caused further distress at a difficult time, may also have been something of a relief. It enabled this clear-headed woman to concentrate her efforts on the family that Sir Thomas Parr had left behind and on her responsibilities as chief executor of his will. In devoting herself to her children, Maud amply fulfilled the promise that her husband had detected in her a decade earlier.
    Despite her undoubted eligibility, she did not marry again. There is no record of offers made and refused, but the most likely explanation is that Maud came to realize that widowhood was an opportunity and not merely a regret. In this she was typical of other well-born women of her time, who had sufficient confidence to manage their own affairs (though not, it should be made clear, without the assistance of male members of the family and friends) and to experience the independence that would be lost insubservience to a second husband. Educated, energetic and determined to do her best for her young family, it is unlikely that Maud would have turned down an offer of remarriage that could have notably enhanced their prospects. She possessed good judgement and ambition in equal measure. Evidently no suitable candidate for her hand presented himself. Yet the Parr children did not suffer from the absence of a prominent stepfather; instead they benefited from their mother’s attention, and seem to have loved her greatly.
    Maud had considerable strengths where the upbringing of her children was concerned. Her own position at court