Elizabeth Wyckes
| Elizabeth Wyckes | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1489 Putney |
| Died | 1528 (aged 38–39) |
| Occupation | Wife of Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to Henry VIII |
| Spouse(s) | Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex |
| Children |
Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell Anne Cromwell Grace Cromwell |
| Parent(s) | Henry Wyckes |
Elizabeth Wyckes, (also Wykys, or Wykes) (1489 – 1528) was the wife of Thomas Cromwell (1485 – 1540), 1st Earl of Essex, and chief minister to King Henry VIII of England. She was daughter to Henry Wyckes, a well-to-do clothier from Putney, and his wife Mercy, who later married Sir John Pryor after Wyckes' death.[1]
Marriages and issue
Elizabeth married as her first husband, Thomas Williams, a Yeoman of the Guard. There are no known children from this union, and the marriage did not last for long before Williams' untimely death.
Around 1515, Elizabeth remarried, this time to Thomas Cromwell, who had recently returned to England from Antwerp. Together, Thomas and Elizabeth had three surviving children:[2]
- Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, c. 1520 – 1551[3]
- Anne Cromwell
- Grace Cromwell
Very little is known about Elizabeth Wyckes, or her marriage to Thomas Cromwell, a problem made more opaque due to the fact that she died early in his career, long before he reached his zenith. During the early years of their marriage, Thomas Cromwell had been a successful merchant and lawyer and there is evidence to suggest that he had taken over the running of Henry Wyckes' business.[4] The home where Elizabeth lived with her husband and mother, and where her children were born, appears to have been both harmonious and prosperous. Cromwell could afford to buy expensive jewellery: "a sapphire ring" and "a gold bracelet with a jacinth worth ₤80." His friends were merchants and scholars and he and his wife regularly entertained them and corresponded with them. Elizabeth and her mother played their part in this circle of friends. One wrote asking for the good housewife "to send another plaster for his knee" and another desired to be commended "to your mother, after you my most singular good friend."[4] The one surviving letter from Thomas to his wife suggests a normal, happy marriage. He also sent her a doe that he had downed while hunting.[5]
Descendants
Elizabeth died c.1528, of what was probably the sweating sickness that had been sweeping the country at that time. The last known reference to her is in a letter from Richard Cave to Thomas Cromwell, dated June 1528.[6]
She was survived by her three children, her husband, and her mother. Her daughters, Anne and Grace, are believed to have died not long after their mother.[6] Thomas Cromwell never remarried. Gregory Cromwell married Elizabeth Seymour, the sister of Queen Jane Seymour and widow of Sir Anthony Ughtred. They had five children:[7]
- Henry Cromwell, 2nd Baron Cromwell, 1538 – 1592
- Edward, died young
- Thomas Cromwell, c. 1540 – died between February 1610 and April 1611
- Katherine (or Catherine) Cromwell, c. 1541 –
- Frances Cromwell, c.1544 – 7 February 1562
Fictional portrayals
Natasha Little portrayed Elizabeth Wyckes (called Liz Cromwell in the credits) in Wolf Hall, six-part TV series first broadcast by BBC Two in early 2015.
Footnotes
- ↑ Merriman I 1902, p. 12 "Mr. Pryor" and "Mistress Pryor" both had rooms in Cromwell's house at Austin Friars Gate, where he lived after 1524.
- ↑ Schofield, pp. 16, 23, 33.
- ↑ Ellis third series I 1846, p. 338 Introductory note.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Van Dyke 1906, pp. 142, 144–145.
- ↑ Merriman I 1902, p. 314.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Schofield 2011, p. 33.
- ↑ Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry II 2011, p. 111.
Sources
- Ellis, Henry (1846). "Original Letters Illustrative of English History". third series I. London: Richard Bentley.
- Gairdner, James (1888). "Cromwell, Thomas (1485?-1540)". In Stephen, Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography 13. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 192–202.
- Hutchinson, Robert (2009). Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of Henry VIII's Most Notorious Minister. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-312-57794-0.
- "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
- Merriman, R. B. (1902). Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell I. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G., ed. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families II (2nd ed.).
- Schofield, John (2011). The Rise & Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant. The History Press. ISBN 9780752458663.
- Wilson, Derek (2003). In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition, and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-30277-1.
- Van Dyke, Paul (1906). Renascence Portraits. London: Archibald Constable & Co.