Gertrude Blount

Gertrude Blount[1]

1504 - 1558

Birth Abt 1504

Sex Female

Lived In England

Complete *

Died 25 Sep 1558

Person ID I00076226 Leo

Last Modified 12 Dec 1996

Father William Blount, 4th Lord Mountjoy, b. Abt 1478

Mother Elizabeth Say, b. 1477, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire

Family ID F00032952 Group Sheet

Family Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter, 10th Earl of Devon, b. Abt 1498

Married 25 Oct 1519

Children

	1. Henry Courtenay

2. Edward Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon, b. 1526
Last Modified 12 Dec 1996

Family ID F00032951 Group Sheet

Notes

BIOGRAPHY

Gertrude Blount was the daughter of William Blount, 4th Lord Blount, and his first wife, Elizabeth Saye. On 25 October 1519, she married Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon. On 18 June 1525 her husband was created Marquess of Exeter. In 1538 he was involved in a treasonable conspiracy and, on 9 January 1539, beheaded. On 5 November 1538 she was arrested and, in July 1539, was attainted as his widow and kept in prison for some years; but then the attainder was reversed by Queen Mary, to whom she became a Lady in Waiting. On 25 September 1558 she died and was buried in Wimborne Minster, Dorset. .

Sources 1. [S00301] ~Europäische Stammtafeln, J.A. Stargardt Verlag, Marburg, Schwennicke, Detlev (Ed.), Reference: III 630

From Tudor Women: http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/TudorWomenB-Bl.htm

Gertrude Blount was the daughter of William Blount, 4th baron Mountjoy (1479-November 8, 1534) and Elizabeth Say (1477-July 1506). On October 25, 1519, Gertrude married Henry Courtenay (1496-December 9, 1538), who was created marquis of Exeter in 1525. King Henry provided jousts at Greenwich to celebrate the wedding at a cost of £200 4s. 9d. Gertrude had two sons, Henry (d.yng) and Edward Courtenay, earl of Devon (1526-September 18, 1556). She spent most of her life on the brink of being charged with treason because of her husband’s claim to the throne and her own devout Catholicism. She has been described as both a “pathetic, ailing, devout, rather silly woman, with the credulous faith of the women of her kind” who “sought consolation in the compromising visions and prophesies of the ridiculous Nun of Kent” (A. L. Rowse) and as an “energetic, high-spirited woman” who was the first to speak openly to Eustace Chapuys, the Imperial Ambassador, of rebellion (Garrett Mattingly). In 1532, she was forbidden to visit King Henry VIII’s daughter, Mary Tudor, for fear she would encourage Mary’s defiance of her father.After she was named in the indictment against Elizabeth Barton (the Nun of Kent), Gertrude admitted she had gone to see her once, in disguise, and had later received her in her home at Horsley. Gertrude wrote an abject letter of apology to the king and was pardoned. In 1535, Gertrude was visiting Chapuys in disguise and had promised him the support of her Blount connections in any attempt to make Mary queen. In 1537, at the same time she was carrying Prince Edward to his christening, she was also establishing contact with her husband’s cousin, Cardinal Pole. In the fall of 1538, her plotting came to light. Gertrude, her husband and son, and the entire Pole family save for the Cardinal, who was not in England, were arrested in November. Incriminating letters were found in a coffer belonging to Gertrude. Exeter was executed. Gertrude and her son were attainted in July 1539, but eventually she was pardoned. She was released in 1540. Her son remained in the Tower until Mary Tudor became queen in 1553. Under Mary, Gertrude was a lady of the bedchamber and was granted all of her husband’s impounded goods as well as several estates. Her son, who was created earl of Devon, was considered for a time to be a candidate to marry the queen. When Mary expressed a preference for Philip of Spain, Devon aligned himself with the rebels of 1554 and was returned to the Tower for a time before being transferred to Framlingham Castle and then released. When he went abroad, his mother gave up her post at court. He was soon writing to her to ask her help in defending him from rumors that he was again involved in treason. He never returned to England, however, dying in Padua in 1556. Gertrude did not survive the reign of Queen Mary, dying just two months before her former mistress. A monument in Gertrude’s memory was erected in Wimborne Minster, Dorset. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under "Courtenay [n%C3%A9e Blount], Gertrude."

'Parishes: Essendon', in A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1912), pp. 458-462. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/herts/vol3/pp458-462 [accessed 26 January 2024].

Sir William Say had two daughters, Elizabeth, who married William Blount Lord Mountjoy, (fn. 55) and Mary, who married Henry Bourchier second Earl of Essex. On the death of Sir William Say in 1529 the manor of Bedwell, in accordance with a settlement made in 1506, passed to Lord Mountjoy, who was to hold it for life and to be succeeded by his daughter Gertrude wife of Henry Courtenay Marquess of Exeter. On the attainder of Gertrude Marchioness of Exeter in 1539 the manor came into the hands of the Crown.