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Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Our Naughty 15th Great Grandmother Anne, Mistress to Henry VIII

Our Beautiful but Naughty 15th Great Grandmother Anne Stafford. She was 52 at the time of this painting.

Family Tie: Through the Mattson Family Lines.

Tonight we explore our family tree and spotlight a 15th Great Grandmother. Her name was Anne Stafford. She was born in 1483 and died in 1544. The year she was born her father (a 16th great grandfather to us) was executed for teason by order of King Richard III. Her mother Catherine was queen consort to King Edward IV.

Anne married twice, first in 1503 to Sir Walter Herbert. He died in Spetember 1507. They were childless. Her second husband, our 15th Great Grandfather was George Hastings. They married in 1509. He later became Earl of Huntingdon. They had eight children. Their oldest son Francis was our 14th Great Grandfather.

Anne was a lady in waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's fist wife. She had a well documented affair with King Henry VIII around 1510, only one year after Henry wed Catherine. Their adultery became a scandal when it was made public. Queen Catherine was enraged along with her brother, the Duke of Buckingham. Her husband sent her to a convent. There are suggestions that her relationship with the King continued until 1513.

After her ‘time‘ with King Henry, she entered into an affair with Sir William Compton. He wrote in his will in 1522, leaving her many lands. He died in 1528 of the sweating sickness. Our dear Anne seems to have developed a strong and loving relationship with her husband, as evidenced by letters he wrote to her, and she was named as one of the executors in his will. They lived primarily at Asby-de-la-Zouche, Huntingdonshire and at Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. Anne was present at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520. She may have been at court when her brother was executed for treason in 1521. She became countess of Huntingdon in 1529 when Hastings was elevated in the peerage and from the late 1530s was part of the household of Henry VIII's daughter, Mary Tudor.