Around three million visitors are estimated to shuffle through the Tower of London's gates each year, to see the site of so many Tudor events and executions. The chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, inside the Tower's precincts, is the resting place of a number of well-known characters of the age including Anne Boleyn, Katheryn Howard and Edward Seymour, once Protector of the realm. Photos of the 'royal pavement', under which Boleyn, Howard and Lady Jane Grey are said to rest are shared on social media and on websites. They are the focus of visitors' attention, so much so that when I visited in November 2024, I had to queue a little bit to see them for myself. I watched as people walked towards the altar, turned around and slowly walked out. It was fascinating to me that no one seemed interested in or paused to look at the impressive double effigy that stands proudly in the chapel's centre, of Richard and Elizabeth Cholmeley.
 |
| Effigies of Richard and Elizabeth Cholmeley, St Peter ad Vincula. London. Jo Romero. |
Richard Cholmeley, like our modern residents of the Tower, the Beefeaters, was a military man and he gained recognition under the first Tudor monarch, Henry VII. After a political career in local government in the north he was recognised for his fighting in Northumberland against the Scots in 1497 and at Flodden in 1513, where he was knighted by the Earl of Surrey. In 1506, we find Richard in London as Collector of the Great Customs for the king.
Fresh from his victory at Flodden, and perhaps even as a reward for his service, in October Richard was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London. His duties were to oversee defence, carry out the king's business and manage the daily administration of the building. A Bill of Receipt from 1514 records Cholmeley's purchases of gunpowder, ironwork, stakes, tallow, 'fare carts' and gun wheels. There is also mention of guns 'which should have gone northward with the Queen's grace' signed by Richard, showing that he was was also responsible for arming soldiers for Katherine of Aragon's command at Flodden the previous year. He later authorised ammunition to be fired into the city towards residents to dispel the 1517 riot against the influence of foreigners around the king. He was also responsible for the 1519-1520 rebuilding of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula.
 |
| The White Tower, Tower of London. Jo Romero. |
His wife, Elizabeth, born Elizabeth Pennington, was present for all of her husband's work, and we know that women in the late medieval and Tudor periods actively assisted their husbands in maintaining the household and seeing to business, often when he was away. Elizabeth Venour was warden of the Fleet prison in London, and even when her husband carried out duties, she attended to prisoners and accompanied them to court . It's likely then that prisoners, visitors and officials would have known Elizabeth, running errands around the Tower and other local buildings. The examples of Margaret Howard Duchess of Norfolk, Margaret Paston and Elizabeth Stonor add to this evidence, carrying out business for their husbands, as do a number of other sources in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Thames was also a big part of the couple's backdrop, which provided access to other areas of London via barge and ferry.
Richard was Elizabeth's second husband, her first Sir Walter Strickland. As a widow, Elizabeth would have therefore brought to the marriage any lands and wealth from her first marriage when she married Richard. One document from 1508 records the right of Elizabeth to retain these lands once held by Walter after her second marriage, which brought in rents of just over £66, an equivalent in modern times of a hefty £43,000 per year. Her and Richard were also granted control over the marriage of the younger Walter Strickland, her first husband's heir. Another source supporting the couple's wealth can be found in a grant by Henry VIII in 1515, giving Cholmeley an annuity of £20 (modern equivalent of around £13,000) from the customs of Newcastle on Tyne. Although it's believed that the couple did not live within the Tower precincts, they were certainly wealthy and owned lands in the north of England, the south east and Calais, as well as a number of houses within London. Their respective families may have also been known to one another. Richard is mentioned on a document in 1513 alongside John and William Pennington.
 |
| The Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, behind the memorial to those executed. |
Wealthy, influential and in a prominent position in London power, the couple lived through the early years of the Tudor dynasty, working closely alongside royal and in local government and overseeing one of the most important buildings in England at the time.
Richard was in ill-health by 1520, when he gave up his position as Lieutenant of the Tower. He died the following year, leaving most of the couple's wealth to his wife, with gifts also to his illegitimate son Roger. He ensured that Elizabeth's daughter, Dowlce, from her first marriage, was looked after, bequeathing 'eight score poundes' for her marriage, a considerable sum. Thomas Sewell, Richard's servant, was assured of his wages, and requested that he continue to serve Elizabeth. Richard also mentions a debt due to him from Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and it's likely that the couple therefore also knew her. Elizabeth was granted most of Richard's belongings, 'the custody of my goodes', and was also made chief executor, a sure sign that he was confident in her abilities as an efficient administrator to carry out the terms of his long and detailed will.
It doesn't appear that the couple had any children of their own. Richard's will specifies that Elizabeth was to enjoy many of the couple's lands, and on her death they should transfer to his brother Roger. His son, also named Roger, is mentioned as living at Lincoln's Inn, then a Tudor training ground for lawyers. There is no mention of a legitimate heir of the couple. Although the effigy was built in the early 1520s within the newly restored chapel, Richard is not buried here. There is in fact a legend that the chapel's ancient font was secured inside the empty tomb to protect it during the Second World War. In his will too, he requested to be buried either at Our Lady of Barking near the Tower or at 'the church of the Crossed freres beside the Towre of London'. Elizabeth, now very wealthy in her own right, married for a third time to Sir William Gascoigne. Although no longer on Tower business, as a wife of a Tudor knight she would have known of the rise of Anne Boleyn, the annulment of the king's marriage to Katherine of Aragon and Anne's own execution in May 1536. She would also have seen the decline in Henry VIII's physical and mental health, and may have listened to news of the second queen's burial, that of Katheryn Howard, in the chapel rebuilt by her husband.
Enjoyed this? You might also like Margaret Drummond, the Love of James IV of Scotland, Tudor Wedding Dresses and A Walk in the Footsteps of Tudors in Reading, Berkshire.
Notes and Sources
'Henry VIII: April 1510, 26-29', in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1, 1509-1514, ed. J S Brewer( London, 1920), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol1/pp273-281 [accessed 10 November 2024].
'Henry VIII: April 1513, 21-25', in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1, 1509-1514, ed. J S Brewer( London, 1920), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol1/pp815-833 [accessed 10 November 2024].
Henry VIII: April 1514, 21-30', in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1, 1509-1514, ed. J S Brewer( London, 1920), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol1/pp1229-1248 [accessed 10 November 2024].
'Henry VIII: August 1515, 1-10', in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 2, 1515-1518, ed. J S Brewer( London, 1864), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol2/pp205-211 [accessed 10 November 2024].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cholmondeley
The Publications of the Suretees Society, 1835. Vol CXVI, archive.org
0 Comments