Elizabeth Holland

The daughter or sister of the Duke's secretary, it is often said that Bess had worked for eight years as a laundress in the household of Norfolk's wife, Elizabeth Stafford, Duchess of Norfolk.[1] This is from one of the Duchess of Norfolk's letters in which she describes Bess as a "churl’s daughter who was but a washer in my nursery for eight years".[2][3] Kate Emerson points out that since she was a gentlewoman, she was probably not a laundress in the household, or the children’s nurse, but may have been the children's governess. Bess was certainly on good terms with Mary Howard, Norfolk’s daughter.[4]

When Anne Boleyn was created Marquess of Pembroke, Bess Holland was one of her maids of honour, and she was still at court in 1537, when she rode in the funeral cortege of Queen Jane.[4]

According to Kate Emerson's A Who's Who of Tudor Women Elizabeth Holland was the daughter (some sources say the sister) of John Holland of Wartwell Hall in RedenHall, Norfolk and a kinswoman, probably a niece, of John Hussey 1st baron Hussey of Sleaford.[4]

The Visitations of Norfolk, however, identifies Bess as "Elizabeth Holland da. to Thomas Holland of Swynested",[5] as does The Gawdy Papers.[6]

It is known that Holland had a brother, George, who signed for her jewellery “for and in the name of my said sister” when it was returned to her in February 1547. After the Duke of Norfolk's fall the commissioners had seized rings, brooches, strings of pearls, silver spoons, ivory tables, and other treasures from her lodgings at Kenninghall. Bess had at her disposal an outer chamber, a bedchamber, and an adjoining garret. Bess herself was taken to London for questioning but was eventually released. At the time her jewellery was returned to her, Bess was identified as living in Mendham, Suffolk.[4] Mary, Duchess of Richmond, Norfolk's daughter, granted her an annuity of £20.[7] It is also known that her eldest brother was called Thomas, because he was involved in a dispute with her husband over her inheritance after her death.[8]

John Holland, of Wortwell Hall, in Redenhall, trustee to the Duke of Norfolk, died 10 February 1542.[9] However, Bernard Henry Holland in The Lancashire Hollands also separates this family of Hollands from that of Elizabeth and her brother George:

Another Holland, George, was secretary to the same Duke, when he was arrested for treason in 1547, and the officials found in the house Elizabeth Holland, a mistress of the Duke. But George Holland was certainly one of the Hollands of Estovening, Lincolnshire, and so, probably, was Miss Elizabeth, descendants from Sir Thomas Holland, who mostly lived in the Holy Land, and his wife, Elizabeth, the "devilish dame." In the seventeenth century the Hollands of Quidenham were for two generations trustees of the Howard estates in Norfolk.[10]

This other Holland family does have an apparent abundance of Elizabeths and an eldest son named Thomas, but lacks a George,[11] while Thomas Holland of Swinsted did have both a son named George and an eldest son named Thomas.[12][13]

On 3 July 1551 Thomas Holland of Swynested, Lincolnshire, wrote to Simon Lowe, Citizen and Merchant Scissor-dealer of London, regarding a statute staple for 40 pounds. payable to Lowe next Bartholomew-tide. The Gawdy Papers here describes him as "son and heir apparent of Thos. Holland, Esq., sen."[14] This again fits with the father of Thomas and George.[15]

Kate Emerson writes:

Jeffrey Miles or Myles of Stoke Nayland, Suffolk, is identified as her husband by Gerard Brenan and Edward Phillips Stratham in The House of Howard (1908), but a hundred years later, the Oxford DNB states that her husband was Henry Reppes of Mendham (1509-February 10, 1558), that she married him in 1547, and that she died in childbirth in 1547/8.[4]

This confusion is again due to the mix-up of the two families. This other Holland family did have a daughter called Elizabeth Holland who married Jeffrey Miles of Stoke Nayland, Suffolk,[11] but the Duke of Norfolk's Bess married Henry Reppes.

Despite a relationship of fifteen years duration with the Duke, when he and his son, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, were arrested in December 1546, Elizabeth Holland gave information which helped to seal their fates.[16] Kate Emerson points out that she probably had no choice.[4] Surrey was executed on the eve of the King's own death. Norfolk's execution was not carried out after the King's death; instead, he was kept in the Tower of London throughout the minority reign of King Edward VI, and was released in 1553, at the start of the reign of Queen Mary I, whose Catholic beliefs were similar to his.

In April, 1547 or earlier, Edmond of Sybeton, Suffolk, sent to Elizabeth Holland, a receipt for 100 pounds from Mrs. Holland by hands of Mr. Henry to be paid unto my Lord of Norfolk his Grace. It appears that Elizabeth sent money to the Duke of Norfolk whilst he was incarcerated in the Tower.[8]

In 1547 Elizabeth Holland married Henry Reppes (d.1558[17]) but soon afterwards died in childbirth.[18]

In 1547 or 1548 Symon Lowe of London wrote to William Andros, Beeball. The nature of their correspondance is recorded in The Gawdy Papers:

Andros’ son Edmond, who is with Lowe, is in good health. Harry Reppes married Elizabeth Holland of Mendham, who died in childbed, the Caesarean operation being performed. Reppes says the child was born alive and claims tenancy by the curtesy in her lands. Lowe thinks it impossible and, fearing foul play, asks Andros or his friends about Mendham or Harleston to make cautious enquiry. Thomas, Elizabeth’s eldest brother and heir, sold the land to Lowe, but unthriftily spent the money and more (to the amount of 1,000 l.) within a year, so cannot defend the title except at Lowe’s charges. Phillipa Oon, of Mendham, was the midwife; Richard Spayne of Harleston was the surgeon who operated; Edmond Halle, another surgeon of Mendham or Harleston, was present but refused to operate. One William Rochester of Mendham or Harleston has been tampering with the witnesses; he is “truly the falsest and craftiest man in the country,” for “a forty shilling” he will confess all, if well handled. Get the witnesses to a tavern, make them talk, and have men by to hear them.[8]

After her death, Henry Reppes remarried to Anne Wootton or Wotton (1536[19]–1587[20]). Anne was the daughter of John Wootton of North Tuddenham in Norfolk and[19] the great-niece of Henry Wotton. Anne was the widow of Henry Reppes's nephew Thomas Woodhouse of Hickling, Norfolk, the son his sister.[21][22]

A book of hours belonging to Anne Boleyn and currently preserved in the British Library contains the names of Elizabeth and Henry Reppes,[23] written in the hand of Henry Reppes (d. 1558). It is also inscribed by Anne Boleyn in English, Be daly prove you shall me fynde To be to yu bothe lovynge and kynde, and while her lover King Henry VIII gallantly replied in French, Si silon mon affection la sufvenance sera en voz prieres ne seray yers oblie car vostre suis Henry R. a jammays, which in English would be If you remember my love in your prayers as strongly as I adore you, I shall hardly be forgotten, for I am yours. Henry R. forever.[24]

• House of Treason: the Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty by Robert Hutchinson, 2009
• A Tudor Tragedy: Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk by Neville Williams, 1989
• The Ebbs and Flows of Fortune: Life of Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk by David M. Head, 1995
• Henry VIII's Last Victim: The Life and Times... by Jessie Childs, 2008