Richard III Research and Discussion Archive

After the discussion about Katherine's age on the Lovell thread, I had a look for Alice Burgh and Katherine Haute, either of whom may have been her mother. Whoever it was, I think it was unlikely that Katherine was born after 1472.

The identity of the mother/s of Richard's children, John and Katherine isn't known, but Rosemary Horrox does make a good case for Alice Burgh and/or Katherine Haute. Alice, the 'beloved gentlewoman' got an annuity for £20, an extremely generous sum for a servant and the same as John of Gloucester got from Henry. This does sound like she was at least John of Gloucester's mother, especially since it says she was from Pontefract. The annuity was for 1st March 1473, and Alison Weir says that Richard spent time in Pontefract in 1471, so perhaps JofG was born in 1472.
Is anything known about Alice and her sister Isabel? It has been suggested that they were from Knaresborough, but I can't find much else.

Katherine Haute received a £5 annuity in 1477, much less than Alice Burgh, which made me think that Alice may have been the mother of more than 1 child (Katherine or maybe Richard of Eastwell?) or had been a long term mistress of Richard. However, it is difficult to explain the annuity to Katherine Haute who was married and appears to have no connection to him, so I can't think of any other reason than she was the mother of one of his illegitimate children.

Katherine and James Haute were married by the early 1470s. They had two sons Alan (d1529) and Henry (1474-1508). Some sources say there was a son Edward, but according to ODNB, he was a cousin. Of the two sons, Henry was likely to have been the younger since he became a priest, so Katherine and James would have been married at the latest by 1472. If she was Katherine's mother, Katherine would have been born some time before that, probably around 1470 or maybe even before.

The Hautes are usually associated with Kent, but James was described as being of London, Kinsbourne Hall, Hertfordshire and Bishopsbourne Kent. Kinsbourne Hall in Harpenden seems to have been his main residence, which he is first recorded as occupying in 1473 (although it is unclear who lived there from 1467 until then.) Since he had no connections to that area, he may have acquired it as well the land he held in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire through his marriage to Katherine. Previously the house had belonged to the Annable family. Did Richard have any connections to them? FWIW, unlike his brothers, William and Richard, James did not join Buckingham's rebellion and was rewarded with William's confiscated estates. (HVII later returned them.)

The assumption is that Katherine Haute would be Katherine Plantagenet's mother because of the name. However, Richard is known to have admired St. Katherine of Siena, so he may have chosen the name anyway. According to the Inquisitions, the Haute and Moyle families had some interests in common, so Richard of Eastwell comes to mind. Perhaps Katherine Haute was his mother and the £5 annuity was for the upkeep of a child from a brief relationship that he had little or no contact with, whereas both Katherine and JofG were the child of a much loved mistress who he provided for more generously and saw regularly.
Since James Haute and Elizabeth Woodville were cousins, the marriage may have been arranged through her. Is there any way of checking who her attendants were in the late 1460 and early 1470s?
Nico

Something that occurred to me Nico, when you mentioned that James Haute was given/ acquired Kinsbourne Hall, what if Richard had arranged Katherine's marriage and given the Hall then that might account for her only being granted £5 a year. Katherine was being looked after by her husband and didn't need large sums of money whereas maybe Alice did for whatever reason.
Mary

That could be true. Katherine Haute was definitely married at the time of the grant in 1477, so she would have had less need of money in general terms and the £5 would be for Katherine's upkeep.

Out of interest, what did upper class women do with their illegitimate children after they got married? I would imagine that they would be farmed out to someone else to look after, so £5 would probably pay for Katherine (or whichever child) to be well cared for and educated properly.

Nico



On Friday, 24 March 2017, 14:27, "maryfriend@... []" <> wrote:


Something that occurred to me Nico, when you mentioned that James Haute was given/ acquired Kinsbourne Hall, what if Richard had arranged Katherine's marriage and given the Hall then that might account for her only being granted £5 a year. Katherine was being looked after by her husband and didn't need large sums of money whereas maybe Alice did for whatever reason.
Mary