As we mark Women’s History Month throughout March, here Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our Lords 1558-1603 project, looks into the life of Helena Snakenborg. How did this Swedish native become key figure in the court of Elizabeth I?
One of the most striking features of Queen Elizabeth I’s funeral, held on 28 April 1603, is that the place of Chief Mourner in the procession was taken by Helena, dowager marchioness of Northampton, a member of the privy chamber. Despite having served Elizabeth for the past thirty-six years, Helena was not English-born but a native of Sweden.
Born in about 1549, Helena (or ‘Elin’ as she signed herself before she settled in England) was the daughter of Ulf Henrikson Snakenborg, member of an old Swedish baronial family, and Agneta Knutson, also of aristocratic stock. Helena’s parents enjoyed considerable standing in Sweden. In fact, their marriage five years earlier had been held at Stockholm Castle, in the presence of the king and queen. Not surprisingly, by the mid-1560s their daughter Helena was a maid of honour to Princess Cecilia, sister to the then king of Sweden, Eric XIV.
In September 1565 Helena, aged about 16, accompanied the princess on a fruitless mission to England to persuade Queen Elizabeth to marry King Eric. Cecilia and her entourage were lodged at Bedford House, on the Strand, where they were visited by leading members of the English court. Among the more regular callers was the 53-year old William Parr, marquess of Northampton, the childless brother of Elizabeth I’s late stepmother, Queen Catherine Parr. In all likelihood, Northampton was a keen exponent of a Swedish match, just like his second wife, Elizabeth Brooke (daughter of William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham), who had died of breast cancer five months earlier. However, concern for the queen’s marriage was not the only reason Northampton was drawn to Bedford House. The marquess soon began to take an interest in Helena’s welfare, beginning with arranging for her medical treatment, as she was ill by the time she arrived in England. Despite the age difference Northampton fell in love with Helena, who was reportedly ‘very beautiful’. Before the year was out Helena accepted Northampton’s offer of marriage. However, as a letter to her mother makes clear, Helena’s feelings were affectionate rather than amorous: ‘the marquess has been both father and mother to me’, she explained, and ‘most kind in every detail’.
Following Princess Cecilia’s departure for the Continent in May 1566, Helena remained in England, cared for by eight or ten of Northampton’s servants. However, the planned marriage was placed on hold because of the queen’s disapproval. Though Northampton was now a widower following the death of his second wife Elizabeth Brooke, his adulterous first wife, Anne Bourchier, was still alive. In 1548 a royal commission, headed by Archbishop Cranmer, had concluded that Anne’s unfaithfulness had ended their union. However, the queen disagreed, oddly, as she never challenged the legitimacy of Northampton’s marriage to Elizabeth Brooke, with whom she was great friends. For the queen, there could be no question of Northampton marrying Helena until Anne was dead. When, in November 1566, Northampton joined the chorus of voices demanding that she take a husband, Elizabeth retorted that the marquess would be better advised thinking of arguments to persuade her to let him remarry ‘instead of mincing words with her’.
Helena and Northampton finally reached the altar on 6 May 1571, four months after Anne’s death. The ceremony was held in the Chapel Royal, and the queen danced at the wedding feast, which was followed by two days of jousting. However, the marriage proved to be short-lived, as Northampton died just five months later. Northampton’s demise threatened to spell disaster for Helena, as the marquess had neglected to provide his new wife with a jointure, and his entire estate, worth about £1,200 per annum, escheated to the crown. Fortunately for Helena, Queen Elizabeth took pity on the marquess’ young widow. She not only paid for Northampton’s funeral but also assigned Helena lands worth £400 a year. Additionally, at some point Helena was admitted to the privy chamber. Perhaps because of this Helena met the man who was soon to become her second husband, Thomas Gorges. Thirteen years her senior, Gorges was a Wiltshire landowner and one of the grooms of the privy chamber.
The social gulf between Gorges and Helena, who continued to be known as the marchioness of Northampton, was considerable. It was not unknown for women of a high social rank to marry beneath them. In fact, before Elizabeth’s accession Katherine Brandon, dowager duchess of Suffolk had taken Richard Bertie, a Lincolnshire gentleman, as her second husband. However, the queen looked askance at such matches. Realizing that Elizabeth would never agree to their marriage, the couple took matters into their own hands and sometime in 1576 they were secretly wed. When the queen discovered this she was naturally furious. Helena was banished to Gorges’ house in the Whitefriars, while Gorges himself was jailed. However, Elizabeth’s anger eventually subsided and within a year or so she had become reconciled to the match. In January 1578 she and Gorges exchanged New Year gifts; six months later, Elizabeth stood as godmother at the baptism of the couple’s first child, prudently christened Elizabeth.
Helena retained Queen Elizabeth’s favour for the rest of the reign. Formally, at least, her duties were limited, partly because she was an unwaged member of the privy chamber but also because of her gender. Behind the scenes, though, she may have been more active than has previously been supposed. In 1582 her husband was dispatched to Sweden on a mission to recover certain debts owed by the Swedish king, John III. There is no evidence that Helena remained in England. Her presence in Sweden may have been considered essential, as Gorges would not have been selected for this delicate mission had it not been for his wife’s intimate knowledge of the Swedish court. Helena can certainly be glimpsed alongside her husband in September 1586, when Gorges was entrusted with the task of conveying Mary, Queen of Scots from Chartley to Tixall, both in Staffordshire. Mary, fearing that her plotting against Elizabeth had been discovered, reportedly ‘raged and stormed, and showered invectives on Gorges and his mistress’. That same year, Gorges became responsible for the queen’s robes. It seems unlikely that Helena did not share in her husband’s official duties.
Following Elizabeth’s death, Helena lost her position at court. This cannot have been entirely unexpected, especially as Anne, the new queen consort, was Danish, and Denmark and Sweden were longstanding enemies. Nevertheless, in 1605 Helena and her husband were granted the keepership of Richmond Park for life. On the death of Gorges in 1610, Helena largely retired from public view. She lived on until April 1635, dying at Redlynch, in Somerset, the home of her youngest son Sir Robert Gorges, who sat in three parliaments during the late 1620s. At her request, Helena was buried alongside ‘my dear and late husband Sir Thomas Gorges’ in Salisbury Cathedral.
A.T
Further reading:
Charles Angell Bradford, Helena, Marchioness of Northampton (London, 1936)
Raymond Gorges, The Story of a family through eleven centuries illustrated by portraits and pedigrees, being a history of the family of Gorges (Boston, 1944)
