This Valentine’s Day, we focus on Sir Arthur Throckmorton’s love and marriage to his wife Anne Lucas, the great granddaughter of Thomas Richards alias Fermor.
Love and Marriage Prior to 1600
In the early seventeenth century, the family patriarch exercised total parental control and carefully orchestrated the right marriage contracts of their children, a normal practice in a society that regarded family discipline as a guarantee of public order, and in which young men and women depended on their fathers for their living allowances. It was a complex process with an accepted set of protocols involving three general stages, with customs, practices, and timeline varying with each family.
First, informal enquiries were made to the prospective spouse’s family to gather general information before securing permissions – sometimes royal permission – to proceed with more formal discussions. Second, the two families, sometimes using a broker, negotiated the financial arrangements, especially the bride’s dowry and jointure, and secured the signing of the marriage articles and the settlement of estates. This stage often took months to complete as it involved the exchange of sensitive details relating to rentals, debts, mortgages, liabilities, general income, and expenditures. Finally, the marriage ceremony took place followed by the consummation of the marriage, which was delayed if the couple were too young.[1]
Arthur and the Darcy Family
For Arthur Throckmorton, wooing a bride was proving to be difficult and costly.[2] His attentions to his cousin Mary Darcy were unfruitful as “my lady M.D. and I fell out…” in February 1585 and again on 15 April, “my kind Lady Darcy and I fell out at ten of the clock at night, whereout grew all the poison her nature could yield me, as followeth…”
What followed was a two-month prison sentence at Marshalsea Prison by court order when words spoken to Mary against Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was reported from her mother. Even from prison, Arthur sent verses to Mary until his sister, Elizabeth “Bess” Throckmorton and the wife of Sir Walter Raleigh, sent word that he was making a nuisance. Even Mary’s sister Katherine Darcy was not interested when Arthur shifted his advancements toward her.
Arthur Throckmorton Courts Anne Lucas
Arthur had visited with the Lucas family in Colchester, Essex, preceding his imprisonment, and Sir Thomas and Lady Mary (Fermor) Lucas[3] visited him at Marshalsea. At the beginning of July 1585, Arthur began to seriously court their daughter Anne Lucas. Arthur would spend time in her company at court and sending his distant kin Nicholas Sankey with messages to deliver when he was away. Arthur bought himself a very expensive “cod of musk” and for Anne an “ell of cambric.”[4] By autumn, he received a bracelet from Anne and returned the favor by buying her a gold ring set with diamonds. After an argument, Arthur returned the bracelet but reconciled the next day. In December, he writes in his diary,”God my beginner, the furtherer of my fortune, the only end of my good: AL…”
To improve upon his courting skills, Arthur purchased a pair of virginals and strings, then a bandora, then from “Spryn came to teach me of the cithern, to whom I gave 7s by the month.” With music, poetry, talk of love, and presents, Arthur continued his advances. He paid John White for a ring, but “AL refused the jewel.” He also purchased a bird cage for 20s. and a fan for £3 10s.
Arthur and Anne Wed
Arthur sent his agent Will Hughes to approach Sir Thomas Lucas regarding his estates and conveyances of lands. In June, “Sir Thomas Lucas with his counsel met me at Serjeant Pickering’s lodging in Serjeant’s Inn” to draw up the terms of the marriage settlement. The agreement may have included the customary one-third of his income after his death, and Arthur received a £60 annuity as Anne’s dower. On 03 July 1586, “we sealed the writings” and the next day, “I was married to AL.” Arthur makes no entry on the location of the wedding ceremony or the guests, although it is known through other records that Thomas Stanley, brother of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby, was present and Dorothy Harcourt was the bridesmaid.
Knighted in 1596, Sir Arthur Throckmorton and Anne had four daughters: Mary (married in 1608 to Sir Thomas Wotton), Anne (married in 1614 to Sir Peter Temple), Catherine, and Elizabeth (married in 1617 to Richard Lennard, 13th Baron Dacre).
Philip Farmer is the author and publisher of “Thomas Fermor and the Sons of Witney” tracing the family history from 1420 to 1685, and “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh” following their 1685 arrival from Ireland into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Harlan County, Kentucky.
[1] Ohlmeyer, Making Ireland English: The Irish Aristocracy in the Seventeenth Century (2012), p.174.
[2] Rowse, Sir Walter Rallegh, His Family and Private Life (1962), pp.106-108.
[3] Mary Fermor, daughter of Maud Vaux and Sir John Fermor, son of Richard Fermor, son of Thomas Richards alias Fermor.
[4] “cod of musk” is the perineal gland of a muskrat prized for its perfume; “ell of cambric” is a length of fine textile equal to six hand breadths, or about 45 inches.