Mother of a Queen: Meet Maud

I don't really feel we should call Katherine's mother Maud Parr. She was such a ground breaking woman, such a force in her own right that she deserves her own name always. Meet Maud Green.

These little posts are designed to give the basics of the people in Katherine's lives. Other posts will go into the events surrounding them. It's unfortunate that we really know so little of Maud Green because as well as giving us one of the most important figures in early modern English history, she was a powerhouse all on her own.

The pretty fields around Greens Norton - Maud would have walked these same lands in her childhood

(photo Philip Jeffrey / Footpath into Greens Norton via Wiki Commons)

Maud Green was born on April 6th 1492 in Northamptonshire, most probably at Greens Norton which was her father's estate in the county. Her parents, Sir Thomas Green and Jane Fogge, already had a daughter, Anne. The two girls would become co-heiresses to their father. Maud lost her mother at an early age and her father was sent to the Tower of London on a treason charge which came to nothing although Sir Thomas died, of natural causes, within the famous fortress' walls in 1506.

(photo Bob Collowân / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Maud married Sir Thomas Parr two years later. He was a powerful man, acting as Sheriff of Northamptonshire, and a wealthy one, too. Their eldest surviving child, Katherine, was born in 1512. A son, William, arrived in 1513 with a second daughter, Anne, born in 1515.

The crest of the Parr family - Maud was devoted to furthering it for the sake of her children

(image By NinjaKid (Ollie Martin) - Own work - via Wiki Commons)

Maud was active at court throughout her marriage. She was widowed early, in 1517, and raised her children alone. She was passionate about education, especially for girls, and raised three smart and sassy children who would go on to achieve great things. Maud never saw the height of their glory. She died on December 1st 1531 at the age of 39. Her daughter became Queen of England 12 years later.

No image of Maud survives.