Chamberer Explained

A chamberer was a female attendant of an English queen regnant, queen consort, or princess. There were similar positions in aristocratic households.

Chamberers at court

At court, the position was similar to a male groom of the privy chamber. The names of ten women who served Elizabeth I as chamberers are known. They were daughters of landowning gentry families.^[1] Duties could include some domestic labour, embroidery,^[2] and administration, as well as attendance on the queen. The details of the distinctions between women of the chamber and hierarchy can be obscure.^[3]

Other servants present in the royal lodging who carried out laundry work were of lower status than chamberers, and were called "lavenders".^[4] Chamberers would embroider and launder some linen items, especially ruffs.^[5] In Scotland, Elizabeth Gibb, took on this role for Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of James VI and I, in 1590, making and looking after ruffs and other garments.^[6]

Usually the queen was served by beteween two and four chamberers at any one time.^[7] When Catherine Howard was sent to Syon House in November 1541, her household was reduced to four gentlewomen including Lady Baynton and two chamberers.^[8]

An Elizabethan chamberer like Elizabeth Stafford would receive an annual fee of £20 or more,^[9] and livery clothing. The chamberers of Elizabeth I received their allowances on Saint Andrew's Day.^[10] Elizabeth intervened in the marriage plans of some chamberers, and was angry at the marriage of Mary Scudamore, an indication of their status in her household.^[11]

Some chamberers, like Joan Russell and Elizabeth Marbery, continued their service as gentlewomen of the privy chamber or bed chamber, enjoying a higher status and salary.^[12] Other women present in the queen's privy chamber included the Maids of Honour, who frequently received lavish gifts of clothing,^[13] and gentlewomen in attendance who did not receive a fee or livery clothes. These gentlewomen do not appear in financial records but their names are noted in lists of those at state occasions, especially funerals.^[14]

Chamberers took part in Royal Entries and coronations, including the coronation of Mary I of England where they rode in procession and were given different clothes for the service in the Abbey.^[15]

Damsels and chamberers

In the context of household service in 15th-century England, a "damsel" was of higher or almost equivalent status to a chamberer.^[16] It has been suggested that the Latin terms, domicella camerae and domicella Reginae may distinguish a lady of the bedchamber or chamberer from a queen's maid of honour. Alice Perrers, a goldsmith's widow, became a damoiselle or domicella in the household of Philippa of Hainault, consort of Edward III.^[17]

In Scotland, the word "chamberer" was only rarely used in the records of the court. Two young women, Marie MacLeod and Margaret Fame, were maidens in the chamber of Mary, Queen of Scots.^[18] The accounts mention the "famis" (French, femmes, women) of Mary's chamber, including Alice Bog.^[19] An English commentator reported that Mary, Queen of Scots, was served by ladies, gentlewomen, and two "chamberers", one Scottish and one French, when she was a prisoner at Lochleven Castle in 1567. The French chamberer was Marie Courcelles,^[20] and the Scottish chamberer at Lochleven was probably Alice Bog, listed as "Ellon Bocq" by a French clerk in 1567.^[21]

A document from 1592 concerning the household of Anne of Denmark mentions "damycelles" or damsels in her chamber. Their clothing allowance suggests they were of lower status than other attendants. Two of her servants in Scotland, Margaret Hartsyde and the aristocratic Anne Livingstone, came to her court in England after the Union of Crowns as chamberers. Hartsyde's status as a domestic servant was emphasised by her defence lawyers when she was accused of stealing the queen's jewels.^[22]

Chamberers could enjoy substantial rewards, one Danish servant, Dorothea Silking, was granted rights to run a coal mine in Somerset on the queen's jointure manor of Corston.^[23] Employment of chamberers from the country of origin provided continuity of service and a cultural bridge for queens consort in the early modern period.^[24]

Chamberers to Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots

• Francisca Baptiste (1503).^[25]
• Catherine Crow.^[26]
• Margaret Dennet
• Joanna and Margery Rutherford.^[27]

Chamberers to Catherine of Aragon

• Maria and Kateryn de Gavara.^[28]
• Isabel de Vanegas,^{[29] [30]} or Inés Vanegas, first a governess, and her daughters Inés and Teresa.^[31]
• Elizabeth Collins.^[32]
• Margaret and Margery Kempe, at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.^[33]
• Elizabeth Kempe.^[34]
• Elizabeth Lisle.^[35]
• Anne Luke
• Blanche Marbury.^[36]
• Margaret Mulsho.^[37]
• Margaret Pennington.^[38]
• Dame Margaret Pole
• Mistress Redynge

Chamberers to Mary Tudor, Queen of France

• Elizabeth Bradshaw
• Jane Barners.^[39]
• Alice Dennis (1514)
• Anne Jerningham (1514).^[40]

Chamberers to Anne Boleyn

• Former chamberers of Catherine of Aragon

Chamberers to Anne of Cleves

• Anne Josselyn the elder (1539)
• Elizabeth Rastall (1539)

Chamberers to Catherine Howard

• Joan Bulmer.^[41]
• Katherine Tylney.^[42]
• Alice Wilkes.^[43]

Chamberers to Catherine Parr

• Mary Odell

Chamberers to Mary I of England

• Cecily Barnes
• Edith Brediman.^[44]
• Lucretia the Tumbler.^[45]
• Mary Brown.^[46]
• Jane Dormer
• Barbara Eyre
• Elizabeth Golbourne, who married William Babington of Kiddington.^[47]
• Jane or Joan Russell.^{[48] [49]} wife of William Russell, a Groom of the Chamber to Elizabeth.^[50]
• Mrs Barbara Ryce, her husband William Ryce (died 1588) was also a royal servant.^[51] Beatrice ap Rice was Mary's laundress.^[52]
• Frideswide Strelley

Chamberers to Elizabeth I

• Alice Huntercombe.^{[53] [54]}
• Jane Bradbelt and her daughter Dorothy Bradbelt (or Broadbent).^{[55] [56]}
• Elizabeth Marbery.^[57]
• Frances Newton (1559-1560)
• Nazareth Newton
• Mary Shelton (1567-1603).^[58]
• Elizabeth Stafford Drury.^[59]
• Margaret Vaughan

Chamberers to Anne of Denmark

• Margaret Hartsyde
• Anne Livingstone.^[60]
• Anna Rumler
• Dorothea Silking
• Dorothy Speckard

Chamberers to Henrietta Maria

• Elizabeth Coignet, daughter of Françoise de Monbodeac, Madame Garnier, first lady of the bedchamber.^[61]
• Mademoiselle Vantelet, wife of the usher Jacques de Lux.^[62]

See also

• Woman of the Bedchamber
• Première femme de Chambre
• Kammarfru

External links

• Charlotte Merton, 'Women who served Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth : Ladies, Gentlewomen and Maids of the Privy Chamber, 1553-1603, PhD thesis, Cambridge, 1992

Notes and References

1. William Tighe, 'Familia reginae: the Privy Court', Susan Doran & Norman Jones,The Elizabethan World (Routledge, 2011), pp. 84-85.
2. Ruth Elizabeth Richardson, Mistress Blanche: Queen Elizabeth I's Confidante (Logaston, 2018), p. 71.
3. [Janet Arnold]
4. W. J. Tighe, 'Country into court', Dale Hoak, Tudor Political Culture (Cambridge, 1995), p. 163.
5. Pam Wright, 'A Change of Direction', David Starkey, The English Court (London, 1987), pp. 150, 152: Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 103.
6. [Jemma Field]
7. Nicola Clark, 'Noblewomen, Court Service, and Crossing Borders: England c. 1500–1550', Royal Studies Journal, 11:1 (2024), p. 128
8. State Papers of Henry the Eighth, vol. 1 (London, 1830), pp. 691–693.
9. William Tighe, 'Familia reginae: the Privy Court', Susan Doran & Norman Jones,The Elizabethan World (Routledge, 2011), p. 80.
10. Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), pp. 101, 103.
11. Willam J. Tighe, 'Country into court', Dale Hoak, Tudor Political Culture (Cambridge, 1995), p. 163.
12. [Maria Hayward]
13. Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), pp. 103-4.
14. William Tighe, 'Familia reginae: the Privy Court', Susan Doran & Norman Jones,The Elizabethan World (Routledge, 2011), pp. 83-84.
15. [John Strype]
16. [J. L. Laynesmith]
17. [Emily Sarah Holt]
18. [James Balfour Paul]
19. Accounts of the Treasurer, 11, pp. 490–91, 534.
20. Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 350 no. 560: Accounts of the Treasurer, 11, p. 163: Joseph Stevenson, Selections from unpublished manuscripts illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of Scotland (Glasgow, 1837), p. 205
21. Accounts of the Treasurer, 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), p. 401.
22. Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 147
23. [Alice Clark (historian)|Alice Clark]
24. Erin Griffey, 'Home Comforts: Stuart Queens Consort and Negotiating Foreigness at Court', Christina Strunck & Lukas Maier, Rank Matters: New Research on Female Rulers in the Early Modern Era from an Intersectional Perspective (FAU, 2022), p. 124
25. Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), pp. 190, 237: Joseph Bain, Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, 1357-1509, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 346 no. 1724.
26. Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), p. 216.
27. Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), p. 216.
28. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, vol. 1 (London, England, 1920) no. 20, (funeral of Henry VII).
29. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, vol. 1 (London, England, 1920) no. 20, (funeral of Henry VII).
30. Theresa Earenfight, 'A Precarious Household', Royal and Elite Households in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2018), p. 352.
31. Theresa M. Earenfight, 'Raising infanta Catalina de Aragón to be Catherine Queen of England', Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 46/1 (2016), pp. 430-432: Michelle Beer, Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain: Catherine of Aragon and Margaret Tudor (Woodbridge, 2018), p. 117.
32. Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), 304–5.
33. https://archive.org/details/rutlandpapersor00rutl/page/38/mode/2up Rutland Papers (London: Camden, 1842), p. 38
34. Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), 304.
35. Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), pp. 129, 209, 266.
36. Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), pp. 244, 266.
37. Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), p. 240, 266: Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), 304.
38. Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), pp. 260, 266.
39. Maria Hayward, Great Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VII and Henry VIII (London Record Society, 2012), p. 309, 311.
40. J. S. Brewer, Letters and Papers, 1 (London, 1862), p. 898 no. 5483.
41. Anne Somerset, Ladies-in-waiting : from the Tudors to the present day (Castle Books, 2004), p. 39.
42. Anne Somerset, Ladies-in-waiting : from the Tudors to the present day (Castle Books, 2004), p. 42.
43. Nicola Clark, 'Katherine Howard: Victim?', Aidan Norrie, Tudor and Stuart Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), p. 131.
44. David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford, 1992), p. 355.
45. Letters and Papers Henry VIII, vol. 10, no. 1187.
46. Anne Somerset, Ladies-in-waiting : from the Tudors to the present day (Castle Books, 2004), p. 49.
47. David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford, 1992), p. 355: John Nichols, The history and antiquities of the county of Leicester, 3:2 (London, 1804), p. 967.
48. E. Estcourt, Procceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, vol. 3 (London, 1864), pp. 103-105.
49. Steven May, Queen Elizabeth I: Selected Works (New York, 2004), p. 120.
50. David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford, 1992), p. 355.
51. Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1553–1554 (London, 1937), p. 53: HMC 7th Report: Molyneux, p. 612: John Nichols, llustrations of the manners and expences of antient times in England (London, 1797), p. 22
52. David Loades, Reign of Mary Tudor (Routledge, 1979), p. 12.
53. John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, 1 (London, 1823), p. 36.
54. James Gairdner, Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 10 (London, 1887), p. 495 no. 1187.
55. Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, Jayne Elisabeth Archer, John Nichols's Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: 1579-1595, vol. 1 (Oxford, 2014), p. 248.
56. James Gairdner, Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 10 (London, 1887), p. 495 no. 1187.
57. Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 101: Elizabeth Goldring, Faith Eales, Elizabeth Clarke, Jayne Elisabeth Archer, John Nichols's Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: 1579-1595, vol. 3 (Oxford, 2014), p. 249.
58. Susan Doran, Elizabeth I and Her Circle (Oxford, 2015), p. 200.
59. Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), pp. 102-103.
60. Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), p. 133.
61. Karen Britland, Drama at the Courts of Queen Henrietta Maria (Cambridge, 2006), pp. 55, 56.
62. Karen Britland, Drama at the Courts of Queen Henrietta Maria (Cambridge, 2006), p. 56: Sara J. Wolfson, 'Female Bedchamber of Henrietta Maria', Nadine Akkerman & Birgit Houben, The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2014), p. 313.