Anne Hastings, Countess of Shrewsbury

Known for: figure in Tudor history
Occupation: lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII
Dates: about 1471 - 1520
Also known as: Anne Talbot

Background, Family:

• Mother: Katherine Neville, a sister of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and a major figure in the Wars of the Roses known as "the Kingmaker." Katherine Neville's father was Richard Neville whose father was Ralph Neville and whose mother was Joan Beaufort, a legitimized daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, a son of King Edward III, and his mistress, Katherine Swynford.
• Father: William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, who had Mortimer ancestry through his maternal grandmother.
• Siblings: four brothers and a sister, plus a half-sister (via her mother and her first husband), Cecily Bonville, who was a wealthy heiress.

Marriage, Children:

• husband: George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, also a great grandson of Joan Beaufort and Ralph Neville (his mother's maternal grandparents) and a great nephew of Cecily Neville.
• children: her son, Francis Talbot, became the 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his son, the 6th Earl, played a part in the rivalry between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots
  1. Mary Talbot
  2. Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury
  3. Margaret Talbot
  4. Elizabeth Talbot
  5. Dorothy Talbot
  6. Richard Talbot
  7. Henry Talbot
  8. John Talbot
  9. John Talbot
  10. William Talbot
  11. Anne Talbot

Anne Hastings, Countess of Shrewsbury Biography:

Anne Hastings was born into a family well-connected to major figures in the Wars of the Roses between the Lancaster and York factions fighting for the English throne. Anne's father, William Hastings, fought with Edward IV at Mortimer's Cross and then at Towton. Hastings was a friend and Lord Chamberlain of King Edward IV.

Another of Edward's supporters of that time was his cousin Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as "the Kingmaker." When Warwick's sister Katherine Neville was widowed, leaving her infant daughter from her first marriage very wealthy, Edward saw to the marriage of his cousin Katherine to William Hastings. Anne was the fifth of six children of that marriage.

Anne was married to a ward of her father's, George Talbot, when she was 10 and he was 13. George was Anne's second cousin; they were both great grandchildren of Joan Beaufort and her husband, Ralph Neville. George was styled 4th Earl of Talbot and 9th Baron Furnivall, making young Anne Countess of Shrewsbury and Baroness Furnivall.

When Edward IV died in 1483, Hastings attempted to forestall a Woodville takeover by supporting Edward's brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as Lord Protector. But in June, Richard accused Hastings and others of conspiring with Jane Shore -- a former mistress of Edward IV and possibly Hastings' mistress as well -- to remove Richard from power. Richard had Hastings immediately beheaded, and eventually Richard took the crown himself as Richard III. Richard did not, however, issue an attainder against Hastings, and so his title passed to his son and his lands stayed in possession of his family. The wardship of Anne's young husband, George Talbot, passed to Anne's mother.

Anne began to have children about 1500, and she and George eventually had eleven offspring, several of whom died young.

George Talbot served the new Tudor king, Henry VII. He fought against the pretender Lambert Simnel, and in another battle against the French. Talbot continued to serve the son, Henry VIII, and was Lord Steward of the King's Household from 1509 to 1539. Talbot was an officer in the army during the 1512 invasion of France and attended the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

Some time after Henry VIII came to power in 1509, and married his first wife Catherine of Aragon that same year, Anne Hastings came to court as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine.

Anne Hastings died in 1520, some years before Henry VIII became involved with Anne Boleyn. George Talbot supported Henry in obtaining a divorce. George Talbot remarried; his second wife was Elizabeth Walden. A monument in Shrewsbury Chapel has the effigy of George Talbot between the effigies of his two wives.

Anne's son, Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, remained in the good graces of Henry VIII though he remained a Roman Catholic. Francis converted to the Protestant faith under the reign of Henry's son, Edward VI, and served on the King's Council, and was on the Council of Mary I.

Anne's grandson, George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, was the keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots, when she was imprisoned by Elizabeth I. His second wife, Bess of Hardwick,

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