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Where did it go?
June 25, 2011
2:26 am
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flickitywitch
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Something has caught my interest lately, and I wonder if anyone else knows anything about it. I recently bought a replica of Jane Seymour's necklace from her famous portrait: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J…..ne_Seymour (the one with the large pendant of two stones and large pearl drop), and noticed that Kathryn Howard also wears it in her only portrait: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C…..ine_Howard, and so does Catherine Parr: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C…..erine_Parr.

I know it was not unusual for jewels to be reused, and as they were all wives in succession, then it seems they all had the pendant, just changed the necklace it was on.

The question is, where did it go after Catherin Parr?

I have found a portrait of Magdalana of Bavaria: http://entertainment.webshots……5158UKHGrr where she is wearing it too! I can find no link between her and the Tudors, so wonder how she came by it, and if she passed it on to her family.

 

I know it might seem silly, but my fascination had been caught by this little piece of Tudor bling.

 

Anyone know what happened to it, or got any ideas?????

June 25, 2011
12:13 pm
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Bella44
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I've often wondered what happened to pieces of jewellery too!

When Henry died, all of the 'queens jewels' would haver reverted back to the crown.  Catherine Parr had a hard time getting her own jewellery back from the Duke of Somerset, pieces that Henry had given to her over the course of their marriage and had given instructions that when he died, Catherine could keep.  It was a major bone of contention between the Duke of Somerset (the new Protector) and Catherine and her new husband, Thomas Seymour.  Sadly I don't think Catherine ever got her jewels back.  So I assume that particular piece would have stayed in the crowns' possession at least until the time of Elizabeth.  I don't think the necklace part was refashioned into another piece as there is a portrait of Elizabeth when she first became queen (I'd upload a picture but my laptop is throwing major hissy fits with these sort of things at the moment, sorry!) that shows her wearing a two-strand necklace that looks very similar to the Jane Seymour/Katherine Howard piece, sort of precious jewels set in gold Tudor roses with clumps of pearls in between. Unfortunately a different pendant is attached to it!

I don't know what happened to that particular pendant, most likely the jewels refashioned into other pieces and the gold melted down for use elsewhere.  It's not totally impossible that it was sold off to raise ready cash or given to foreign monarchs as a gift, though I don't know often those sort of things happened or if it was entirely legal.  So it's not completely beyond the realms of possibility that it could have ended up intact in the collection of the house of Bavaria!  

It's too bad that a lot of the crown jewels were sold off and melted down during the Civil War (after the portrait of Magdalena was painted though) – that's probably what happened to a lot of the Tudor-era jewellery.  But I did read somewhere that pearls once belonging to Mary Queen of Scots and purchased by Elizabeth after her execution are now part of the Imperial State Crown.

June 25, 2011
2:17 pm
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Anyanka
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Magdalena was the great-granddaughter of Ferdinand I of the Holy Roman Empire who was the uncle of Philip of Spain. Possibly the jewel was gifted to Philip by Mary or given to one of Magdalena's grandmothers by Mary.

It's always bunnies.

June 26, 2011
12:43 pm
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flickitywitch
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Glad to know I'm not the only one who has thought about it. My guess was that it ended up in Bavaria because it was gifted by either Mary or Elizabeth. I can faintly remember reading somewhere that it might have ended up with the deVere family, but can't remember where I read it, so I could be wrong.

 

It would have been a great shame for it to have been destroyed and re-melted.

 

I wonder if it was made for Jane Seymour, or if it was already in the treasury?

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