Margaret (Boleyn) Sackville (abt. 1489 - bef. 1534)

Born about 1489 in Blickling, Norfolk, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of John Sackville MP — married about 1506 in Sussex, England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 1534 before about age 45 in Chiddingly, Sussex, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Margaret was born in or around 1489, the daughter of Sir William Boleyn and his wife Margaret. She was probably born at Blickling Hall which was her father's residence in Norfolk.

Sir William Boleyn made his will on 8 October 1505 , which was proved on 27 November 1505 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. ^[1] Bequests to his daughters included:

• To my daughter Anne Shelton £40 to be paid within two years after decease
• Also I geve and bequeath to my doughter Alice and Margarete at their marriage shortly to be paid to theym and betwene theym to be eqally departed in money Mt markes Also I will that the same Alice & Magarete shalbe found in any thing according to my goals upon the sight of myn execut[ors] unto that tyme that they shalbe by godds grace married

"Mt Markes" was 1000 marks, an amount of money equal to about £660. Each daughter received a half share of about £330 as her marriage portion.

Sir William's heir, Margaret's brother Thomas, already married and with a young family, removed from Blickling in Norfolk to Hever Castle in Kent.

Margaret Boleyn married John Sackville esq. of Buckhurst, Sussex ^[2] probably in 1506 as their son was born around 1507 (said to be 50 years old at his father's death in 1557). This would have made Margaret about 17 years old when she married. It is not known where Margaret and John married They may have met and married in Sussex, or Kent if Margaret had accompanied her older brother Thomas to live at Hever Castle. They may have met at the Royal Court and married at Greenwich or Westminster.

She and John had at least 6 known children: ^[3]

• Richard - eldest son and heir, born in or before 1507
• Christopher - the second son
• John - the third son
• Anne - married Edward Pelham
• Mary - married John Lunsford
• Isabel - married John Ashburnham

Margaret is said to have died before 1534, when John Sackville remarried to Anne Torrell of Willingale Doe in Essex. ^[3] In 1534 she would have been about 45 years old. It is possible that her place of death was in Sussex at Chiddingly, the Sackville seat. She is not known to have left a will.

Her burial place would have probably have been in the Sackville's chantry chapel at Withyham in Sussex, where her husband requested to be buried in his will of 1557. This chapel with all its tombs, along with a great part of the church, the church bells and the church register were all destroyed by a lightening strike in 1663.
There is no record of Margaret being buried at Norwich Cathedral in the Boleyn chantry chapel where her father and her grandmother were interred, or at the Chapel of St Thomas at Blickling built as a burial place for the Norfolk Boleyn family in the 15th century. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Will of Sir William Boleyn of Blikling Norfolk 27 November 1505. PROB 11/14/790. National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England. Free sharing images on Ancestry Page1 Page 2 Page3 Accessed 18 May 2021
2. ↑ Marriage of John Sackville and Margaret Boleyn in: Francis Blomefield, 'Hundred of South Erpingham: Blickling', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 6 (London, 1807), pp. 381-409. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol6/pp381-409 [accessed 18 May 2021].
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Political career of John Sackville in: SACKVILLE, John I (by 1484-1557), of Mount Bures, Essex, Withyham and Chiddingly, Suss. biography by R. J.W. Swales. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982 HoP online Accessed 17 May 2021
4. ↑ Francis Blomefield, 'Hundred of South Erpingham: Blickling', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 6 (London, 1807), pp. 381-409. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol6/pp381-409 [accessed 18 May 2021].