Mary Fiennes was an English noblewoman and the wife of Sir Henry Norris who was executed for treason as one of the alleged lovers of her cousin, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England.
Background
Mary was born at Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex in 1495, the only daughter of Sir Thomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre and Anne Bourchier. Her mother was an elder half-sister of Elizabeth Howard and Lord Edmund Howard, making queen consorts Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard a cousin of Mary.
Career
Mary lived for six years at the French court as a Maid of Honour to queens consort, Mary Tudor and Claude of France, queen consort of Francis I of France. She had two younger brothers, Sir Thomas and John. Her paternal grandmother, Alice FitzHugh, was sister to Elizabeth FitzHugh, grandmother of another queen consort of Henry VIII, Catherine Parr.
In 1514, Mary was appointed a Maid of Honour to Princess Mary Tudor and accompanied her to France when the latter married King Louis XII of France.
Afterwards she served in the capacity to Queen Mary"s successor, Queen Claude, consort of the new king Francis I of France. Mary died in 1531, a year after her mother.
Their four orphaned children were raised by Norris"s brother Sir John Norris.