Descendant: Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, c 1475 -1542

The reigns of the first Tudor Kings were an inopportune time to be a Plantagenet.  Both Henry VII and Henry VIII were ever alert to any threats to their rule, coming from either a legitimate descendant who might have a claim to the throne, or a biological descendant who might support them.  Even members of the family who were otherwise innocent weren't immune. 

Arthur Plantagenet was the biological son of Edward IV of England.  Edward had several mistresses, so Arthur's mother isn't known.  He was born in Calais, the sole surviving Continental enclave of the Plantagenet empire on the Continent, the year ranges anywhere from 1461-1475.  Whenever it was, Arthur was soon brought to London to his father's court and may have been as young as 7 years old when Edward IV died in 1483.  Arthur next surfaces in the historical record in 1501 in the household of his half-sister, Elizabeth of York, consort of Henry VII.  Later, Arthur transferred to Henry VII's service and in 1509, with the accession of Henry VIII, he was made an Esquire of the Bodyguard and became a close companion of the young King.

Being a friend of Henry VIII could be a mixed blessing.  Arthur married Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle in her own right.  He was made High Sheriff of Hampshire, and later Vice Admiral of England.  He would attend Henry at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.  In 1523, Arthur was made Viscount Lisle, Privy Councilor, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and finally Constable of Calais.  Elizabeth died and Arthur later married Honor Grenville, the widow of Sir John Bassett.  It was a blended family, Arthur's three daughters from his first marriage, joining Honor's 7 children, including royal ladies in waiting Anne, Elizabeth and Mary Bassett, any of whom were rumored as potential brides for Henry VIII after Jane Seymour's death. 

Anne might have made it had not Henry become suspicious of most of the remaining members of the Plantagenet family by 1540.  Several of them were rounded up, including Margaret, Lady Salisbury and members of the Pole family, as well as Arthur.  The charge against Arthur was that he had conspired to give Calais over to the French.  A real plot was discovered, and its perpetrators executed, but no evidence could be found against Arthur himself.  He remained in the Tower of London, each day uncertain as to whether it would be his last.  Nobody looked forward to a beheading and there had been too many of them in Henry's reign.  Finally, in 1542, Henry decided to release Arthur.  When the news was brought to him, Arthur was shocked, expecting quite the opposite.  He died two days later of a heart attack, no doubt brought on by sheer fright and relief.  One historian later wrote that Henry VIII's mercies were as fatal as his judgments.  Arthur would have agreed! 

A fortunate by-product of Arthur's arrest and the search for evidence against him was that over 3,000 letters written by him and Honor were seized.  Posted at Calais, with three daughters at court, Lord and Lady Lisle had to manage their extensive properties and correspond with friends and family by letter.  The Lisle Letters, like the Paston Letters decades before, provide a valuable primary source for the era.