We discussed a little bit about my new character at the last guild meeting but for those who weren't there and for those outside of St E's who have been asking, here is a bunch of information on her...

Margaret Norreys, 1st Baroness Norreys of Rycote (aka Margery Williams)

Birthdate: 1521

Birthplace: Rycote, Oxfordshire England

Father: John Williams, 1st Baron Williams of Thames

Mother: Elizabeth Bledlow

Siblings:
• John Williams
• (Sir) Henry Williams
• Francis Williams
• Isabella Williams

Grandparents:
• John Williams of Burghfield
• Isabel More
• (mother's side?)

Spouse: Henry Norreys, 1st Baron Norreys of Rycote (Ambassador to France)

Spouse's Family:
• Sir Henry Norreys (father)
• Mary Fiennes (mother)

Children:
• (Sir) Willian Norreys Marshall of Berwick (d. 1579)
• (Sir) John Norreys (d. 1597)
• (Sir) Edward Norreys Governor of Ostend
• Catherine Norreys
• (Sir) Henry Norreys (d. 1599)
• (Sir) Thomas Norreys Lord President of Munster (d. 1599)
• Maximillian Norreys (d. 1593)

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My Father in Law:
On 8 Jun 1515, Henry was made Keeper of the Park of Foliejon in Winkfield, Berkshire, an office which had been held by his father. On 17 Feb 1518, he became weigher at the common beam at Southampton, then the great mart of the Italian merchants. On 28 Jan 1519, he was appointed Bailiff of Ewelme in Oxfordshire. He was also Keeper of the King's Privy Purse. In 1519, he received an annuity of fifty marks (£33.6s 8d) and was at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. On 12 Sep 1523, he received the Keepership of Langley New Park in Buckinghamshire and was made Bailiff of Watlington. Henry early took the side against Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and was one of the main instruments in bringing about his fall. Wolsey certainly recommended him for promotion in a letter of 5 Jul 1528; but it may be assumed from the letter itself that this was rather done to secure Henry's favour for the writer himself than with the idea that Norreys had any need of the Cardinal's influence.

Henry adhered closely to Anne Boleyn while she was gaining her position at Court and became one of her intimate friends and a leader of the faction that supported her proud pretensions to control the State. He had the sweating sickness in 1528 and, on 25 Oct 1629, gratified his enmity to Wolsey by being present when he resigned the Great Seal. On 24 Oct, Henry was the only attendant on the King, when he went, with Anne and her mother, to inspect Wolsey's property. Norreys was the bearer of the King's kind message to Wolsey, at Putney, about the same time, and seems to have been affected by Wolsey's fallen condition. In the same year, Henry received a grant of £100 a year from the revenues of the See of Winchester and was soon promoted to be Groom of the Stole. In 1531, he was made Chamberlain of North Wales; in Nov 1532, he was again ill; in 1534, he was appointed Constable of Beaumaris Castle; in 1535, he received various manors which Sir Thomas More had held. He was present at the execution of the Charterhouse monks, on 4 May 1535, and Henry granted him the important Constableship of Wallingford Castle (29 Nov 1535); and he was generally regarded as the King's agent in the promotion of the new marriage with Jane Seymour.

In Apr 1536, Queen Anne had some talk with Sir Francis Weston, who hinted to her that Norreys loved her. She, afterwards, spoke to Norreys about it and, jokingly, said that he was waiting for 'dead men's shoes'. He protested and, in the end, she asked him to contradict any rumours he might hear about her conduct. But Norreys had many enemies and his alleged intimacy with Anne was carefully reported to Thomas Cromwell. On 1st May 1536, Norreys took part in a tournament at Greenwich and, at the close, Henry spoke to Norreys, telling him that he was suspected of an intrigue with Anne and urging him to confess. He was then arrested and taken to the Tower by Sir William FitzWilliam. He was tried on 12 May in Westminster Hall. He pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty and executed on 17 May. He was buried in the churchyard of the Tower of London.

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My Father:
John Williams of Burghfield in Berkshire & Preston Candover in Hampshire, was of Welsh descent, a direct descendant of Iestyn ap Gwrgant, the last ruler of the principality of Glamorgan. His father was the first of the line to anglicize his name and probably the first to seek his fortune in England. He was a kinsman of Morgan Williams who married Cromwell's sister, a relationship which must have helped his son in his early career: in 1535 Gregory Cromwell wrote to his own father from Rycote that he had been splendidly entertained by all the neighbourhood, especially by Williams. In 1544 Richard Cromwell, alias Williams, Morgan Williams's son, left Sir John Williams two of his best horses. He has also been described as a servant to Cardinal Wolsey and to King Henry VIII.

He discharged the office of sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire for a few weeks in the autumn of 1553 and Mary thereafter treated him as her henchman in Oxfordshire. In this capacity he was involved in the custody and execution of Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley, and the safe-keeping of Princess Elizabeth. In the same capacity he examined John Philpot. On 19 May 1554 he joined Sir Henry Bedingfield and Sir Leonard Chamberlain to escort Elizabeth from the Tower to Woodstock. Rycote Palace was a natural overnight stop for such a party undertaking the four day journey from London to Oxford. Lord Williams however laid on a lavish welcome for the young Elizabeth at Rycote, at which many local dignitaries, including Robert King, Bishop of Oxford, were present. It is not clear either that he was ever in sole charge of her, or that he was replaced by Bedingfield for his leniency, but he gained a lasting reputation for kindness to Elizabeth on her journeys to and from Woodstock. On both occasions he entertained her at Rycote and, according to Foxe, protested that he would die for her if necessary and clashed with Bedingfield over the respect he paid her. There is some likelihood, therefore, that he was the ‘Lord William' reported by the Imperial Ambassador in Mar 1555 to be conspiring with Elizabeth and plotting to marry her to Edward Courtenay. Williams's favourable reputation with Protestants is also clear from Foxe's report of his treatment of the condemned bishops, whom he conducted to Oxford from the Tower in Mar 1554 and at whose executions he presided in Oct 1555 and Mar 1556. The rumour is therefore intelligible which is reported to have been rife in Sep 1554, that the see of Canterbury ‘was given to a Spanish friar'; and the Lord Williams was out of his chamberlainship, and Secretary Petre out of his office.