#114 A TUDOR LADY
Lady Juliana (Browne) Mundy (1491-1537) lived in the time of
Henry VII and Henry VIII Tudor. I am almost certain we are related…but I am
just not sure if she is my 12th, 13th or 14th
great grandmother, or a great aunt or perhaps a cousin. Johanna and husband
John had three sons—Thomas, John, William and I can trace my Harper roots back
twelve generations to a set of Thomas, William and John Mundy. But the
birthyears do not exactly match (although how accurate are records from the
1400 and 1500s?) and genealogists are not in consensus. So far I cannot exactly
say that Johanna is my direct great grandmother. However, she is likely
related and hers makes for fun research and an interesting story. I like writing about the women in history.
Lady
Julianna (Browne) Mundy
At the beginning of the 16th century, London had
a population between 50,000 and 70,000; it was by far the largest English city,
but still small compared to continental capitals. About 25% of the population would
be considered what we would call upper and middle class. Probably 2% of the
people were upper class (civic elite, nobility, wealthy merchants); these
included aldermen, livery company grandees, landed gentry living in the city
and a few aristocratic households. The “middling sort” (artisans, tradesmen,
shopkeepers, prosperous yeomen, skilled craftsmen) were about 20-30% of the
population; these were the freemen of the livery companies, householders who
employed apprentices or servants, and those with modest property and stable income.
Most Londoners, however, were the working poor and “lower orders”;
this included artisans, labourers, causal workers, servants, porters and the
many poor who just lived precariously. A small but visible fraction, (perhaps
5-10%) were beggars, vagrants, widows and children without steady means. Most
Londoners lived close to subsistence. Lives were precarious, vulnerable to high
rents and food costs, illness, loss of employment. The poor lived in cramped,
rented rooms shared with family and livestock; houses were damp, smoky, poorly
ventilated with shared wells and contaminated cesspools. Their meals consisted
mostly of coarse bread, pottage, cheese and ale, with meat only rarely. London
was vulnerable to outbreaks of the plague, sweating sickness and other
contagious diseases; fire was a constant danger. Vagrancy laws treated
unemployed or homeless people harshly; they could be whipped, imprisoned or
forced into service.
Julianna Browne was born about 1491 into one of London’s
most powerful families and into the powerful mercantile class of London, a
group that dominated both trade and politics. Her father and both grandfathers
had served as Lord Mayor, and she herself was married to Sir John Mundy who later became London mayor. Intermarriage among London’s elite was designed to
strengthen political and economic bonds, so her marriage, about 1509, to John Mundy cemented
alliances between two powerful mercantile houses. She was expected to bear children
to continue the family line (she had five sons and four daughters). She also
likely brought a dowry and perhaps property into the marriage.
Julianna moved in a world of wealth and influence and her
daily life was tied as much to international trade and civic politics as to
domestic management. Her world was shaped by commerce and politics. Her
family’s fortune came from overseas trade, the goldsmiths’ and mercers’
companies, and civic office; this made her part of London’s rising “urban
aristocracy”. As the wife of a knighted Lord Mayor, she straddled both the
mercantile elite and the lower ranks of the nobility, a social position giving
her unusual status for a London-born woman.
As the mistress of a great household, Julianna’s life was
one of privilege and also responsibility. She oversaw servants, accounted for
supplies and ensured that her home reflected the dignity of her family’s
position. Her household would have been filled with the evidence of this
privilege: imported silks and spices, servants in livery, tapestries warming
panelled walls, and the steady rhythm of business conducted in her husband’s
countinghouse.
Dress was a marker of rank. As the wife and daughter of a mayor, she could wear rich fabrics like velvet and silk, trimmed with fur and adorned with jewelry; these were important and visible signs of her family’s wealth and standing.
Her husband and kin held public office, so she would have played
a visible role in the ceremonies that defined London’s public life, appearing
in guild feasts, civic pageantries and processions like the Mayor’s
inauguration. Hospitality and hosting of banquets for aldermen, visiting
dignitaries, guild members and foreign merchants was an important role.
London in the early 16th century was still
staunchly Catholic. Juilianna and John almost certainly attended St.Peter’s
Westcheap. Her maternal family left a valuable bequest to St. Peter’s Westcheap,
this church was connected to her husband’s goldsmith guild and the couple were
buried there in 1537. At St Peter’s, she would have sponsored religious
observances and endowed altars or prayers for her family’s souls. Piety and
charity were expected of elite women, and wealthy London households often had
private chapels.
St Peter’s Westcheap (aka Ecclesia S. Petri de Wodestreet Churchyard, St. Peter at the Cross in Cheap Churchyard, St. Peter Cheap Churchyard) was a parish church in the City of London dating from the 12th century. It stood directly facing the old Cheapside Cross which was set up by King Edward I in 1291–94. This was one of the "Eleanor crosses” that marked the resting-places of the body of Queen Eleanor on the way to Westminster Abbey.
This site became a central place of public proclamation, and, being densely populated by merchants and their apprentices of all kinds, was also the scene of many public punishments and executions, and the focus of frequent popular disturbances. In late medieval times this locality was known as the neighbourhood of wealthy gold and silversmiths. In the 15th century, the church had four altars; the altar of the Holy Cross had, as its relic, a fragment of the True Cross, encased in a gold cross and garnished with precious stones. The church tower had four bells and a diminishing scale of fees was charged for the ringing of knells and minds, depending on the size of the bell rung; moneys raised went to the churchwardens and church clerk. St.Peter’s church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, together with most of its surroundings, and was never rebuilt. In its place three shops were built on the Cheapside frontage in 1687, and the land behind continued to be used as a burial-ground and garden, which was enclosed with railings in 1712. The ancient Cheapside plane tree still grows there, and with the group of houses and garden, survived the Blitz in 1940. The garden is still maintained for public use.
A Day
in the Life of Juliana Browne, c.1505
The bells
of St. Mary-le-Bow rang out across Cheapside, their peal mingling with the
clatter of hooves and the cries of traders setting out their wares. Juliana
Browne stirred in her chamber, the pale light of dawn slanting through the
narrow leaded windows of her family’s townhouse. Below, the street was already
alive with London’s restless commerce — apprentices calling, carts groaning
under sacks of wool, and the smell of bread wafting from the baker’s shop.
A maid
entered with a basin of warmed water, bowing as she set it down. Other servants
prepared bread, ale, and perhaps a little cheese for breakfast. Juliana rose,
her linen shift rustling, and opened her Book of Hours. She prayed for her
husband, Sir John Mundy, and for the souls of her forebears, several of whom
had held the proud title of Lord Mayor of London. The painted saints gleamed in
the candlelight, the flicker of the flame a reminder of devotion and duty.
By
midmorning, her household was bustling. Apprentices carried papers and goods in
and out, for the townhouse served as both home and business. In the kitchen,
cooks oversaw the making of pottages and stews for the servants and began
preparing the more elaborate evening meal. The steward entered with account
books: tallies of rents from city properties, the purchase of imported spices,
and wine newly arrived from France. Juliana did not handle the coin herself,
but she listened closely, ensuring her household maintained its dignity and
order. She also checked supplies of saffron and pepper, staples that testified
to her family’s mercantile reach.
At the
hour for her outing, she dressed for the day. A gown of fine velvet or silk,
lined with fur for the season, was fastened at her waist with a girdle of
silver. Gilt jewelry or coral beads might adorn her neck — a fitting but not
ostentatious display, since sumptuary laws governed what the wives of aldermen
could wear.
A litter
carried her through London’s crowded streets, past butchers’ stalls and
mercers’ shops. At St. Paul’s Cathedral, she knelt before the Virgin, while
apprentices whispered prayers nearby before returning to their work. On other
days she might accompany her husband to a guildhall feast or a civic
procession. Wives of aldermen sat in their best gowns at such occasions, their
presence part of the social fabric. There, Juliana exchanged quiet words with
other women about marriages, dowries, guild politics, and parish obligations.
As
evening fell, her household readied itself for the main meal of the day. If her
husband was entertaining fellow aldermen or visiting merchants, the table was
laid with pewter, trenchers of roast meat, fish, and sugared marchpane, all
designed to impress. Spiced dishes and wines from abroad marked the family’s
wealth, though such luxuries were reserved for feasts and company. Juliana took
her place beside Sir John, her role one of quiet ceremony — gracious,
observant, ensuring all were well attended.
When the
feast ended, prayers were said, and the guests departed into the noisy London
night. Outside, taverns rang with laughter, the Thames stirred with the
movement of barges, and carts clattered late into the dark. At last Juliana
withdrew to her chamber, where silence returned. She extinguished her candle
and reflected on her place in the city — a wife, mother, mistress of a
household, and part of a civic dynasty woven as tightly into London’s fabric as
the stones of the Guildhall itself.—scripted by CHATGPT
Julianna, about aged 50, died in London in September 1537, a year of plague mortality. She and her husband (who also died that year) were buried in St.Peter’s Churchyard. A brick vault was constructed for Lady Mundy on the south side of the choir "neere unto the towe pyllers of the same syd".
St. Peter's Cheapside burial grounds
JULIANA BROWNE b. abt 1491 in Checkenden, Oxfordshire, England m. Sir John Mundy (-1537) about 1509 d. Sept 15-26, 1537 in London, England my Harper line
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