Anna Margaretta Regina PEDISSIQUA wife of Thomas Berry died 1493
RAY Montgomery
To whom it may concern,
I found this today researching Thomas Berry born abt 1449 of Berrynarbor, Devonshire, England. He died 20 apr 1493. This Anna Margaretta Regina PEDISSIQUA is shown as his wife. I have found this in a note about here. Can any one give me perhaps solid data concerning her.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Ray
Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry V1
Notes from http://tudorhistory.org/queryblog/2008/09/question-from-ron-more-info-on-anne.html
One
problem is that lady's last name, "Pedissiqua" has the meaning "to
follow on foot, like an attendant." That opens the possibility that
it's not her real surname, but rather descriptive of her position.
"Pedisiqua" can even specifically mean handmaiden or waiting woman.
......Actually,
the juxtaposition of her two middle names suggests that the full name
is actually a mangling of the Latin for "Anna, Attendant of Queen
Margaret," rather than the Christian name "Anna Margaretta Regina."
......Margaret
of Anjou left a complete Wardrobe Book for 1452-53. In it we learn that
"Ismania lady of Scales, Isabella lady Grey, Lady Margaret Ross, Lady
Isabella Dacre, and Lady Isabella Butler, are mentioned as being in
immediate attendance upon her person, besides ten 'little damsels,' and
two chamberwomen." (Letters of Illustrious and Royal Ladies of Great
Britain, by Mary Anne Everett Green, Vol. 1, page 98). I would hazard
a guess that Anna may have been a chamberwoman, because in rooting
around the Internet I have seen the word "pedissequa" translated
specifically as "chamberer." (The old classical Latin meaning meant
"one who attends the mistress abroad or in the street," but it seems to
have mutated over the centuries, indicating a servant who did a lot of
the actual work.) I have no idea if Anne, or Anna, was one of the
chamberwomen listed in the Wardrobe Book (it only covers a year). But
it might be a place to start. Perhaps one of the specialists in the
hierarchies of ladies-in-waiting among this blog's readers could add
more on the relative rank and duties of a 15th-century "pedissequa" ...?
.....You
also might try getting hold of Laynesmith's recent "The Last Medieval
Queens," which covers Margaret extensively; you can read the key
chapter "Court and Household" online at Google Books (it has a lot of
information on Margaret's 1450s household), but the bibliography is
missing and that is what you really need. If you get hold of the book,
see what Laynesmith has listed under Primary Sources. Helen Maurer
wrote a recent biography of Margaret of Anjou that could be useful too;
again I recommend getting at the bibliography for sources. Both books
mention AR Myers' "The Household of Margaret of Anjou," which analyzes
the Wardrobe Book of 1452-53 but would be useful in showing you what to
look for and what various terms mean. It's an article, though, and
might be difficult to get hold of outside an academic library. If, as
your previous query suggested, Anna/Anne married around 1480/83, that
could suggest that she was not one of Margaret's women in the 1450s;
she'd be rather mature for marriage 30 years later. However, Margaret
died in 1482, and your date might indicate that Anna/Anne married after
Margaret's death released her from service. Possibly Anna/Anne is a
later addition to her household, perhaps sharing her captivity in
England and travelling to France with her after Margaret was ransomed
in 1476.
Notes from http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jhqmytal&id=I34219
Note:
1"Pedissiqua Margaretta Regina" Vivian states - Lady in Waiting to
Margaret the Queen. This would be Queen Marguerite, the wife of King of
England, King Henry VI, who did have a period of reign in addition to
the earlier one - thus in 1470-1471. She was living in 1493, so she may
have served the Queen also in the earlier reign, before 1462.
Sources:
Text: Vivian's Visitations of Devon 1620, 1895 edition - Berry of Berrynarbor, Estleigh Chittlehampton, pp. 74-80
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