Friday, August 13, 2010

Question from Lewis - Pronunciation of Blount

Was Bessie Blount's name pronounced Blount or Blunt?

9 comments:

Foose said...

A.L. Rowse's Court & Country: Studies in Tudor Social History indicates that pronouncing it "Blunt" is correct.

Anonymous said...

Did Bessie and Henry's son Henry FitzRoy have any children? Just got back from London and was wondering if Henry's blood line continues through his son.

Anonymous said...

Did Bessie and Henry's son Henry FitsRoy have anychildren?

Foose said...

Henry Fitzroy had no legitimate children, as his marriage to Mary Howard appears to have been unconsummated (Henry VIII was unwilling to support the widow on this premise), and if they did have marital relations, there were no resulting children.

There are no known or acknowledged illegitimate children of Henry Fitzroy. The commenter kb has brought up elsewhere on this blog Henry Fitzroy's stay in France, where he presumably led the life of a young nobleman and enjoyed the "sentimental education" typical of the Renaissance gentleman. If he had a mistress, however, there are no records of it.

kb said...

Foose - I did?

I show Henry Fitzroy dying at the age of 17 in 1536 and buried at Thetford.

I'm pretty convinced, although I can not prove it, that he had no children.

Foose said...

It was in the thread speculating on the virginity of Henry VIII's children:

http://queryblog.tudorhistory.org/2008/01/question-from-lyra-henry-viiis-children.html

kb said...

Hmmm.....I'm not seeing a post from me in that thread. Monica posted about Fitzroy hanging out with the French princes.

Regardless, I believe you and I agree that it is highly unlikely that Fitzroy had any children at all.

Foose said...

Oh, you're right about that thread and the comment about Fitzroy in France. Sorry, Monica.

Anonymous said...

It rhymes with "count", not with... Um... "bunt." But seriously, folks: Yankees with this name usually pronounce it phonetically, while Southerners (and those whose family origins are Southern) typically say "Blunt."