Gertrude Courtenay (1502 – ), married to Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter.
Week 10: 'Alas, What Shall I Do For Love?' (Part 1)
The old families are paying attention to Elizabeth Barton, the prophetess down in Kent.
“If I were Exeter, I wouldn’t let my wife dance attendance on some addle-witted girl who is feeding her fantasies that one day she will be queen.”
Week 14: Devil’s Spit / A Painter’s Eye
Lady Exeter is caught up in the circle of treason surrounding Elizabeth Barton.
‘Look,’ Henry says, ‘it is Courtenay’s wife that is to blame. WHen he knows the whole of her practices he will want to be rid of her. She is fickle and weak like all her sex, easily led into scheming.’
Cromwell advises her to write to the king to say, “She has not the wit of a flea.” Nothing can be too humble for Henry.