Eleanor Carey

Who was Eleanor Carey?

Eleanor Carey was the daughter of Sir Thomas Carey of Chilton Foliat and his wife Margaret Spencer. She was the great-granddaughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, which meant she was a third cousin to Henry VIII.

She and at least one of her sisters, possibly Anne Carey, were nuns at Wilton Abbey. On 24 April 1528 the abbess, Cecily Willoughby died. At this point the convent had about fifty nuns and there had already been several rumours of scandalous happenings there. Because of this, Thomas Wolsey wished to make Isabel Jourdain the new abbess since she was reputed to be "ancient, wise and discreet". However, it was also suggested, most likely by Eleanor’s brothers John and William Carey, that Eleanor become the new abbess. Anne Boleyn also favoured Eleanor as the candidate for abbess, so the king looked into the matter. What was found out, however, quite put an end to any notion of Eleanor's promotion. She confessed to having borne “two children by two sundry priests” and was involved with a servant from the household of Lord Willoughby de Broke. The Careys and Boleyns then proposed Eleanor’s eldest sister, Anne Carey, as a possible candidate, claiming that Isabel Jourdain had led an unchaste life when she was younger. Henry flatly refused to have either Eleanor, her sister, or Isabel made abbess, but Wolsey went ahead and gave the position to Isabel Jourdain anyway, causing the first major dispute between Henry and Wolsey.