Joan Fogge

Jane was born on around 1469 in Ashford, Kent, England as the daughter of Sir John Fogge although her parentage is uncertain.

Many sources state that she was indeed the daughter of Sir John Fogge,[1] though other sources state that she was his granddaughter. The official biographers of Catherine Parr, Linda Porter,and Dr. Susan James, state that Catherine Parr is a great-granddaughter of Sir John Fogge through his daughter Joan.[2][3] However, in her biography on Katherine, James states that Sir Thomas Green had made an advantageous with the granddaughter of Sir John Fogge, treasurer of the Royal household under Edward IV.[4][5] On Sir John Fogge's will, transcribed by Pearman, states that he had three daughters, Anne, Elizabeth and Margaret, and makes no mention of Jane.[6] It could be possible that John disowned Joan for unknown reasons, which explains why she is absent on Fogge's will, or that Joan had already died after the birth of her younger daughter Maud when the will was made since some sources state that that Maud was born in 1490, [7][8] which was around the time that will was written. On the Family Chronicle of Richard Fogge of Danes Court in Tilmanstone, it is mentionned in the Fogge family pedigree that Sir John Fogge had four daughters, although only three were named so it is likely that the unnamed daughter is Joan.[9]

Although it is mostly agreed upon that Joan was the daughter of Sir John Fogge, and his second wife Alice Haute, her parentage remains uncertain.

Sketch of the tomb of Jane's alleged parents, and step-mother.

At an unknown date, probably in the late 1480s, Joan married Sir Thomas Green, the son of Sir Thomas Greene (d.462) and Matilda (Maud) Throckmorton (c.1425-1496). He was a member of the English gentry who died in the Tower of London, where he had been imprisoned for treason. The couple had two daughters, they were:

• Maud Green (6 April 1490/92 – 1 December 1531),[10] was an English courtier,and lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII. She married Sir Thomas Parr, the eldest son of Sir William Parr and Elizabeth FitzHugh in 1508. They had three surviving children:

• Catherine Parr in 1512.
• William Parr, Marquess of Northampton in 1513.
• Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke in 1515.

• Anne Green (1489-c.1550 She married Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden, son of Sir William Vaux and Katherine Peniston in 1507, they had five children:[11]

• Thomas Vaux, 2nd Baron Vaux of Harrowden (1509-1556)
• William Vaux (d.May 1523)
• Bridget Vaux (married Maurice Walsh bef.1538)
• Margaret Vaux (married Sir Francis Pulteney of Misterton abt.1525)
• Maud Vaux (d.14 Apr 1569)

When Sir Thomas Green died, he left two motherless daughters. As he had no male heirs, his estates passed to the Parr and Vaux families, into which his two daughters married.[12]

Joan's exact date of death remains in obscurity. She would die of unknown causes between 1490 or 92 after the birth of her younger daughter Maud, or before 9 November 1506 when her husband died as it was stated that their daughters Maud, and Anne were orphaned after the demise of their father.[12] Joan was buried at St Bartholomew's Church,in Greens Norton where her parents in-law were buried, and her husband would join her in burial in 1506. A memorial brass of Joan still survives.

• Fraser, Antonia (1993). "Catherine Parr". The Wives of Henry VIII. Vintage Publishing.
• James, Susan (2009). Catherine Parr: Henry VIII's Last Love.
• Pearman, A.J. (1868). History of Ashford. Ashford: H. Igglesden. p. 123. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
• Porter, Linda (2010). Katherine, the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII.