Margaret Wentworth

Margaret Wentworth [1478 -1550] was the wife of Sir John Seymour, and mother of Sir Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII. Prior to her marriage, she lived in the household of her aunt, Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey [1445 -1497]. The poet John Skelton was a house guest at Sheriff Hutton castle, where the Countess and her ladies presented him with a garland worked in gold, pearls, and silks. In their honour, he composed the 'Garlande of Laurell' , possibly in 1488, and part of this poem was dedicated to Margery Wentworth.

To Mistress Margaret Wentworth
With marjoram gentle,
The flower of goodlihead,
Embroidered the mantle
Is of your maidenhead.
Plainly I cannot glose; 
Ye be, as I divine,
The pretty primrose,
The goodly columbine.
With marjoram gentle,
The flower of goodlihead,
Embroidered the mantle
Is of your maidenhead.
Benign, courteous, and meek,
With words well devised;
In you, who list to seek, 
Be virtues well comprised.
With marjoram gentle,
The flower of goodlihead,
Embroidered the mantle
Is of your maidenhead.