Magdalen Dacre

Magdalen Dacre, Viscountess Montagu was an English noblewoman. She was the daughter of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, and the second wife of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. Magdalen, a fervent Roman Catholic, was a Maid of Honour at the wedding of Mary I of England to Philip II of Spain in Winchester Cathedral. Dacre, despite being a Catholic, managed to remain in high regard with the Protestant Tudor Queen who succeeded Mary, Elizabeth I. Dacre was, according to biographer Lady Antonia Fraser in her historical biography, The Gunpowder Plot Terror and Faith in 1605, a fine example of how the most pious Catholic could survive if he did not challenge the accepted order.

Magdalen Dacre was born in January 1538 at Naworth Castle in Eskdale Ward, Cumberland, the fifth child of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, 2nd Baron Greystoke, and Elizabeth Talbot. The Dacres were powerful Northern Border lords and fervent Roman Catholics, however by the time of her birth, Henry VIII, the reigning monarch, had already made the break with Rome by placing the Protestant denomination on England, and had also just produced a male heir, Prince Edward , with his third wife Jane Seymour just months prior to the birth of Magdalen. Despite the Protestant Reformation sweeping the country, Magdalen Dacre, along with her siblings, were raised Roman Catholic by her family.

Source: Wikipedia