George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury

George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, 4th Earl of Waterford, 10th Baron Talbot, KG, KB, PC ( – 26 July 1538) was the son of John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, and Lady Catherine Stafford, daughter of the 1st Duke of Buckingham. He also held the subsidiary titles of 13th Baron Strange of Blackmere and 9th Baron Furnivall.

Early life The Earl was born at Shifnal, Shropshire, in 1468. He succeeded to his father's peerage in 1473, when aged five years, and was appointed a Knight of the Bath in 1475. The same year, upon the birth of Henry's second child, a daughter named Margaret Tudor, Talbot became the first Tudor princess's godfather. and Lieutenant-General of the North in 1522. The Earl, John Russell, Sir William Parr (uncle of Queen consort Catherine Parr), William Gonson, Sir Francis Bryan and Admiral Sir William FitzWilliam, who were royalists, mustered the 1,000 troops from Gloucester who lived at Stony Stratford who were present against the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace at Ampthill, Bedfordshire. It was Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, who opened negotiations with the insurgents at Doncaster, where Robert Aske had assembled between thirty and forty thousand men. An armistice was then agreed upon, and the insurgents laid their demands before the King. Francis Talbot, later 11th Baron Talbot and 5th Earl of Shrewsbury (–1560) Lady Elizabeth Talbot (–aft. 6 May 1552), married aft. 18 May 1519 William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, and had issue. Lady Margaret Talbot (dsp.), married, as his first wife, Henry Clifford, 1st Earl of Cumberland Lady Mary Talbot (d. 16 April 1572), married c. Jan 1523/4 Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland. Henry Talbot, styled Lord Talbot (d. young) John Talbot (d. young) John Talbot (d. young) William Talbot, Marshal of Ireland Richard Talbot Lady Anne Talbot Lady Dorothy Talbot

After Anne died, he married secondly Elizabeth Walden (1491 – July 1567), the daughter of Sir Richard Walden. They had two children:

Lady Anne Talbot (18 March 1523 – 18 July 1588), married first Peter Compton (d. 30 January 1544) and had one son, Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton; married second William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke. John Talbot (d. young)

Film, fiction, television The Earl of Shrewsbury is depicted by Gavin O'Connor in the Showtime series The Tudors. In the series, the Earl of Shrewsbury is depicted as a much younger man (approximately 30). At the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, which is when he is featured in The Tudors, historically he was 70 yrs old. The date also confirms that he had to have been the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury; as titles are passed on only after a noble dies. The Tudors has been known to disregard the real ages of historical figures when casting roles.

He appears briefly in episode 1 of the TV adaptation of Wolf Hall, portrayed by James Laurenson, giving evidence in Henry's favour at the Legatine Court considering the legitimacy of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. His age is accurately portrayed.

He is a minor character in H. F. M. Prescott's novel The Man on a Donkey, which tells the story of the Pilgrimage of Grace.

Ancestry