Lectures

1st February 2023: Elizabeth Barton – The Maid of Kent

Our invited speaker on 1st February was Melanie Gibson-Barton who gave a fascinating talk on “Elizabeth Barton – The Maid of Kent”.

Melanie's talk explored the story of the servant girl born in Aldington in 1506 in the reign of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. During the reign of his son, Henry VIII and his wife Katherine of Aragon the young woman's visions and prophesies caught the attention of the Archbishop of Canterbury who provided a dowry for her to become a nun at a convent in Canterbury. Melanie's illustrated talk highlighted the many local Kent connections which caused Elizabeth Barton's number of supporters to grow as she sought to support the Catholic church at a time when Protestant views were gaining strength.

In Henry VII’s desperate need to secure his throne with a son and heir through a marriage to Ann Boleyn Melanie showed that the prophesies of the “Holy Maid of Kent” became more political, bringing her national and international attention. Her influence beyond Kent made her so dangerous to Henry VIII, Katherine of Ara gon and Ann Boleyn that Elizabeth Barton had to be put to death. Melanie's talk enabled the audience to take the Holy Maid's journey by illustrating what can be seen today at the key sites that led to Elizabeth Barton's execution at just age 28 in 1534.

Additionally featured in the talk were photographs of the work of Kent artist Lauren Stacey and her 2018 exhibition in Dover that focussed on Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent.

Melanie explained that the Elizabeth Barton talk was commissioned in 2017 by the Aldington Society and she also provided the talk to a USA audience: The USA Barton Society, that seeks to link with Bartons across the world.

Margaret Bray