Alice Norton (Cranmer)

Daughter of Edmund Cranmer (1494-1571), Archdeacon of Canterbury, niece of Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury, Alice was m. c1568 to Thomas Norton (1532-1584), poet and controversial MP -- also known as the "Rackmaster of London". Alice was his second wife -- his first wife was her first cousin Margaret Cranmer, dau of Thomas Cranmer, who died childless prior to 1568. _____________________________________________

Note by Robert Hanscom, a Norton descendant -- 3 May 2016:

Alice was the mother of nine children born between 1571 and 1583. From the biography of her husband, Thomas Norton, this passage: "Always a bigoted protestant, she at length fell a victim to religious mania. In 1582 [error for 1583], she was hopelessly insane, and at the time of her husband's death [March 1584] was living at Cheshunt..." An entry from June 1583 indicates that her daughter, Anne, age 5, was staying with her. However, the rest of her children were at Sharpenhoe Manor (including a newborn daughter, Elizabeth), being cared for by their father until his death, and then likely by their uncle, Luke Norton.

Following the marriage of her daughter Anne to Sir George Coppin (about 1600), Alice resided in their household in Cheshunt. She died in there in Feb 1602, age about 60, having "never recovered her reason".