Magdalen Dacre

Magdalen Dacre
Viscountess Montagu
Effigy of Magdalen Dacre on her alabaster tomb in Easebourne Church
Spouse(s)	Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu
Issue Philip Browne Sir Henry Browne George Browne Sir Anthony Browne Jane Browne Mary Browne Elizabeth Browne Mabel Browne Thomas Browne William Browne
Noble family	Dacre
Father	William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre
Mother	Elizabeth Talbot
Born	January 1538 Naworth Castle, Cumberland, England
Died	8 April 1608 Battle Abbey, Sussex
Religion	Roman Catholic
Occupation	Maid of Honour

Magdalen Dacre, Viscountess Montagu (January 1538 – 8 April 1608) 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 (or she) 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 (later Edward VI), 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.