Early Life
Edmund Tilney was the only son of Philip Tilney (d.1541), Usher of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII, and Malyn Chambre. Edmund Tilney's father, Philip, was a younger son of Sir Philip Tilney of Shelley (d.1533), treasurer during the Scottish wars under the command of the Duke of Norfolk. Norfolk's first wife was Sir Philip Tilney's cousin, Elizabeth Tilney; after Elizabeth died in 1547, Norfolk married Sir Philip Tilney's sister, Agnes, later Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Malyn Tilney was implicated in the scandal leading to the downfall of the Duchess's step-granddaughter, Queen Catherine Howard, and was sentenced on 22 December 1541 to life imprisonment and loss of goods, but pardoned after the Queen's execution on 13 February 1542. Edmund Tilney's father was buried on 10 September 1541 in St. Leonard's Church Streatham. He died in debt, and his widow Malyn received a promise of help from the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.
No record of Tilney's education survives. He evidently learned Latin, French, Italian and Spanish because his early works indicate his acquaintance not only with the languages but also with subjects such as law, history, economics and genealogy. There is speculation that he must have travelled because travel was regarded as a part of one's education at that time.
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