Bess of Hardwick: Difference between revisions

[[Escutcheon (heraldry)|Lozenge-shaped shield]] as appropriate for a female [[armiger]] ]]

'''Elizabeth Cavendish''', later '''Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury''' (c.{{nee}} Hardwick; {{circa|1521}} 1527{{snd}} 13 February 1608), known as '''Bess of Hardwick''' (''née'' '''Elizabeth Hardwick'''), of [[Hardwick Hall]]|Hardwick inHall, Derbyshire]], was a notable figure of Elizabethan English society. By a series of well-made marriages, she rose to the highest levels of English nobility and became enormously wealthy. Bess was reportedly a shrewd business womanbusinesswoman, increasing her assets with business interests including mines and glass-making workshops.

She was married four times. Her first husband was Robert Barley (or Barlow), who died aged about 14 or 15 on 24 December 1544.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KToqD1c60PoC&pg=PA128 |title=The Elizabethans |last=Wilson |first=A. N. |date=2012-04-24 April 2012 |publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |isbn=9781466816190 |language=en}}</ref> Her second husband was the courtier [[William Cavendish (courtier)|Sir William Cavendish]]. Her third husband was [[Sir William St Loe]]. Her last husband was [[George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury]], sometime keeper to the captive [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]. An accomplished [[needlework|needlewoman]], Bess joined her husband's captive charge at [[Chatsworth House]] for extended periods in 1569, 1570, and 1571, during which time they worked together on the [[Oxburgh Hangings]].

Elizabeth Hardwick was the daughter of John Hardwick of [[Derbyshire]] by his wife Elizabeth Leeke, daughter of Thomas Leeke and Margaret Fox.<ref>[[Mary S. Lovell]]: ''Bess of Hardwick''</ref> Her exact birthdate is unknown, occurring in the period 1521 to 1527; that said, according to her witness statement under oath<ref>Public record Office, Kew; C1/1101</ref> at a court hearing in October 1546, in which she gives her age at the time of her first marriage in May 1543 as being '"of tender years'", i.e. less than 16, would indicate 1527. It cannot be later than 1527 because of the date of her father's death, given in his Inquisition Post Mortem.<ref>PRO:E/150/743/8</ref>

The Hardwicks had arrived in Derbyshire from Sussex by the mid-thirteenth century, and farmed land granted by Robert Savage, lord of the manor of SlingsbyStainsby, on the north-east border of Derbyshire, looking over Nottinghamshire. By the mid-fifteenth century the family had risen to '"gentleman-yeoman'" stock, with an estate of a few hundred acres located mainly in the parish of [[Ault Hucknall]] in the manor of SlingsbyStainsby. The Hardwick coat of arms of Hardwick was probably granted c. 1450 to William Hardwick. The blazon is: ''Argent, a saltier engrailed azure on a chief of the second three cinquefoils of the first''.<ref name="Burke's General Armory, 1884"/> When giving evidence of his right to arms in 1569, Bess's only brother, James Hardwick (1525-1580/1), provided the heralds with a pedigree of his family which began with this William, who died c. {{circa|1453}}.

James was the last surviving legitimate male member of the Hardwick family. The Hardwicks were members of the minor gentry of Scarsdale; no male member of the Hardwick family rose above the status of esquire or held any important local or county offices. Bess was born into this relatively minor gentry family. Her fourth marriage to the earl of Shrewsbury in 1567 elevated her to the rank of '"countess'", and following the earl's death in November 1590, Bess became one of the richest women in the kingdom. She set about building her greatest monument, [[Hardwick Hall|Hardwick New Hall]], which was completed in 1599.

John Hardwick died aged about 40 leaving a widow, son (and heir), and four daughters (five daughters were alive at the time he wrote his will). His widow, Elizabeth Leeke then remarried tomarried Ralph, the second son of the neighbouring Leche (or Leach) family of Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, by whom she would leave an additional three co-heiresses.

A close family associate was a man named Henry Marmion whose family held land close to Codnor, and may have commended Bess to the Zouches who, along with the Vernons, were the only major Derbyshire family likely to have taken in such children. However, Anne Gainsford was in service in the households of [[Anne Boleyn]] and [[Jane Seymour]], and despite marrying Sir George Zouche in 1533, spent much of her time at court until after 1536, when she and Sir George made Codnor Castle their main residence. Not surprisingly, this period coincides with the time that Dugdale claimed Bess was in service to Anne Gainsford in London and at Codnor. However, there is no evidence to support the story, and Dugdale would have known much more about the early life of Lady Zouche than was known of Bess's origins. Again, according to Dugdale, from Codnor Bess entered the service of the Greys at Bradgate in Leicestershire, where she met and married her second husband, Sir [[William Cavendish (courtier)|William Cavendish]]. She certainly married Sir William at Bradgate, but that in itself does not prove that Bess was in service at Bradgate. It remains possible that she met Sir William elsewhere, possibly at Codnor. More likely, she was recommended to the Greys by Henry Grey's sister, Margaret, Lady Willoughby. Henry Marmion was one the Willoughby's most trusted upper servants, he was also one of the two men appointed in Bess's father's will and guardians of his children. (the other was Bess's uncle, John Leake).

In 1543, Bess married 13-year-old Robert Barley (or Barlow), heir to a neighbouring estate. The exact date of her marriage to Robert is unknown. It is thought that the marriage took place late May 1543, shortly before the death of Robert's father on 28 May. There is no evidence that they lived together as manhusband and wife.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bessofhardwickpo00dura |url-access=registration |title=Bess of Hardwick: portrait of an Elizabethan dynast |last=Durant |first=David N. |date=January 1978 |publisher=Atheneum Publishers |language=en | page=[https://archive.org/details/bessofhardwickpo00dura/page/9 9]|isbn=9780689108358 }}</ref> Robert died in December 1544. There was no issue from the marriage, which had been arranged locally, probably initially to protect the Barley patrimony and to mitigate the impact of wardship on the Barley estate should Robert succeed his father as an underage heir. The traditional story that Robert and Bess met in London while in the service of a "Lady Zouche" is based on oral history, which can only be dated to the late seventeenth century (some eighty years after Bess's death). The marital claims to Robert's estate were disputed, and following his death Bess was refused dower by Peter Freschevile. A court battle ensued, which resulted in Bess being awarded her claim on the Barley estate and compensation, albeit several years after Robert's death.

On 20 August 1547, Bess married the twice-widowed Sir [[William Cavendish (courtier)|William Cavendish]]', Treasurer of the King's Chamber,<ref name="Digby" /> and became '''Lady Cavendish'''. The wedding took place at two o'clock in the morning, at the home of the [[Grey family]], friends of the couple. Sir William was more than twice Bess's age and the father of two daughters. His fortune had been made following the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], since as an official of the [[Court of Augmentations]] he was able to select choice properties for himself. Possibly acting on Bess's advice, Sir William sold his lands in the south of England and bought the Chatsworth estates in her home county of [[Derbyshire]]. Sir William Cavendish died on 25 October 1557, leaving Bess widowed a second time and in deep debt to the Crown. Upon his death, Bess claimed the sum of his property, having insisted that his land be settled on their heirs.

* '''[[Charles Cavendish (1553–1617died 1617)|Charles Cavendish]]''' (28 November 1553{{snd}}4 April 1617), 5th child, a godson of Queen [[Mary I of England]].<ref name="Digby" /> He married Catherine Ogle, 8th Baroness Ogle. They had a son:

[[File:Bess of Hardwick as Mistress St Lo.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Bess of Hardwick, 1550s]] Bess joined Mary at Chatsworth for extended periods in 1569, 1570, and 1571, during which time they worked together on the [[Oxburgh Hangings]].<ref name="Digby"/> Bess sent Elizabeth I a remarkable dress as a New Year's Day gift for 1577, according to Elizabeth Wingfield, who wrote;<blockquote>Her Majesty never liked any thing you gave her so well, the colour and strange trimming of the garments, with the rich and great cost bestowed upon that, has caused her to give out such good speeches of my lord and your Ladyship as I never heard of better, she told my Lord of Leicester and my Lord Chamberlain that you had given her such garments this year as she never had any so well liked her, and said that good noble couple, they show in all things what love they bear me.<ref>Alison Wiggins, ''Bess of Hardwick’s Letters: Language, Materiality, and Early Modern Epistolary Culture'' (Routledge, 2017), pp. 181–182.</ref><ref>[https://www.bessofhardwick.org/letter.jsp?letter=97 Bess of Hardwick's Letters, ID: 097]</ref></blockquote>

It was not until Mary was removed to another keeper, Sir [[Amias Paulet]], that she got into the trouble that would lead ultimately to [[Mary, Queen of Scots#Death|her execution]]. Previous to the Queen's change in custody, Shrewsbury and Bess separated for good. They had been apart, off and on, since about 1580; and even Queen Elizabeth had tried to get them to reconcile. Mary seems to have aggravated, if not created, their problems by playing them off against each other. The Countess spread rumors that her husband Shrewsbury had been in a relationship with Mary, a charge which has never been proved or disproved, and in any case which she later retracted,<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Shrewsbury, Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of|volume=24|page=1017}}</ref> but seems unlikely given Shrewsbury's disposition and increasingly poor health.{{Citation needed | date=December 2013}} On his death in 1590, Bess became [[Dowager]] Countess of Shrewsbury. She lived mostly at HardwickeHardwick, where she built the new mansion Hardwick Hall, which inspired the rhyme, "Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall", because of the number and size of its windows.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.architecture.com/HowWeBuiltBritain/HistoricalPeriods/TudorsAndStuarts/ProdigyHouse/HardwickHallDerbyshire.aspx |title=Royal Institute of British Architects |access-date=20 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055242/http://www.architecture.com/HowWeBuiltBritain/HistoricalPeriods/TudorsAndStuarts/ProdigyHouse/HardwickHallDerbyshire.aspx |archive-date=21 September 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Levey, ''Of Household Stuff'', pp. 10–11; Levey, ''An Elizabethan Inheritance'', pp. 20–39 ''passim''</ref> She was indeed one of the greatest builders of her time at Hardwick, [[Chatsworth House]], and [[Oldcotes Manor|Oldcoates]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

Bess of Hardwick died at 5 &nbsp;pm on Saturday 13 February 1608, aged 81c.87. At the time of her death she remained "one of the richest, and most powerful women in the kingdom".<ref name=":1" /> On 16 February her body was placed in a vault in All Saints Church, Derby, then the parish church of that city (demolished 1723 and rebuilt, since 1927 [[Derby Cathedral]]), under an elaborate monument with a laudatory inscription which she took care to put up in her lifetime.<ref name="EB1911"/> The monument with effigy survives, having been saved from the former demolished building.{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}} Stories of her body lying in state for weeks in the Great Chamber at Hardwick are mythical.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} Her accumulated estates were left to her children from her second marriage.<ref name="EB1911"/>

| authorlinkauthor-link = Santina M. Levey

[[Category:16th-century English women landowners]]