Bess of hardwick biography of martin luther

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Bess cut Arbella from her will and begged the Queen to take her granddaughter off her hands. Her father died when she was still just a baby, and the family was almost immediately plunged into the type of legal altercation over property and inheritance that was common at the time. In her late 30s, she still retained her looks and good health, and a number of important men began courting her.

Fourth marriage

With the approval of Queen Elizabeth, who was not by habit a matchmaker, Bess was married in 1568 for the fourth time to the , one of the premier aristocrats of the realm, with seven children from his first marriage, and became Countess of Shrewsbury; two of his children married two of hers in a double ceremony in February 1568.

Bess was drawn into this, whether willingly or not. Sir William died suddenly, most likely poisoned by his scheming brother who had been in litigation with William and Bess over property.

As a married woman, Bess had more status than previously, but nothing is known of the couple’s life together, or even where they lived.

His health deteriorated and he died suddenly. Some of the land was subject to the jointure rights of another individual, and the remainder was divided – part was retained by the Crown and probably leased back to Elizabeth Hardwick, and the remainder, together with the wardship of James Hardwick, was sold to an official.

She was in her early forties. Bess went into service, but at a high level.

Despite their precarious financial situation, the family had good connections, and Bess was placed in the household of Anne Gainsford, Lady Zouche. On his death in 1590, Bess became Countess of Shrewsbury.

A BBC documentary [cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bbb-hardwick.shtml |title=BBC Documentary Site] claimed that Bess very much desired Arbella to become Queen, but it is fact that Bess was forced by order of the Queen to keep the girl away from Court and closely supervised in rural Derbyshire.

While Fotheringhay Castle, where she was executed, is the property best-known in connection with her, Tutbury was really her architectural nemesis.

The Hardwicks had been established at Hardwick Hall for generations – their relatives were solid members of the gentry class, who married between themselves and passed on their well-cultivated acres to the eldest son, with a comfortable dowry in cash or goods for daughters. It literally stank. Bess's daughter Mary Cavendish (aged 12) married Shrewsbury's eldest son Gilbert (aged 16), and Bess's son, Henry Cavendish (aged 18), married Shrewsbury's daughter Lady Grace Talbot (aged 8).

The Stuart connection

In 1574 Bess took advantage of a visit of the Countess of Lennox to marry her daughter Elizabeth to Charles Stuart, the younger son of the Lennoxes and brother of Henry, Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.

In addition to her own six children, Bess was now responsible for the two daughters of Sir William Cavendish from his first marriage, but Sir William St Loe's two daughters were adults and already well provided for.

Sir William St Loe's death left Bess one of the most eligible women in England. The similarity of his name to Elizabeth’s maiden name suggests he was a connection – spelling was not consistent and phonemes were spelt in various ways.

For the Pearl Chamber, for instance, a tiny part of the inventory reads: “Fyve peeces of hangings called the planetes, whereof one peece in the wardrop, Eleven foote deepe, a bedsted Carved and guilte [gilded], a tester bedes head and double vallans of black velved imbrodered with silver golde and pearle … ”

Today, it’s easy to imagine Bess taking to social media with gusto.

There is no contemporary evidence for this, but Bess’ two main biographers believe the circumstantial evidence is realistic. In delivering Mary into Shrewsbury’s supervision, Queen Elizabeth had displayed her own shrewdness yet again. She was in a very similar position to that of her mother when she was suddenly widowed, and vulnerable to opportunists who would be only too ready to separate her from her income.

Bess effectively went out to work.