by Tracy Borman
From the moment of her birth, Arbella Stuart was destined to become a rival to Elizabeth. Although James VI of Scotland was technically the first in line to the throne, many believed that Arbella’s claim was stronger because she had been born on English soil, whereas James was an alien and as such was disqualified from inheriting the crown or possessing land in England. Furthermore, Arbella was favored by Catholic nobles with Spanish sympathies, because James had recently forged an alliance with France. She therefore constituted a threat not just to Elizabeth but also to the ambitions of James and his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots.
Arbella’s mother, Elizabeth Cavendish, had died in 1582, which had caused her grandfather, the Earl of Shrewsbury, to “humblie and lowlie beseech her majestie, to have pyttie uppon her poore Orphanntt Arbella Stewarde.”23 The young girl had been transferred to the care of her maternal grandmother, Bess of Hardwick, and had been brought up in the latter’s Derbyshire home, Chatsworth. Bess had given her an education befitting a royal princess, and Arbella had shown early promise, quickly learning a wide range of languages, including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Bess noted proudly that she was “very apte to learne, and able to conceive what shall be taught her.”24 In 1583 at the age of seven, Arbella had written a letter to the chancellor, Sir Walter Mildmay, in order to show off her “learning.” Mildmay had been so impressed that he had told Sir Francis Walsingham that she was “a very proper child, and to my thinking will be like her grandmother, my old Lady Lennox.” He added that “the little lady” had included a request in her letter that Mildmay should present “her humble duty to her majesty with her daily prayer for her majesty.”25
This latter request had no doubt been prompted by Arbella’s ambitious grandmother, Bess, who was grooming the young girl as a successor to the English throne and wished Elizabeth to acknowledge her as such. But the Queen had proved extremely reluctant to name an heir in the past, and she refused formally to recognize the girl’s claim, just as she had that of James VI. Instead she sought to limit Arbella’s influence from the beginning. When the girl was two years old, her English lands and revenues were seized by the Crown. James VI had used a similar ploy by refusing to grant her the earldom of Lennox with its accompanying lands. Together, these two facts meant that the young girl was dependent upon the Queen’s generosity.
However, Arbella had a formidable advocate in the person of her grandmother and guardian, Bess of Hardwick. Determined to improve the girl’s fortunes, Bess pestered the Queen to grant her granddaughter an allowance befitting her status. In May 1582, only a few months after taking over her care, she wrote to Lord Burghley on behalf of “my dearest jewel, Arbella” and asked him to persuade his royal mistress to contribute £600 per year toward the girl’s upbringing, £400 of which was the allowance that Arbella’s mother, Elizabeth, had been given during her lifetime. “So trust I you will consider the poor infant’s case, who, under her majesty, is to appeal only to your lordship for succour in all her distresses.” In order to persuade him to help, Bess emphasized her granddaughter’s credentials as an heir to the throne. “I have specyall care not only such as a naturall mother has of her best beloved chyld, but much more greatter a respect how she ys in bloude to her majesty, albeyt one of the pooreste as depending wholly on her majestys gracyous bountye and goodnes.”26
Eventually, Elizabeth gave in to Bess’s insistent requests and agreed to grant Arbella an annual income, although at £200 this was rather less than her grandmother had hoped for. The Countess of Shrewsbury also fought to restore Arbella’s Lennox inheritance. Even though she failed to secure the earldom for her granddaughter, she referred to her as “Countess” and instructed all her servants to do the same. She also ordered her other grandchildren to curtsey whenever they met Arbella, in order to emphasize the superiority of her status. When she introduced the girl to Mary, Queen of Scots, she is alleged to have taunted the latter by saying that her claim to the throne was inferior to Arbella’s. Little wonder that Arbella grew up with a firm conviction that she was destined to be queen. As the Venetian ambassador, Scaramelli, later recalled: “She has very exalted ideas, having been brought up in the firm belief that she would succeed to the Crown.”27
Although Bess had doted upon her precocious young granddaughter, and the latter had no doubt revelled in her attentions, as Arbella grew up she felt increasingly suffocated by her grandmother’s domineering nature and the fact that she insisted upon directing every element of her life. When she began to show signs of independence, Bess was determined to quell them, and reprimanded her “in despiteful and disgraceful words … which she could not endure.”28 Being raised as a pampered but restricted princess had not had a beneficial effect upon Arbella’s character. She began to display a dangerous mixture of arrogance and intemperance, prone to romantic fancies and paranoia. In later years, she would become so unstable that some historians have suggested she may have suffered from mental illness.29
But the Countess of Shrewsbury was blind to Arbella’s faults—or perhaps thought that she could correct them in due course. She therefore continued to groom her as an heir to the throne and was delighted when Arbella received an invitation to court in 1587. Convinced that Elizabeth intended to use the occasion to formally name the young girl as her heir, Bess made excited preparations for her departure and no doubt coached her granddaughter in exactly how to behave when she was presented to the Queen. Arbella duly made her way to Theobalds, Lord Burghley’s Hertfordshire home, where the court was on progress. She was then twelve years old, and, by all accounts, very pretty. The Venetian ambassador described her as being “of great beauty, and remarkable qualities, being gifted with many accomplishments.”30
Bess’s preparations seemed to have paid off, for the visit was a tremendous success, although the initial signs had not been promising. Bess’s son Charles, who was also present, reported: “Her Majesty spoke to her [Arbella] but not long.”31 However, Elizabeth soon changed tack and began to show Arbella great favor by inviting her to dine in the presence chamber and seating her next to herself. This was a considerable honor and one that many courtiers had hankered after for years. Meanwhile, the Queen’s host and principal minister, Lord Burghley, “made exceeding much of her,” and dined with her and her uncle, Charles, on which occasion he was heard to make a favorable remark about the girl to Sir Walter Ralegh.
For all these pleasantries, Arbella’s visit was loaded with significance. Just a few months before, Mary, Queen of Scots, had been executed. As well as removing the strongest rival claimant to the throne, this dramatic event had also cast doubt upon the position of Mary’s son, James, as a likely successor. By showing his chief rival, Arbella, such favor, Elizabeth therefore seemed to be indicating that she intended to name her as heir. This was apparently confirmed by a remark the Queen made to the French ambassador about Arbella shortly after the visit: “Look to her well: she will one day be even as I am.”32 However, as was her custom, Elizabeth stopped short of formally acknowledging her claim.
Arbella had been intoxicated by her brief glimpse of the glittering world of the court, and it was with considerable reluctance that she returned to the stultifying atmosphere of Chatsworth. However, her grandmother was well pleased with her and immediately began pestering for another invitation to court, eager to push home their advantage. It came the following year, and Arbella was delighted to learn that this time she was to be presented at the court in London.
She arrived in late summer 1588. The court was even more spectacular than usual because there was a host of celebrations to mark the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Arbella’s visit began at Greenwich and continued at Whitehall when the court moved there toward the end of the summer. The Queen invited her to attend as a member of the privy chamber, and she was much feted by other members of the court. However, whereas last time Arbella had been humbled and delighted by Elizabeth’s favor, this time she seemed to expect it as her right. The Venetian ambassador recalled that she “displaye
d such haughtiness that she soon began to claim the first place; and one day on going into chapel she herself took precedence of all the Princesses who were in her Majesty’s suite; nor would she retire, though repeatedly told to do so by the Master of Ceremonies, for she said that by God’s will that was the very lowest place that could possibly be given her.” Elizabeth was furious when she heard of this, and “in indignation, ordered her back to her private existence without so much as seeing her before she took her leave, or indeed ever afterwards.”33
Arbella’s own account of the visit, written some years later, suggests that there may have been another reason for her expulsion from court. She was thirteen years old by the time of this second visit, and was blossoming into an attractive young woman. A portrait painted at around this time shows her to have had reddish fair hair, a heart-shaped face, large dark blue eyes, and a small pouting mouth. Her royal blood made her even more appealing to the ambitious young men of the court. Chief among them was the Earl of Essex, son of Lettice Knollys, who was rapidly rising to prominence. When Elizabeth caught her talking to the earl “in a friendly fashion” in the privy chamber, she lashed out in a jealous rage. “How dare others visit me in distress when the Earl of Essex, then in highest favour, durst scarcely steal a salutation in the privy chamber,” Arbella complained petulantly, “where, howsoever it pleased her Majesty I should be disgraced in the presence at Greenwich and discouraged in the lobby at Whitehall.”34 Little wonder that the Queen, who was now in her midfifties and unable to use her looks to retain Essex’s interest, should be so provoked by this arrogant and impertinent girl, whose pretty auburn coloring perhaps reminded her of her younger self.
But it is also possible that Elizabeth was acting out of more than mere jealousy when she dismissed Arbella from court. This wily queen was ever cautious not to commit to one claimant or another, preferring to play them off against one another. Conscious that she had boosted Arbella’s status by making much of her last time, she no doubt resolved to do the opposite now in order to keep everyone guessing. The ploy worked: many of Arbella’s former supporters dismissed her as an irrelevance in the race for the English throne. One foreign observer noted that “small account” was made of her in Scotland and Spain “by reason she was not Catholic,” while others thought she was the weaker claimant because of her sex. One contemporary protested: “A woman ought not to be preferred, before so many men.”35
This did not stop Elizabeth from using Arbella as a pawn in her political power games. As early as 1585, she had considered marrying her to James of Scotland, who had expressed “an affectionate favour and good will” toward his young cousin. But she had swiftly abandoned this plan because she realized that it would make the succession too certain. Far better to keep the two main claimants on opposing sides. In 1587, the year of Arbella’s first visit to court, Elizabeth was contemplating offering her as a bride to Rainutio Farnese, son of the Duke of Parma, in order to neutralize the threat then posed by Spain. When the political tide turned again the following year, it was rumored that Arbella would marry the king of Denmark’s son instead and that the couple would inherit the throne as man and wife upon Elizabeth’s death.36
In 1587 James VI had entered the fray by demanding “that the Lady Arabella be not given in marriage without the King’s special advice and consent.” His preferred candidate was Lord Esmé Stuart, to whom he had given the Lennox title and whom he looked set to name as his heir. He made it clear that even if this match did not come about, he wanted “to have the bestowinge of hir.” Elizabeth rebuffed his demands. “Hir majeste wold know how she sholde be bestowed,” insisted her envoy.37 Realizing that he would get nowhere with the Queen, James changed tack and wrote to Arbella directly, emphasizing their “naturall bonde of bloode” and praising her virtues. “I cannot forbeare to signifye to you hereby what contentment I have receaved hearing of your so vertiouse behaviour … it pleaseth [me] most to sie soe vertiouse and honourable syouns arise of that race whereof we have both our discent.”38
As James stepped up his efforts to control Arbella, Elizabeth responded in like manner. Over the next fifteen years, the girl’s name would be linked with practically every eligible suitor in Europe. As far as the English queen was concerned, this arrogant young woman was a commodity to be dispensed with at her pleasure.
CHAPTER 14
“Witches”
Sir Walter Ralegh, one of the Queen’s greatest favorites during the 1580s, denounced her ladies as being “like witches, capable of doing great harm, but no good.”1 Having fallen into disgrace over an affair with one of the Queen’s ladies, he had attempted to use them as intermediaries with his royal mistress, but this had failed to regain Elizabeth’s good opinion. The latter may have made a show of banning her ladies from meddling in political affairs at the beginning of her reign, but it had soon become clear that this was little more than a front. Just as her attendants were keen to exploit the unrivalled access they had to the Queen, so was she quick to appreciate the advantages of controlling her court through their networks. Before long, Elizabeth’s women were perceived to have so much influence that many of the great men at court sought their intervention. As one courtier wryly observed: “We worshipped no saints, but we prayed to ladies in the Queen’s time.”2
With a wealth of evidence to prove the influence wielded by the women of Elizabeth’s household, it is perhaps surprising that their role has been so overlooked.3 The assumption has often been that because they inhabited the private world of the Queen, they were kept quite separate from the political. But this in turn underestimates the political importance of personal relationships in her court. It was a tightly knit world in which almost all the occupants—female as well as male—were related by ties of blood, marriage, or friendship. Women may have been barred from holding political office, but as the stories of some of the female protagonists at court will show, they played an integral part in both the political and personal lives of their sovereign. They were the only members of court who were guaranteed close access to the Queen throughout the reign. While her male courtiers and councillors hung about in the public rooms beyond, her ladies would spend hours alone with her, exchanging gossip, sharing her innermost thoughts, and attending to her person.
As her reign progressed, Elizabeth increasingly used her ladies as a source of information about affairs at court. They were much better placed to pick up gossip from the attendants of male courtiers, councillors, and ambassadors, and as their presence was a good deal less obtrusive than the Queen’s, they could listen in on conversations and report the contents back to their mistress. They also had extensive connections through husbands, fathers, children, stepchildren, and godchildren, as well as servants, retainers, and other associates. Far from confining their activities to domestic pursuits, these women took an active interest in state affairs and made every effort to find out the latest developments. So effective were their networks that even the most important officials, such as Lord Burghley or his son Robert Cecil, were often extremely disconcerted to find that the Queen was already well acquainted with matters of which they had hoped to keep her in ignorance.
Being in constant attendance upon their royal mistress also gave the ladies of her household an unparalleled ability to assess her mood and judge the best time to present petitions. Sir John Harington recalled an occasion when one of Elizabeth’s ladies had “come out of her presence with an ill countenance, and pulled me aside by the girdle, and said in a secret way, ‘If you have any suit today, I pray you put it aside; the sun doth not shine!’ ”4
Men soon came to realize that sending messages to the Queen via her ladies was a surer guarantee of success than addressing her directly. Lord Burghley had resorted to this means after being banished from court for his involvement in the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. His friend Lady Cobham assured him: “If you will write I will deliver it. I do desire to be commanded by you.”5 She proceeded not just to speak favorably of him to the Queen
but also to keep him informed of everything that passed at court during his enforced absence.
By the late 1580s, Blanche Parry, the Queen’s longest-serving attendant, had become an unofficial personal secretary to her mistress, drafting letters for her and checking the contents of others before they were sent out. This was an expected part of her role as chief gentlewoman of the privy chamber, for as such she was in charge of the Queen’s personal papers, while the Privy Councillors and other officials were responsible for her majesty’s state documents. But Blanche was more than just a secretary. It was apparently well known at court that sending official material to the Queen via her chief gentlewoman was an effective way of ensuring a positive result, because Blanche would often append her own comments in favor of the sender.6
Mistress Parry soon gained a reputation as one of the most influential women at court. Her cousin Rowland Vaughan claimed that she was one of a “trinity of Ladies able to work Miracles,” and that in “little Lay-matters,” she would “steal opportunity to serve some friends’ turns.”7 These “friends” were numerous. Blanche was constantly besieged by requests for assistance during her long service in the Queen’s household. She could not possibly accede to them all, and the evidence suggests that she prioritized those from among her own relations.
Despite knowing the influence she could wield, Blanche always made it clear that Elizabeth was the most important person in her life. In her will, she referred to her as “my dear Sovereign lady and mistress,” and this reflected the awe and reverence with which she always treated her. Such constancy and devotion formed a marked contrast to the fickleness and backbiting of court life. As such, it was a vital stabilizing influence for Elizabeth, who came to rely on it more and more throughout her long reign as her other favorites fell away through death or disgrace. Blanche was also a precious link with the past. By the 1580s, she was the only person in Elizabeth’s life who could remember her mother, Anne Boleyn, and who shared her private reminiscences of her childhood. Blanche had been with Elizabeth for as long as she could remember—her constant companion and loyal confidante. Little wonder, then, that when, on February 12, 1590, Mistress Parry died after fifty-seven years of diligent service, the Queen was bereft.