by Tracy Borman
12. Nichols, Progresses, I, 328.
13. Read, “A Letter from Robert, Earl of Leicester, to a Lady,” 24–25.
14. Gristwood, Elizabeth and Leicester, 228.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid., 229.
17. See for example “An Agreement for Plastering Work to Be Done at the Dowager Lady Sheffield’s House near Blackfriars Bridge, London, 1575,” TNA E210/10340.
18. Holles, Memorials, 71.
19. Craik, The Romance of the Peerage, or Curiousities of Family History, III, 91.
20. Gristwood, Elizabeth and Leicester, 251.
21. CSPS, Elizabeth 1568–79, II, 511; Somerset, Ladies-in-Waiting, 85.
22. Gristwood, Elizabeth and Leicester, 253.
23. Somerset, Ladies-in-Waiting, 85.
24. See for example Wilson, Sweet Robin: A Biography of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, 1533–1588, 226.
25. HMC, Bath, V, 205–6.
26. Camden, Historie, 81.
27. HMC, Bath, V, 206.
28. Dovey, An Elizabethan Progress, 148.
29. Another theory is that Leicester himself had admitted his betrayal to the Queen as early as April 1579. The Spanish ambassador reported that Elizabeth had cancelled an audience with him at short notice and gone with great haste to the Earl of Leicester’s house, where she had stayed until ten o’clock at night. A few days later, Leicester had left court for Buxton, ostensibly to take the waters, and stayed away an unusually long time. Wilson, Sweet Robin, 229; Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 312–13.
30. Somerset, Ladies-in-Waiting, 318.
31. CSPD, Elizabeth 1580–1625, Addenda, 137.
32. Somerset, Ladies-in-Waiting, 318.
33. Yorke, Miscellaneous State Papers, I, 214–16. Douglas was eventually allowed back to court after her husband sent her home from France for her protection in 1588—the situation there was becoming volatile in the wake of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the onset of the armada. She apparently remained in the Queen’s service for most of the 1590s, although little mention is made of her, and it is unlikely, given her history, that she became one of Elizabeth’s intimates.
34. Robert Dudley would later try to prove that his parents had been lawfully married. His case was eventually rejected by the court of the Star Chamber, but in such a way that the question was left in doubt, and even as late as the nineteenth century, Dudley claimants were still arguing over it.
35. Gristwood, Elizabeth and Leicester, 314.
36. HMC, Bath, V, 44.
37. Weir, Elizabeth the Queen, 308.
38. CSP Scotland, 1574–81, V, 229.
39. CSPS, Elizabeth 1580–86, III, 426.
40. CSPD, Elizabeth 1580–1625, Addenda, 137.
41. Bruce, Correspondence of Robert Dudley, 112, 144.
CHAPTER 12: The “Bosom Serpent”
1. Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 351.
2. The results of their labors can still be seen at Hardwick Hall today.
3. Murdin, Collection of State Papers, 559; CSP Scotland, 1584–85, VII, 5.
4. CSP Scotland, 1584–85, VII, 5; Murdin, Collection of State Papers, 558; Erickson, First Elizabeth, 262; Somerset, Elizabeth I, 101; Johnson, Elizabeth I, 115.
5. Durant, Arbella Stuart, 44.
6. Williams, Elizabeth, Queen of England, 256; CSPF, Elizabeth 1581–82, 589; CSPS, Elizabeth 1580–86, III, 495.
7. BM Lansdowne MS 1236, f.32.
8. HMC, Salisbury, XIII, 254–55, 309.
9. Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 355.
10. CSPF, Elizabeth 1583–84, 596.
11. Ibid., Elizabeth 1571–74, 373; HMC, Salisbury, II, 428; CSPF, Elizabeth 1584–85, 166–67.
12. Labanoff, V, Lettres, Instructions et Memoires de Marie Stuart, Reine d’Ecasse, 436; Wilson, Sweet Robin, 244; Lovell, Bess of Hardwick, 307.
13. CSP Scotland, 1584–85, VII, 373; Strickland, Life of Queen Elizabeth, 478.
14. Labanoff, Lettres, VII, 168; Marshall, Queen Mary’s Women, 179.
15. Gristwood, Arbella, 39.
16. HMC, Bath, V, 55.
17. CSPS, Elizabeth 1580–86, III, 426.
18. Ibid., III, 546.
19. HMC, Salisbury, III, 152, 166; HMC, Bath, V, 70.
20. HMC, Salisbury, III, 152.
21. CSP Scotland, 1585–86, VIII, 657.
22. Bassnett, Elizabeth I, 113.
23. CSPV, VIII, 206.
24. HMC, Salisbury, III, 199.
25. Perry, Word of a Prince, 273.
26. Strickland, Life of Queen Elizabeth, 476.
27. CSP Scotland, 1587–88, IX, 251–52.
28. Marcus, Mueller, and Rose, Elizabeth I, 186–88, 199–202; Chamberlain, Sayings, 240–43.
29. Marcus, Mueller, and Rose, Elizabeth I, 187.
30. Perry, Word of a Prince, 272–73; Johnson, Elizabeth I, 291.
31. Strickland, Life of Queen Elizabeth, 476.
32. Ibid., 477.
33. BM Cotton MS Titus C VII, f.49; Francis Steuart, Sir James Melville, 313–14.
34. BM Cotton MS Titus C VII, ff.48–53.
35. Ibid., f.50v.
36. Camden, Historie, 103; CSPS, Elizabeth 1587–1603, IV, 35.
37. Ballard, Memoirs, 175.
38. Longford, The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes, 244. The dog died soon afterward, apparently from pining for his dead mistress.
39. CSP Scotland, 1587–88, IX, 274–75; CSPF, Elizabeth 1586–87, 688.
40. Camden, Historie, 115.
41. BM Lansdowne MS 1236, f.32.
42. Camden, Historie, 115.
43. Even Shakespeare got in on the act, penning a speech in the words of King John to defend the Queen: “It is the curse of kings to be attended / By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant.” King John, act 4, scene 2, lines 208–10.
44. Camden, Historie, 115; CSPV, VIII, 256.
45. Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 381.
46. CSPF, Elizabeth 1586–88, 227.
47. HMC, Salisbury, III, 230.
48. CSP Scotland, 1587–88, IX, 285.
49. HMC, Salisbury, III, 230; CSPF, Elizabeth 1586–88, 276; Francis Steuart, Sir James Melville, 315.
50. Perry, Word of a Prince, 272.
CHAPTER 13: Gloriana
1. CSPD, Elizabeth 1566–79, Addenda, 315.
2. Haigh, Elizabeth I, 173.
3. Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 221.
4. Read and Plummer, Elizabeth of England, 70.
5. Marcus, Mueller, and Rose, Elizabeth I, 70.
6. Ibid., 97; Haigh, “Elizabeth I”, 21.
7. Haigh, Elizabeth I, 23; Heisch, “Elizabeth I,” 53.
8. Marcus, Mueller, and Rose, Elizabeth I, 326.
9. Haigh, Elizabeth I, 21–22.
10. Marcus, Mueller, and Rose, Elizabeth I, 97; Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 222.
11. Haigh, Elizabeth I, 22.
12. Wilson, Elizabeth’s Maids of Honour, 5.
13. Taylor-Smither, “Elizabeth I,” 71–72.
14. Harington, Nugae Antiquae, 123.
15. CSPS, Elizabeth 1558–67, I, 63.
16. Harrison, Letters, 268; Pasmore, The Life and Times of Queen Elizabeth I at Richmond Palace, 56.
17. Marcus, Mueller, and Rose, Elizabeth I, 361–62.
18. Frye, Elizabeth I, 13.
19. This is preserved in the National Archive, Kew.
20. HMC, Bath, V, 221.
21. CSPD, Elizabeth 1591–94, 386; ibid., Elizabeth 1601–3, 22–23; HMC, Bath, V, 221–23.
22. Craik, Romance of the Peerage, I, 207–8.
23. BM Lansdowne MS 34, f.1.
24. Ibid., f.53; CSP Scotland, 1581–83, VI, 119.
25. CSP Scotland, 1581–83, VI, 505.
26. BM Lansdowne MS 34, f.53; CSP Scotland, 1581–83, VI, 119.
27. CSPV, IX, 541.
28. Somerset, Elizabeth I, 561.
29. See for example Gristwood, Arbella, 375.
30. CSPV, IX, 541.
31. Durant, Arbella St
uart, 45.
32. Ibid., 46; Edwards, The Life of Sir Walter Ralegh, I, 298.
33. CSPV, VII, 541.
34. Durant, Arbella Stuart, 52.
35. Gristwood, Arbella, 130.
36. CSP Scotland, 1581–83, VI, 413; ibid., 1587–88, IX, 661. The Duke of Parma was himself put forward as a potential husband in July 1590. Ibid., 1589–93, X, 360.
37. HMC, Salisbury, III, 268; CSP Scotland, 1589–93, X, 17, 687.
38. CSP Scotland, 1589–93, X, 605.
CHAPTER 14: “Witches”
1. Ashdown, Ladies-in-Waiting, 60.
2. Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 260.
3. The notable exceptions are Merton, Frye, and Richardson, all of whom offer excellent insights into the role of women at Elizabeth’s court.
4. Haigh, Elizabeth I, 99.
5. Wright, “A Change in Direction,” 165.
6. See for example Richardson, Mistress Blanche, 78.
7. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 244.
8. Bradford, Blanche Parry, Queen Elizabeth’s Gentlewoman, 26–27.
9. BM Add. MS 70093.
10. Blanche Parry’s magnificent monument in Bacton Church can still be visited today. It is remarkably well preserved, as is the tapestry that adorns the church wall, which was said to have been worked by Blanche herself. This exquisite piece, which includes embroideries of frogs, deer, foliage, and flowers on a fine silver cloth, may have formed part of a dress for the Queen.
11. Somerset, Ladies-in-Waiting, 71.
12. HMC, Salisbury, I, 345.
13. See for example BM Add. MS 12506, ff.47, 72; ibid., 12507, f.131.
14. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 54–55.
15. Williamson, Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke & Montgomery, 1590–1676, 37.
16. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 168, 171, 180, 194, 197; TNA SP 46/125, f.236. For other examples of Lady Warwick’s influence at court, see: BM Add. MS 27401, f.21; ibid., 12406, ff.41, 80; BM Lansdowne MS 128, f.12; HMC, Salisbury, IV, 199; ibid., V, 53, 444, 481; ibid., VI, 402; ibid., IX, 21; ibid., X, 86, 319; ibid., XIV, 16–17.
17. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 165, 168.
18. HMC, Salisbury, V, 484.
19. HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 163.
20. Ibid., II, 201–2.
21. Ibid., II, 203–5.
22. Ibid., II, 179, 186, 202–4.
23. BM Add. MS 15552, f.5.
24. HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 244.
25. Clifford, The Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford, 22.
26. HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 313.
27. Ibid., II, 391.
28. Ibid., II, 444, 474.
29. Ibid., II, 391, 425, 440, 474, 487, 488.
30. HMC, Salisbury, IX, 21; ibid., X, 86.
31. CSPD, Elizabeth 1598–1601, 252; HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 471.
32. HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 274.
33. Ibid., II, 314, 317. See also ibid., II, 422.
34. Ibid., II, 465, 472.
35. Ibid., II, 472.
36. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 100. NB: Aglets were pieces of metal fixed to the end of ribbon to tie pieces of clothing together, and were often highly ornamental. Meanwhile, bezoar stones were believed to have the power of a universal antidote against any poison.
37. Wilson, Elizabeth’s Maids of Honour, 133.
38. BM Cotton MS Titus B II, f.346.
CHAPTER 15: “Flouting Wenches”
1. Thoms, Anecdotes and Traditions, Illustrative of Early English History and Literature, 70–71.
2. Haigh, Elizabeth I, 98.
3. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 140.
4. Edwards, Life of Sir Walter Ralegh, I, 137.
5. T. Fuller, Anglorum speculum, or The Worthies of England in Church and State (London, 1663), 262.
6. von Klarwill, Elizabeth and Some Foreigners, 336.
7. Somerset, Ladies-in-Waiting, 88.
8. Beer, Bess, 61.
9. Murdin, Collection of State Papers, 657.
10. Birch, Memoirs, I, 79.
11. HMC, Salisbury, XII, 84.
12. In mythology, a dangerous queen of the underworld.
13. Beer, Bess, 133.
14. In fact, the new reign would bring nothing but heartache. Her husband was arrested on suspicion of treason just four months after Elizabeth’s death and thrown in the Tower. He was released many years later, only to be arrested again in 1618. This time there would be no pardon. Ralegh was executed on October 29. Legend has it that his grief-stricken widow had his head embalmed and kept it with her for the rest of her life.
15. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 145.
16. This theory was first put forward at a meeting of the New Shakespeare Society in 1884, when Thomas Tyler argued that Mary Fitton was the “dark lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets. In support of his argument, he claimed that “Mr WH,” referred to in the sonnets, was almost certainly William Herbert. His theory subsequently gained wide acceptance. However, it was discounted by the Dictionary of National Biography in 1908, which pointed out that in the surviving portraits of Mary, she bears little resemblance to the “dark lady,” with her brown hair and light eyes.
17. Hannay, Philip’s Phoenix, 169.
18. Somerset, Elizabeth I, 552–53.
19. HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 265.
20. Harington, Nugae Antiquae, 90.
21. Camden, Historie, 172.
22. The Queen’s wigs were made by her silk woman, Dorothy Spekarde. In 1602 it was recorded that she paid for “six heads of hair, twelve yards of hair curl and one hundred devices made of hair.” Jenkins, Elizabeth the Great, 296.
23. Camden, Elizabethan Woman, 178.
24. Her concern over aging had apparently begun many years before. It was rumored that from her late thirties, she had secretly employed a Dutch alchemist to find the elixir of youth.
25. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 106.
26. Harington, Nugae Antiquae, 90; Perry, Word of a Prince, 316; CSPV, IX, 531–32.
27. Harrison and Jones, Andre Hurault de Maisse, 25–26, 36–39, 55. See also Rye, England as Seen by Foreigners, 104–5; Pasmore, Life and Times, 9; CSPV, VII, 628.
28. Clifford, Diaries, 27.
29. HMC, Salisbury, IV, 153.
30. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 128.
31. HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 311.
32. Ibid., II, 317–18.
33. Chamberlain, Letters, 44.
34. CSPD, Elizabeth 1598–1601, 97.
35. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 145.
36. Wilson, Elizabeth’s Maids of Honour, 235–36.
37. HMC, Salisbury, VIII, 355, 357.
38. Wilson, Elizabeth’s Maids of Honour, 237–38.
39. HMC, Salisbury, IX, 197; Camden, Historie, 142.
40. Craik, Romance of the Peerage, I, 30, 148–52.
41. Birch, Memoirs, II, 362.
42. HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 325, 327.
43. Ibid., II, 328.
44. Ibid., II, 329–30.
45. Somerset, Ladies-in-Waiting, 88; Perry, Word of a Prince, 304.
46. HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 444.
47. Ibid., II, 442–43.
48. Gristwood, Elizabeth and Leicester, 258; BM Add. MS 32092, f.48.
49. TNA PROB 11/167, sig.1.
50. Wilson, Society Women of Shakespeare’s Time, 120.
51. Ibid., 121.
52. Harington, Nugae Antiquae, 125.
53. Ibid.
54. Hibbert, Elizabeth I, 253.
55. Harington, Nugae Antiquae, 90.
56. Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 470.
57. Camden, Historie, 222.
58. CSPD, Elizabeth 1580–1625, Addenda, 407.
59. HMC, Salisbury, IV, 335; CSPD, Elizabeth 1601–3, 37.
60. Durant, Arbella Stuart, 68.
61. Ibid., 56.
62. CSPV, VII, 564.
63. HMC, Salisbury, XV, 65.
64. Ibid., XIV, 253.
65. Durant, Arbella Stuart, 95–96.
66. CSPV, VII, 564.
67. HMC, Salisbury, XII, 593–96.
68. Ibid., XII, 594–95.
69. Ibid., XII, 593–624.
70. Ibid., XII, 624.
71. Lovell, Bess of Hardwick, xii.
72. HMC, Salisbury, XII, 626–27.
73. Ibid., XII, 682–83.
74. Ibid., XII, 682–83, 691, 693.
75. Ibid., XII, 626.
76. Pryor, Elizabeth I, 131; HMC, Salisbury, XII, 681.
77. CSPD, Elizabeth 1601–3, 299.
78. Gristwood, Arbella, 156.
79. HMC, Salisbury, XII, 685–86.
80. Ibid., XII, 690, 692, 693.
CHAPTER 16: “The Sun Now Ready to Set”
1. Somerset, Elizabeth I, 553; CSPS, Elizabeth 1587–1603, IV, 650; HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley, II, 475; CSPV, IX, 529.
2. Nichols, Progresses, III, 612; Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 90.
3. Weir, Life of Elizabeth, 480; Haigh, Elizabeth I, 166; Harington, Nugae Antiquae, 96.
4. Harington, Nugae Antiquae, 96; Boyle, Memoirs of Robert Carey, 137–38.
5. Bassnett, Elizabeth I, 258.
6. Ibid., 149.
7. Merton, “The Women Who Served,” 90; Birch, Memoirs, II, 506–7; Boyle, Memoirs of Robert Carey, 140; Pasmore, Life and Times, 65.
8. Nichols, Progresses, III, 613.
9. Boyle, Memoirs of Robert Carey, 136–38.
10. CSPD, Elizabeth 1601–3, 301; Gristwood, Arbella, 188; CSPV, VII, 554.
11. CSPV, VII, 564; CSPD, Elizabeth 1601–3, 302.
12. HMC, Salisbury, XII, 693.
13. CSPV, VII, 562; Edwards, Life of Sir Walter Ralegh, I, 296.
14. Boyle, Memoirs of Robert Carey, 137.
15. Levine, Early Elizabethan Succession, 29.
16. CSPD, Elizabeth 1601–3, 298, 301; CSPV, IX, 554. See also HMC, Salisbury, XII, 670.
17. The story is seductively dramatic, but it is almost certainly false. It is not referred to in any of the sources at the time of Essex’s imprisonment and execution, and it only appeared some twenty years later when it was included in J. Webster’s The Devil’s Law Case. It was then re-created in a work of fiction toward the end of the seventeenth century. Elizabeth’s first biographer, William Camden, knew of the story and declared it to be false. More compelling is the fact that the Queen was devastated by Katherine’s death and never got over her grief. She would hardly have felt this way if she had just discovered an act of such treachery. The tale is related in a number of more recent publications, notably: Strickland, Life of Queen Elizabeth, 673–74; Wilson, Elizabeth’s Maids of Honour, 274–76; Ashdown, Ladies-in-Waiting, 71–72.