Bess of hardwick is the narrator of petticoat king, a 1929 novel by miriam michelson. Bess of hardwick, was the daughter of john hardwick, of derbyshire and elizabeth leeke, daughter of thomas leeke and margaret fox. I visited hardwick hall today, a spectacular tudor mansion, commissioned and lived in by one of the most illustrious ladies of tudor england. Synopsis bess of hardwick was one of the most remarkable women of the tudor era. Bess of hardwick was one of five surviving children of a family of minor gentry, but was a lady of unfailing personal ambition and undoubted charisma. Bow down to these 42 scandalous facts about bess of hardwick, the career bff to the tudors. She was born into a gentlemans family, but her father died young and her mother remarried. It was built between 1587 and 1596 by bess of hardwick, who was among the richest and bestconnected women of the elizabethan age. Her role in british history is far wider than that, however, and her story is quite. Details such as these stop the book from being just a great history lesson. The turrets and roof decoration can be recognized from afar, the huge windows reflecting its surroundings on a sunny day. Mary lovell charts the rise and rise of bess hardwick, who outlived four. From the author of the sisters, a chronicle of the most brutal, turbulent, and exuberant period of englands history. Bess hardwick, the fifth daughter of an impoverished derbyshire nobleman.
The best account yet available of this shrewd, enigmatic and remarkable woman. This book is a wonderful read based on my favorite period of history the tudor period. Portrait of an elizabethan dynast durrant, david on amazon. Canny, witty and ambitious, bess was born into genteel poverty, and managed to raise herself to the heights of elizabethan society and privilege by the time of her death of extreme old age.
At 19 she married a man more than twice her age, sir william cavendish, a senior auditor in king. Hardwick also enjoyed a lucrative career as a confidante to women at the top of english society. Bess of hardwick is one of my favourite nonroyal women to read about from the tudor period of english history. Naturally, she used that royal information to her advantage. Hardwick hall is unique among national trust properties. Built just a stones throw from the site of her childhood home, the house was a deliberate and typically unsubtle statement of. Here, in an extract from the book, musgrove visits hardwick hall in derbyshire, which was built by the fantastically wealthy bess of hardwick. She didnt marry again, but instead she took all of her great wealth and began her largest building project hardwick hall near her childhood home. Hardwick new hall was no ordinary country residence, but rivalled queen. Hardwick hall was the setting for the 10part bbc series mistress of hardwick, broadcast in 1972, which followed the life of bess of hardwick. Having received a modest inheritance from her first marriage, bess soon lined up a second. For anyone with an interest in 16th england this is book you will embrace.
History of hardwick old hall hardwick old hall is one of the most innovative houses of the tudor period. This wonderfully researched book is an intimate portrait of besss life and a vivid insight into life in tudor society sunday express. Bess is a character in the short story antickes and frets by susanna clarke, in her 2006 collection the ladies of grace adieu and other stories. Most are monuments to the men of british history the good ones and the bad ones. By the time that she moved into hardwick new hall, elizabeth bess, countess of shrewsbury, was 70 years old and the richest woman in england after the queen.
Hardwick hall was used in the connections tv series to illustrate a long series of changes that occurred in home design as a result of the little ice age. This is the question bbc history magazines david musgrove put to british historians while researching his book 100 places that made britain 2011. In 1574, bess found herself in the queens bad books once more this time for. Book recommendations, author interviews, editors picks, and more. The freelance history writer is scheduled to go to the united kingdom. Indeed, all marys work later became part of besss historical collection at hardwick hall. They had a london home and built chatsworth house in derbyshire. Mary lovells book on bess of hardwick is no exception. Lovell explores the life of bess hardwick, an ambitious figure who became the matriarch of one of the most powerful family dynasties in england and d.
Bess of hardwick, countess of shrewsbury, started off life in a pretty inauspicious way, and nothing about her early life signaled the feats to which she would climb. The earl died in 1590 when bess was 63, estranged from his wife. Elizabeth cavendish, later elizabeth talbot, countess of shrewsbury c. Portrait of an elizabethan dynast new ed of 2 revised ed by david n.
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