Bess of Hardwick

Elizabeth Hardwick (or Hardwicke)

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Lived 1527 - 1608) and married four times:

Related Topics:
1527 - 1608

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• In 1543 to Robert Barlow when they were too young, and he too sick, to consummate their marriage before he died.
• In 1547, to the twice-widowed Sir William Cavendish (who had two daughters), with whom she had eight children, two of whom died in infancy.
• In 1559, to Sir William St. Loe, who, when he died in 1564/5, left her with responsibility for his two daughters from his first marriage, in addition to her own six children and two stepdaughters from her second husband.
• In 1568, to George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the premier earls of the realm, with seven children from his first marriage; two of his children married two of hers in a double ceremony in February 1568.

The famous pearls worn by Bess in her portraits were bought by Bess, one pearl at a time, as her early account books show. An assertion that these were the Talbot pearls is incorrect and seems to have originated in a novel.

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For many years (1569-1584), the Earl and Countess had to keep Mary I of Scotland aka Mary, Queen of Scots imprisoned on one or another of their estates, but it was not until Mary was removed to another jailer, Sir Amias Paulet, that she got into the trouble that cost her life. Around the same time Mary was removed from his custody, the Earl left Bess for good -- they had been separated 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. Bess's daughter Elizabeth Cavendish married Mary's brother-in-law Charles Stuart, and their only child Arbella Stuart had a claim to the thrones of Scotland and England. A BBC documentary http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bbb-hardwick.shtml showed that Bess very much desired Arbella to become Queen, but the two women fell out and Bess cut Arbella from her will. Although Arbella never did become royalty, Bess did end up with a descendent on the throne - Queen Elizabeth II.

Related Topics:
1569 - 1584 - Mary I of Scotland aka Mary, Queen of Scots - Amias Paulet - Queen Elizabeth - Arbella Stuart - Queen Elizabeth II

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Bess became famous for her building projects, especially two of them: Chatsworth, now the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire (whose family name is still "Cavendish," because they are descended from her children from her second marriage), and Hardwick Hall, of which it has been said for 400+ years now: "Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall," because of the number and size of its windows. She was interred in a vault in Derby Cathedral, where there is a memorial to her.

Related Topics:
Chatsworth - Dukes of Devonshire - Hardwick Hall - Derby Cathedral

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Bess Hardwick is the subject of several biographies, the latest of which are Bess of Hardwick - First Lady of Chatsworth by Mary S Lovell 2005, and Bess of Hardwick - Portrait of an Elizabethan Dynast by David Durant 1977 Jan Westcott's novel The Tower and the Dream was published in (1974).

Related Topics:
2005 - 1977

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