Bess of Hardwick: Empire Builder

Summary (from the publisher): From the author of "The Sisters," a chronicle of the most brutal, turbulent, and exuberant period of England's history.

Bess Hardwick, the fifth daughter of an impoverished Derbyshire nobleman, did not have an auspicious start in life. Widowed at sixteen, she nonetheless outlived four monarchs, married three more times, built the great house at Chatsworth, and died one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in English history.

In 1527 England was in the throes of violent political upheaval as Henry VIII severed all links with Rome. His daughter, Queen Mary, was even more capricious and bloody, only to be followed by the indomitable and ruthless Gloriana, Elizabeth I. It could not have been more hazardous a period for an ambitious woman; by the time Bess's first child was six, three of her illustrious godparents had been beheaded.

Using journals, letters, inventories, and account books, Mary S. Lovell tells the passionate, colorful story of an astonishingly accomplished woman, among whose descendants are counted the dukes of Devonshire, Rutland, and Portland, and, on the American side, Katharine Hepburn.

 

Review: "I assure you, there is no Lady in this land that I better love and like." - Queen Elizabeth I about Bess of Hardwick.

 

I've previously read Mary S. Lovell's The Sisters, and absolutely loved it, so I was very excited to read another biography by the same author. Fittingly, Lovell's book about the Mitford sisters includes an overview of the youngest Mitford sister, Deborah, or Debo, the Duchess of Devonshire, who lives in the modern-day Chatsworth, the beloved estate of Bess of Hardwick. Yet this is far from the only titled descendant of Bess of Hardwick; her descendants include the Earls of Manvers, Dukes of Kingston, Dukes of Rutland, Barons Waterpark, Dukes of Devonshire, Dukes of Newcastle, Dukes of Portland, Earls of Pembroke, Earls of Kent, and Dukes of Norfolk. In fact, "there is probably no aristocratic family in England, including the present monarchy, which does not include her DNA."  Yet Bess had very humble origins.

 

Bess was born the third daughter to a respectable gentry family that was comfortable, but certainly not wealthy. Yet this young girl, who was left fatherless as a baby and a widow as a teenager, ended up marrying four times in all and died "as the Countess of Shrewsbury, and the most powerful woman in the land next to Queen Elizabeth I" (xiv). Bess was ambitious, a shrewd businesswoman, was highly energetic, and had immense personal charm. Her natural talents and a lifetime of hard work served her well. 

 

I found Bess interesting because while I've read biographies about the ruling family during this time period (which during Bess's life spanned from King Henry VIII to James VI of Scotland) and also about titled women at court, this is the first story about a woman from the time period who started off life with very little and rose up to prominence. Also, it was an interesting look at the royal family from the outside, as well as insightful glimpse at what was possible to achieve through advantageous marriages and shrewd business choices.

 

With every marriage, Bess moved up in life. However, these were not merely business arrangements, for it seems that Bess deeply cared for all four of her husbands, particularly her second and third husbands. Her first husband was Robert Barlow that she married at age 15. He died very shortly after their marriage (which was likely never consummated) and Bess was left a very young widow, with a lifetime income owed to her as Robert's wife. This widow's portion gave her a leg up to make a better second marriage. Her next marriage was to the widowed Sir William Cavendish, who was twice her age. Despite their age difference, their marriage was a true partnership and an affectionate one. They had six children live to adulthood. After Cavendish's death, Bess married the widowed Sir William St Loe, with whom she appears to have been passionately in love. And her final husband was the widowed George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. Their marriage was also loving, until his deteriorating health and obligation to oversee the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots, eroded the once devoted marriage.

 

Bess lived to a great age in a time when few lived past middle age so her family tree evolved quite a bit over the course of her lifetime. This is compounded by the many overlappings of her family tree. Early on, her mother remarried and Bess has multiple half siblings. Later, with each marriage, Bess gains stepchildren through her three later husbands, all of which were widowed before they married Bess. In fact, right before her marriage to Earl of Shrewsbury, one of Bess's daughters married the Earl's son, and one of Bess's sons married one of the Earl's daughters, a close binding of their distinct family trees. I was touched to see how lovingly Bess embraced her stepchildren, treating them as her own children, and caring for them far after the deaths of her husbands, when no tie still connected them.

 

If Mary S. Lovell is to be believed, Bess has been maligned by previous biographers and historians. For example, "some previous biographers have written of clashes of temperament between [the Queen and Bess] and of the Queen losing patience with Bess, but though I searched diligently for evidence of this, I could find none whatsoever. Nor are any sources cited for this conjecture by previous biographers. It seems fair to conclude that the earliest suggestions of this were ventured by her first biographer some 200 years after her death, and must have been copied from one book to another until it becomes received wisdom" (363). Lovell's substantial research over five years has revealed a "far more rounded, war, and passionate personality than previously suggested" (394).

 

Rather than the hardhearted shrew that history labels her, it appears that Bess was affectionate and caring; "she was shrewd rather than shrewish" (477). Bess's chief transgression seems to have been her unfailing devotion to seeing the rise of her children. This especially got her in trouble when she married her daughter Elizabeth to Charles, the direct descendant of Princess Margaret Tudor (sister of King Henry VIII). The resulting child (Bess's granddaughter) Arbella, was thus the closest female relation of Queen Elizabeth and thus a potential rival to the throne. Bess clearly knew this, and this was yet another calculated move to advance her family, something she devoted her life to.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this biography. Not only does it offer new insight into a historical figure that history has obscured, but it's an interesting look at a strong woman who was ahead of her time in terms of her involvement in business matters and the level of trust and partnership extended to her by her husbands. Despite her relatively lowly birth and lack of education, Bess was a quick study, and seems to have made nearly no mistakes when it came to matters of finances. Her legacy lives on today through her descendants, and also through the great estates that she spent decades building and furnishing.

 

Stars: 4.5