The Tudor Society
  • #OTD in Tudor history – 13 February

    The Met Museum portrait of a woman thought to be Catherine Howard and a portrait of Bess of Hardwick

    On this day in Tudor history, 13th February, Catherine Howard and Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, were executed at the Tower of London, an astrologer and physician was baptised, and Bess of Hardwick died…

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  • May 4 – Bess of Hardwick

    Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, by Rowland Lockey, 1592

    On this day in history, 4th May 1608, the funeral of Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, took place at All Hallows, Derby.

    Bess of Hardwick as she is commonly known, was the daughter of John Hardwick and Elizabeth Leake.
    She married four times and each marriage saw her rise in status and wealth. Her husbands were heir to an estate Robert Barley or Barlowe, Treasurer of the King’s Chamber Sir William Cavendish, Captain of the Guard and Chief Butler of England Sir William St Loe, and George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury.

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  • May 4 – Bess of Hardwick, Edmund de la Pole and an awful end for some Carthusian monks

    On this day in Tudor history, 4th May 1608, Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, who is commonly known as Bess of Hardwick, was buried.

    Find out a bit more about this fascinating Tudor lady in this short video…

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  • 13 February – Bess of Hardwick and the Executions of Catherine Howard and Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford

    On this day in history, 13th February 1608, prominent Tudor noblewoman and one of the richest people in England, Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, more commonly known as Bess of Hardwick, died at her home at Hardwick.

    Bess of Hardwick is known for her building projects, which included Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall, her beautiful needlework and the fact that she and Shrewsbury were guardians of the captive Mary, Queen of Scots.

    Find out more about this fascinating Tudor lady in this talk…

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  • 4 May – Bess of Hardwick

    Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, who has gone down in history as Bess of Hardwick, was buried on this day in 1608. Find out a bit more about this fascinating Tudor lady in this #TudorHistoryShorts video…

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  • 13 February – Bess of Hardwick

    On this day in history, 13th February 1608, prominent Tudor noblewoman and one of the richest people in England, Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, more commonly known as Bess of Hardwick, died at her home at Hardwick.

    Bess of Hardwick is known for her building projects, which included Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall, her beautiful needlework and the fact that she and Shrewsbury were guardians of the captive Mary, Queen of Scots.

    Find out more about this fascinating Tudor lady in today’s talk.

    [Read More...]
  • Bess of Hardwick

    Elizabeth Hardwick, more popularly known as Bess of Hardwick, was the daughter of John Hardwick and Elizabeth Leeke and was born in 1527. The Hardwicks were a prosperous Derbyshire gentry family. Her father died in 1528 and her mother remarried, marrying Ralph Leche of Chatsworth. Bess is today remembered as a builder of great houses, including Chatsworth, Hardwick Hall and Oldcotes. Her name continues to be associated with the rhyme “Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall”. She was, in the words of her biographer Mary S. Lovell, “the most powerful woman in the land next to Queen Elizabeth I’”. Bess was, according to Lovell, “a serious achiever” and it was through her four husbands that she gradually acquired notable wealth and status.

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