Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Devices and Desires: Bess of Hardwick and the Building of Elizabethan England > Status Update

‘The move to Chatsworth may have been for reasons of security too. In September, Bess had received a letter from Burghley warning her of the discovery of a Catholic plot to abduct Arbella. It was Arbella’s curse to be the focus of Catholic plots to depose Elizabeth, and later James I.‘

‘Of Bess’s feelings on Shrewsbury’s death we have no record. Theirs had been a marriage of more than twenty years, but one that had been over in all but name for the last five. Bess could not have had much sense of loss in November 1590; indeed, there must have been more relief than regret. She was now free from marital harassment. Free to enjoy Chatsworth.’

‘The breakdown of the Shrewsbury marriage, played out over four long years, grew out of resentments and jealousies, escalated into an ugly battle over money and property - the issues on which both Shrewsburys sharpened their knives - and ended mired in pettiness and trivia... Much hinged on the terms of the marriage settlement - now lost to us - and the 1572 deed of gift.’

‘From Margaret came Mary, Queen of Scots, her son James VI of Scotland - whose Scottish birth by rights nullified his claim - and Charles Stuart, who thus stood third in line to the throne. This of course was precisely why a match between Charles and Elizabeth Cavendish would not find favour with the Queen; indeed it would feel a threat.’

‘The custodianship of the Queen of Scots would have seemed an honour to the Shrewsburys in 1569, a mark of Elizabeth’s regard and trust. The Earl would never have imagined that his charge would continue for fifteen years, to the detriment of his fortune, his health, his peace of mind and his marriage.’

‘However, where the Queen’s unique position was largely defined by her unmarried state - marriage was a trap to be avoided, a curtailment to independence - Bess’s ascent was only made possible through marriage. And where Bess, though by no means averse to scheming, was decisive and forthright, Elizabeth was the mistress of vacillation and equivocation, supremely artful and subtle in her dealings with others.‘

‘A new breed of builder and a new kind of house. The fortified courtyard homes of medieval England began to make way for more compact, outward-looking houses, houses that experimented with new ideas about design and decorative detail coming from Europe, houses that were more about comfort than security, but which also pleased and intrigued the eye.’

‘in December 1550 Bess gave birth to her first son, Henry - ‘my bad son Henry’ as he was destined to become, the source of much trouble and disappointment. This time the Cavendishes set their sights a little higher in the godparent stakes, choosing Princess Elizabeth (the beginning of a long if occasionally strained association between Bess and the future Queen), the Earl of Warwick, now Lord President‘

‘According to the Duchess of Newcastle, Sir William, ‘being somewhat advanced in years’, married Bess ‘chiefly for her beauty’. Bess was in fact no great beauty, but she was spirited, vital and determined. It’s a measure of her powers of attraction that Cavendish, a man on the make, chose a wife with little to recommend her in terms of social or material gain.’

‘A brief marriage had provided Bess with an income, small to be sure, but bringing a measure of independence. These early years of loss and financial insecurity help explain her drive to fortify herself with land, assets and cash, though for Bess the process of acquisition became compulsive, not merely a question of security, but of power and control.‘