Bess of Hardwick and Her Circle

Chapter 3: AUTHOR’S NOTE

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About This Book

A detailed life portrait traces a provincial gentlewoman's ascent by marriage, household management, and strategic alliances into a position of great wealth and influence within Elizabethan aristocratic networks. The narrative interweaves family correspondence, contemporary portraits, and documentary evidence to chart her ambitious building campaigns and the creation of impressive houses and galleries. It examines her role in high-stakes political episodes, including the custody of a deposed monarch, and the disputes and arrangements surrounding heirs and inheritance. Illustrated chapters move from childhood and social apprenticeship through tumultuous middle years to declining fortunes and contested legacies, offering a close view of household practice, patronage, and domestic power.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

All complete letters herein quoted have been put into modern spelling. These, with the exception of one or two fragments and when the source is not otherwise indicated, have been selected from the transcripts in Lodge’s Illustrations of British History, from the originals amongst the Talbot, Howard, and Cecil MSS.

The Author gratefully acknowledges the special permission of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire to include in this work reproductions of many of the fine pictures at Hardwick Hall, as well as a number of views of that noble building.