Frances Howard, Countess of Kildare (died 1628), was a courtier and governess of Princess
Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia
Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 159613 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Since her husband's reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, she is called the Wi ...
, and a member of the
House of Howard
The House of Howard is an English noble house founded by John Howard, who was created Duke of Norfolk (third creation) by King Richard III of England in 1483. However, John was also the eldest grandson (although maternal) of the 1st Duke of the ...
.
Marriages
Frances Howard was the daughter of
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham, KG (1536 – 14 December 1624), known as Lord Howard of Effingham, was an English statesman and Lord High Admiral under Elizabeth I and James I. He was commander of the Eng ...
and
Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham
Catherine Howard, Countess of Nottingham ( Carey; c. 1547 – 25 February 1603), was a cousin, lady-in-waiting, and close confidante of Elizabeth I of England. She was in attendance on the queen for 44 years.
Life
Catherine Carey was the eldest ...
. She was a member of the household of
Queen Elizabeth as a lady of the Privy Chamber. On New Year's Day 1589, she gave the queen a scarf of black cloth "flourished" with Venice gold and silver, in 1600 she gave seven gold buttons set with sparks of ruby and pearls.
She was married firstly to
Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare
Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare (1562 – 30 September 1597) was an Irish peer and soldier.
Background
Kildare was the second son of Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare and Mabel Browne. cites His eldest brother died in 1580, and Hen ...
(died 1597), and secondly in May 1601 to
Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham
Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham KG (22 November 1564 – 24 January 1618 ( Old Style)/3 February 1618 ( New Style), lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was an English peer who was implicated in the Main Plot against the rule of James I of Engla ...
. Around the same time Cobham's brother
George Brooke married Elizabeth Burgh, daughter of
Lord Burgh.
Rowland Whyte
Rowland Whyte (died after 1626) was an Elizabethan official and businessman, whose letters provide important evidence about the latter stages of the life of Queen Elizabeth I and the transition to the rule of James I. The letters were first publish ...
reported that the Queen approved their marriage plan in January 1600 and Howard and Brooke had secretly married in August 1600.
Rowland Whyte mentioned her several times in his newsletters to
Robert Sidney. In November 1595, he described how
Barbara Sidney was received at court and 'my Lord Admiral and all that tribe were glad to see her' and Lady Kildare was sent especially to keep her company and dine with her in
Lady Hoby's chamber. Her husband the Earl of Kildare died, and in November 1598
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
gave her £700 to compensate the loss of her marriage jointure in Ireland.
In August 1599, Whyte heard that
Margaret Radcliffe
Margaret Radcliffe with the name in religion of Margaret Paul (1582–1654) was an English nun who briefly served as abbess of the English Convent of Poor Clares, Gravelines, and was also the founding superior of English convents in Brussels and A ...
, a maid of honour, had stayed in her chamber for four days after Lady Kildare had been unkind to her because they were rivals for the affection of Lord Cobham. Radcliffe died in November 1599, after refusing to eat, and
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
as an epitaph wrote an acrostic epigram.
In August 1602 at the
Harefield Entertainment The Harefield Entertainment included hospitality and performances for Elizabeth I of England in August 1602. Several copies of the performance script survive, along with original manuscript accounts of the Queen's host which seems to have been manip ...
in the lottery she was given a girdle, with the verses, "By fortune's girdle you may happy be: But they that are less happy are more free."
After her second marriage she retained the title "Lady Kildare". She signed an inventory of the wardrobe of
Queen Elizabeth in December 1602 as "Frauncis Cobham of Kildare". The signature was for a gift from Queen Elizabeth of a black velvet gown embroidered with scallop shells and ragged pearls. The gown had originally been a gift to the Queen from the
Earl of Warwick
Earl of Warwick is one of the most prestigious titles in the peerages of the United Kingdom. The title has been created four times in English history, and the name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick.
Overview
The first creation c ...
in 1578. It was altered for Lady Kildare by the queen's tailor William Jones, and the embroiderer John Parr sewed gold spangles and 150 pearls to a new bodice.
A note by one of Lord Cobham's household administrators blames Lady Kildare and her people for extra expenses on food.
The Succession
Lady Kildare became involved in
correspondence between English courtiers and
James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
before his succession to the throne of England. In September 1599 her Scottish servant named Dicksoun ingratiated himself with the Scottish diplomat
James Sempill
Sir James Sempill (1566–1626) was a Scottish courtier and diplomat.
Early life
James Sempill was the eldest son of John Sempill of Beltrees, and Mary Livingston, one of the "Four Marys", companions of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Sempill was brought ...
, and said she had spoken in favour of the king's succession to the English throne at dinner with her father the Lord Admiral. Sempill wrote that Kildare passed the paper knife to the queen to open the king's letters.
Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton
Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, KG (25 February 154015 June 1614), was an important English aristocrat and courtier. He was suspect as a crypto-Catholic throughout his life, and went through periods of royal disfavour, in which his reputati ...
tried to break her Scottish connections, and wrote to
Edward Bruce, 1st Lord Kinloss
Edward Bruce, 1st Lord Kinloss PC (1548 – 14 January 1611) was a Scottish lawyer and judge.
He was the second son of Edward Bruce of Blairhall and Alison Reid.
Career
In 1594 James VI sent him as ambassador to London and gave him £1,000 ...
, asking if he could find out about three letters she had written to James before the fall of the
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...
in February 1601. One asked if she could have a private cipher to write secret letters to the king, and Northampton heard she had a cipher to write to
Sir Thomas Erskine. In the second she had offered to engineer the disgrace of
Cecil
Cecil may refer to:
People with the name
* Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name)
* Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
Places Canada
*Cecil, Alberta, ...
and
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...
with Queen Elizabeth. In the third she warned James VI against Raleigh and the
Master of Grey.
Northampton was keen to thwart Lady Kildare's involvement in international politics, and on 22 November 1601 wrote to the
Earl of Mar
There are currently two earldoms of Mar in the Peerage of Scotland, and the title has been created seven times. The first creation of the earldom is currently held by Margaret of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar, who is also clan chief of Clan Mar. The ...
about his difficulties with 'her entermeddelinge'. Northampton questioned her access to useful information, claiming 'hir owne sexe dare not speake before hir', incidentally giving insight into the political roles of ladies in waiting at Elizabeth's court.
In 1601 Kildare took a letter from Christian Annesley, Lady Sandys, sister of
Cordell Annesley
Cordell Annesley (died 1636) was an English courtier.
Family background
She was a daughter of Brian Annesley and Audrey Tirrell (d. 1591), a daughter of Robert Tirrell of Burbrooke. Brian Annesley was a gentleman pensioner of Queen Elizabeth, mast ...
, to the queen to plead for Lord Sandys, who was pardoned for supporting Essex.
Lady Raleigh complained to Robert Cecil in March 1602 that Kildare was damaging her reputation with the queen.
Lady Kildare was said to have told
Dr Henry Parry that on her deathbed, Queen Elizabeth was wearing a ring that Earl of Essex had given her, and not her coronation ring.
Berwick and Edinburgh
After the succession Lord Cobham and the
Earl of Northampton
Earl of Northampton is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times.
Earls of Northampton, First Creation (1071)
* Waltheof (d. 1076)
* Maud, Queen of Scotland (c.1074–1130/31)
*Simon II de Senlis (1103–1153)
* Simon II ...
travelled to
Berwick upon Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...
to greet King James on 7 April 1603. The letter writer
John Chamberlain said that Lord Henry Howard (Northampton) went to Scotland to "countermine the Lord Cobham", to possess the king's ear and prevent Cobham gaining royal favour.
Frances, Lady Kildare also came to Berwick with other courtiers in an official party to welcome
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...
. These were chosen by the
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
, following the king's order of 15 April 1603. The group consisted of two countesses, Kildare, and
Elizabeth, Countess of Worcester; two baronesses
Philadelphia, Lady Scrope and
Penelope, Lady Rich; and two ladies Anne Herbert, a daughter of
Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, KG, KB (in or after 153819 January 1601) was a Welsh nobleman, peer and politician of the Elizabethan era. He was the nephew of Catherine Parr, and brother-in-law of Lady Jane Grey, through his first wif ...
, and
Audrey Walsingham
Lady Audrey Walsingham (; 1568–1624) was an English courtier. She served as Lady of the Bedchamber to queen Elizabeth I of England, and then as Mistress of the Robes to Anne of Denmark from 1603 until 1619.
Family connections
Sometimes called "E ...
. A Venetian diplomat,
Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli, wrote that the six great ladies were escorted by 200 horsemen. There were also two maids of honour.
Kildare, as
William, Lord Compton reported to Cecil, left the official party at Berwick on 27 May and travelled on to Edinburgh to meet Anne of Denmark, writing "my lady Kildare would needs quit her companions at Berwick and went to Edinburgh". Others made the same journey, hoping to gain the queen's favour, including
Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford
Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford ( Harington; 1580–1627) was a major aristocratic patron of the arts and literature in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, the primary non-royal performer in contemporary court masques, a letter-writer, and a ...
. The queen came from
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...
to Edinburgh and met a convoy of English ladies, and on 31 May 1603 attended church in Edinburgh accompanied by these would-be companions. Some of the English ladies were accommodated in
John Kinloch's house in the
Canongate
The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. It began ...
, near
Holyroodhouse
The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace or Holyroodhouse, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh ...
, and the cost of their stay was met by the Scottish chancellor,
John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose
John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose (1548 – 9 November 1608) was a Scottish peer and Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1599 to 1604. He was Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland, from 1605 to 1606.
Family backgr ...
.
Governess to Princess Elizabeth
On 3 June 1603, the queen arrived in England welcomed by the remaining ladies of the official party. Kildare was made the governess of
Princess Elizabeth on 5/15 June 1603, despite Northampton's efforts to discredit her, and sworn a Lady of the Queen's Privy Chamber two weeks later. A later memoir, which has a very favourable view of Kildare, states she had a letter from the king to the queen recommending her to "constantly attend Princess Elizabeth, who burst into tears at the news of this change of governess. The memoir also states that Lady Kildare's great affection for Lord Cobham was not reciprocated.
Princess Elizabeth arrived at
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
in a litter with Lady Kildare and 30 horses in procession on 1 July 1603. Kildare's father, the Earl of Nottingham, visited her and Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth at
Oatlands in September 1603. An account of expenses made by
Anne Livingstone
Anne Livingstone, Countess of Eglinton (died 1632) was a Scottish courtier and aristocrat, and lady-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth and Anne of Denmark.
Anne Livingstone was a daughter of Alexander Livingstone, 1st Earl of Linlithgow and Heleno ...
, one of the ladies-in-waiting, or by Princess Elizabeth herself, mentions Kildare's footman and wagon-man, and that Kildare sent away some male servant when plague was suspected.
Disgrace
In September 1603, she lost this position four months after her husband was named in the '
Bye Plot
The Bye Plot of 1603 was a conspiracy, by Roman Catholic priests and Puritans aiming at tolerance for their respective denominations, to kidnap the new English King, James I of England. It is referred to as the "bye" plot, because at the time i ...
' and '
Main Plot
The Main Plot was an alleged conspiracy of July 1603 by English courtiers to remove King James I from the English throne and to replace him with his cousin Lady Arbella Stuart. The plot was supposedly led by Lord Cobham and funded by the Spanis ...
'. It was said she urged her husband to testify against Raleigh to save himself. Howard wrote to Cecil blaming and implicating her brother-in-law
Sir George Brooke.
Arbella Stuart
Lady Arbella Stuart (also Arabella, or Stewart; 1575 – 25 September 1615) was an English noblewoman who was considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. During the reign of King James VI and I (her first cousin), she marri ...
wrote on 16 September, "Kildare is discharged of her office, and as near a free woman as may be and have a bad husband." The keeping of
Cobham Hall
Cobham Hall is an English country house in the county of Kent, England. The grade I listed building is one of the largest and most important houses in Kent, re-built as an Elizabethan prodigy house by William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham (1527†...
and park was given to Miles Rainsford, a valet of the king's privy chamber.
A later memoir states that although Cobham had been unkind to Howard, she became sick with worry at his arrest, leading to her replacement as governess, and a letter of
Thomas Edmondes
Sir Thomas Edmonds (1563 – 20 September 1639) was an English diplomat and politician who served under three successive monarchs, Queen Elizabeth I, Kings James I and Charles I, and occupied the office of Treasurer of the Royal Household from ...
explained 'her spyrittes have been of late much troubled with her husbande's disaster'. She wrote to her husband in October 1603, apologising that she could not send a message to court to intercede for him, because King James and Anne of Denmark were away on progress and she did not know where, the "king is gone one way, the queen another, and the house
ouseholdremains at
Basing". After his trial at Winchester, Lord Cobham was not executed but remained in
Tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
for years, dying in 1618.
Investigating a family archive
Robert Cecil required her husband's papers, and she first wrote to him for more specific details. Lord Cobham apologised to Cecil after she had sent the wrong papers from a cabinet at Cobham. Lord Cobham noted that there many old papers from the embassy of
Sir Henry Cobham
Sir Henry Cobham (1537–1592) was an English diplomat.
Life
The fifth son of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham, he was always known as, and signed himself, Henry Cobham. He went to Spain with Sir Thomas Chaloner the elder who was accredited as a ...
to France which he had never looked through. He felt that Kildare had let him down deliberately and compared her to the biblical
.
Kildare offered Cecil her husband's papers from their house in Blackfriars. Some were state papers, which she wrote were no concern of women, and she would like to be acquitted of keeping them:
ther ar so manny papars and writtings cast and lad (laid) about that if it might ples (please) you lordship I shwld be very glad to be holy (wholly) dispossest of them for that manny letters consarne foren (foreign) cases, were of wes (whereof use) might be maed, thee (they) ar un fit for women to see or men of mene jugement for thee (they) concarne state causis, I shwld be much bound to your lordship if you wolld procour a commanddyment from the king that I shwld be frely acquitted of them all if anyn evidences consarne me, I presume of your hannorabell concenes to rit me in all things.
Later life
After her husband's death, Kildare was a 'countess assistant' at the funeral of Anne of Denmark in 1619, a sign of rehabilitation.
Her daughter,
Bridget
Bridget is an Irish language, Irish female name derived from the Goidelic languages, Gaelic noun ''brÃgh'', meaning "power, strength, vigor, virtue". An alternate meaning of the name is "exalted one". Its popularity, especially in Ireland, is la ...
, married
Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell
Rory O'Donnell (; 1575 – 30 July 1608), younger brother of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, was the last King of Tyrconnell and 1st Earl of Tyrconnell.An apparent original of the letters patent of the Earldom were in the possession of Count Maximilian Kar ...
, and secondly
Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Barnewall
Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Barnewall (1592 – 20 August 1663) of Turvey, County Dublin, was an Irish landowner and politician.
Family history
After the subjection of Ireland in the time of Henry II, Michael de Berneval, who served under R ...
. Her daughter Elizabeth Fitzgerald married
Luke Plunket, 1st Earl of Fingall
Lucas More Plunket of Killeen, County Meath (before 1602 – 29 March 1637), styled Lucas Môr, tenth lord Killeen, created Earl of Fingall on 26 September 1628, was an Irish peer.
Biography
Plunket was the elder son of Christopher Plunket, 9th Ba ...
. Lady Kildare lived at
Cobham Hall
Cobham Hall is an English country house in the county of Kent, England. The grade I listed building is one of the largest and most important houses in Kent, re-built as an Elizabethan prodigy house by William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham (1527†...
and
Deptford
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...
. She borrowed another house at Deptford belonging to the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
to entertain the poor of the neighbourhood at Christmas in 1623, and had done the company 'some favours'.
On 9 September 1627 she visited Sir
John Coke
Sir John Coke (5 March 1563 – 8 September 1644) was an English civil servant and naval administrator, described by one commentator as "the Samuel Pepys of his day". He was MP for various constituencies in the House of Commons between 1621 an ...
, the
Master of Requests, to ask a favour. The
Earl of Dorset
Earl of Dorset is a title that has been created at least four times in the Peerage of England. Some of its holders have at various times also held the rank of marquess and, from 1720, duke.
A possible first creation is not well documented. Abou ...
wrote to Coke recommending her and suggesting good manners were required, "She is a lady out of date, and therefore I may more confidently intercede in her behalf, bur she has strains in her of the ancient nobility, and is one who will deserve all courtesy".
She died in 1627. According to her will Anne Arundell of
Wardour Castle
Wardour Castle is a ruined 14th-century castle at Wardour, on the boundaries of the civil parishes of Tisbury and Donhead St Andrew in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Salisbury. The castle was built in the 1390s, came into th ...
was a particular friend.
[William Scott Robertson, 'Wills Relating to Cobham Hall' in ''Kentish Archaeology'', vol. 2 (London, 1877), pp. 36-43.]
External links
* Portrait: Weiss Gallery
Tudor and Stuart Portraits (2013), pp. 46-7Kristen Bundesen, 'Frances Kildare's Letter to Dr. Julius Caesar, 1589'
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kildare, Frances Howard, Countess
1628 deaths
16th-century English nobility
17th-century English nobility
Frances
Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the F ...
16th-century English women
Irish countesses
Daughters of British earls
Governesses to the English Royal Household
Court of Elizabeth I
Court of James VI and I