Elizabeth Russell, Lady Russell (née Cooke; formerly Hoby; 1528–1609) was an English poet and noblewoman.Priestland – ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''; She was an influential member of

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

's court and was known in her time for her refined poetry as well as her musical talent.Hays – Female Biography In 1596, she was a vocal opponent of the reconstruction of

Blackfriars Theatre Blackfriars Theatre was the name given to two separate theatres located in the former Blackfriars Dominican priory in the City of London during the Renaissance. The first theatre began as a venue for the Children of the Chapel Royal, child acto ...

in that London district.

Life

She was born at

Gidea Hall Gidea Hall was a manor house in Gidea Park, the historic parish and Royal liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, whose former area today is part of the north-eastern extremity of Greater London. The first record of Gidea Hall is in 1250, and by 1410 ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, the third daughter of

Anthony Cooke Sir Anthony Cooke (1504 – 11 June 1576) was an English humanist scholar. He was tutor to Edward VI. Family Anthony Cooke was the only son of John Cooke (died 10 October 1516), esquire, of Gidea Hall, Essex, and Alice Saunders (died 1510), da ...

, who was tutor to

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

. Cooke educated his four daughters to a high level for his day.Ford – Berkshire History Her sister,

Anne Bacon Anne, Lady Bacon (née Cooke; 1527 or 1528 – 27 August 1610) was an English lady and scholar. She made a lasting contribution to English religious literature with her translation from Latin of John Jewel's ''Apologie of the Anglican Church'' ...

, became a notable scholar. Elizabeth was proficient in Latin and French. Elizabeth's first marriage was on 27 June 1558, to

Thomas Hoby Sir Thomas Hoby (1530 – 13 July 1566) was an English diplomat and translator. Early life Hoby was born in 1530. He was the second son of William Hoby of Leominster, Herefordshire, by his second wife, Katherine, daughter of John Forden. He was ...

, of

Bisham Abbey Bisham Abbey is a Grade I listed manor house at Bisham in the English county of Berkshire. The name is taken from the now lost monastery which once stood alongside. This original Bisham Abbey was previously named Bisham Priory, and was the trad ...

, Berkshire, noted as the translator of

Baldassare Castiglione Baldassare Castiglione, Count of Casatico (; 6 December 1478 – 2 February 1529),Dates of birth and death, and cause of the latter, fro, ''Italica'', Rai International online. was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissanc ...

's ''

The Book of the Courtier ''The Book of the Courtier'' ( it, Il Cortegiano ) by Baldassare Castiglione is a lengthy philosophical dialogue on the topic of what constitutes an ideal courtier or (in the third chapter) court lady, worthy to befriend and advise a Prince or pol ...

'' into English. In March 1566, he was knighted and became the English ambassador to France. The couple moved to Paris. Sir Thomas Hoby died there in July. Elizabeth received a touching letter of condolence from

. Elizabeth had four children by Sir Thomas Hoby:

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

(1560–1617), two girls who both died in childhood in 1571, and then another boy born after her Thomas Hoby's death who was called Thomas Posthumus (1566–1640). She built a memorial chapel to her deceased husband in

Bisham Bisham is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. The village is on the River Thames, around south of Marlow in the neighbouring county of Buckinghamshire, and around northwest of Maide ...

parish church in Berkshire. She was married again in 1574, to John, Lord Russell (d. 1584), eldest surviving son and heir to

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, KG ( – 28 July 1585) of Chenies in Buckinghamshire and of Bedford House in Exeter, Devon, was an English nobleman, soldier, and politician. He was a godfather to the Devon-born sailor Sir Francis Drake ...

. She had two daughters by this second marriage, Anne and Elizabeth. A legend says she also had a son whom she so mistreated because of his obstinance at his lessons and blotting his copy-books that he died as the result of her numerous beatings of him, but this cannot be verified. The legend claims her repentant ghost haunts Bisham Abbey. John Russell's death in 1584, before that of his father, robbed her of the possibility of becoming the countess of Bedford. Through her connections at court, her brother-in-law was

William Cecil, Lord Burghley William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (13 September 15204 August 1598) was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State (1550–1553 and 1558–1572) and Lord High Treasurer from 1 ...

, and her nephew Robert Cecil, she became involved in litigation and disputes as she sought favours for herself and friends. Her son Thomas Posthumus became Burghley's protégé. She was for a time favoured by the queen and in the summer of 1592 she entertained the monarch at Bisham Abbey for six days. 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 ...

also met there. The queen was reputedly godmother to two of her children. By 1595, however, she found she could only see the queen at church. By June 1600, however, she had regained favour when the queen attended her daughter's wedding at Blackfriers. Elizabeth Cooke was known for her patronage of musicians, most notably of the composer

John Dowland John Dowland (c. 1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", "Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", ...

. She also translated ''A way of reconciliation touching the true nature and substance of the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament'' (printed in 1605) from the French and composed tomb inscriptions in Greek, Latin and English. She opposed the reconstruction of the

in 1596, as she did not approve of live theatre, given that she was a devout

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

. She then drew up a petition against the new theatre. As Chris Laoutaris notes in his description of the neighbourhood conflict, Blackfriars was an "upmarket" district. Some of her petition signatories were business colleagues of Shakespeare himself. Ultimately, her plan failed By all accounts, Russell also behaved in a similarly fractious manner toward perceived 'rival' property owners in Bedfordshire, who were sometimes kidnapped, hung by their heels, or subjected to document forgery. She seems to have been an ambitious woman, who was zealous in acquiring and protecting her own property, given that she was the first female keeper of her own

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

in England Laoutaris, 2014 Later in life, she became litigious and pursued grievances in law, not always successfully. Elizabeth died at her house at

, Berkshire, and is buried in the 'Hoby Chapel' at All Saints Church,

, where a magnificent monument was erected to her.

Notes

References

* * *. * * * ''(subscription or free access with a UK library card number)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Elizabeth Cooke, Lady 1528 births 1609 deaths English translators French–English translators 16th-century translators 17th-century translators People from Bisham People from Romford English ghosts 16th-century English writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English women writers 16th-century English women writers Court of Elizabeth I Wives of knights