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 poet. She was an ''adventurer'' (shareholder) in the
Somers Isles Company
The Somers Isles Company (fully, the Company of the City of London for the Plantacion of The Somers Isles or the Company of The Somers Isles) was formed in 1615 to operate the English colony of the Somers Isles, also known as Bermuda, as a commerc ...
, investing in
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
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, where
Harrington Sound
Harrington Sound is a large inland body of water in the northeast of the main island of Bermuda. It is surrounded by the main island on all sides, only appearing open to the ocean via a small channel called Flatt's Inlet in the southwest. Much o ...
is named after her.
Parentage and marriage
Lucy Harington was the daughter of Sir
John Harington of
Exton, and
Anne Keilway. She was well-educated for a woman in her era, and knew French, Spanish, and Italian. She was a member of the Sidney/Essex circle from birth, through her father, first cousin to Sir
Robert Sidney and
Mary, Countess of Pembroke; she was a close friend of Essex's sisters
Penelope Rich
Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, later styled Penelope Blount (''née'' Devereux; January 1563 – 7 July 1607) was an English court office holder. She served as lady-in-waiting to the English queen Anne of Denmark. She was the sister of Robert Devereu ...
and
Dorothy Percy, Countess of Northumberland
Dorothy Percy (née Devereux), Countess of Northumberland (formerly Perrot, née Devereux; c. 1564 – 3 August 1619) was the younger daughter of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex by Lettice Knollys, and the wife of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of ...
, and the latter named one of her daughters Lucy after her.
Lucy Harington married
Edward Russell, 3rd Earl of Bedford
Edward Russell, 3rd Earl of Bedford (20 December 1572 – 3 May 1627) was an English nobleman and politician.
Early life
He was the son of Sir Francis Russell, Lord Russell and his wife, Eleanor Forster.Collins, A. (1720). ''The Baronettag ...
, on 12 December 1594, when she was thirteen years old and he was twenty-two, at
St Dunstan's on Stepney Green. She miscarried her first child in February 1596 at
Bedford House on the
Strand
Strand may refer to:
Topography
*The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a:
** Beach
** Shoreline
* Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida
Places Africa
* Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa
* Strand Street ...
in London.
The Earl of Bedford got himself into serious trouble in 1601 when he rode with 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 rebellion against Queen
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 ...
. The Bedford fortunes revived when the reign of
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
began in 1603. Several English nobles secretly sent representatives into Scotland to try to gain favour and court appointments. The Countess of Bedford audaciously skipped the late queen's funeral and rode hard to the Scottish border, ahead of a party of gentlewomen appointed 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 ...
, and got an audience in Scotland with the new king's wife
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 ...
. The new queen made her a
Lady of the Bedchamber
Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...
and she became a trusted confidant. 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
Holyrood Palace
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 Edinbu ...
with a convoy of English ladies who had come seeking attendance and on 31 May 1603 attended church in Edinburgh accompanied by these would-be companions. Some of the ladies stayed at
John Kinloch's house in Edinburgh.
The Countess of Bedford travelled south with Anne of Denmark and
Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to:
People
*Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father
*Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460)
*Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...
and
Princess Elizabeth. At
Dingley, Northamptonshire
Dingley is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary auth ...
she rode south to meet
Lady Anne Clifford
Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, '' suo jure'' 14th Baroness de Clifford (30 January 1590 – 22 March 1676) was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became '' suo jure ...
, perhaps at
Wymondley Priory, and brought her to Dingley on 24 June.
Masquing
Bedford performed in several of the
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque ...
s staged at Court in the early 17th century, including ''
The Masque of Blackness
''The Masque of Blackness'' was an early Jacobean era masque, first performed at the Stuart Court in the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1605. It was written by Ben Jonson at the request of Anne of Denmark, the ...
'' (1605), ''
Hymenaei
''Hymenaei,'' or ''The Masque of Hymen,'' was a masque written by Ben Jonson for the marriage of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, and performed on their wedding day, 5 January 1606 ...
'' (1606), ''
The Masque of Beauty
''The Masque of Beauty'' was a courtly masque written by Ben Jonson, and performed in London's Whitehall Palace on 10 January 1608. It inaugurated the refurbished banquesting hall of the palace (the predecessor of Inigo Jones' building). It was ...
'' (1608), ''
The Masque of Queens
''The Masque of Queens, Celebrated From the House of Fame'' is one of the earlier works in the series of masques that Ben Jonson composed for the House of Stuart in the early 17th century. Performed at Whitehall Palace on 2 February 1609, it mar ...
'', and ''
The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses
''The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses'' was an early Jacobean-era masque, written by Samuel Daniel and performed in the Great Hall of Hampton Court Palace on the evening of Sunday, 8 January 1604. One of the earliest of the Stuart Court masqu ...
''. On two occasions in 1617, she functioned as a theatrical producer, instigating and organising the 1617 Court performance of
Robert White's masque ''Cupid's Banishment'', acted by students from the first English girls' school, the
Ladies Hall
Ladies Hall in Deptford, London is thought to have been the first girls' school in England. Founded in approximately 1615 by Robert White, the school was for aristocratic girls connected with the royal court, and they performed before Queen Anne ...
in
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 ...
. In February 1617 the masque by
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 ...
presented by
Lord Hay to the French ambassador
Baron de Tour, the ''
Lovers Made Men
''Lovers Made Men'', alternatively titled ''The Masque of Lethe'' or ''The Masque at Lord Hay's'', was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson, designed by Inigo Jones, and with music composed by Nicholas Lanier. It was performed on Saturd ...
'', was staged by the Countess of Bedford.
Patronage
Jonson
She was a noted patron of
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 ...
, who dedicated his play ''
Cynthia's Revels
''Cynthia's Revels, or The Fountain of Self-Love'' is a late Elizabethan stage play, a satire written by Ben Jonson. The play was one element in the ''Poetomachia'' or War of the Theatres between Jonson and rival playwrights John Marston and ...
'' (1600) to her and addressed several of his ''Epigrams'' to her, extolling her patronage. By his own admission, Jonson portrayed her as Ethra in his lost pastoral, ''The May Lord'' — though he may also have depicted her as Lady Haughty, president of the Collegiates in
''Epicene'' (1609). When Jonson was imprisoned in 1605 for his role in the ''
Eastward Ho
''Eastward Hoe'' or ''Eastward Ho!'' is an early Jacobean-era stage play written by George Chapman, Ben Jonson and John Marston. The play was first performed at the Blackfriars Theatre by a company of boy actors known as the Children of t ...
'' scandal, he wrote a letter to an unknown lady, who is thought by some scholars to have been the Countess of Bedford.
Others
In addition to Jonson, Bedford supported other significant poets of her era, including
Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton (1563 – 23 December 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. He died on 23 December 1631 in London.
Early life
Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothin ...
,
Samuel Daniel
Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) was an English poet, playwright and historian in the late- Elizabethan and early- Jacobean eras. He was an innovator in a wide range of literary genres. His best-known works are the sonnet cycle ''Delia'', the epi ...
,
George Chapman
George Chapman (Hitchin, Hertfordshire, – London, 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been speculated to be the Rival Poet of Shak ...
, and
John Donne
John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...
. She might be the "Idea" of Drayton's pastoral ''Idea: The Shepherd's Garland'' (1593) and of his sonnet sequence ''Idea's Mirror'' (1594). Drayton dedicated his ''Mortimeriados'' (1594) to her, as Daniel did his ''Vision of the Twelve Goddesses'' (1604). Bedford patronised a range of lesser writers of her era, including the translator
John Florio
Giovanni Florio (1552–1625), known as John Florio, was an English linguist, poet, writer, translator, lexicographer, and royal language tutor at the Court of James I. He is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England. F ...
, who credited her help in his translation of the essays of
Montaigne. She "received more dedications than any other woman associated with the drama" in her era.
Bedford was the godmother of Donne's second daughter, also named Lucy, and the namesake of Sir Henry Goodere's daughter (later wife of Sir Francis Nethersole). Donne seems to have been deeply involved with her on a psychological level — "Most of the poems of Donne's middle years relate, in one way or another, to this glamorous and intriguing woman." Her contradictions could be provocative: the Countess was a dedicated
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
, and supported many Calvinist authors and thinkers – yet she allegedly performed bare-breasted in Court masques. Her relationships with some of her poets, including Donne and Drayton, were sometimes uneven; poets who dedicated their works to her could also complain of the loss of her favour.
She was also receptive to women poets, such as her cousin
Cecily Bulstrode
Cecily Bulstrode (15844 August 1609) was a courtier and subject of poetry. She was the daughter of Edward Bulstrode (1550–1595) and Cecily Croke; she was a cousin of Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford, in whose household she was a member in 1605. ...
. Bedford occasionally wrote poems herself, including a poem Donne claims he saw in the garden of her Twickenham estate. Only one of her poems is extant, "Death be not proud, thy hand gave not this blow", an epitaph on Bulstrode. This poem has been attributed to Donne, and suggestively shares an opening clause with his
Holy Sonnet X; nevertheless, it is now considered much more likely to be Bedford's poem. The elegy has an image of Bulstrode's breast as a crystal palace and the repository of her soul, clearer than the crystal;
From out the Christall Pallace of her brest
The clearer soule was call'd to endlesse rest.
Bedford certainly wrote an elegy on the death of her cousin
Bridget Markham at Twickenham Park in 1609.
While best remembered for her patronage of writers, Bedford also supported musicians,
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", ...
being a noteworthy example. She is the dedicatee of Dowland's ''
Second Book of Songs'' (1600).
A few scholars have identified the Earl and Countess of Bedford as the allegorised couple in
Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
''
The Phoenix and the Turtle
''The Phoenix and the Turtle'' (also spelled ''The Phœnix and the Turtle'') is an allegorical poem by William Shakespeare, first published in 1601 as a supplement to a longer work, ''Love's Martyr'', by Robert Chester. The poem, which has be ...
,'' who left "no posterity" (line 59) — yet since the poem was published in 1601, when the Countess was only twenty years old, the identification has struck others as unlikely.
Gardens
She was a significant figure in the development of English country-house and garden design, centering on her estates at
Twickenham Park
Twickenham Park was an estate in Twickenham in south-west London.
History
The New Park of Richmond, later called Twickenham Park, passed to Edward Bacon in 1574 and to the English philosopher, Francis Bacon, in 1593. In 1608 the property passed ...
and
Moor Park. An Italian writer
Giacomo Castelvetro
Giacomo Castelvetro (25 March 1546 – 21 March 1616) was an Italian expatriate in Europe and England, humanist, teacher and travel writer.
Life
Giacomo Castelvetro was born in Modena in 1546 to the banker Niccolò Castelvetro and his wife ...
dedicated a book on fruit and vegetables to her. She described her building and improvements at Moor Park in a letter to a friend; "my works att the More, whear I have been a patcher this sommer and I am still adding some trifles of pleasure to that place I am so much love with, as I were so fond of any man I were in hard case."
Career
As one of the most influential women at James's court, she was also involved in a range of political issues; in the later part of the reign she was among the most prominent supporters of
Elizabeth of Bohemia, who had been brought up in her father's household at
Coombe Abbey.
Bedford took part in the ''Masque of Blackness'' on 6 January 1605 as "Aglaia" one of the three graces. The masque marked the creation of
Prince Charles as
Duke of York. Bedford probably arranged the marriage of her cousin
Mary Sutton Dudley to the Scottish
Earl of Home
Earl of Home ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1605 for Alexander Home of that Ilk, 6th Lord Home. The Earl of Home holds, among others, the subsidiary titles of Lord Home (created 1473), and Lord Dunglass (1605), i ...
. Their wedding in July 1605 was held at Bedford House in the
Strand
Strand may refer to:
Topography
*The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a:
** Beach
** Shoreline
* Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida
Places Africa
* Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa
* Strand Street ...
, and was part of a move to Anglicize the Scottish aristocracy.
She was apparently absent from the queen's company for a part of 1605 and 1606, around the time Anne of Denmark had her last daughter Sophia, and had perhaps been sent away in disfavour. When Anne of Denmark asked her to come back, and Bedford danced for her, according to
Dudley Carleton the queen laughed and said, "her brother of Denmark was as handsome a man as the duke of Holstein". The remark may mean that Bedford had been involved with the
Duke of Holstein
The Duchy of Holstein (german: Herzogtum Holstein, da, Hertugdømmet Holsten) was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had hi ...
, the queen's younger brother who had recently been in England.
Her husband, the Earl of Bedford fell from his horse in July 1613 and was seriously injured. The Countess gave up a plan to travel to
Spa, Belgium
Spa (; wa, Spå) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium, whose name became an eponym for mineral baths with supposed curative properties. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountains sout ...
for her health.
John Chamberlain wrote that she came back to the royal court, but affected by grief she used less cosmetics than the other women at court, "Marry, she is somewhat reformed in her attire, and forebears painting, which they say makes her somewhat strange among so many vizards, which together with their frizzled powdered hair makes them look all alike, so you can scant know one from another at first view."
In August 1616 she was with the court at
Woodstock Palace
Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodge b ...
, the only countess present, when
George Villiers was created Viscount Buckingham. She visited Anne of Denmark at
Nonsuch Palace
Nonsuch Palace was a Tudor royal palace, built by Henry VIII in Surrey, England; it stood from 1538 to 1682–83. Its site lies in what is now Nonsuch Park on the boundaries of the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey and the London Boro ...
in July 1617. In 1617 she was godmother of Elizabeth Gordon, daughter of
Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun and Louisa Gordon whose mother
Geneviève Petau de Maulette is said to have taught French to Elizabeth of Bohemia. The other godparents were the
Earl of Hertford
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
and
Jean Drummond, Countess of Roxburghe.
Roxburghe was dismissed from the queen's court soon after this christening, and Bedford seems to have absented herself at this time in sympathy with her friend. She wrote to her friend
Lady Cornwallis that Roxburghe's absence in Scotland "makes me perfectly hate the court".
Anne of Denmark had a nosebleed at
Oatlands in September 1618 that confined her to bed and disrupted her travel plans. Bedford thought it had weakened her, and she appeared "dangerously ill". Bedford wrote to Lady Cornwallis that she would now be more often at court because of the queen's illness than she had intended.
Prominent as she was, both Bedford and her husband had serious financial problems throughout their lives. In 1618 she transferred her shares in the Bermuda Company to the
Marquess of Hamilton. Lady Bedford reportedly had debts of £50,000 in 1619, apart from the Earl's massive indebtedness.
The court physician
Théodore de Mayerne
Sir Théodore Turquet de Mayerne (28 September 1573 – 22 March 1655) was a Genevan-born physician who treated kings of France and England and advanced the theories of Paracelsus. The Young Doctor
Mayerne was born in a Huguenot family in Gen ...
noted she had "podagra" or
gout
Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...
. In 1619 he treated her for the
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
that blinded her in one eye, and in 1620 treated her for depression which he recorded as "hypochondriacus".
[Lesley Lawson, ''Out of the Shadows'' (London, 2007), pp. 149-51, 155.]
Lucy, Countess of Bedford died in the same month as her husband, May 1627. None of their children survived infancy.
In fiction
* Lucy Russell is the subject of ''The Noble Assassin'' (2011), a historical novel by Christie Dickason.
* Vivian Bearing refers to herself as Lucy, Countess of Bedford on one occasion in Margaret Edson's play
''Wit''.
Notes
References
*Barroll, John Leeds. ''Anne of Denmark, Queen of England: A Cultural Biography.'' Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001.
*Bergeron, David Moore. ''Textual Patronage in English Drama, 1570–1640.'' London, Ashgate, 2006.
*Carey, John, ed. ''John Donne: The Major Works.''
*Davidson, Peter, and
Jane Stevenson
Jane Barbara Stevenson (born 12 February 1959) is a British historian, literary scholar, and author. Since 2017, she is Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall, Oxford. From 2007 to 2017, she was Regius Professor of Humanity at the University o ...
, eds. ''Early Modern Women Poets: An Anthology.'' Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001.
*Lesley Lawson, ''Out of the Shadows: The Life of Lucy, Countess of Bedford.'' London, Continuum, 2007.
*Joseph, T., ed. ''Ben Jonson: A Critical Study.'' New Delhi, Anmol, 2002.
*
Lewalski, Barbara
Barbara Josephine Lewalski (; February 22, 1931 – March 2, 2018)Roberts, Sam (March 29, 2018).. ''The New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewalski, Barbara Kiefer
1931 births
2018 deaths
American academics o ...
. "Lucy, Countess of Bedford: Images of a Jacobean Courtier and Patroness." In ''Politics of Discourse,'' ed. by
Kevin Sharpe and
Steven N. Zwicker
Steven Nathan Zwicker (born June 4, 1943) is an American literary scholar and the Stanley Elkin Professor in the Humanities in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Biography
Zwicker is an expert on Restoration-era English li ...
. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1987.
External links
Images of manuscripts of poems including the Countess of Bedford's Elegy for Bridget Markham, Michelle O'Callaghan, Early Modern Women Research Network
Drawing by Isaac Oliver for a miniature portrait of the Countess of Bedford, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Miniature by Isaac Oliver of the Countess of Bedford, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Information from Twickenham Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, Lucy, Countess Of
1580 births
1627 deaths
English countesses
Daughters of barons
16th-century English women
17th-century English women
16th-century English nobility
17th-century English nobility
Ladies of the Bedchamber
Patrons of literature
17th-century philanthropists
Lucy
Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...
Household of Anne of Denmark