{{Infobox noble, type , name = Elizabeth Grey , title = Countess of Kent , image = File:Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kent - Van Somer c.1619.jpg , caption = Portrait of Elizabeth Grey by

Paul Van Somer Paul van Somer ( 1577 – 1621), also known as Paulus van Somer, was a Flemish artist who arrived in England from Antwerp during the reign of King James I of England and became one of the leading painters of the royal court. He painted a numbe ...

, ca. 1619 , alt = , CoA = , more = no , succession = , reign = , reign-type = , predecessor = , successor = , suc-type = , spouse = Henry Grey, 8th Earl of Kent , spouse-type = , issue = , issue-link = , issue-pipe = , full name = , styles = , titles = , noble family = , house-type = , father = Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury , mother = Mary Cavendish , birth_date = {{Birth year, 1582 , birth_place = , christening_date = , christening_place = , death_date = {{Death date, df=yes, 1651, 12, 07 , death_place = Friary House,

Whitefriars, London Whitefriars is an area in the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. Until 1540, it was the site of a Carmelites, Carmelite monastery, from which it gets its name. History The area takes its name from the medieval Carmelite religious ...

, burial_date = , burial_place = , religion = , occupation = , memorials = , website = , module = Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kent (née Lady Elizabeth Talbot) (1582 – 7 December 1651) was a medical recipe collector, and the wife of Henry Grey, 8th Earl of Kent.

Biography

She was a daughter of

Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, 7th Earl of Waterford, 13th Baron Talbot, KG (20 November 1552 – 8 May 1616), styled Lord Talbot from 1582 to 1590, was a peer in the peerage of England. He also held the subsidiary titles of 16th Baro ...

and Mary Cavendish.{{cite DNB, wstitle= Grey, Elizabeth , volume= 23 , last= Kingsford , first= Charles Lethbridge , author-link= Charles Lethbridge Kingsford , pages= 181-182 , year= , short=1 Elizabeth Talbot was described in a letter of November 1590, after she had been taken to see

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen B ...

If I should write how much her Majesty this day did make of the little lady your daughter, with often kissing (which her Majesty seldom uses to any) and then amending her dressing with pins, and still carrying her with her Majesty in her own barge, and so into the privy lodgings, and so homeward from the
running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...
, you would scarce believe me: Her Majesty said (as true it is) that she is very like my Lady her grandmother: she behaved herself with such modesty as I pray she may possess at 20 years old.

She was appointed a maid of honour to Elizabeth I in June 1600. She married Grey on 16 November 1601, at

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...

. They lived at

Wrest Park Wrest Park is a Rural, country Estate (house), estate located in Silsoe, Bedfordshire, England. It comprises Wrest Park, a Grade I listed building, listed English country house, country house, and Wrest Park Gardens, also Grade I listed, forma ...

, Bedfordshire, where she managed the large household. They had no children, and the Earl died in 1639. Afterwards she may have married the writer,

John Selden John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned m ...

, who had worked for the Earl and to whom she left most of her property. She was a favourite attendant of Queen

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...

, As her husband was Baron Grey of Ruthin, she was named as "Lady Ruthin" in lists of Anne of Denmark's household. She is sometimes confused with

Barbara Ruthven Barbara Ruthven (died 1625) was a Scottish courtier, favourite of Queen Anne of Denmark, and expelled from court after the death of her brother. Barbara Ruthven was a daughter of Dorothea Stewart, Countess of Gowrie and the oldest daughter of ...

, the queen's favourite in Scotland in the 1590s. Lady Ruthin was a contact at court for

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'' ...

, and took her gifts to Anne of Denmark, including a white satin gown embroidered with pearls and coloured silks. In 1609, an Italian poet, Antimo Galli, published ''Rime di Antimo Galli'' which includes stanzas describing the guests and participants in '' The Masque of Beauty''. He dedicated his book to Lady Grey. In 1610 she danced in the court masque ''

Tethys' Festival ''Tethys' Festival'' was a masque produced on 5 June 1610 to celebrate the investiture of Prince Henry (1594–1612) as Prince of Wales. Prince Henry, the son of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark, was made Prince of Wales in June 1610. Amon ...

'' as the "Nymph of

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

". In 1616 the Venetian ambassador

Antonio Foscarini Antonio Foscarini (c. 1570 in Venice – 22 April 1622) belonged to the Venetian nobility and was Venetian ambassador to Paris and later to London. He was the third son of Nicolò di Alvise of the family branch of San Polo and Maria Barbarigo di ...

gave the Queen a necklace but Lady Grey returned it to him. It was said she replaced Jean Drummond as the queen's personal servant in October 1617. Her portrait by

Paul van Somer Paul van Somer ( 1577 – 1621), also known as Paulus van Somer, was a Flemish artist who arrived in England from Antwerp during the reign of King James I of England and became one of the leading painters of the royal court. He painted a numbe ...

includes a jewelled tablet or locket with the Queen's monogram. The queen's brother,

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and King of Norway, Norway and List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein, Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is th ...

wrote to her in 1619, asking her to take care to avert the Queen's melancholy. After Anne of Denmark's death, Christian IV wrote to her, thanking her for her service, and she replied from

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

in French.

Recipe books

After her death, her collection of medical recipes was published in 1653 by "W. J., Gent eman, originally as ''A Choice Manual, or Rare Secrets in Physick and Chirurgery Collected and Practised by the Right Honourable the Countess of Kent, late deceased.'' Later editions of the book added the subtitle ''Whereto are added several experiments of the vertue of Gascon powder, and lapis contra yarvam by a professor of physick. As also most exquisite ways of preserving, conserving, candying &c.''.

Elizabeth David Elizabeth David ( Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and books about Europea ...

, "A true gentlewoman's delight" in ''Petits Propos Culinaires'' no. 1 (1979) pp. 43-53 The book was popular, going through twenty-two editions. Some of the recipes reflect the influence of English

Paracelsianism Paracelsianism (also Paracelsism; German: ') was an early modern medical movement based on the theories and therapies of Paracelsus. It developed in the second half of the 16th century, during the decades following Paracelsus's death in 1541, ...

.{{Cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sk809ibqhvkC&pg=PR33, title=Seventeenth-century English Recipe Books: Cooking, Physic and Chirurgery in the Works of Elizabeth Talbot Grey and Aletheia Talbot Howard, last=Spiller, first=Elizabeth, date=2008-01-01, publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., isbn=9780754651963, pages=xxxiii, language=en Medical recipes were an interest she shared with her younger sister,

Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel Alethea Howard, 14th Baroness Talbot, 17th Baroness Strange of Blackmere, 13th Baroness Furnivall, Countess of Arundel (1585 – ), née Lady Alethea Talbot (pronounced "Al-EE-thia"), was a famous patron and art collector, and one of England's f ...

. A cookbook published in the same year by "W. J., Gent eman, titled ''A True Gentlewoman's Delight'', is sometimes said to be her personal recipe collection, although there is speculation that it was written by her chef Robert May, or by the publisher himself.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oDNFbocxamEC&pg=PA133 , title=The Cookbook Library: Four Centuries of the Cooks, Writers, and Recipes That Made the Modern Cookbook , publisher=University of California Press , author1=Willan, Anne , author2=Mark Cherniavsky, Mark , year=2012 , pages=133 , isbn=9780520244009

Attribution

* {{DNB, wstitle= Grey, Elizabeth , volume= 23 , last= Kingsford , first= Charles Lethbridge , author-link= Charles Lethbridge Kingsford , pages= 181-182 , year= , short=1

External links

*
A Choice Manual, or Rare Secrets in Physick and Chirurgery Collected and Practised by the Right Honourable the Countess of Kent
' (1726)
''A True Gentlewomans Delight'' (1653) by Elizabeth Grey
{{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Elizabeth Grey, Countess of 1582 births 1651 deaths English countesses Daughters of English earls

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...

English cookbook writers Women food writers Household of Anne of Denmark 17th-century English nobility 17th-century English women writers 17th-century English non-fiction writers