Elizabeth Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon (6 January 1588 – 20 January 1633), formerly Lady Elizabeth Stanley, was an English noblewoman and writer who was third in

line of succession An order, line or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated, such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon (24 April 1586 – 14 November 1643), was a prominent English nobleman and literary patron in England during the first half of the seventeenth century. Life He was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicester ...

. She was also styled Lady Hastings of Hungerford and Lady Botreaux as her husband held both of these titles in addition to the Earl of Huntingdon.Profile
thepeerage.com; accessed 26 March 2014.

In line to the English throne

Lady Elizabeth was born and baptised on 6 January 1588, in Knowsley, Lancashire, the third and youngest daughter, and co-heir of

Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby (1559 – 16 April 1594), was an English nobleman and politician. He was the son of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby, and Lady Margaret Clifford. Ferdinando had a place in the line of succession to Eliz ...

Lord of Mann The Lord of Mann () is the lord proprietor and head of state of the Isle of Man, currently King Charles III. Before 1504, the title was King of Mann. Relationship with the Crown Since 1399, the King of Mann, kings and lords of Mann were ...

, and

Alice Spencer Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby (4 May 1559 – 23 January 1637) was an English noblewoman from the Spencer family and noted patron of the arts. Poet Edmund Spenser represented her as "Amaryllis" in his eclogue '' Colin Clouts Come Home Again ...

(4 May 1559 -January 1637). As the great-great-granddaughter of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk, the younger sister of King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

, Elizabeth became, after the death of her grandmother,

Lady Margaret Clifford Margaret Stanley, Countess of Derby (née Lady Margaret Clifford; 1540 – 28 September 1596) was the only surviving daughter of Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland and Lady Eleanor Brandon. Her maternal grandparents were Charles Brandon, 1st ...

in 1596, third in line of succession to the English throne. Upon the death of Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

in 1603, Elizabeth and her older sisters,

Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven Anne Stanley (May 1580 – c. 8 October 1647) was an English noblewoman. She was the eldest daughter of the Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, Earl of Derby and, through her two marriages, became Baroness Chandos and later Countess of Ca ...

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...

, and Lady Frances Stanley, were passed over in favour of King

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 ...

, who was descended from King Henry's elder sister

Margaret Tudor Margaret Tudor (28 November 1489 – 18 October 1541) was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to exte ...

. (See main article:

Alternative successions of the English crown British history provides several opportunities for alternative claimants to the English and later British Crown to arise, and historical scholars have on occasion traced to present times the heirs of those alternative claims. Throughout this ar ...

Marriage and issue

On 15 January 1601, shortly after her 13th birthday, Lady Elizabeth married Henry Hastings, the only son of

Francis Hastings, Baron Hastings Francis Hastings, Lord Hastings (1560 – 17 December 1595) was the son of George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon and Dorothy Port. He married Sarah Harington, daughter of Sir James Harington (lawyer), James Harington and Lucy Sydney. They had fi ...

, and Lady Sarah Harrington. As his father had died in 1595, Henry was heir to the earldom of Huntingdon. On 31 December 1604, upon the death of his grandfather

George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon (1540 – 30 December 1604) was an English nobleman. He was a son of Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon and Catherine Pole, daughter of Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu and Jane Neville. He was a youn ...

, he succeeded as the fifth earl. From that date onward, Lady Elizabeth was styled Countess of Huntingdon, as well as Lady Hastings of Hungerford and Lady Botreaux, since her husband also held those titles. They made their principal home at

Ashby de la Zouch Castle Ashby de la Zouch Castle is a ruined fortification in the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England. The castle was built by William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, William, Lord Hastings, a favourite of Edward IV of England, Edward IV, ...

, Leicestershire, where the earls of Huntingdon had their family seat. Together Henry and Elizabeth had four children: * Lady Elizabeth Hastings (born ca. 1605), married Sir Hugh Calverley; died childless. * Lady Alice Hastings (1606–1667), married

Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet, K.B. (25 November 1587 – 28 June 1666) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1666. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. He was educa ...

, as his seventh wife; died childless. *

Ferdinando Hastings, 6th Earl of Huntingdon Ferdinando Hastings, 6th Earl of Huntingdon (18 January 1609 – 13 February 1656), was the son of Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon, and Lady Elizabeth Stanley, the daughter of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, and Alice Spencer. He ...

(18 January 1608 – 13 February 1655), married Lucy Davies, by whom he had issue. * Lord Henry Hastings, 1st Baron Loughborough of Loughborough (28 September 1610 – 10 January 1667), died unmarried without issue.

Writer and arts patron

Lady Elizabeth was a patron of the arts, as well as a writer. She was the author of five Huntington Library manuscripts: four copies of prayers, biblical extracts, and meditations, and one volume of sermon notes. Forty-six of her letters (written from 1605 until late 1632), which provide a keen insight into her life and personal sentiments, survive in the Hastings Collection of the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United State ...

.Perdita Woman: Elizabeth Hastings, Countess of Huntingdo

In one of these letters, she described a visit to the royal court where she watched the rehearsals and final production of a

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 mas ...

, at which she was kissed by both King James and Queen Anne. Elizabeth danced in ''

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 ...

'' which was performed at

Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall – also spelled White Hall – at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, with the notable exception of Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, ...

on 2 February 1609. A miniature portrait by

Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard ( – before 7 January 1619) was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some l ...

was painted sometime between 1601 and 1610. She was also the subject of a 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 ...

painted in about 1614.

A masque at Ashby Castle

The countess employed

John Marston John Marston is a character in the ''Red Dead'' video game series by Rockstar Games. He is the main playable protagonist of the 2010 video game ''Red Dead Redemption'', wherein he must deal with the decline of the Wild West while being force ...

to write an

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

for her mother's visit to Ashby in August 1607. A triumphal arch was built in the park. A welcome speech was delivered by an actor dressed as a witch or "Inchantress" called Merimna. She claimed that Ashby was held by Melancholy and Desolation. Next Saturn, a god who represented melancholy, recognised the Countess of Derby. At the masque in the Great Chamber the moon goddess Cynthia was presented.

Death

Elizabeth died on 20 January 1633, shortly after her 45th birthday, at

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 ...

, at the home of her brother-in-law,

John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater, KB, PC (1579 – 4 December 1649), was an English peer and politician from the Egerton family. The son of Sir Thomas Egerton and Elizabeth Ravenscroft, he matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxfor ...

. A procession took her body to the parish church of St. Helen in Ashby-de-la-Zouch where she was buried on 9 February. The minister praised her in conventional terms, but he also mentioned her literary activities. The four manuscripts of her religious writings represented her thoughts right up to her death; in three of her four manuscripts, her final meditation was ''Of Death''. Her husband died 10 years later in 1643.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huntingdon, Elizabeth Hastings, Countess of 1588 births 1633 deaths English countesses English women writers Daughters of English earls 16th-century English nobility 17th-century English nobility 16th-century English women 17th-century English women writers 17th-century English writers Elizabeth Stanley Elizabeth Stanley People from Knowsley, Merseyside