Book description
Bess of Hardwick was one of the most remarkable women of the Tudor era.
Gently-born in reduced circumstances, she was married at 15 and when she
was widowed at 16, she was still a virgin. At 19 she married a man more
than twice her age, Sir William Cavendish, a senior auditor in King
Henry VIII's Court of Augmentations. Responsible for seizing church
properties for the crown during the Dissolution, Cavendish enriched
himself in the process. During the reign of King Edward VI, Cavendish
was the Treasurer to the boy king and sisters, and he and Bess moved in
the highest levels of society. They had a London home and built
Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. After Cavendish's death her third
husband was poisoned by his brother. Bess' fourth marriage to the
patrician George, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, Earl Marshall of England, made
Bess one of the most important women at court. Her shrewd business
acumen was a byword, and she was said to have 'a masculine
understanding', in that age when women had little education and few
legal rights. The Earl's death made her arguably the wealthiest, and
therefore - next to the Queen - the most powerful woman in the country.
Mary Lovell is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. She is the
author of seven previous biographies including the bestselling THE
MITFORD GIRLS.
