Talbot, Elizabeth (1518–1608)

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Talbot, Elizabeth (1518–1608)

Countess of Shrewsbury. Name variations: Bess of Hardwick; Bess of Hardwick Hall; Elizabeth of Hardwick;Elizabeth Hardwick; Elizabeth Shrewsbury. Born in 1518 in Derbyshire, England; died on February 13, 1608 (some sources cite 1607); interred at Allhallows, Derby; fourth daughter and co-heiress of John Hardwick of Hardwick, Derbyshire, and Elizabeth Leake ; married Robert Barlow, in 1532 (died 1533); married Sir William Cavendish, later 1st earl of Devonshire, in 1549 (died); married Sir William St. Loe (died); married George Talbot (1522–1591), 6th earl of Shrewsbury, on February 9, 1567 (separated 1583); children: (second marriage) Henry Cavendish (MP for Derby); William Cavendish (b. 1552), earl of Devonshire; Charles Cavendish; Frances Cavendish ; Elizabeth Cavendish (d. 1582); Mary Talbot (d. 1632); grandchildren: Arabella Stuart.

Renowned for her financial acuity, passion for building, and four shrewd marriages, Elizabeth Talbot, countess of Shrewsbury, was one of the wonders of the Elizabethan age. Widely called Bess of Hardwick, she was among the richest women in England (second only to the queen), and she knew how both to increase and to spend her money. The houses she built were grand mansions on a spectacular scale, and her masterpiece, Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, is considered perhaps the finest extant house of the era. Lavishly windowed, its six towers prominently adorned with her initials wrought in stone three feet high, it contains a High Great Chamber (her favorite room) which Sacheverell Sitwell called "the most beautiful room, not in England alone, but in the whole of Europe." She was also an intimate of Queen Elizabeth I , a longtime "custodian" of Mary Stuart , queen of Scots, an occasional partner in court intrigue, a mother who assiduously promoted her children's interests, and an energetic businesswoman who did not suffer fools lightly.

She was born in 1518 in decidedly lesser circumstances, in a small manor house within sight of the land on which she would later build Hardwick Hall. The death while she was still young of her father, a respectable country squire, greatly damaged the family finances. At age 15, she married for the first time, and before she was 17 she was a widow in possession of her late husband's modest but helpful estate. After spending some years at court, where she readily adapted to the intricacies of social and political scheming, she married Sir William Cavendish in 1549. Cavendish, who was considerably older than his wife, had prospered mightily from his job of selling off and otherwise dealing with the properties Henry VIII seized from the Roman Catholic Church. They had six children, three girls and three boys, and in 1552 William fulfilled Talbot's wish by purchasing Chatsworth, a Derbyshire estate with several thousand acres of land. With his assistance, she began her first major building project, a stone house that would take decades and much money to complete. When it was finally finished—long after the death of William, who had become the 1st earl of Devonshire—it was one of the most admired homes in the country, and became the Cavendish family seat. (Future generations would completely alter the house and grounds, building additions and changing the façade, and in particular filling the interior with an astonishing array of murals, furniture and artworks.)

Talbot was again a widow, this time with young children and William Cavendish's estate, when Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558. Elizabeth previously had known and liked Talbot, and made her a lady-in-waiting at court. Some ten years later the queen would declare, "There is no Lady in this land that I better love and like," and Talbot retained her respect and (mostly) good will despite their ups and downs over the subsequent years. While at court, she met and married Sir William St. Loe, a captain of the Queen's Guard and another very wealthy man. Some of that wealth went towards the completion of Chatsworth House, and she inherited the rest of it after St. Loe died a few years into their marriage. Her final husband, whom she married on February 9, 1567, was George Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury. He was the richest of her husbands—indeed, perhaps the richest husband or bachelor in the land—and he possessed already a number of great country houses. He also possessed children. To keep his money in the family, they married their young children to each other: her daughter Mary Talbot wed his son Gilbert, and his daughter Grace Cavendish married her son Henry.

The newlyweds went to live at one of the earl's homes, Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire. In 1568, at the queen's pleasure, they found themselves with a long-term boarder: Mary Stuart, queen of Scots. Her "visit," complete with retinue and escape attempts, would last until 1584, three years before her execution. Talbot continued building Chatsworth and smaller houses with George's money, and negotiated excellent marriages for the rest of her children; all, that is, save for her daughter Elizabeth Cavendish . In 1574, much to Talbot's chagrin, George rashly arranged Elizabeth Cavendish's marriage to Mary Stuart's brother-inlaw, Charles Stuart, 5th earl of Lennox. For that deed, Elizabeth Talbot joined Margaret Douglas (1515–1578), mother of Charles, in the Tower of London for three months. The queen apparently held no grudge against her, however, and did not remove Mary Stuart from Tutbury. After Charles Stuart's death in 1577, Elizabeth Cavendish moved back home with her mother. She brought with her her young daughter Arabella Stuart , who would remain in Talbot's care after Elizabeth Cavendish died in 1582.

Talbot's prodigious spending had caused George much grief, a condition he was not shy about vocalizing, and in 1583 she left him to settle with her granddaughter at Chatsworth. The manor house on the estate had finally been finished, and there she supervised Arabella's education and interests (too closely for Arabella's liking) and, no doubt, dreamed of her next major building. Following her estranged husband's death in 1591, she inherited his fortune and began construction of Hardwick Hall. With near-unlimited resources at her disposal, she was able to ensure that it was built at a rapid clip (about nine years), three stories, six towers, long staircase from one end to the other, countless small-paned windows and all. Talbot lived at Hardwick House until her death in 1608. Nearly unchanged since that time, it is now maintained by the National Trust.