UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE "Such Daughters and Such a Mother": The Countess of Derby and her Three Daughters, 1560-1647 A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Vanessa Jean Wilkie August 2009 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Thomas Cogswell, Chairperson Dr. Randolph Head Dr. Dale Kent Copyright by Vanessa Jean Wilkie 2009 The Dissertation of Vanessa Jean Wilkie is approved: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements Many students pursue graduate school because they know exactly what they want to study. I was not that student. I meandered through public history, nineteenth century continental Europe, economic history, gender history, and had a brief affair with heavy postmodern theory until I finally settled down in early modern England. I have been so fortunate to work with a number of faculty members in History, English, and Women's Studies. I thank all of them for the patience they showed me while I tried to find my place in academia. Cliff Trafzer gave me sage advise my first two years of graduate school. Roger Ransom, Kiril Tomoff, and Georg Michels "went to bat" for me on several occasions. They made it impossible for me to blame any obstacles to my progress on a lack of funding and support. Ken Barkin patiently guided me through many materials courses. Ann Goldberg not only introduced me to Women's History, but she challenged me in ways I never thought possible. She helped me break through the glass ceiling of my own mind and graciously pointed out the tropes I brought to my writing. Christine Ward Gailey showed me how to bring the past into the present. I am truly grateful for her guidance and friendship. I doubt anyone could be more fortunate with a dissertation committee than I have been. Randy Head's fine-editing-eye is only surpassed by his passion for talking about the craft of history. Dale Kent brings brilliance, humor, and perspective to every conversation, both inside the classroom and out. They both have the remarkable ability to treat you like a peer and still mentor you at the same time. Their support, criticisms, expertise, and advice continue to make me a better historian. iv This dissertation could never have been written if it were not for Tom Cogswell, who introduced me to the Stanley women. At one of our first meetings, when I was rambling about what I wanted to write, Tom took a quick look under the table and then looked up at me. "What are you doing?" I asked. I will always remember his response: "I'm looking to see if your feet are on the ground because your head is in the clouds." Since then Tom has molded me into an early modern scholar that I never knew I could be. He taught me how to balance my analysis with narrative, how to follow footnotes, and how to survive lunches at the Huntington. I suspect I will spend the rest of my career thanking him for the impact he has had on me. I owe a great many thanks to the remarkable women in the UCR History Department office, namely, Susan Kumora, Deisy Escobedo, Rosie Mamaril, Connie Young, Christina Cuellar, and Wendy Mello. Without them I would undoubtedly be missing numerous graduation requirements and would still be trying to figure out how to submit travel expense reports. The outstanding librarians in the Tomas Rivera Inter- Library Loan Office brought the world to me and I am indebted to them. I also owe a huge debt to the History Department, the Graduate Division, and the Chancellor's Office at UCR for their generous financial support. The staff at the Huntington Library helped me put these funds to good use by making the Ahmanson Reading Room my home away from home. Mary Robertson and Sue Hodson's paleography seminar made the materials there far less intimidating. There were also a host of librarians and archivists who helped me on my whirl-wind trip through England. I also thank the many individuals at the PCCBS, WCBS, and NECBS for their thoughtful comments about my work. I am v honored to be associated with the network of British scholars on both sides of the Atlantic. Reading, researching and writing is a lonely road. I would have given up ages ago if it were not for so many friends who forced me out of the solitude of my head. My grad-school friends created a place where jokes about Foucault, the Simpsons, and the Reformation were funny and welcomed. Work and fun regularly collided on the fourth floor of the history tower and I doubt any of us could have survived without it. I would be lost if it were not for ABD Ladies Lunches and countless emails sent in moments of panic that were met with compassion and sympathy. I would specifically like to thank Kathleen McGuire, Anne Longanbach, Isaac Stephens, Michael Drake, Owen Jones, and John Bawden. I look forward to the lifetime of scholarship, coffee, drinks, and friendly meals I know we will continue to share. Kim, Kendra, Bree, Maggie, Shannon, Pete, Alisha, Kevin, Jennie, Josh, Jules, State Street Pilates, and all my other "home-friends" offered unending support, dinners, weekend getaways, phone calls, and laughs while never once making me feel bad for not having a "real job." I wrote in my dissertation that success for the Stanley women began at home; the same thing applies to my own life. I thank my parents, and John and Jenn, for their infinite support. More importantly, I thank them for always demonstrating through their own actions just how far you can get with dedication and commitment. They made it impossible for me to think that this was out of my reach. Unlike some of the Stanley women, I have been so fortunate in my relationship with my in-laws. I thank the Osmond family for always asking about my work with enthusiasm and genuine interest. My vi largest debt is to Matt, who married the Stanley women when he married me. It takes a remarkable man to live with a moody graduate student and four ghosts but he met the challenge with encouragement, never-ending patience, and a sense of humor. Thank you Matt, for all of this, and so much more. vii To Mom and Dad viii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION "Such Daughters and Such a Mother": The Countess of Derby and Her Three Daughters, 1560-1647 by Vanessa Jean Wilkie Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in History University of California, Riverside, August 2009 Dr. Thomas Cogswell, Chairperson This dissertation focuses on the lives of Alice Spencer Stanley Egerton, the dowager countess of Derby (1559-1637), and her three daughters: Anne Stanley Brydges Touchet, Lady Chandos and then dowager countess of Castlehaven (1581-1647), Frances Stanley Egerton, countess of Bridgewater (1583-1636), and Elizabeth Stanley Hastings, countess of Huntingdon (1587-1634). This work contributes to the fields of early modern English history, gender history, women's history, and family history. My primary sources include, correspondence, household accounts, legal records, contracts, leases, literary dedications, masques, literature, personal prayer books, tombs, almshouses, household inventories, wills, personal papers, and cheap print. The remarkable quantity and quality of sources by and about the Stanley women make it possible to re-examine their various life experiences by melding empirical research and gender theory. In 1631, the countess of Castlehaven accused her husband and one of her servants of raping her. Scholars of early modern English history and literature are quite familiar with this trial. This dissertation examines the relationship between the countess of ix Castlehaven and her mother and sisters to better understand this infamous trial in light of their familial experiences. The chapters are organized thematically rather than chronologically, in order to flesh out the major themes in the lives of the Stanley women. These themes include discussions of how they used marriage to build kinship networks, the various ways they maintained these networks, their religious lives, the literary and political patronage, their family culture of commissioning masques, their numerous legal battles, and their individual deaths and legacies. All of these larger issues are examined against their trials with the Castlehaven scandal to understand how the Stanley women experienced and influenced this critical moment in their lives. In the end, this dissertation presents a rich micro-history and a collective biography of the Stanley women. It argues that scholars must remain open to the complex and fluid identities of early modern women in order to understand fully the complicated nuances of early modern relationships. The Stanley women serve as ideal case studies and the Castlehaven affair is an interesting backdrop for this endeavor. x Table of Contents List of Abbreviations xii List of Charts xiii Introduction 1 Prologue: The Family, Women, and Gender in Early Modern England 13 1 The Marriages of the Stanley Women: Building Kinship Networks 48 2 "Resting Assurance to Find Your Friendship Firm Toward Me": The Stanley Women and Maintaining Kinship Networks 79 3 Piety in Practice: The Religious Lives of the Stanley Women 108 4 "To the Right Honourable...": Print, Literary, and Local Political Patronage of the Stanley Women 139 5 The Theatrical Patronage and Masque Culture of the Stanley Women 164 6 Inheritance, the Law, and the Stanley Women 196 7 "Besmear'd With a Sensual Life": The Stanley Women and the Castlehaven Scandal 236 8 "Until the Joyful Resurrection": The Deaths and Legacies of the Stanley Women 287 Conclusion 333 Bibliography 339 Appendix 361 xi List of Abbreviations Add MS Additional MSS Collection, British Library, London BL The British Library, London DNB Dictionary of National Biography CP The Complete Peerage EL Ellesmere MSS, Henry E.