In Christmas I used to go much to the Court, and sometimes did I lie in my aunt of Warwick’s1 chamber on a pallet, to whom I was much bound for her continual care and love of me, in so much as if Queen Elizabeth had lived, she intended to have preferred me to be of the Privy Chamber. For at that time there was as much hope and expectation of me both for my person and my fortunes as of any other young lady whatsoever. A little after the Queen removed to Richmond she began to grow sickly. My Lady2 used to go often thither and carried me with her in the coach, and using to wait in the coffer chamber,3 and many times came home very late. About the 21st or 22nd of March my aunt of Warwick sent my mother word about six of the clock at night, she living then at Clerkenwell, that she should remove to Austin Friars4 her house, for fear of some commotion, though God in his mercy did deliver us from it.
Upon the 24th Mr Flocknell, my aunt of Warwick’s man, brought us word from his Lady that the Queen died about two [or] three of the clock in the morning. This message was delivered to my mother and me in the same chamber where afterwards I was married.5 About ten of the clock King James was proclaimed in Cheapside by all the Council6 with great joy and triumph, which triumph I went to see and hear. This peaceable coming in of the King was unexpected of all sorts of people.
I was at Queen Elizabeth’s death 13 years and two months old. And this day Mr Richard Sackville was 14 years, he being then at Dorset House with his grandfather7 and that great family. At the death of this worthy Queen my mother and I lay at Austin Friars in the same chamber where afterwards I was married.8
2 Margaret Russell, by unknown artist (1585)
The first time that King sent to the lords in England he gave command that the Earls of Northumberland and Cumberland,9 the Lord Thomas Howard and the Lord Mountjoy10 should be added to the Council.11
Within two or three days we returned to Clerkenwell again. A little after this Queen Elizabeth’s corpse came by night in a barge from Richmond to Whitehall, my mother and a great company of ladies attending it, where it continued a good while standing in the drawing chamber, where it was watched all night by several lords and ladies, my mother sitting up with it two or three nights, but my Lady would not give me leave to watch by reason I was held too young. At this time we used to go very much to Whitehall and walked much in the garden which was much frequented with lords and ladies, being all full of several hopes, every man expecting mountains and finding molehills, excepting Sir Robert Cecil and the house of the Howards, who hated my mother and did not much love my aunt of Warwick.12 About this time my Lord of Southampton13 was enlarged of his imprisonment out of the Tower.
When the corpse of Queen Elizabeth had continued at Whitehall as long as the Council had thought fit, it was carried from thence with great solemnity to Westminster, the lords and ladies going on foot to attend it, my mother and my aunt of Warwick being mourners.14 But I was not allowed to be one, because I was not high enough, which did much trouble me then, but yet I stood in the church at Westminster to see the solemnity performed.
Queen Elizabeth’s funeral was on the 28th day of April being Thursday.15 A little after this my Lady and a great deal of other company as Mistress Elizabeth Brydges, my Lady Newton16 and her daughter, my Lady Finch17 went down with my aunt of Warwick to North Hall, and from thence we all went to Theobalds to see the King, who used my mother and my aunt very graciously, but we all saw a great change between the fashion of the Court as it is now, and of that in the Queen’s time, for we were all lousy by sitting in Sir Thomas Erskine’s chamber.
As the King came out of Scotland, when he lay at York, there was a strife between my father and my Lord Burghley,18 who was then President, who should carry the sword, but it was adjudged on my father’s side, because it was his office by inheritance, and so is lineally descended on me.19 From Theobalds the King went to Charterhouse where my Lord Thomas Howard was created Earl of Suffolk and my Lord Mountjoy Earl of Devonshire and restored my Lord of Southampton and Essex20 who stood attainted.21 Likewise he created many Barons, amongst which my uncle Russell was made Lord Russell of Thornhaugh and for knights they were innumerable.
All this spring I had my health very well not having so much as a taste of the green sickness.22 My father used to come sometimes to us at Clerkenwell, but not often, for he had at this time as it were wholly left my mother, yet the house was kept still at his charge.23
About this time my aunt of Bath and her Lord24 came to London and brought with them my Lord Fitzwarren25 and my cousin Frances Bourchier whom I met at Bagshot, where I lay all night with my cousin Frances Bourchier and Mistress Mary Cary, which was the first beginning of the greatness between us. About five miles from London there met them my mother, my Lord of Bedford and his Lady,26 my uncle Russell27 and much other company, so that we were in number about 300, which did all accompany them to Bath House, where they continued most of that summer, whither I went daily and visited them and grew more inward with my cousin Frances and Mistress Cary.
About this time my aunt of Warwick went to meet the Queen, having Mrs Brydges with her and my cousin Anne Vavasour. My mother and I should have gone with them, but that her horses, which she borrowed of Mr Elmes28 and old Mr Hickling29 were not ready. Yet I went the same night and overtook my aunt at Tittenhanger, my Lady Blount’s30 house, where my mother came the next day to me about noon, my aunt being gone before.
Then my mother and I went on our journey to overtake her, and killed three horses that day with extreme of heat and came to Wrest, my Lord of Kent’s,31 where we found the doors shut and none in the house but one servant who only had the keys of the hall, so that we were enforced to lie in the hall all night, till towards morning at which time came a man and let us into the higher rooms, where we slept three or four hours.32 This morning we hasted away betimes and came that night to Rockingham Castle where we overtook my aunt of Warwick and her company, where we continued a day or two with old Sir Edward Watson and his Lady,33 then we went to my Lady Needham’s34 who once served my aunt of Warwick, and from thence to a sister of hers whose name I have forgotten.35 Thither came my Lady of Bedford,36 who was then so great a woman with the Queen as every body much respected her, she having attended the Queen from out of Scotland. The next day we went to Mr Griffin of Dingley,37 which was the first time I ever saw the Queen and Prince Henry,38 where she kissed us all and used us kindly. Thither came my Lady of Suffolk,39 my young Lady Derby40 and my Lady Walsingham,41 which three ladies were the great favourites of Sir Robert Cecil. That night we went along with the Queen’s train, there being an infinite number of coaches, and as I take it my aunt and my mother and I lay at Sir Richard Knightley’s,42 where my Lady Elizabeth Knightley made exceedingly much of us. The same night my mother and I and my cousin Anne Vavasour rid on horseback through Coventry and went to a gentleman’s house where the Lady Elizabeth her Grace lay,43 which was the first time I ever saw her, my Lady Kildare and the Lady Harington44 being her governesses. The same night we returned to Sir Richard Knightley’s. The next day, as I take it, we went along with the Queen to Althorp, my Lord Spencer’s house,45 where my mother and I saw my cousin Henry Clifford, my uncle’s son, which was the first time we ever saw him.
The Queen and the Prince came to Althorp the 25th of June being Saturday but as I remember my aunt of Warwick, my mother and I came not thither till the next day, [the] 26th which Sunday was kept with great solemnity, there being an infinite number of lords and ladies. Here we saw my cousin Clifford first,46 then we saw the Queen’s favour to my Lady Hatton47 and my Lady Cecil,48 for she showed no favour to the elderly ladies but to my Lady Rich49 and such-like company.50
From thence the 27th being Monday the Queen went to [Sir] Hatton Fermor’s,51 where the King met her, where there were an infinite company of lords and ladies and other people that the county could scarce lodge them. From thence the Court removed and was banqueted with great royalty by my father at Grafton52 where the King and Queen were entertained with speeches and delicate presents, at which time my Lord and the Alexanders53 did run a course at the field, where he hurt Henry Alexander very dangerously. Where the Court lay this night I am uncertain. At this time of the King’s being at Grafton, my mother was there, but not held as mistress of the house, by reason of the difference between my Lord and her, which was grown to a great height.
The night after my aunt of Warwick, my mother and I, as I take it, lay at Doctor Challoner’s,54 where my aunt of Bath and my uncle Russell met us, which house my grandfather of Bedford used to lie much at, being in Amersham. The next day the Queen went to a gentleman’s house, whose name I cannot remember, where there met her many great ladies to kiss her hand, as the Marquess of Winchester,55 my Lady of Northumberland,56 my Lady of Southampton,57 etc. From thence the Court removed to Windsor where the feast of St George was solemnized, though it should have been done before.58 There I stood with my Lady Elizabeth’s Grace in the shrine in the Great Hall at Windsor to see the King and all the knights sit at dinner. Thither came the Archduke’s ambassador,59 who was received by the King and Queen in the Great Hall where there was such an infinite company of lords and ladies and so great a Court as I think I shall never see the like again.
At Windsor there was such infinite number of ladies sworn of the Queen’s Privy Chamber as made the place of no esteem or credit. Once I spoke to my Lady of Bedford to be one, but had the good fortune to miss it.60
From Windsor the Court removed to Hampton Court, where my mother and I lay at Hampton Court in one of the round towers, round about which were tents, where they died two or three in a day of the plague.
At Hampton Court my mother, myself and the other ladies dined in the presence as they used in Queen Elizabeth’s time, but that custom lasted not long. 61
About this time my Lady of Hertford62 began to grow great with the Queen and the Queen wore her picture.63
There I fell extremely sick of a fever so as my mother was in some doubt it might turn to the plague but within two or three days I grew reasonable well, and was sent away to my cousin Stidolph’s at Norbury,64 Mrs Carniston going with me, for Mrs Taylor65 was newly put away from me, her husband dying of the plague shortly after. A little afore this time my mother and my aunt of Bath and my cousin Frances went to North Hall, my mother being extreme[ly] angry with me for riding before with Mr Menerell, where my mother in her anger commanded that I should lie in a chamber alone, which I could not endure, but my cousin Frances got the key of my chamber and lay with me which was the first time I loved her so very well. The next day Mr Menerell as he went abroad fell down suddenly and died, so as most thought it was of the plague, which was then very rife. It put us all in great fear and amazement for my aunt had then a suit to follow in Court and my mother to attend the King about the business between my father and her.66 My aunt of Warwick sent us medicine from a little house near Hampton Court where she then lay with Sir Moyle Finch and his Lady. Now was the Master of Orkney67 and the Lord Tullibardine68 much in love with Mrs Cary and came thither to see us with George Murray in their company who was one of the King’s bedchamber. Within nine or ten days we were allowed to come to the Court again, which was before I went to my cousin Stidolph’s.
Upon the 25th of July the King and Queen were crowned at Westminster, my father and my mother both attending them in their robes, my aunt of Bath and my uncle Russell, which solemn sight my mother would not let me see because the plague was so hot in London. Therefore I continued at Norbury where my cousin did feed me with breakfasts and pear pies and such things as shortly after I fell into the green sickness.
My cousin Frances Bourchier stood to see the coronation though she had no robes and went not amongst the company.69
After the coronation, the Court returned to Hampton Court, where my mother fetched me from Norbury, and so we lay at a little house near Hampton Court about a fortnight and my aunt of Bath lay in Hogan’s lodgings,70 where my cousin Frances and I and Mary Cary did use to walk much about the gardens and house when the King and Queen were gone.
About this time my cousin Anne Vavasour was married to Sir Richard Warburton. From Hampton Court, my mother, my aunt of Bath, myself and all our company went to Lancelevy71 Lord Francis Palmes his house, where we continued as long as the Court lay at Basingstoke and I went often to the Queen and my Lady Arbella.72
Between Lancelevy and Mr Duton’s73 we lay at one Sir Edmund Fettiplace’s called Bessels Leigh, where we had great entertainment. Then we lay a night or two at Wantage74 at Gregory Webb’s, a tenant of my Lord of Bath’s and from his house to Mr Duton’s.75
Now was my Lady Rich76 grown great with the Queen insomuch as my Lady of Bedford was something out with her and when she came to Hampton Court was entertained but even indifferently, and yet continued to be of the bedchamber. One day the Queen went from Basingstoke and dined at Sir Henry Wallop’s77 where my Lady, my aunt and I had lain two or three nights before, and did help to entertain her. As we rid from my Lady Wallop’s78 to Lancelevy, riding late by reason of our stay at Basingstoke, we saw a strange comet in the night like a canopy in the air, which was a thing observed all over England.
From Lancelevy we went to Mr Duton’s where we continued about a week and had great entertainment and at that time kept a fast by reason of the plague which was then generally observed all over England. From Mr Duton’s we went to Barton to one Mrs Dormer’s79 where Mrs Humphrey her mother80 and she entertained us with great kindness. From thence we went often to the Court at Woodstock where my aunt of Bath followed her suit to the King, and my mother wrote letters to the King, and her means was by my Lord Fenton and to the Queen by my Lady of Bedford. My father at this time followed his suit to the King about the border lands, so that sometimes my mother and he did meet by chance, where their countenance did show the dislike they had of one another, yet he would speak to me in a slight fashion, and give me his blessing. While we lay here we rid through Oxford once or twice, but whither we went I remember not. There we saw the Spanish ambassador81 who was then new come into England about the peace.
Not long before Michaelmas82 myself, my cousin Frances Bourchier, Mrs Goodwin and Mrs Hawkridge waiting on us, went in to my mother’s coach from Barton to Cookham,83 where my uncle Russell, his wife and son then lay.84 From thence the next day we went to Nonsuch where Prince Henry and her Grace lay where I stayed about a week and left my cousin Frances there who was proposed to continue with her Grace, but I came back by Cookham and came to Barton85 before my aunt of Bath came in to the country.86
While we lay at Barton I kept so ill a diet with Mrs Mary Cary and Mrs Harrison in eating fruit so as I fell shortly after into the green sickness. From this place my aunt of Bath having little hope of her suit took her leave of my mother and returned into the West Country. While they lay at Barton my mother and my aunt paid for the charge of the house equally. Some week or fortnight after my aunt was gone, which was about Michaelmas,87 my Lady went from Barton to Green’s Norton and lay one night at my cousin Thomas Sellinger’s where we saw old Mr Hickling, where he and his daughter88 preferred William Pond to serve my Lady. To this place we came about ten o’ the clock in the night and I was so weary as I could not tell whether I should sleep or eat first. The next day we went to North Hall where we found my aunt of Warwick something ill and melancholy. She herself had not been there passing a month but lay at Sir Moyle Finch’s in Kent by reason of the great plague, which was then much about North Hall.
Not long after Michaelmas my uncle Russell, my aunt Russell his wife, their son, my Lord of Bedford, my mother and I gave all allowance to Mr Chambers my aunt’s steward,89 in which sort the house was kept during our being there. I used to wear my hair-coloured velvet gown every day, and learned to sing and play on the bass viol of Jack Jenkins, my aunt’s boy. Before Christmas my cousin Frances was sent for from Nonsuch to North Hall by reason that her Grace was to go from thence to be brought up with Lady Harington in the country. All this time we were merry at North Hall, my cousin Frances Bourchier, my cousin Francis Russell and I did use to walk much in the garden and were great with each other. At this time I fell directly in to the green sickness.
Now there was much talk of a masque which the Queen had at Winchester and how all the ladies about the Court had gotten such ill-names that it was grown a scandalous place, and the Queen herself much fallen from her former greatness and reputation she had in the world.90
1 Anne Russell, Countess of Warwick.
2 Her mother Margaret Russell, Countess of Cumberland.
3 A dormitory-like room that was part of Elizabeth’s private chambers where ladies serving the queen slept.
4 North-east of the city of London within the city walls. Clerkenwell sat outside the city walls to the west and was vulnerable if rioting or armed conflict broke out.
5 Anne married on 25 February 1609. The marriage was hastened because Richard Sackville’s father, Robert, 2nd Earl of Dorset, was on his deathbed (he died three days after the marriage). The validity of the marriage was questioned by Richard Sackville’s siblings (BL, MS Stowe 558) but was validated later that year by the Archbishop of Canterbury (KHLC, U269/Q18). This statement places the composition of the 1603 memoir after 1609.
6 The Privy Council, a permanent council made up of elite men who advised the monarch. This council wielded great power, as seen here in the transfer of the crown from Elizabeth to James.
7 Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, Lord Treasurer of England.
8 \I was at … married/
9 Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, and George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland.
10 Charles Blount.
11 \The first time … Council/
12 The Russells and Howards competed for favour in Elizabeth’s reign. The Russells were staunch Protestants, while the Howards were sympathetic to Catholicism.
13 Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton.
14 Two colour illustrations of this funeral procession exist: BL, Add. MS 5408 and Add. MS 35324.
15 \Queen Elizabeth’s … Thursday/
16 Catherine Paston, a lady of Elizabeth’s Privy Chamber.
17 Elizabeth Heneage, 1st Countess of Winchilsea in her own right.
18 William Cecil, 1st Earl of Essex.
19 A marginal note reiterates the episode: ‘A dispute between George, Earl of Cumberland, and the Lord Burghley about the carrying of the sword before the King at York adjudged in favour of the said Earl’. Anne was always keen to defend her inheritable honours and rights, insisting these descended to her as lineal heir of her father.
20 Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex.
21 This refers to the seizure of their property by the Crown in consequence of their involvement (or in Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex’s case, his father’s involvement) in ‘Essex’s Rebellion’ led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, against Queen Elizabeth in 1601. James I is here releasing their property back to them.
22 Hypochromic anaemia caused by a lack of iron in the blood.
23 During the late 1590s George Clifford became estranged from his wife, Margaret Russell, because of his affair with a woman Anne would later term ‘a lady of quality’.
24 Elizabeth Russell, Anne’s aunt, and her husband William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath.
25 Richard Bourchier, Anne’s first cousin.
26 Edward Russell, Anne’s first cousin, and his wife Lucy Harington, who was first cousin to Mary and Philip Sidney.
27 William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, Anne’s uncle.
28 Either John or Thomas Elmes.
29 William Hickling.
30 Frances Pigott.
31 Henry Grey, 8th Earl of Kent.
32 See Thomas Carew’s poem ‘To My Friend G.N. from Wrest’ (1639) for a description of the house where Anne and her mother spent this uncomfortable night. In Carew’s poem he describes the hall as thronged with ‘living men … where, at large tables fill’d with wholesome meats, / The servant, tenant and kind neighbour eats’. On this occasion it was not so welcoming.
33 Sir Edward Watson and his wife Anne Digby.
34 Elizabeth Watson. She appears in Anne Russell’s will under her married name of Needham (NA, PROB 11/103/291, Will of Anne Russell, 1604).
35 Either Temperance married to Thomas Dolman, Catherine married to Thomas Palmer, or Mary married to Anthony Mayney.
36 Lucy Harington, wife of Anne’s cousin Edward Russell, 3rd Earl of Bedford.
37 Dingley Hall, the home of Sir Edward Griffin.
38 Henry Stuart. Anne’s first husband, Richard Sackville, was a favourite of this prince.
39 Catherine Knyvet, Countess of Suffolk.
40 Elizabeth De Vere, Countess of Derby.
41 Ethelreda ‘Audrey’ Shelton.
42 Sir Richard Knightley of Fawsley Hall, Northamptonshire, and his wife Elizabeth Seymour.
43 Elizabeth Stuart, daughter to James I and later the Queen of Bohemia.
44 Frances Howard, Countess of Kildare and Anne Kelway.
45 Robert Spencer, 1st Baron Spencer of Wormleighton.
46 Henry Clifford, later 5th Earl of Cumberland. He was Anne’s cousin and he inherited her father’s northern lands. She inherited these lands after his death in 1643 according to the stipulations of the King’s Award.
47 Elizabeth Cecil, Lady Hatton (later Lady Coke).
48 Elizabeth Drury, Countess of Exeter.
49 Penelope Devereux, sister to Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.
50 \The Queen and the Prince … company/
51 Easton Neston House, the home of Sir Hatton Fermor. All manuscripts have only the word ‘Hatton’. In the Portland MS there is a space after Hatton which suggests that there was a word that could not be transcribed in the source manuscript. In Seward’s print text it appears as ‘Hatton Fermers’ (p. 222), without any indication that this refers to a person rather than a place.
52 George Clifford was granted the keepership of Grafton Regis in 1602. See Richard Spence, The Privateering Earl: George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland 1558–1605 (1995), p. 181.
53 Sir William Alexander is listed as a Gentleman Extraordinary of the Privy Chamber of Prince Henry (NPJ, p. 607), while a Walter Alexander is listed as a Principal Gentleman Usher to Prince Henry. See Roy Strong, Henry Prince of Wales (1986), p. 28. This Henry Alexander may be connected with them.
54 Dr Robert Chaloner, of Church House, Amersham. The rectory was under the patronage of the Russells, Earls of Bedford.
55 William Paulet, 4th Marquess of Winchester.
56 Dorothy Devereux, sister to Penelope and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.
57 Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton and maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth.
58 This feast is traditionally held on 23 April. Dudley Carleton also describes this event, noting that it was held with ‘much solemnity’ with Prince Henry; Ludovic Stuart, 2nd Duke of Lennox; and the earls of Southampton, Mar and Pembroke invested into the Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry in England. See Maurice Lee, ed., Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain 1603–1624 (1972), p. 35.
59 Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg.
60 \At Windsor … miss it/
61 \At Hampton Court … long/
62 Frances Howard, Countess of Hertford and later Duchess of Lennox.
63 \About this time … picture/
64 Sir Francis Stidolph of Norbury.
65 Anne Taylor, Anne’s governess and distant relation, portrayed in Anne’s Great Picture.
66 Margaret Russell sought the King’s help in forcing George Clifford to provide financial support for Margaret and Anne. For drafts of her petitions to James I see CAS, Kendal, WDHOTH/44.
67 Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney, one of the Scottish lords who came to Court with James I. He was married at this time, but had a number of mistresses and illegitimate children throughout his life.
68 William Murray, Lord Tullibardine, another Scottish lord who came to Court with James I.
69 \My cousin … company/
70 William Hogan or Huggins, Keeper of the Gardens, Hampton Court.
71 Lancelevy, Hampshire.
72 Arbella Stuart, granddaughter to Bess of Hardwick and an heir to the English and Scottish thrones.
73 Henry Duton, a Member of Parliament.
74 In Oxfordshire.
75 \Between Lancelevy … Duton’s/. Henry Duton. In the Portland MS the name appears as Dulon, but is Duton in the nineteenth-century manuscripts.
76 Penelope Devereux.
77 Farnleigh Wallop, Hampshire.
78 Elizabeth Corbet.
79 Justina Humfrey, a distant relation of Anne’s, through the St Johns.
80 Joan Inkforbie, a distant relation of Anne’s, through the St Johns.
81 Juan de Tassis, 2nd Count of Villamediana.
82 29 September, the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels.
83 Aemilia Lanyer’s country house poem ‘A Description of Cookham’ describes her period serving as a waiting gentlewoman to Anne and her mother, likely in 1604. See Malay, ‘Positioning Patronage’ (2013).
84 William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, his wife Elizabeth Long and their son Francis Russell, later 4th Earl of Bedford.
85 Barton Court.
86 \Not long before … county/
87 29 September.
88 William Hickling and his daughter Christian who was married to Anne’s relative Thomas Elmes.
89 Simon Chambers is mentioned in Anne Russell’s will.
90 This masque, Henry’s Welcome to Winchester, was performed between 11 and 17 October 1603. It is unclear what Anne found objectionable. It may be that she disapproved of the Court ladies and the Queen performing in the masque. If so, she would later revise her opinion as she performed in the Queen’s later Court masques.
