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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Bess Biography, 25 Jan 2009
I came to this book fresh after reading David Durant's biography from the 1970s - see my separate Amazon review.
Despite the effusive opening blurbs; despite the list of books also written by Mary S. Lovell (and to style herself with that middle initial must surely mean she is American); despite the dedication to Debo, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, my heart sank upon seeing the first chapter entitled `Merrie England', where the opening words are "Little Bess Hardwick" and reference is made to her being "a babe in arms". What had I bought? I was sure I was not going to like this book, but how wrong I was! And no, Mary Lovell is not an American.
In her introduction, Lovell states that, "much of what had already been written about Bess concerned her life from middle age onwards ... I decided ... to concentrate as far as possible on the early, unknown and unexplored parts of her life ... It is no exaggeration to say that there are more surviving documents concerning Bess and her connections" than have previously been analysed. She has endeavoured to counter those "many previous biographers (mostly male) [who] portrayed Bess as a hard and scheming woman."
It quickly becomes apparent that Lovell is not a professional historian, but rather a professional writer whose enthusiasm for her subject is made plain in her interesting introduction. Lovell freely admits to the limitations of her expertise (not feeling able to dedicate herself fully to answering whether Sir William Cavendish was an embezzler of state funds) and to the limits of the evidence (querying why Sir john Thynne should go out of his way to help Bess through opposing a bill in parliament against her); and there are in the narrative a fair share of `it is likely' and `it is probable'.
In addition, I was extremely pleased to read the following: -
"Previous biographers have speculated that it was at this very early period in her life that Bess made a conscious decision to marry William Cavendish in order to `build a dynasty'. Young women in Bess's day were taught, and were inclined by social mores, to be submissive, and as yet Bess could have had no idea whether she was fertile, or could bear healthy children. It therefore seems highly unlikely that a teenager with such a limited education as Bess had received so far would have been capable of the necessary self-analysis to have reached such a well thought-out and fully-developed ambition."
In one short series of sentences, Lovell demolishes those biases towards the strong and determined Bess that bedevils other biographies, and Lovell here demonstrates an impartiality to her subject that is refreshing and re-assuring. She may not be a professional historian - many of her sources are to secondary works - yet she has an objectivity that other biographers of Bess have shown not to possess. Lovell's honesty is also shown in the supposed "clashes of temperament" between Bess and Queen Elizabeth written about by other biographers: Lovell writes that, "though I searched diligently for evidence of this, I could find none whatsoever. Nor are any sources cited for this conjecture by previous biographers." Moreover, Bess's warm and passionate side "has been previously overlooked. As has her warm affection."
Perhaps the defining moment in Lovell's narrative that demonstrates Bess's steely determination is in her battle for her one-third dower rights following the death of her first husband. Her family circumstances meant that she was not in a strong position, but her persistent nature allied to a sense of injustice strengthened her mettle. Lovell is also clear in demonstrating that Bess planned well in advance the marriage between her daughter and Charles Stuart, despite what Bess protested to the queen.
Another welcome departure from other interpretations is that Lovell does not trace the estrangement between Bess and her fourth husband directly to this marriage. But I could not help feeling that Shrewsbury's shadowy mistress, Eleanor Britton, might be at the bottom of many of the events that are instead ascribed to Shrewsbury's state of mental health, for example his refusal to be reconciled with his wife or see members of his own family. Perhaps the reason for his apparent demeanour might lie in his fear of being found out and having to cast aside his mistress. This thought struck me upon reading about the wealthy goods purloined by Eleanor immediately upon Shrewsbury's death. Perhaps the earl had given them to her after all?
In the first chapter, which is very well-written, it is immediately apparent that there will be a problem in physically handling this book. This is because there are both footnotes (which I prefer) AND endnotes (which I do not). If she wants to go down this route, then the endnotes should refer solely to sources (and thus can be disregarded by the general reader), and any pertinent extra information should be in the footnotes, or - better still - incorporated into the text; for if the text itself can refer to tapestries and the scarcity of potatoes, then it can equally refer to special marriage licences and Bess's earliest portrait. It is so annoying to have to look out for footnotes (whose markings are barely perceptible in the text); to have to check endnotes; and to have to read three appendices in the first chapter alone.
Having grumbled about all this, there is admittedly much that is new to me in these pages, for example that John Hardwick's ancestry made Bess a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth, and that Lovell has managed to determine Bess's year of birth. Whilst much ink is spent on descriptions of (to me) fripperies such as clothing, jewellery and embroidery, Lovell is nevertheless good on the wider social background to late-Tudor life. She is also helpful in providing a much fuller background to the main players in Bess's life, for instance there are ten pages about the history of William Cavendish prior to his meeting Bess. The work she has done in uncovering much about Bess's third husband - the "overlooked and misrepresented" Sir William St Loe - is also to be praised. Overall this is a fine biography and unlikely to be bettered in terms of style and content for a good while. I would recommend it as the best of Bess's biographies.
There is the odd glaring error of grammar or of repeated information that hints at poor proof-reading; and there are some unfortunate turns of phrase, such as "this humdinger of a family soap opera". It is also a shame that the final seven paragraphs are written in the style of an adolescent student essay.
There are some strange omissions, for example that `Hardwick' means `cattle farm, high on a hill'; and there is no explanation of who Lord Ogle was and where his castle was situated. (One of his daughters became Bess's daughter-in-law, and another her stepdaughter-in-law.) I felt also that there was a failure to fully and adequately explain why the Office of Wards was not involved after the death of Sir William Cavendish as it had been after the death of Bess's own father thirty years before.
There is often some confusion, for example over who was the abbot of St Albans, or over whether it was Bess's family or the Shrewsbury's who benefited most over the marriage between the former's eldest son to one of the latter's daughters. And mightn't the reference made by Mary, Queen of Scots, to Shrewsbury's `ships' refer not to actual ships on the sea, but rather to `vessels', that is to Shrewsbury's own servants? Also, in the statement about "all Bess's granddaughters had now married well and were happy", are we not forgetting Arbella?
And there are factual errors, for example Newgate Street would be in the right foreground (not left) of the plate showing Edward VI's coronation procession; and the Farnese were dukes of Parma (in Italy), not Palma (in Spain). And to talk of the British ambassador to Belgium is anachronistic: Belgium was not created until 1830. Both Tuthill Street (probably Tothill Street in Westminster) and Red Cross Street (there was more than one) did survive the Great Fire.
There are forty-three beautiful colour plates. Despite a good selection and of good quality, they are mainly too small to bear close scrutiny. What is missing is a map of the east Midlands that shows the principal residences that Bess occupied and travelled so often between.
There are six useful appendices, family trees, a bibliography, credits and an index. The latter appears good, but the places of Crowfield and Derby that appear on page 26, are not noted as such in the index.
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by Sarah Gristwood
by David N. Durant
by Amanda Foreman
