Alice Spencer
Encyclopedia
Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby (4 May 1559 – 23 January 1637) was an aristocratic English woman, and a noted patron of the arts. Poet Edmund Spenser
represented her as "Amaryllis" in his pastoral
poem Colin Clouts Come Home Againe
and dedicated his The Teares of the Muses to her. Her first husband was Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby
, a claimant to the English throne. Alice's eldest daughter, Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven was heir presumptive
to Queen Elizabeth I
.
She married secondly in 1600 Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley
.
, Northamptonshire
, England on 4 May 1559, the youngest daughter of Sir John Spencer, Member of Parliament
and High Sheriff
of Northamptonshire, and Katherine Kytson. She had three brothers and three older sisters.
was heir presumptive to Queen Elizabeth I from 1578 until her death in 1596.
On 25 September 1593, he succeeded as Earl of Derby and Lord of Mann
; from that date onwards, Alice was styled as the Countess of Derby.
Together Ferdinando and Alice had three daughters:
Her husband died on 16 April 1594, and when his mother died two years later, Alice's eldest daughter, Anne became heiress presumptive to Queen Elizabeth I. Upon the Queen's death in 1603, however, the crown passed to King James VI of Scotland who was descended from Margaret Tudor
, the elder sister of King Henry VIII
, whereas the Stanleys were descended from his younger sister, Mary Tudor, Queen of France.
For a month after his death, his company of players
performed at their home of Lathom House, Lancashire
as The Countess of Derby's Men. They had been at Lathom House shortly before the Earl's death and had been known then as the Earl of Derby's Men.
On 20 October 1600 she married her second husband Thomas Egerton
, who on 21 July 1603 became Baron Ellesmere, and on 7 November 1616 Viscount Brackley. Less than two years after his own marriage to Alice, Thomas's son John (by his first wife, Elizabeth Ravenscroft) married Alice's second eldest daughter Lady Frances.
Together Alice and her new husband founded the Bridgewater Library.
In 1601, Thomas Egerton bought Harefield
Place in Middlesex
, and in July 1602, the Queen was entertained at Harefield by the Egertons.
Lady Alice had Haydon Hall
in Eastcote
built in 1630 after she became concerned that Lord Castlehaven
would attempt to claim her estate in the event of her death. After she died in 1636, her eldest daughter reverted to her first married name, Lady Chandos, and became owner of the house. Alice was known as the Dowager Countess of Derby until her death.
. Poet Edmund Spenser was a distant relative of hers; in his pastoral poem, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, he represented her as "Amaryllis", whereas her sisters, Anne and Elizabeth were "Charillis" and "Phyllis", and Alice's husband was "Amyntas". "Amaryllis" was described as "the highest in degree". Spenser also dedicated his The Teares of the Muses to her.
Poet and author John Milton
lived close to her Harefield Place residence.
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
represented her as "Amaryllis" in his pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
poem Colin Clouts Come Home Againe
Colin Clouts Come Home Againe
Colin Clouts Come Home Againe is a pastoral poem by the English poet Edmund Spenser and published in 1595. It has been the focus of little critical attention in comparison with the poet's other works such as The Faerie Queene, yet it has been called the "greatest pastoral eclogue in the English...
and dedicated his The Teares of the Muses to her. Her first husband was Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby
Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby
Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby was the son of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby and Lady Margaret Clifford. According to the will of Henry VIII, his mother was heiress presumptive of Elizabeth I of England from 1578 to her own death in 1596...
, a claimant to the English throne. Alice's eldest daughter, Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven was heir presumptive
Heir Presumptive
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...
to Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
.
She married secondly in 1600 Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley
Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley
Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley PC was an English Nobleman, Judge and Statesman who served as Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor for twenty-one years.-Early life, education and legal career:...
.
Family
Alice was born in AlthorpeAlthorpe
Althorpe is a small village lying on the A18 four miles west of Scunthorpe, in North Lincolnshire, England. To the west of Althorpe is the town of Crowle.-Geography:...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, England on 4 May 1559, the youngest daughter of Sir John Spencer, Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and High Sheriff
High Sheriff
A high sheriff is, or was, a law enforcement officer in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.In England and Wales, the office is unpaid and partly ceremonial, appointed by the Crown through a warrant from the Privy Council. In Cornwall, the High Sheriff is appointed by the Duke of...
of Northamptonshire, and Katherine Kytson. She had three brothers and three older sisters.
Marriage and issue
In about 1579 Alice married her first husband, Ferdinando Stanley, heir to the Earldom of Derby, and a claimant to the English throne. His mother Lady Margaret CliffordLady Margaret Clifford
Margaret Stanley, Countess of Derby was the only surviving daughter of Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland and Lady Eleanor Brandon....
was heir presumptive to Queen Elizabeth I from 1578 until her death in 1596.
On 25 September 1593, he succeeded as Earl of Derby and Lord of Mann
Lord of Mann
The title Lord of Mann is used on the Isle of Man to refer to Queen Elizabeth II, who is the island's Lord Proprietor and head of state.-Relationship with the Crown:The title is not correctly used on its own...
; from that date onwards, Alice was styled as the Countess of Derby.
Together Ferdinando and Alice had three daughters:
- Lady Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven (May 1580- c.October 1647), married firstly Grey Brydges, 5th Baron ChandosGrey Brydges, 5th Baron ChandosGrey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos was an English nobleman and courtier.-Early life:He was the only son of William Brydges, 4th Baron Chandos, who died on 18 November 1602, and Mary Hopton, who was daughter of Sir Owen Hopton. He was M.P. for Cricklade, in 1597.Brydges and his family were friendly...
of Sudeley, by whom she had issue; secondly Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of CastlehavenMervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of CastlehavenMervyn Touchet , 2nd Earl of Castlehaven , convicted rapist and sodomite, was the son of George Tuchet, 1st Earl of Castlehaven and his wife, née Lucy Mervyn. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Castlehaven and 12th Baron Audley on 20 February 1616/7...
, by whom she had issue. - Lady Frances Stanley (1 May 1583- 11 March 1636), married John Egerton, 1st Earl of BridgewaterJohn Egerton, 1st Earl of BridgewaterJohn Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater KB, PC was an English peer and politician.The son of the Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley and Elizabeth Ravenscroft, he was a Member of Parliament for Callington from 1597 to 1598, and for Shropshire in 1601. Knighted on 8 April 1599, he was Baron of the...
, by whom she had issue. - Lady Elizabeth StanleyLady Elizabeth StanleyElizabeth Stanley, Countess of Huntingdon was an English noblewoman and writer who was third in line of succession to the English throne. She was the wife of Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon...
(6 January 1588- 20 January 1633), married Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of HuntingdonHenry Hastings, 5th Earl of HuntingdonHenry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon was a prominent English nobleman and literary patron in England during the first half of the seventeenth century.-Life:...
, by whom she had issue.
Her husband died on 16 April 1594, and when his mother died two years later, Alice's eldest daughter, Anne became heiress presumptive to Queen Elizabeth I. Upon the Queen's death in 1603, however, the crown passed to King James VI of Scotland who was descended from Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots. James died in 1513, and their son became King James V. She married secondly Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of...
, the elder sister of King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, whereas the Stanleys were descended from his younger sister, Mary Tudor, Queen of France.
For a month after his death, his company of players
Lord Strange's Men
Lord Strange's Men was an Elizabethan playing company, comprising retainers of the household of Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange . They are best known in their final phase of activity in the late 1580s and early 1590s...
performed at their home of Lathom House, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
as The Countess of Derby's Men. They had been at Lathom House shortly before the Earl's death and had been known then as the Earl of Derby's Men.
On 20 October 1600 she married her second husband Thomas Egerton
Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley
Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley PC was an English Nobleman, Judge and Statesman who served as Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor for twenty-one years.-Early life, education and legal career:...
, who on 21 July 1603 became Baron Ellesmere, and on 7 November 1616 Viscount Brackley. Less than two years after his own marriage to Alice, Thomas's son John (by his first wife, Elizabeth Ravenscroft) married Alice's second eldest daughter Lady Frances.
Together Alice and her new husband founded the Bridgewater Library.
In 1601, Thomas Egerton bought Harefield
Harefield
Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon in northwest London, England. It is situated on top of a hill, northwest of Charing Cross, near the Greater London boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north...
Place in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, and in July 1602, the Queen was entertained at Harefield by the Egertons.
Lady Alice had Haydon Hall
Haydon Hall
Haydon Hall was one of the three main houses of Eastcote, within what is now the London Borough of Hillingdon. The house was built in 1630 as a home for Lady Alice, Dowager Countess of Derby who had been living in Harefield. The house remained in the ownership of Lady Alice's descendants for...
in Eastcote
Eastcote
Eastcote is a suburban area established around an old village in Greater London, and is part of the London Borough of Hillingdon.In the Middle Ages, Eastcote was one of the three areas that made up the parish of Ruislip, under the name of Ascot...
built in 1630 after she became concerned that Lord Castlehaven
Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven
Mervyn Touchet , 2nd Earl of Castlehaven , convicted rapist and sodomite, was the son of George Tuchet, 1st Earl of Castlehaven and his wife, née Lucy Mervyn. He succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Castlehaven and 12th Baron Audley on 20 February 1616/7...
would attempt to claim her estate in the event of her death. After she died in 1636, her eldest daughter reverted to her first married name, Lady Chandos, and became owner of the house. Alice was known as the Dowager Countess of Derby until her death.
Edmund Spenser
Alice was a noted patron of the arts, along with her sisters, Anne, Baroness Mounteagle and Elizabeth Spencer, Baroness HunsdonElizabeth Spencer, Baroness Hunsdon
Elizabeth Spencer, Baroness Hunsdon was an aristocratic English woman, a scholar, and a patron of the arts. She was the inspiration for Edmund Spencer's Muiopotmos, was commemorated in one of the poet's dedicatory sonnets to the Faerie Queene, and was represented as "Phyllis" in the latter's...
. Poet Edmund Spenser was a distant relative of hers; in his pastoral poem, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, he represented her as "Amaryllis", whereas her sisters, Anne and Elizabeth were "Charillis" and "Phyllis", and Alice's husband was "Amyntas". "Amaryllis" was described as "the highest in degree". Spenser also dedicated his The Teares of the Muses to her.
Poet and author John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
lived close to her Harefield Place residence.