Isabella Markham
Encyclopedia
Isabella Markham, Lady Harington (28 March 1527 – 20 May 1579), was an English courtier
, a Gentlewoman
of the Privy Chamber
of Queen Elizabeth I of England
and a personal favourite of the queen. Isabella Markham was muse to the court official and poet John Harington
, who wrote sonnets and poems addressed to her, before and after they married. Thomas Palfreyman
dedicated his Divine Meditations to her in 1572.
, Nottinghamshire
, England, the daughter of Sir John Markham of Cotham (before 1486- 1559) and his third wife, Anne Strelley. She had two brothers: Thomas, who married Mary Griffin, by whom he had issue, including Sir Griffin Markham
; and William, whose wife was Mary Montagu. Her elder sister, Frances was the first wife of Henry Babington, whose son (by his second wife Mary Darcy) Anthony Babington
would be executed for having organised an assassination plot against Queen Elizabeth.
The Markhams were an ancient family, who traced their agnatic line of descent from Claron, who had held the manor of West Markham at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. Claron's descendants assumed the name of de Marcham which was anglicised into Markham, and had often distinguished themselves in English history throughout the centuries since their ancestor Claron had served Edward the Confessor
.
, for suspected treason, Markham, described as having been a favoured lady-in-waiting, accompanied the princess to the Tower of London, where her father had served as Lieutenant from 1549 to 31 October 1551. While there she encountered her long-standing admirer, the poet and former treasurer of King Henry VIII
, John Harington, who was imprisoned as the result of a letter which linked him to Thomas Wyatt's conspiracy
against Queen Mary. He was married to another of Elizabeth's attendants, Ethelreda Malte
, a rumoured illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII, who had also joined the princess in the Tower. He had been enamoured of Markham sometime before 1549 (this is the date of his first sonnet to her), when he had later reminisced that he had "firste thought her fayre as she stode at the Princesse's windowe in goodlye attyre, and talkede to dyvers in the Courte-Yard". As Harington had previously been imprisoned in the Tower from early 1549 to the spring of 1550 for complicity in the treason of Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
, and his involvement in the plot to bring about a marriage between King Edward VI
and Lady Jane Grey
, it is curious to note that the object of his love was in fact the daughter of his former jailer. Sir John Markham served as Lieutenant of the Tower during the period of Harington's incarceration.
Elizabeth was moved to Woodstock Palace
in May and placed under house arrest
, and it is not known if Markham went with her; however, upon Elizabeth's return to her residence at Hatfield House
in October 1555, Markham was installed once more in the princess's household as one of her six gentlewomen. Harington, having already secured his own freedom in January 1555, paid frequent visits to Hatfield, where he encountered Markham. He was described as having already been very much in love with her in the early years of Mary I's reign.
Upon Elizabeth's ascension to the throne in 1558 as Elizabeth I, Markham was appointed a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, a post she held for the rest of her life.
"John Haryngton to Isabella Markham, 1549
Question.
Alas! I love you overwell,
Myne owne sweete deere delygte!
Yet, for respects I feare to tell
What moves my trobled spryghte:
What workes my woe, what breeds my smarte,
What wounds myn harte and mynde;
Reason restrayns me to emparte
Such perylls as I fynde."
Sometime in 1559, after the death of his first wife, which occurred before 1 April, Markham married Harington, who had inherited considerable property from the childless Ethelreda. Upon their marriage she became Lady Harington. The match met with the Queen's approval as both Isabella Markham and John Harington were held in high favour. This was made manifest when Elizabeth stood as godmother
to Lady Harington's first child, John on 4 August 1561, with Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
, and William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, acting as the infant's godfathers. The baptism took place at the Church of All Hallows, London Wall.
Together Lady Harington and her husband had five children:
Thomas Palfreyman dedicated his Divine Meditations to Lady Harington in 1572.
She was still in the Queen's service when she died on 20 May 1579 at the age of 52. She was buried in St. Gregory's by St. Paul's in London; her husband was later buried beside her.
Courtier
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
, a Gentlewoman
Gentlewoman
A gentlewoman in the original and strict sense is a woman of good family, analogous to the Latin generosus and generosa...
of the Privy Chamber
Privy chamber
A Privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The gentlemen of the Privy chamber were servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King and Queen at court during their various activities, functions and entertainments....
of Queen Elizabeth I of England
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...
and a personal favourite of the queen. Isabella Markham was muse to the court official and poet John Harington
John Harington (treasurer)
John Harington was an English official working for Henry VIII, and husband to one of his reputed illegitimate children, Ethelreda Malte.-Life:...
, who wrote sonnets and poems addressed to her, before and after they married. Thomas Palfreyman
Thomas Palfreyman
-Life:He was a gentleman of the chapel royal in Edward VI's reign, together with Thomas Tallis, Richard Farrant, William Hunnis, and others. He continued in office till 1589, apparently the year of his death. John Parkhurst, the bishop of Norwich, addressed an epigram to Palfreyman and Robert Couch...
dedicated his Divine Meditations to her in 1572.
Family
Isabella Markham was born on 28 March 1527 in OllertonOllerton
Ollerton is a town in Nottinghamshire, England, on the edge of Sherwood Forest in the area known as the Dukeries. It forms part of the civil parish of Ollerton and Boughton....
, Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
, England, the daughter of Sir John Markham of Cotham (before 1486- 1559) and his third wife, Anne Strelley. She had two brothers: Thomas, who married Mary Griffin, by whom he had issue, including Sir Griffin Markham
Griffin Markham
Sir Griffin Markham was an English soldier, the son of Thomas Markham and Mary Griffin.On 29 May 1592, he married Anne Roos. He was knighted in 1594 after serving under the Earl of Essex at the siege of Rouen....
; and William, whose wife was Mary Montagu. Her elder sister, Frances was the first wife of Henry Babington, whose son (by his second wife Mary Darcy) Anthony Babington
Anthony Babington
Anthony Babington was convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots...
would be executed for having organised an assassination plot against Queen Elizabeth.
The Markhams were an ancient family, who traced their agnatic line of descent from Claron, who had held the manor of West Markham at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. Claron's descendants assumed the name of de Marcham which was anglicised into Markham, and had often distinguished themselves in English history throughout the centuries since their ancestor Claron had served Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
.
In the household of Elizabeth I
She joined the household of Lady Elizabeth Tudor as one of her ladies-in-waiting sometime before 1549. When the princess was arrested in March 1554 by the orders of her half-sister, Queen Mary IMary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, for suspected treason, Markham, described as having been a favoured lady-in-waiting, accompanied the princess to the Tower of London, where her father had served as Lieutenant from 1549 to 31 October 1551. While there she encountered her long-standing admirer, the poet and former treasurer 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...
, John Harington, who was imprisoned as the result of a letter which linked him to Thomas Wyatt's conspiracy
Wyatt's rebellion
Wyatt's Rebellion was a popular uprising in England in 1554, named after Thomas Wyatt the younger, one of its leaders. The rebellion arose out of concern over Queen Mary I's determination to marry Philip II of Spain, which was an unpopular policy with the English...
against Queen Mary. He was married to another of Elizabeth's attendants, Ethelreda Malte
Ethelreda Malte
Ethelreda Malte, also sometimes named as Audrey Malte , was a lady at the court of Henry VIII of England. She married John Harington and gave birth to a daughter, which they named Hester. She had previously been engaged. Ethelreda owned properties previously belonging to Shaftsbury...
, a rumoured illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII, who had also joined the princess in the Tower. He had been enamoured of Markham sometime before 1549 (this is the date of his first sonnet to her), when he had later reminisced that he had "firste thought her fayre as she stode at the Princesse's windowe in goodlye attyre, and talkede to dyvers in the Courte-Yard". As Harington had previously been imprisoned in the Tower from early 1549 to the spring of 1550 for complicity in the treason of Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG was an English politician.Thomas spent his childhood in Wulfhall, outside Savernake Forest, in Wiltshire. Historian David Starkey describes Thomas thus: 'tall, well-built and with a dashing beard and auburn hair, he was irresistible to women'...
, and his involvement in the plot to bring about a marriage between King Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
and Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
, it is curious to note that the object of his love was in fact the daughter of his former jailer. Sir John Markham served as Lieutenant of the Tower during the period of Harington's incarceration.
Elizabeth was moved to Woodstock Palace
Woodstock Palace
Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the English town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.Henry I of England built a hunting lodge here and in 1129 he built seven miles of walls to create the first enclosed park, where lions and leopards were kept. The lodge became a palace under Henry's grandson, Henry...
in May and placed under house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
, and it is not known if Markham went with her; however, upon Elizabeth's return to her residence at Hatfield House
Hatfield House
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil...
in October 1555, Markham was installed once more in the princess's household as one of her six gentlewomen. Harington, having already secured his own freedom in January 1555, paid frequent visits to Hatfield, where he encountered Markham. He was described as having already been very much in love with her in the early years of Mary I's reign.
Upon Elizabeth's ascension to the throne in 1558 as Elizabeth I, Markham was appointed a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, a post she held for the rest of her life.
Poet's muse
Markham, who was described as having possessed "great beauty" inspired Harington to write letters and pay homage to her in poems and sonnets, usually addressing her as "Sweete Isabella Markham". He had started composing the sonnets as early as 1549 when she was 22 years old. One of these reads in part as follows:"John Haryngton to Isabella Markham, 1549
Question.
Alas! I love you overwell,
Myne owne sweete deere delygte!
Yet, for respects I feare to tell
What moves my trobled spryghte:
What workes my woe, what breeds my smarte,
What wounds myn harte and mynde;
Reason restrayns me to emparte
Such perylls as I fynde."
Marriage
Godmother
A godmother is a female godparent in the Christian tradition.Godmother may also refer to:*A female arranged to be legal guardian of a child if untimely demise is met by the parents...
to Lady Harington's first child, John on 4 August 1561, with Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...
, and William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, acting as the infant's godfathers. The baptism took place at the Church of All Hallows, London Wall.
Together Lady Harington and her husband had five children:
- Sir John Harington (before 4 August 1561- 20 November 1612), author, courtier, and inventor of the flush toiletFlush toiletA flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location. Flushing mechanisms are found more often on western toilets , but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing...
. He married Mary Rogers (1565–1634), daughter of Sir George Rogers and Jane Winter, by whom he had nine children. - Elizabeth Harington (born c.1560)
- Robert Harington (died 6 December 1601)
- Francis Harington (1564- 22 January 1639), married Jane Baylie
- James Harington (1565–1592)
Thomas Palfreyman dedicated his Divine Meditations to Lady Harington in 1572.
She was still in the Queen's service when she died on 20 May 1579 at the age of 52. She was buried in St. Gregory's by St. Paul's in London; her husband was later buried beside her.
Sources
- Ian Grimble, The Harington Family (1958), St Martin's Press, New York