A Brief History: Bess of Hardwick
Tudors Dynasty & Beyond
RedTop Media / Rebecca Larson
4.4 • 869 Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2024
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is one woman from Tudor history who deserves her story to be told. This episode is to give you a taste of the incomparable Bess of Hardwick. The woman who went toe to toe with Queen Elizabeth I and ended up becoming one of the wealthiest women of her time.
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Credits:
Written by: Steph Stohrer
Hosted by: Rebecca Larson
Edited by: Rebecca Larson
Voice Over: David Black
Music: Ketsa, Alexander Nakarada, and Winnie the Moog
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Bess of Hardwick is one of those provocative characters from history that elicit emotion. |
| 0:06.4 | Was she a ruthless social climber or a shrewd businesswoman? |
| 0:11.1 | Did she feel genuine love for her husbands, or was she using them to improve her standing? |
| 0:17.3 | The Tudor's Dynasty podcast. |
| 0:20.7 | Bess had many enemies, yet somehow achieved genuinely loving marriages with each of her husbands, including the last, right up until the unexpected arrival of a somewhat unwanted house guest. |
| 0:35.4 | Her reputation as a strict, bossy, belligerent old woman has become widely accepted. |
| 0:42.7 | Yet one can't help but wonder if her astute instinct for personal and financial growth |
| 0:47.6 | is simply caused for jealousy on the parts of those who were both her contemporaries or examiners. |
| 0:57.0 | Elizabeth Hardwick was born somewhere between 1521 and 1527 to John Hardwick of Darbyshire |
| 1:04.4 | and his wife, Elizabeth. John died in 1527 and most of his modestly prosperous estate went to the crown, until his son would come of age. |
| 1:16.7 | As she was not necessarily from a privileged upbringing, Bess's ambition began to develop as young as 16, believing that a strategic marriage would be beneficial to her status. |
| 1:29.5 | She married Robert Barlow, who passed quickly, widowing the young lady by 1544. |
| 1:37.0 | Bess fought for and won her husband's assets, and she moved on to live as a lady in waiting |
| 1:42.6 | to Lady Frances Gray in her household, |
| 1:45.5 | where she ultimately met her second husband, William Cavendish. |
| 1:51.0 | Cavendish was a treasurer of Henry VIII's chamber, |
| 1:53.7 | and one of Thomas Cromwell's allies during the dissolution of the monasteries. |
| 1:59.6 | During the early years of her marriage, Bess convinced her husband to sell the former monastic lands |
| 2:04.8 | he had amassed and moved back to her home county. |
| 2:09.3 | In 1549, they purchased Chatsworth Manor for 600 pounds and began building the first house in 1552. |
| 2:20.9 | This estate was to be rebuilt and furnished extravagantly. The couple were equally ambitious and together worked to increase their wealth |
| 2:28.1 | and standing throughout their relationship. And yet, all Derbyshire properties they shared were in both their names. |
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