'Arbella Stuart' (or "'Arabella'" and/or "'Stewart'") (
1575 -
27 September 1615), was an English Renaissance noblewoman who was for some time considered a possible successor to
Queen Elizabeth I on the English throne.
She was the only child of
Charles Stuart, Earl of Lennox and
Elizabeth Cavendish. Her paternal grandparents were
Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and
Margaret Douglas. Her father was a younger brother of
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, second
King Consort of
Mary I of Scotland. Her maternal grandparents were Sir
William Cavendish and
Bess of Hardwick.
Childhood
Arbella's father died in
1576 when she was still an infant. She was raised by her mother until
1581. The death of her mother left six-year-old Arbella an
orphan, whereupon she became the
ward of
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley.
During most of her childhood she lived with Bess of Hardwick, her maternal grandmother in the relative isolation of
Hardwick Hall, although though there were periodic visits to the court of
Elizabeth I of England and
London including one that lasted for several years (from September 1589 to July 1592); historian David Durant has suggested that "In effect Bess was moving the operational centre of her business empire from Derbyshire to London".
[1].
An extant note in
French language, in Arbella's Italian hand, to Lord Burghley, was addressed on the eve of the
Spanish Armada battles. It was dated
13 July 1588, and "postmarked" from the Talbot's Coleman Street Residence in London, is certain proof of these earlier visits.
[2]
About
1589, one "Morley" became her "attendant" and "reader," as reported in a dispatch from Bess of Hardwick to Lord Burghley, dated
21 September,
1592 [3]. Bess recounts "Morley's" service to Arbella over "the space of three years and a half." She also notes he requested a lifetime stipend from Arbella based on the fact he had "been much damnified by leaving the University"; this has led to speculation that 'Morley' was the poet
Christopher Marlowe[4].
Heiress to the English throne
For some time before
1592, Arbella was considered one of the natural candidates for succession to the English crown, after Elizabeth I (Marshall, 601).
However, between the end of 1592 and the spring of 1593, the Cecils (Lord Burghley and his son Sir
Robert Cecil) turned their attention away from Lady Arbella towards
James VI of Scotland as a better successor
[5]. Burghley wrote "If my hand were free from pain I would not commit this much to any other man's hand".
In
1603, after James's accession to the English throne, there was a plot (in which Sir
Walter Raleigh was involved) to overthrow him and put Arbella on the throne, but when she was invited to participate by agreeing in writing to
Philip III of Spain, she reported it to James instead.
Marriage negotiations
Due to her status as possible heir to the throne, there was talk of an appropriate marriage through Arbella's childhood. It would have suited the
Roman Catholic Church for her to marry a member of the
House of Savoy and then take the English throne, leaving
James only the
Kingdom of Scotland (which would make the
King of France happy). A marriage was mooted with
Rainutio, eldest son of
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma and
Maria of Portugal. According to the ''Curiosities of Literature'' by
Isaac D'Israeli, this scheme originated from the
Pope who ("in his infallibility," says D'Israeli) eventually settled on his own brother, a
Catholic Cardinal, as a suitable husband for Arbella; the Pope
defrocked his brother, freeing him to marry "Arbelle" (as the Italians spelled her name) and thus claim the
Kingdom of England. Nothing came of this plan, and in fact nobody was ever sure if Arbella was a
Catholic or a
Protestant — it appears that everyone who talked with her thought her to be of the same religion as they were.
In the closing months of Elizabeth's reign, Arbella fell into trouble through reports that she planned to marry Edward Seymour, a member of the prominent Seymour family. This was reported to the queen by the supposed groom's grandfather,
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford. Arbella denied having attempted to marry without the queen's permission.
In
1588,
Esme Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox proposed to James VI of Scotland that he marry Arbella, but nothing seems to have come of this.
[6]. In
1604,
Sigismund III Vasa,
King of Poland sent an ambassador to England to ask for Arbella to be his queen. This offer was also rejected.
There are some indications that Arbella tried to elope in about 1604 and fell out of favour with King James because of it; she was certainly out of sight until
1608, when she was restored to his good graces.
Marriage to William Seymour
In
1610, Arbella was in trouble again for planning to marry
William Seymour, grandson of
Lady Catherine Grey, who was a younger sister of
Lady Jane Grey and a granddaughter of
Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII. Although the couple at first denied that any arrangement existed between them, they later married in secret on
22 June 1610 at
Greenwich Palace. For the marriage, King James imprisoned them: Arbella in Sir Thomas Perry's house in
Lambeth and Seymour in the
Tower of London; they had some liberty within those buildings, and some of her letters to him and to the king during this period survive. When the king found out about her letters to Seymour, however, he transferred Arbella to the custody of William James,
Bishop of Durham, but Arbella claimed to be sick, so her departure for
Durham was delayed.
The couple used that time to plan their escape. She dressed as a man and escaped to Lee (in
Kent), but Seymour did not meet her there before their getaway ship had to sail for France. Sara Jayne Steen records that Imogen, the virtuous, cross-dressed heroine of
Shakespeare's play ''
Cymbeline'' (1610-1611) has sometimes been read as a reference to Arbella.
[7]. Seymour did escape from the Tower, but by the time he got to Lee, Arbella was gone, so he caught the next ship he could and sailed to
Flanders. The ship Arbella was on was overtaken by King James's men just before it reached
Calais, France, and she was taken back and imprisoned in the
Tower of London. She never saw her husband again, and died in the Tower in 1615.
Literary legacy
Over a hundred letters written by Arbella have survived. In
1993, a collection of them was published, edited by Sara Jayne Steen, providing details of her activities and ideas.
Aemilia Lanier's poem ''Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum'' is dedicated to Arbella.
Lanier recalls a former personal friendship with Arbella that was unrequited; she addresses her as "Great learned Ladie ... whom long I have known "but not known so much as I desired".
Notes
1. David N. Durant, Bess of Hardwick Portrait of an Elizabethan Dynast, Atheneum, 1978, p. 166.
2. BL Lansdowne MS 34, ff. 145-46.
3. (BL Landdowne MS 71,f.3.)
4. John Baker, letter to ''Notes and Queries'' 44.3 (1997), pp. 367-8
5. Handover, ''The Second Cecil'', 55-6; 297; Read, ''Lord Burghley'', 484
6. Durant, 161
7. Steen, 96
References
★ Marshall, Rosalind. "Arabella Stuart." ''Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
External links
★
Website theorizing Christopher Marlowe was Arbella's tutor
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