Today in 1561 Mary Sidney Herbert was born. She is remembered for being a literary patron, writer, and translator in her own right, and as the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, who was one of the most famous poets of the Elizabethan age.
She was close to Elizabeth I. As a younger woman, being a member of the privy chamber.
In 1577 Mary’s uncle Robert Dudley, helped her father to arrange her marriage to their close ally, Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke(d.1600). As Countess of Pembroke, Mary was responsible for a number of estates including Wilton House and Baynard’s Castle in the City of London.
She turned Wilton House into a “paradise for poets”, known as the “Wilton Circle” which included Spenser, Daniel, Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, and Sir John Davies, an early salon-type literary group. John Aubrey wrote that “Wilton House was like a college, there were so many and ingenious persons. She was the greatest patroness of wit and learning of any lady in her time”.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 083: Tudor Times on Mary Sidney
Halloween Episodes!
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.