https://www.bessofhardwick.org/letter.jsp?letter=99
Above: Bess of Hardwick, painted by Rowland Lockey.
Elizabeth Cavendish, later Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (born circa 1527, died February 13, 1608), known as Bess of Hardwick (née Elizabeth Hardwick), of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, was a notable figure of Elizabethan English society. By a series of well-made marriages, she rose to the highest levels of English nobility and became enormously wealthy. Bess was a shrewd business woman, increasing her assets with business interests including mines and glass-making workshops.
She was married four times. Her first husband was Robert Barlow, who died aged about 14 or 15 on 24 December 1544. Her second husband was the courtier Sir William Cavendish. Her third husband was Sir William St Loe. Her last husband was George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, sometime keeper to the captive Mary, Queen of Scots. An accomplished needlewoman, Bess joined her husband's captive charge at Chatsworth House for extended periods in 1569, 1570, and 1571, during which time they worked together on the Oxburgh Hangings.
In 1601, Bess ordered an inventory of the household furnishings, including textiles, at her three properties at Chatsworth, Hardwick, and Chelsea, which survives. In her will she bequeathed these items to her heirs to be preserved in perpetuity. The 400-year-old collection, now known as the Hardwick Hall textiles, is the largest collection of tapestry, embroidery, canvaswork, and other textiles to have been preserved by a single private family. Bess is also well known for her building projects, the most famous of which are Chatsworth, now the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire (whose family name is Cavendish as they descend from the children of her second marriage), and Hardwick Hall.
In this letter, Bess writes to her servant Francis Whitfield concerning the management of Chatsworth, and asks him to look after everything until her aunt (Marcella Linacre) arrives. Among her instructions to Whitfield are that he is to take only wooden 'cleats or boards' not needed for the ongoing building works at Chatsworth; to brew beer, especifically for her and her husband William Cavendish; to repair her bedroom; and to pay her midwife. She also reprimands him for not supplying her sister Jane (née Hardwick) with 'things needful for her'.
The letter:
To my sa[rvant] francys wytfelde [delive]r thys at chattysw[orth]e
for the myller for taking shepe for taking Coll woodes for Capons to be fatt for swyne/ for the hard Cornefeldes for a pynder
francys I haue spoken with your mayste[r] for the clyltes or bordes that you wrete to me of and he ys contente that you shall take some for your nesecyte in the aponntemente of neusante. so that you take seche as wyll do hyme no saruese aboute hys byldynge at chattysworthe. I pray you loke well to all thynges at chattysworthe tyll my auntes comynge whome whyche I hope shalbe shortely and yn the meane tyme cause bronshawe to loke to the smethes and all other thynges at penteryge lete the brewar make bere for me fourthewith for my owne drynkyng and your mayster and se that I haue good store of yet for yf I lacke ether good bere, or charcole or wode I wyll blame nobody so meche as I wyll do you. cause the flore yn my bede chamber to be made euen ether with plaster claye or lyme and al the wyndoyes were the glase ys broken to be mended and al the chambers to be made as close and warme as you cane. I here that my syster Iane cane not haue thynges that ys nedefoulle for hare to haue amowngste you yf yet be trewe you lacke agreat of honyste as well as dyscrescyon to deny hare any thynge that she hathe amynde to beynge yn case as she hathe bene. I wolde be lothe to haue any stranger so yoused yn my howse and then assure your selfe I cane not lyke yet to haue my syster so yousede. lyke as I wolde not haue any superfleuete or waste of any thynge. so lyke wysse wolde I haue hare to haue that whyche ys nedefoulle and nesesary. at my comynge whome I shal knowe more. and then I wyll thynke as I shall haue cause. I wolde haue you to geue to my mydwyffe frome me and frome my boye wylle. and to my syster norse frome me and my boye as hereafter folowyet fyrste to the mydwyfe frome me tene shyllynges. and frome wylle fyue shyllynges. to the norse frome me fyue shyllynges. and frome my boye iij fore pence. so that yn the wolle you mouste geue to them twenty thre shyllynges and fore pence make my syster Iane preuye of yet and then paye yet to them fow[rth] with yf you haue noother money take so meche of the rente at penteryge tyll my syster Iane that I wyll geue my dowter somethynge at my comyng whome and prayinge you not to fayle to se all thynges done accordyngely I bede you fare well frome london the xiiij of nouember
your mystrys
Elyzabethe Cauendyssh
tyll Iames crompe that I haue resauyed the fyue ponde and ixs that he sente me by heue alsope
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