Margaret Russell (alchemist)

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Margaret, Countess of Cumberland

Lady Margaret Russell (also Margaret Clifford, Countess of Cumberland ; born July 7, 1560 in Exeter , † May 24, 1616 in Brougham Castle , Westmorland ) was an English noblewoman and alchemist . She should not be confused with her sister-in-law Margaret Clifford, Countess of Derby .

Life

She was born the youngest child of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford and Margaret, daughter of Sir John St John of Bletsoe . After her mother died in 1562, she grew up for the next seven years with her aunt Mrs. Elmes at Lilford Hall in Northamptonshire and later in Woburn . This ensured extensive upbringing and education.

On June 24, 1577, in St Savior's Church in Southwark , she married George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland , who was her father's ward . However, her husband did not return her affection, and because of his lavish lifestyle and conjugal infidelity, the marriage was divorced in 1600. In addition, her two sons died in childhood, so that Margaret Clifford ultimately had to rely on the benevolence of her only surviving child, her daughter Anne Clifford , with whom she lived.

Beamsley Hospital, donated by Margaret Russell

Margaret was an extremely religious, yet strictly Puritan woman. From her residence at Skipton Castle in Yorkshire , she encouraged the spread of her faith and founded Beamsley Hospital at Skipton in 1593 as a hospital for widows. She promoted the translation of books and writings, especially by Puritan authors. The writer Samuel Daniel and perhaps Fulke Greville took up their divorce in poetry. Emilia Lanier praised her piety. Margaret was also extremely interested in practical and intellectual questions, she practiced alchemy herself and experimented with medicines. She invested in a lead mine in Craven and in the smelting of iron, and like her ex-husband, she invested in the newly established East India Company . When her ex-husband, who died in 1605, wanted to exclude her as heiress in favor of his brother Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland , she managed, with the help of the antiquarian St Loe Kniveton, to collect evidence with which she could claim her inheritance in court. Her daughter Anne, who first married Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset and, after his death, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke , made a claim to the title of Baroness de Clifford , which she was finally granted in 1649. Margaret's evidence and records formed the basis of the Clifford Family Chronicle , which her daughter later published. Margaret was buried in Appleby Church, where her daughter had a funerary monument probably made by Maximilian Coult erected for her.

In 1656, in her memory, her daughter erected the Countess Pillar , a memorial column on the road between Penrith and Appleby , where they last saw each other .

The Countess Pillar at Brougham

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. English Heritage: Countess Pillar, Brougham. Retrieved January 13, 2014 .