Mary Sidney

Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (born October 27, 1561 in Ticknall Place, Bewdley , Worcestershire , † September 25, 1621 in London ), was a learned, aristocratic English writer in Elizabethan times, the focus of an artists' circle.

Portrait of Nicholas Hilliard, ca.1590

Life

Mary was one of the three daughters of Sir Henry Sidney (1529–1586), who was Lord Deputy of Ireland three times , and Mary Sidney , daughter of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and under Edward VI. High Protector of England. Her aunt was Lady Jane Gray . Her brothers were the poets Sir Philip Sidney , Henry Sidney, Earl of Leicester and Sir Robert Sidney . She enjoyed a humanistic upbringing: French, Italian (by an Italian), Greek and Latin as well as musical lessons, played the lute, virginal , possibly also violin and sang (especially psalms). She was red-haired like the queen and is portrayed as a passionate (to hot-headed), strong personality who spoke her mind openly and was known for her witty conversation.

After the death of her last sister Ambrosia in 1576 she invited Elizabeth I, also known as a "learned woman", to the court. She was already in contact with the Queen through her uncle Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (1533–1588), the Queen's favorite at the time, and her mother, who nursed the Queen as a child and infected herself with chickenpox. In 1577 she married through her uncle the much older Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1534-1601), with whom she lived on the Pembroke family home in Wilton House near Salisbury ( Wiltshire ) and in London in Baynard's Castle . She had four children with him, including the two brothers William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (1580-1630), and Philip Herbert (1584-1649, 4th Earl after the death of his brother), who received the folio edition of 1623 Shakespeare's works (ss5) was dedicated (as “the incomparable pair”) and both of which were temporarily patrons of Shakespeare's theater company “ The King's Men ”.

A severe blow was the loss of both her parents and her beloved brother Philip in 1586 (who fell in the battle of the Protestant Netherlands against the Spaniards). She later published his "Arcadia" and completed his translation of the Psalms (of which she translated 107, in as many different verses as possible), which had a great influence on the metaphysical poets of the 17th century ( John Donne , who wrote them in a poem praised, George Herbert , a 1st cousin of her son). Like her brother, she tried to promote and refine the English language in her circle, particularly through translations from the Bible. She herself was well versed in Calvinist theology and was active in helping Huguenot refugees. Here, too, she endeavored to continue her brother's role as leader of the Reformed Protestant party. In addition to translations, she wrote some poems, including one in memory of her brother ("The doleful lay of Clorinda") in 1595. She is considered the first English woman to publish a drama and poems under her name.

She also had an alchemical laboratory at Wilton House. Adrian Gilbert, Walter Raleigh's half-brother, assisted her in her experiments (of which, for example, recipes for secret ink have survived) and designed her garden according to strictly geometric rules inspired by occult considerations. In her interest in magic, she was close to John Dee and possibly had connections to Giordano Bruno , who knew her brother. Apparently she also knew a lot about medicine. She also gave big parties (she was a passionate dancer), went hunting (also with the falcon) and had a theater troupe. She was also famous for her embroidery.

On her country estate she gathered a circle of poets and musicians around her for over 20 years ("Wilton Circle"), including Edmund Spenser (he dedicated his "Ruines of time" to her), Michael Drayton , Sir John Davies, who was also her secretary , and Samuel Daniel .

After the death of her husband in 1600 she withdrew from the literary circle (her son William took over her role as a promoter of literature) and lived with Dr. Matthew Lister, her doctor, whom she may also secretly married. She took over the management of the property and in 1603 moved to a rented house in London. From 1609 to 1615 she lived in Crosby Hall in Chelsea near London, then back in the city. She regularly visited the seaside resort of Spa in Belgium, known even then for its gambling, to which she also devoted herself. Near Milton Keynes , she had Italian architects build a country house that is now in ruins.

She died of chickenpox in her London home on Aldersgate Street and is buried next to her husband in Salisbury Cathedral, under the stairs to the choir. Her literary successes were recognized at the previous great funeral service in St Paul's Cathedral .

Others

In Robin Williams' "The sweet swan of Avon - did a woman write Shakespeare?" (Wilton Circle Press 2006), in addition to her biography, the thesis is developed that she is a candidate for the William Shakespeare authorship debate . In contrast to Shakespeare, however, she shows a tendency towards very different verse forms in her poems, quite apart from the strongly religious coloring of many of her works.

Your translation of the "Tragedy of Antonie" is seen as a possible source for Shakespeare's "Antonius und Cleopatra" (1607).

Both her mother wrote poetry, and her niece Lady Mary Wroth (1587-1652), daughter of her brother Henry Sidney, who grew up partly with her. At times she was suspected by Mary Sidney of being with her lover Dr. After her husband's death, she was actually the lover of Mary Sidney's son, her cousin William Herbert, with whom she had two illegitimate children.

It is believed that Christopher Marlowe wrote the Latin attribution to Thomas Watson's Amintæ Gaudia to Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke.

Works

• Margaret Hannay, Noel Kinnaman, Michael Brennan: "The collected works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke", 2 vols., Oxford, Clarendon Press 1998 (vol. 1 with letters, in vol. 2 the psalms)
• "The Dolefull Lay of Clorinda" 1595 (printed in Edmund Spenser "Astrophel", London 1595)
• “The Psalms of David” (only as a manuscript during his lifetime, 1590s), new edition by R.Pritchard “The Sidney Psalms”, Carcanet, Manchester 1992
• Translation by Robert Garnier "The Tragedy of Antonie" 1592, 1595 (a so-called "closet drama", that means only intended for the lecture)
• Translation of Petrarch "The trimph of death" ("Trionfo della Morte"), 1590s
• Translation by Philippe Duplessis-Mornay (1549–1623) “Discourse of life and death” (“Discours de la vie et de la mort”) 1592
• "Dialogue between two Shepherds, Thenot and Piers, in praise of Astrea" 1602 (in Francis Davis (Ed.) "A poetical rhapsody")
• "Even now that care" (1590s, accidentally reprinted in the works of Samuel Daniel in 1623, as found under his papers)
• "To the angel spirit of the most excellent Sir Philipp Sydney", 1590s

literature

• George Ballard : Memoirs of several ladies of Great Britain, who have been celebrated for their writings, or skill in the learned languages, arts and sciences . Printed by W. Jackson, for the author, Oxford 1752, pp. 259ff .
• Margaret Patterson Hannay: Philip's Phoenix: Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke. Oxford University Press, New York, 1990
• Article on Mary Sidney in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Gary Waller: Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke: A Critical Study of Her Writings and Literary Milieu. University of Salzburg Press, Salzburg 1979.
• Margaret P. Hannay: Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth , Farnham [u. a.]: Ashgate, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7546-6053-8

Web links

• Literature by and about Mary Sidney in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography at luminarium.org (English)
• Some of her works and essays about her
• Website on the thesis of her co-authorship of Shakespeare's works , with biography [1]

Remarks

1. ↑ the name comes from Norman times. It was on the Thames near the confluence of the Fleet near what is now Blackfriar's Station. Shakespeare's Richard III partly plays there
2. ↑ He is variously assumed to be the young man mentioned in Shakespeare's sonnets
3. ↑ http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/facsimile/book/SLNSW_F1/5/?size=small&view_mode=normal&content_type=
4. ↑ later they got the court James I on, according to Williams because the younger was his lover and the Elder him his new favorite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham charging thereto
5. ↑ As "The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia". Her brother had written much of this work in her presence. At his death he also left a translation of 43 of the 150 psalms
6. ↑ She used the Geneva Bible from 1560 and writings by Calvin, but mostly relied on older English translations
7. ↑ she translated z. B. a work by Philip de Mornay
8. ↑ When James I visited Wilton House in 1603, however, he found her being entertained by Shakespeare's theater troupe "The King's Men". It is not certain whether Shakespeare was there. In one of her letters, however, she urges her son to visit her in Wilton, because Shakespeare is performing there. Another clue is a poem of praise written by her secretary, Sir John Davies, in Shakespeare.
9. ↑ near the French Reformed Church
10. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.