A Material Girl: Bess of Hardwick 1527-1608

by Kate Hubbard | Biographies & Memoirs |
ISBN: 0571208002 Global Overview for this book
Registered by beeofgoodcheer of Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on 7/1/2006
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by beeofgoodcheer from Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on Saturday, July 1, 2006
Review to go here

Journal Entry 2 by dododumpling from St. Neots, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Sunday, July 2, 2006
Passed to me at the Uncon by beebarf. Thank you! (Reminder to self - pass on to caro1 after I've read it.)

Journal Entry 3 by dododumpling from St. Neots, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Friday, July 28, 2006
I grew up just a few miles from Hardwick Hall, and on my last visit to my parents’, we went for dinner at the Hardwick Inn. Despite that, I have never actually been inside the hall or gardens, although I’ve often walked in the park grounds. I remember on childhood walks that my parents would often say that Hardwick Hall was more glass than wall.

I knew very little of Bess, other than she made her money through her marriages. However, reading this biography it appears that she was a very canny operator and while initially she may have married into money, she certainly knew how to increase her wealth through loans and clever purchases. I love the fact that she knew how to spend money too, such as her £6,360 spending spree in London, and setting aside money for her funeral (three quarters of which was spent on mourning cloth for draping the interior of Hardwick). I hadn’t realised how close she was to royalty – for example, her husband’s custodianship of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her granddaughter Arbella’s claims to the throne were both news to me.

My one criticism is that I would have liked to see more photographs and illustrations, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m going to look out for a copy for myself. I’m sure my Mum, poppysnoz, would enjoy it too. And I really must visit Hardwick Hall on one of my trips home some time.

This is now packaged up and ready to head off to caro1.

Journal Entry 4 by Caro1 from Newark On Trent, Nottinghamshire United Kingdom on Monday, July 31, 2006
Arrived safely today. Thanks dododumpling for posting. I hope to release this at Hardwick Hall after reading.

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