Bess of Hardwick was one of the most remarkable women of the Tudor era. Gently-born in reduced circumstances she was married at 15 wedded at 16 & still a virgin. At 19 she married a man more than twice her age Sir William Cavendish a senior auditor in King Henry VIIIs Court of Augmentations. Responsible for seizing church properties for the crown during the Dissolution Cavendish enriched himself in the process. During the reign of King Edward VI Cavendish was the Treasurer to the boy king & sisters & he & Bess moved in the highest levels of society. They had a London home & built Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. After Cavendishs death her third husband was poisoned by his brother. Bess 4th marriage to the patrician George 6th Earl of Shrewsbury Earl Marshall of England made Bess one of the most important women at court. Her shrewd business acumen was a byword & she was said to have a masculine understanding in that age when women had little education & few legal rights. The Earls death made her arguably the wealthiest & therefore
- next to the Queen
- the most powerful woman in the country.