LADY MARY SIDNEY HERBERT
Mary Sidney was born on 27th October 1561.
She was the daughter of Sir Henry Sidney, the governor of Ireland and Wales, and his wife Mary Dudley.
As a child, Mary spent much time at court, where her mother was a gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber and a close confidante of Queen Elizabeth I.
Mary’s uncle, Lord Robert Dudley, was Queen Elizabeth’s closest male companion.
In 1577, Mary married Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke – one of the richest men in England.
With Henry, she had four children.
Her London house Baynards Castle, once a royal palace, spread out over several city blocks in the most fashionable district along the Thames River.
Here it is known that she often entertained Queen Elizabeth for lavish dinners.
Mary was known to be a hot-tempered redhead – brilliant, multi-talented, strong, dynamic, passionate but generous.
She was the most educated woman in England, comparable only to Queen Elizabeth.
Among her many achievements was a poetic translation of more than seventy percent of the book of Psalms.
Mary Sidney was an excellent poet, and praised by the leading male authors of her day.
Like her queen, Mary had an excellent education by tutors at home.
She was fluent in Latin, and she translated French and Italian works.
Mary is the first woman to publish a play in English, and the first woman to publish an original pastoral piece in English.
Mary played the lute and virginals, sang, and had all the refinements of an aristocratic woman.
Her court life consisted of falconry and hunting.
Unusually for a woman of her time, she had medical training, an alchemy laboratory, and was close with the leading ”magicians“ of the day, including John Dee.
Mary died of smallpox on 25th September 1621, aged 59.
After a grand funeral in St Paul’s Cathedral, her body was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, next to that of her late husband in the Herbert family vault.
Portrait of Mary Herbert, née Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, c.1590
Nicholas Hilliard
National Portrait Gallery
