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By Jessica Malay.
Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, Dorset and Montgomery has been called many things. She was well versed in history, theology, geography, the arts and literature. She was an astute financial manager, and was politically canny. Her letters, accounts, and her Great Books of Record all tell us this. And this is how most people view the Lady Anne, as an intelligent, pious and gritty Lady. Certainly she was all of these things. However her autobiographical writing, recently published by Manchester University Press, reveals that Anne Clifford also had a keen sense of fun. Her first surviving record of her life, is her 1603 memoir. Here she recalls her thirteen year old self getting into a bit of trouble for riding with a Mr Menerell. Her mother punished her by forcing her to sleep alone, which she records âI could not endureâ. However, her cousin Frances Bourchier got the key to Anneâs room and âlay in my chamber with me, which was the first time I loved her so wellâ. During that summer she and her favourite cousins Frances, Francis Russell and Mary Cary could often be found eating too much fruit, vying for places to see the coronation of James I, and generally enjoying the freedom of that summer where the change of monarchs also meant disruption to the general routine of young peopleâs lives.
Anne continued throughout her teenage years to dance in the court masques of Queen Anne, those elaborate productions of costumes, dance, and scenery. She enjoyed the whirl of court life, as she and her mother strategised to find the best marriage for her. In 1609 she married Richard Sackville, the dashing Earl of Dorset. The two were in love and after more than two years of negotiations and set backs, had a rushed wedding in her motherâs bed chamber. They later had to petition the Archbishop of Canterbury to have the marriage recognised as valid. Certainly Anneâs marriage to Richard was not all fun and games, but even in the most difficult times we see Anne attempting to enjoy herself. One her favourite games at Knole House in Kent where she spent much of her married life with Richard, was Barley Break which she played often in the summer of 1617. She recalls, âwe played at Barley Break on the Greenâ and while this may sound quite tame, Barley Break was anything but tame. It was a game where two couples clasp hands and a third couple stood in between them in âhellâ. This couple attempted to catch the other two couples who would âbreakâ and change partners if it looked like they are going to be caught. It was a very high spirited game and one can imagine quite hilarious in the elaborate dress of the day. When Anne was less energetic she played cards – not very well. She recalls in 1619 that she lost fifteen pounds to Lady Carr and Lady Grey playing Glecko. A few months later she lost twenty seven pounds again to Lady Grey. After that she took up playing with her husbandâs steward, Richard Amherst, perhaps hoping to improve her luck or develop her skill. It didnât work. In November she writes with disgust, âI had such ill luck playing with Legg and Basket (two servants at Knole) at Glecko that I said I would not play again in six monthsâ.
As Anne matured her reputation for being, as her husband Richard once called her, âa sober womanâ, increased. But we see that Christmas at the Lady Anneâs castles was anything but a sober affair. She records in December 1669 paying for â5 Hogsheads (or 48 gallons) of beer…besides wineâ, and â4 roundlets of Sackââthat is 16 gallons of the fortified wine! She bought in sugar, lemons, oranges and raisins. She records paying for massive amounts of beef and mutton, as well as the more rare boar meat. She purchased âseveral sorts of spices for my house this Christmasâ, sparing no expense in creating rich meals for her household during the holidays.
She records buying devotional books for gifts at Christmas, which were perhaps not quite so fun, but also more useful Almanacs, gloves, ribbons, lace, linen and locks (engraved with her initials, clearly a most desirable gift), as well as distributing money. She invited in the players and musicians to entertain her household at Christmas, and records in December 1669 that ânine players came hitherâ. One wonders what play they performed. Christmas in 1671 was even more extravagant, when âseveral players and New Yearâs Boys came about this Christmasâ. The Lady Anne was eighty-one years old but still clearly knew how to have a good time.
From 1649 until her death in 1676 the Lady Anne lived in her castles in the North: Skipton, Brough, Brougham, Pendragon and Appleby. She was of course too old and too eminent to be able to join in a game of Barley Break, and too wise to play Glecko with her servants. But she still enjoyed a show, and made each of her moves between castles into a high holiday for the community. In her yearly memoirs from 1650-1676 she records the chief gentry of the area riding alongside her in her horse litter, while the bells of each town she came through rang out, and the village musicians played, and money was distributed to the excited bystanders who cheered her through the byways of Yorkshire and Westmorland.
Anne Cliffordâs autobiographies reveal a woman who was sensitive, strong and resilient. But one shouldnât miss the glimpses she gives us of her warm nature and ability to enjoy life despite all its challenges.
Anne Cliffordâs Autobiographical Writing: 1590-1676, edited by Jessica L. Malay is out now!
Jessica will be at Skipton Castle on Sunday 4th March at 1pm talking more about Lady Anne Clifford and signing copies of her book. All welcome.
Visit our Women’s History Month sale page, with 50% off a selection of titles, including Anne Clifford’s Autobiographical Writing.