Anne Keilway | |
|---|---|
| Lady Harington | |
 Anne Keilway, represented on her father's monument at the Church of St Peter & St Paul, Exton, Rutland | |
| Died | May 1620 |
| Noble family | Keilway |
| Spouse(s) | John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton |
| Issue | John Harington, 2nd Baron Harington of Exton Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford Frances Harington |
| Father | Robert Keilway |
| Mother | Cecily Bulstrode |
Anne Keilway, Lady Harington (died 1620) was an English courtier.
She was a daughter of Robert Keilway or "Kelway" of Minster Lovell and Cecily Bulstrode, a daughter of Edward Bulstrode of Hedgerley in Buckinghamshire and widow of Alexander Unton of Wadley. [1]
Anne Keilway married John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton, in 1573, and was known as "Lady Harington". [2] She was an heiress, and brought him Minster Lovell and Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire, and the expectation of further property owned by her father, who died in 1581. [3]
After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, Lady Harington travelled to Scotland with her daughter, Lucy, Countess of Bedford, to meet and gain the favour of Anne of Denmark, the wife of the new king, James VI and I. [4] A number of aristocratic women made the journey, some were appointed by the Privy Council to wait for Anne of Denmark on the border at Berwick-upon-Tweed. The Venetian diplomat, Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli, wrote that six great ladies went north accompanied by 200 horsemen. [5]
A group of women, mostly of the Harington family, went to Edinburgh before the queen travelled to Berwick, including Lady Harington and her daughter Lucy Countess of Bedford, her niece Theodosia Noel, Lady Cecil, Lady Hastings, with Elizabeth Cecil, Lady Hatton. [6] A "Lady Hastings" was either Sarah Harington, or her sister-in-law, Dorothy Hastings. [7]
The journey to Scotland was successful, and Lady Harington was appointed to the bedchamber. At first, Frances Howard, Countess of Kildare, who had also independently made the trip to Scotland and previously shown an interest in Scottish politics, was made governess of Princess Elizabeth. Anne Clifford first saw Princess Elizabeth at Dingley near Althorp and recalled that Kildare and Harington were her governesses. [8] [9] After Kildare's husband Lord Cobham was implicated in the Main Plot, the Haringtons were appointed custodians of Princess Elizabeth at Coombe Abbey near Coventry. [10]
Princess Elizabeth married Frederick V, Elector Palatine on 14 February 1613 and the Haringtons accompanied her to the Electoral Palatinate. At Heidelberg, Lord Harington's servants fought with Andrew Keith, a Scottish courtier who had insulted his wife. [11] [12]
Claudius Hollyband dedicated his primer, A Treasurie of the French Tong (Henrie Bynneman, London, 1580) to her as "Mademoiselle Anne Harington". [13] In 1616, Lady Harington founded a library at the parish church of Oakham with around 125 religious works in Latin and Greek for the benefit of local clergymen, bound in leather tooled with the Harington knot in gilt, with her Latin ex libris. [3] The majority of the remaining books are now held by the University of Nottingham. [14]
Anne, Lady Harington, died in May 1620.
Her children included:
A portrait in the Swedish Royal Collection, at Gripsholm Castle, formerly with later inscriptions identifying the sitter as Queen Elizabeth, has sometimes been identified as Anne, Lady Harington. A cushion shows the Keilway-Harington heraldry. She wears a coronet and a diamond feather jewel which appear in portraits of her daughter, Lucy Countess of Bedford, who is more the likely the sitter. [16]
John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton in Rutland, was an English courtier and politician.
Sir James Harington of Exton was a 16th-century English public servant who fulfilled a number of legal, legislative and law enforcement duties and was knighted in 1565.
Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford was a major aristocratic patron of the arts and literature in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, the primary non-royal performer in contemporary court masques, a letter-writer, and a poet. She was an adventurer (shareholder) in the Somers Isles Company, investing in Bermuda, where Harrington Sound is named after her.
The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses was an early Jacobean-era masque, written by Samuel Daniel and performed in the Great Hall of Hampton Court Palace on the evening of Sunday, 8 January 1604. One of the earliest of the Stuart Court masques, staged when the new dynasty had been in power less than a year and was closely engaged in peace negotiations with Spain, The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses stood as a precedent and a pattern for the many masques that followed during the next four decades.
Jean Ker, Countess of Roxburghe, néeDrummond (c.1585–1643) was a Scottish courtier, serving Anne of Denmark in Scotland and England.
Elizabeth Somerset, Countess of Worcester was a Scottish-born noblewoman. She was the daughter of Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, and Catherine Pole.
Lady Audrey Walsingham was an English courtier. She served as Lady of the Bedchamber to queen Elizabeth I of England, and then as Mistress of the Robes to Anne of Denmark from 1603 until 1619.
Frances Howard, Countess of Kildare, was a courtier and governess of Princess Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, and a member of the House of Howard.
Dorothy Bulstrode or Boulstred (1592-1650) was a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Denmark. One of her older sisters was Cecily Bulstrode, who was the subject of poems by Ben Jonson and John Donne.
Bridget Markham (1579–1609), was a courtier to Anne of Denmark and the subject of poems.
Theodosia Harington, Lady Dudley was an English aristocrat who was abandoned by her husband, but maintained connections at court through her extensive family networks.
Elizabeth Harcourt, Courtier to Anne of Denmark.
Sarah Harington (1565–1629) was an English courtier.
Dorothy Hastings was a courtier to Elizabeth I of England and Anne of Denmark
Sir Edward Wingfield of Kimbolton (c.1562-1603), member of Parliament and author of a masque.
Sir Henry Harington of Bagworth and Baltinglass, English and Irish landowner and soldier, known for his defeat at Arklow in 1599.
Anne Sutton (1589–1615) was an English lady-in-waiting who was a companion of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia. She was the daughter of Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley and Theodosia Harington. Sutton was known as "Mrs Anne Dudley" or "Mistress Dudley" although "Sutton" was the family surname. Elizabeth of Bohemia called her "Nan Duddlie".
Prince Henry's Welcome at Winchester was a masque produced by Anne of Denmark and performed in 1603 at Winchester on a day between 11 and 17 October.
Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli (1550-1608) was a Venetian diplomat based in London at the end of the reign of Elizabeth I and the beginning of the reign of James VI and I.
Thomas Cardell or Cardall was a musician and dancing master specialising in playing the lute who served Elizabeth I and Anne of Denmark.