Lady Margaret Sackville (1562–1591)

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This article is about the 16th-century noblewoman. For the 20th-century writer, see Lady Margaret Sackville.

Lady Margaret Sackville (1562 – 19 August 1591), formerly Lady Margaret Howard, was the wife of Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset.

Margaret was the daughter of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, and his second wife, the former Margaret Audley.[1] In keeping with family tradition, she was a devout Roman Catholic.[2] Her half-brother, Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel, died while imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I of England, and was later canonised as a saint in the Catholic Church.[3]

Her mother died when she was still a child, and in 1572 her father was executed, after which she was raised by her uncle Henry Howard. She married Robert Sackville in February 1580, but died prior to his inheriting the earldom of Dorset in 1608, and thus she was never countess.

In 1585, she visited her sister-in-law, the Countess of Arundel, formerly Anne Dacre, in Essex; the countess's movements were restricted because of the earl's imprisonment. Lady Margaret was under instructions from the queen not to remain at the countess's home for more than one night.[3] Both women were heavily pregnant and Lady Margaret went into labour during the visit, giving birth successfully.

The children of Robert and Margaret Sackville included:

Lady Margaret died suddenly on 19 August 1591, aged 29, at Knole, Kent, a property which had been granted to her husband's father by Queen Elizabeth during the 1560s.[8] Robert Southwell's Triumphs over Death (published in 1596, after the poet's execution) was dedicated to her and her surviving children;[9] it was supposedly written and sent to her half-brother, the Earl of Arundel, in prison, to comfort him.[10]

The year after her death, her husband married the twice-widowed Anne, daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp. He left instructions in his will that he should be buried at Withyham, "as near to my first dearly beloved wife ... as can be".[2]

References[]

  1. ^ "Margaret Howard (née Dudley), Duchess of Norfolk - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
  2. ^ a b "SACKVILLE, Robert (1561–1609), of Bolbrooke and Buckhurst, Suss. and Knole, Kent". History of Parliament. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b Carole Levin; Anna Riehl Bertolet; Jo Eldridge Carney (3 November 2016). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen: Exemplary Lives and Memorable Acts, 1500-1650. Taylor & Francis. p. 424. ISBN 978-1-315-44071-2.
  4. ^ a b The Marquis of Ruvigny and Ranieval (May 2013). The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Mortimer-Percy Volume. Heritage Books. p. 431. ISBN 978-0-7884-1872-3.
  5. ^ "LEWIS, Richard (c.1627-1706), of Edington Priory, Wilts. and The Van, Glam". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  6. ^ Six-page church booklet: Smith, Doris Seth, Anne Lady Beauchamp, undated
  7. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1975) [1963]. Wiltshire. The Buildings of England (2nd ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 238. ISBN 0-14-0710-26-4.
  8. ^ Lionel Sackville Sackville-West Baron Sackville; C. Essenhigh Corke (1906). Knole House, Its State Rooms, Pictures and Antiquities. J. Salmon. pp. 30–40.
  9. ^ Scott R. Pilarz, Robert Southwell and the Mission of Literature, 1561–1595 (2004), p. 204.
  10. ^ Micheline White (13 May 2016). English Women, Religion, and Textual Production, 1500-1625. Routledge. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-317-14290-4.
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