Isabella Markham, Lady Harington

Isabella Markham, Lady Harington (28 March 1527 – 20 May 1579), was an English courtier, a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber of Queen Elizabeth I of England and a personal favourite of the queen. Isabella Markham was muse to the court official and poet John Harington, who wrote sonnets and poems addressed to her, before and after they married. Thomas Palfreyman dedicated his Divine Meditations to her in 1572.

Isabella Markham, Lady Harington

• Birth: 28 Mar 1527 in Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, England
• Death: 20 May 1579 in London, Middlesex, England
• Parents: John Markham MP and Anne Strelly
• Spouse: John Harington

family

Married

1. 1559 to John Harington (c.1517-1582), son of Alexander Harington (d.1539) of Stepney. His 2nd wife; he was Audrey Malte's widower.

Children of Isabella and John Harington

1. Sir John Harington (before 4 August 1561- 20 November 1612), author, courtier, and inventor of the flush toilet. He married Mary Rogers (1565–1634), daughter of Sir George Rogers and Jane Winter, by whom he had nine children.
2. Elizabeth Harington (born c.1560)
3. Francis Harington (1564- 22 January 1639), married Jane Baylie

biography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Markham

Isabella Markham, Lady Harington (28 March 1527 – 20 May 1579), was an English courtier, a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber of Queen Elizabeth I of England and a personal favourite of the queen. Isabella Markham was muse to the court official and poet John Harington, who wrote sonnets and poems addressed to her, before and after they married. Thomas Palfreyman dedicated his Divine Meditations to her in 1572.

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http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/rodgers1908/ollerton2.htm :

"Isabella, sister of the above Thomas Markham, was maid of honour to the Princess Elizabeth before she came to the throne, and a favourite. She was a lady of great beauty, and the subject of many amorous letters from Sir John Harrington. With the approval of the Princess, Sir John and " sweete Isabella Markham" were married, and shortly afterwards Elizabeth was committed to the Tower for not conforming to the Catholic faith. Lady Harrington and her husband were also severely punished, both being sent to the Tower; she on account of her heresy, and Sir John for forwarding a letter to the Princess. Through life they retained Elizabeth's favour and intimacy, who became godmother to their son, in whose welfare she also took a lively interest."

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from http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/TudorWomen4.htm

"ISABELLA MARKHAM (March 28, 1527-May 20, 1579)

Isabella Markham was the daughter of Sir John Markham of Coltham, Nottinghamshire (1500-1564) and his third wife, Anne Strelley. She married John Harington of Stepney (1525-July 1, 1582) as his second wife. She may have met him when he was imprisoned in the Tower from around February 1549 until early 1550, as her father was Lord Lieutenant of the Tower of London at that time, but other records indicate that she was already in the service of Elizabeth Tudor. Upon Elizabeth’s arrest in March 1554, Isabella went to stay with a Mr. Topcliffe. Harington had been at Cheshunt with Elizabeth just before that, in January, and was arrested on February 8, 1554 on the basis of a compromising letter connecting him to the conspiracy of Sir Thomas Wyatt. He was held for eleven months and was finally released on January 18, 1555 on a bond of £100. Harington’s first wife, Ethelreda Malte, was one of Elizabeth's attendants for the duration of her incarceration. Isabella was the subject of Harington's poems, all of them written before his wife's death. Isabella returned to Elizabeth’s household in October 1554, when Elizabeth was set free, and remained part of that household after Elizabeth became queen. The date of Isabella’s marriage to Harington is unknown, but it was after April 1, 1559. Their son, John, was christened on August 4, 1560. Queen Elizabeth was his godmother. Their other children were Robert (d. December 6, 1601), Elizabeth (b.1559?), Francis (1564-January 22, 1639), and James (1565-1592). Isabella was a lady of the privy chamber from 1558 until her death and was rarely absent from court. She received the dedication of Thomas Palfreyman’s Divine Meditations in 1572. Biography: Most of the known facts about Isabella are included in Ruth Hughey’s John Harington of Stepney."

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Isabella, sister of Thomas Markham, was maid of honour to the Princess Elizabeth before she came to the throne, and a favourite. She was a lady of great beauty, and the subject of many amorous letters from Sir John Harrington.

With the approval of the Princess, Sir John and " sweete Isabella Markham" were married, and shortly afterwards Elizabeth was committed to the Tower for not conforming to the Catholic faith. Lady Harrington and her husband were also severely punished, both being sent to the Tower; she on account of her heresy, and Sir John for forwarding a letter to the Princess.

Through life they retained Elizabeth's favour and intimacy, who became godmother to their son, in whose welfare she also took a lively interest.

Another account:

Isabella Markham was the daughter of Sir John Markham of Coltham, Nottinghamshire (1500-1564) and his third wife, Anne Strelley. She married John Harington of Stepney (1525-July 1, 1582) as his second wife. She may have met him when he was imprisoned in the Tower from around February 1549 until early 1550, as her father was Lord Lieutenant of the Tower of London at that time, but other records indicate that she was already in the service of Elizabeth Tudor.

Upon Elizabeth’s arrest in March 1554, Isabella went to stay with a Mr. Topcliffe. Harington had been at Cheshunt with Elizabeth just before that, in January, and was arrested on February 8, 1554 on the basis of a compromising letter connecting him to the conspiracy of Sir Thomas Wyatt. He was held for eleven months and was finally released on January 18, 1555 on a bond of £100. Harington’s first wife, Ethelreda Malte, was one of Elizabeth's attendants for the duration of her incarceration.

Isabella was the subject of Harington's poems, all of them written before his wife's death.

Isabella returned to Elizabeth’s household in October 1554, when Elizabeth was set free, and remained part of that household after Elizabeth became queen.

The date of Isabella’s marriage to Harington is unknown, but it was after April 1, 1559. Their son, John, was christened on August 4, 1560. Queen Elizabeth was his godmother. Their other children were Robert (d. December 6, 1601), Elizabeth (b.1559?), Francis (1564-January 22, 1639), and James (1565-1592).

Isabella was a lady of the privy chamber from 1558 until her death and was rarely absent from court.

She received the dedication of Thomas Palfreyman’s Divine Meditations in 1572.

Biography: Most of the known facts about Isabella are included in Ruth Hughey’s John Harington of Stepney.

Isabella's marriage to Sir John seems to have been a love match. Here, a poem from John to Isabella:

ON ISABELLA MARKHAM. HARRINGTON.

WHENCE comes my love ? O heart, disclose ;

'Twas from cheeks that shame the rose ;

From lips that spoil the rubies praise ;

From eyes that mock the diamond blaze.

Whence comes my woe, as freely own ;

Ah me ! 'twas from a heart like stone.

The blushing cheek speaks modest mind,

The lips befitting words most kind ;

The eye does tempt to love's desire,

And seems to say, 'tis Cupid's fire ;

Yet all so fair but speak my moan,

Since nought doth say the heart of stone.

Why thus, my love, so kind bespeak

Sweet lip, sweet eye, sweet blushing cheek,

Yet not a heart to save my pain ?

O Venus ! take thy gifts again ;

Make not so fair to cause our moan,

perforce make a heart that's like our own.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Markham

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Birth: Mar. 28, 1527 Ollerton Nottinghamshire, England Death: May 20, 1579 London Greater London, England

Isabella Markham, Lady Harington (28 March 1527 – 20 May 1579), was an English courtier, a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber of Queen Elizabeth I of England and a personal favourite of the queen. Isabella Markham was muse to the court official and poet John Harington, who wrote sonnets and poems addressed to her, before and after they married. Thomas Palfreyman dedicated his Divine Meditations to her in 1572.

FamilyIsabella Markham was born on 28 March 1527 in Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, England, the daughter of Sir John Markham of Cotham (before 1486- 1559) and his third wife, Anne Strelley. She had two brothers: Thomas, who married Mary Griffin, by whom he had issue, including Sir Griffin Markham; and William, whose wife was Mary Montagu. Her elder sister, Frances was the first wife of Henry Babington, whose son (by his second wife Mary Darcy) Anthony Babington would be executed for having organised an assassination plot against Queen Elizabeth.

The Markhams were an ancient family, who traced their agnatic line of descent from Claron, who had held the manor of West Markham at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. Claron's descendants assumed the name of de Marcham which was anglicised into Markham, and had often distinguished themselves in English history throughout the centuries since their ancestor Claron had served Edward the Confessor.

In the household of Elizabeth I She joined the household of Lady Elizabeth Tudor as one of her ladies-in-waiting sometime before 1549. When the princess was arrested in March 1554 by the orders of her half-sister, Queen Mary I, for suspected treason, Markham, described as having been a favoured lady-in-waiting, accompanied the princess to the Tower of London, where her father had served as Lieutenant from 1549 to 31 October 1551. While there she encountered her long-standing admirer, the poet and former treasurer of King Henry VIII, John Harington, who was imprisoned as the result of a letter which linked him to Thomas Wyatt's conspiracy against Queen Mary. He was married to another of Elizabeth's attendants, Ethelreda Malte, a rumoured illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII, who had also joined the princess in the Tower. He had been enamoured of Markham sometime before 1549 (this is the date of his first sonnet to her), when he had later reminisced that he had "firste thought her fayre as she stode at the Princesse's windowe in goodlye attyre, and talkede to dyvers in the Courte-Yard". As Harington had previously been imprisoned in the Tower from early 1549 to the spring of 1550 for complicity in the treason of Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, and his involvement in the plot to bring about a marriage between King Edward VI and Lady Jane Grey, it is curious to note that the object of his love was in fact the daughter of his former jailer. Sir John Markham served as Lieutenant of the Tower during the period of Harington's incarceration.

Elizabeth was moved to Woodstock Palace in May and placed under house arrest, and it is not known if Markham went with her; however, upon Elizabeth's return to her residence at Hatfield House in October 1555, Markham was installed once more in the princess's household as one of her six gentlewomen. Harington, having already secured his own freedom in January 1555, paid frequent visits to Hatfield, where he encountered Markham. He was described as having already been very much in love with her in the early years of Mary I's reign.

Upon Elizabeth's ascension to the throne in 1558 as Elizabeth I, Markham was appointed a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, a post she held for the rest of her life.

Poet's muse Markham, who was described as having possessed "great beauty"[20] inspired Harington to write letters and pay homage to her in poems and sonnets, usually addressing her as "Sweete Isabella Markham". He had started composing the sonnets as early as 1549 when she was 22 years old. One of these reads in part as follows:

"John Haryngton to Isabella Markham, 1549

Question. Alas! I love you overwell, Myne owne sweete deere delygte! Yet, for respects I feare to tell What moves my trobled spryghte: What workes my woe, what breeds my smarte, What wounds myn harte and mynde; Reason restrayns me to emparte Such perylls as I fynde."

Marriage: Portrait of Isabella Markham's eldest son, Sir John Harington, author, godson of Queen Elizabeth I, and a prominent figure at her courtSometime in 1559, after the death of his first wife, which occurred before 1 April,[23] Markham married Harington, who had inherited considerable property from the childless Ethelreda. Upon their marriage she became Lady Harington. The match met with the Queen's approval as both Isabella Markham and John Harington were held in high favour.[24] This was made manifest when Elizabeth stood as godmother to Lady Harington's first child, John[25] on 4 August 1561, with Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, and William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, acting as the infant's godfathers. The baptism took place at the Church of All Hallows, London Wall.

Together Lady Harington and her husband had five children:

Sir John Harington (before 4 August 1561- 20 November 1612), author, courtier, and inventor of the flush toilet. He married Mary Rogers (1565–1634), daughter of Sir George Rogers and Jane Winter, by whom he had nine children. Elizabeth Harington (born c.1560) Robert Harington (died 6 December 1601) Francis Harington (1564- 22 January 1639), married Jane Baylie James Harington (1565–1592) Thomas Palfreyman dedicated his Divine Meditations to Lady Harington in 1572.

She was still in the Queen's service when she died on 20 May 1579 at the age of 52.[26] She was buried in St. Gregory's by St. Paul's in London; her husband was later buried beside her.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Markham

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Isabella Markham (28 March 1527 – 20 May 1579), was an English courtier, a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber of Queen Elizabeth I of England and a personal favourite of the queen. Isabella Markham was muse to the court official and poet John Harington, who wrote sonnets and poems addressed to her, before and after they married. Thomas Palfreyman dedicated his Divine Meditations to her in 1572.[1][2]

The Markhams were an ancient family, who traced their agnatic line of descent from Claron, who had held the manor of West Markham at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. Claron's descendants assumed the name of de Marcham which was anglicised into Markham, and had often distinguished themselves in English history throughout the centuries since their ancestor Claron had served Edward the Confessor.

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• "Myths, Scenes & Worthies Of Somerset". 2017. Google Books. Accessed May 5 2017.page 478-479
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Markham
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=109063856
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: May 5 2017, 19:40:52 UTC