Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel

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Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel (Sheffield, Yorkshire, 1585 – Alkmaar May 24, 1654), née Lady Alethea Talbot, was the wife of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel. She was the youngest daughter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife Mary Cavendish; Alethea was the sister of two other countesses: Mary Talbot Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kent.

In September, 1606, she was married to Thomas Howard, and they had four children:

Along with her sister Elizabeth, and their cousin Arbella Stuart, she performed in a masque celebrating the investiture of Henry Stuart as Prince of Wales in 1610.

In 1614 they were living in Rome. The Earl of Arundel was one of the first Englishmen to buy antique statues. In 1622 the couple lived in Venice in the Palazzo Mocenigo facing the Canal Grande.

Alethea and her husband accompanied the Elector Palatine and his bride as far as Heidelberg on their marriage in 1613.

1620, aged 34, Rubens painted Alethea Talbot, Countess of Arundel, and her retinue in Antwerp when she was on her way to Italy.

In 1642 she and her husband fled to the Netherlands and lived there in exile. When the Earl of Arundel died in Padua, Alethea inherited the collection of 600 paintings and drawings and 200 statues from her husband, which he had bought with her money. The collection was worth £100.000! Her eldest son and youngest argued in court.

Alethea lived in Amersfoort, Alkmaar and in Amsterdam at Singel 292, an elegant house, with a court yard facing Herengracht.

In 1651, she succeeded to the title of Baroness Furnivall, a title of her father's that had been in abeyance since his death in 1616. Like her sister, Elizabeth, Alethea was interested in the use of herbs and other foodstuffs for medical purposes. Her recipes were published under the title Natura Exenterata[citation needed]

[edit] Ancestry

Alethea Talbot, Countess of Arundel's ancestors in three generations
Alethea Talbot, Countess of Arundel Father:
Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury		 Paternal Grandfather:
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Mary Dacre, Countess of Shrewsbury
Paternal Grandmother:
Gertrude Manners, Countess of Shrewsbury		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Eleanor Paston, Countess of Rutland
Mother:
Mary Cavendish, Countess of Shrewsbury		 Maternal Grandfather:
Sir William Cavendish of Chatsworth		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Thomas Cavendish of Cavendish Overhall
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Alice Smith of Padbrook Hall
Maternal Grandmother:
Bess of Hardwick		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
John Hardwick of Hardwick Hall
Maternal Great-grandmother:
?

[edit] Sources

  • L. Cut, Notes on the collections formed by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, and Surry, K. G. In: The Burlington Magazine 1911/12, XX, pp. 97-100, 233-236 and 341-343.
  • S.A.C. Dudok van Heel (1991) De graaf en graven van Arundel in ballingschap in de Nederlanden en in Italie. In: Maandblad Amstelodamum, p. 31-34.
  • M. F. S. Hervey, The life, correspondence and collections of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, Cambridge 1921, Appendix V, The Arundel inventory, p. 473-500.
  • D. Howarth, Lord Arundel and his circle, New Haven/London 1985.
  • F.H.C. Weijtens (1971) De Arundel-Collectie : commencement de la fin, Amersfoort 1655.

[edit] External links

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