{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Mary Middlemore''' (died 1618) was a Courtier and Maid of Honour to Anne of Denmark, subject of poems, and treasure hunter.<ref>Marianna Brockmann, 'Mary Middlemore', in Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, Jo Eldridge Carney, ''A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen'' (Routledge, 2016).</ref>
==Family background== Mary Middlemore was the eldest daughter of Henry Middlemore of Enfield, a groom of the privy chamber to Queen Elizabeth, and Elizabeth Fowkes from Somerset. Henry Middlemore had been sent as a messenger in 1568 to Mary, Queen of Scots at Carlisle Castle and to her half-brother Regent Moray in Scotland.<ref>William Phillimore, ''Family of Middlemore'' (London, 1901), p. 244-5.</ref>
Mary's brother Robert Middlemore (d. 1629) was an equerry to King James.<ref>Linda Levy Peck, ''Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart England'' (Routledge, London, 1993), p. 69.</ref> A monument to Robert and his wife Dorothy Fulstow or Fulstone (d. 1610) can be seen at St Andrews, Church, Enfield.<ref>''Collectanea topographica et genealogica'', vol. 7 (London, 1841), p. 357: William Robinson, ''The History and Antiquities of Enfield, in the County of Middlesex'', vol. 2 (London, 1823), pp. 46-7.</ref>
==Career==
After her father died, her mother Elizabeth married Sir Vincent Skinner (d. 1616) an ambitious MP.<ref>[https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/skinner-sir-vincent-1543-1616 'SKINNER, Sir Vincent (1543-1616)', Rosemary Sgroi, ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629'', ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010].</ref> An ordinance for establishing the English household of Anne of Denmark made on 20 July 1603 allowed for six maids of honour and a supervisory mother of maids, with four chamberers.<ref>''HMC 6th Report: Moray'' (London, 1877), p. 672.</ref>
Middlemore was appointed a Maid of Honour to the queen in December 1603.<ref>Maurice Lee, ''Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 1603-1624'' (Rutgers UP, 1972), p. 59.</ref> Her companions were Anne Carey, Mary Gargrave, Elizabeth Roper, Elizabeth Harcourt, and Mary Woodhouse.<ref>Linda Levy Peck, ''Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart England'' (London, 1990), p. 69: Edmund Lodge, ''Illustrations of British History'', vol. 3 (London, 1791), p. 228: Eva Griffith, ''A Jacobean Company and its Playhouse: The Queen's Servants at the Red Bull Theatre'' (Cambridge, 2013), p. 121.</ref><ref>Nadine Akkerman, 'The Goddess of the Household: The Masquing Politics of Lucy Harington-Russell, Countess of Bedford', ''The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe'' (Leiden, 2014), p. 307: See Helen Margaret Payne, 'Aristocratic Women and the Jacobean Court, 1603-1625 ', Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, PhD (2001), p. 280 for lists of the queen's women.</ref>
Rowland Whyte mentioned the maids of honour and others dancing at Hampton Court in the presence chamber of Anne of Denmark, with a French visitor, the Count of Vaudémont.<ref>John Nichols, ''Progresses of James the First'', vol. 2 (London, 1828), pp. 99-100: Michael Brennan, Noel Kinnamon, Margaret Hannay, ''Letters of Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sidney'' (Philadelphia, 2013), pp. 566-7.</ref>
In 1608 her younger sister Elizabeth married Edward Zouche of Bramshill, or perhaps Edward Zouch of Woking, Knight Marshall.<ref>Edmund Lodge, ''Illustrations of British History'', vol. 3 (London, 1838), pp. 250-1.</ref> She died shortly afterwards and was buried in Westminster Abbey in March 1610.<ref>William Phillimore, ''Family of Middlemore'' (London, 1901), p. 246.</ref> Her brother Robert Middlemore of Thornton married Dorothy Fulstowe who also died in 1610.<ref>William Phillimore, ''Family of Middlemore'' (London, 1901), p. 247.</ref> She was a daughter of Richard Fulstowe a servant of Lord Willoughby.<ref>''HMC Salisbury Hatfield'', vol. (Dublin, 1906), pp. 232, 242.</ref>
In 1609, an Italian poet, Antimo Galli published a book of verse, including a description ''The Masque of Queens'' performed in 1608. He included a stanza praising Mary Middlemore, with a near anagram of her surname name, "La Bella Dea D'Amore".<ref>''Rime di Antimo Galli all' illvstrissima Signora Elizabetta Talbot-Grey'' (Melchisedech Bradwood, 1609), p. 46.</ref>
Around Christmas time 1609/10, Sir Edward Herbert fought with a Scottish gentleman who had snatched a ribbon or "topknot" from her hair in a back room of the queen's lodgings at Greenwich Palace.<ref>Christine Jackson, ''Courtier, Scholar, and Man of the Sword: Lord Herbert of Cherbury and His World'' (Oxford, 2021), 90.</ref><ref>Allison L. Steenson, ''The Hawthornden Manuscripts of William Fowler'' (Routledge, 2021), 103.</ref> Herbert would have followed up by fighting a duel in Hyde Park, but the Privy Council prevented it.<ref>Edward Herbert, ''The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury'' (London, 1826), pp. 108-9.</ref> John Chamberlain recorded that the Scottish man was an usher to the queen named "Boghvan".<ref>Norman Egbert McClure, ''Letters of John Chamberlain'', vol. 1 (Philadelphia, 1939), p. 296.</ref> Subsequently, Edward Herbert became involved with another lady-in-waiting, Dorothy Bulstrode, and was beaten up by husband, John Eyre.<ref>Diana Scarisbrick, ''Portrait Jewels'' (Thames and Hudson, 2011), p. 73: Patricia Fumerton, 'Secret Arts: Elizabethan Miniatures and Sonnets', in Stephen Greenblatt, ''Representing the Renaissance'' (Berkeley, 1988), 124.</ref>
The identity of "Boghvan" is unclear. There was a musician recorded as "Jacques Bochan" and Jacques Cordier ''dit'' Bocan.<ref>Barbara Ravelhofer, "Unstable movement codes in the Stuart masque", David Bevington & Peter Holbrook, ''The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque'' (Cambridge, 1998), p. 259: ''HMC Salisbury Hatfield'', vol. 24 (London, 1976), p. 67.</ref> There was a violin player at court in 1609 called "James Bochan".<ref>Andrew Ashbee, ''Records of English Court Music, 1603-1625'', vol. 4 (1991), pp. 23-4.</ref> "Mr Bochan" taught the ladies of Anne of Denmark's household dance steps for masques. Bochan, however, was described as a French violer, attached to the household of Prince Henry from 1608 to 1610.<ref>Andrew Ashbee, ''Records of English Court Music, 1603-1625'', vol. 4 (1991), pp. 23-4, 213-4.</ref> A man called "Baughan" is mentioned in the Lincoln's Inn accounts of the masque ''The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn'' in 1613 as a Marshal not a musician, and perhaps he was Anne's Scottish usher.<ref>Martin Wiggins & Catherine Richardson, ''British Drama, 1533-1642: 1609-1616'', vol. 6 (Oxford, 2015), p. 284: [https://cwrc.ca/islandora/object/reed%3A26975a1f-a890-4ea1-bc4c-7c5e1399ce5d REED: Lincoln's Inn Black Book 6 1612-14, f.526v]</ref>
The queen's secretary William Fowler dedicated poems to her in 1609, possibly for a third-party,<ref>Allison L. Steenson, ''The Hawthornden Manuscripts of William Fowler'' (Routledge, 2021), 102–110, 202–6.</ref> including the ''Meditation upon Virgin Maryes Hatt'', and ''Aetna'' which includes her name; "My harte as Aetna burnes, and suffers MORE / Paines in my MIDDLE than ever MARY proved", and devised an Italian anagram "Madre di mill'amori", the mother of a thousand loves.<ref>Sara M. Dunnigan, ''Eros and Poetry at the Courts of Mary Queen of Scots and James VI'' (Palgrave: Basingstoke, 2002), p. 208 fn. 6: Alastair Fowler, ''Literary names: Personal names'' (Oxford, 2012), p. 84: R. D. S. Jack, ''The Italian Influence on Scottish Literature'' (Edinburgh, 1972), p. 76.</ref>
Middlemore was given mourning clothes on the death of Prince Henry in 1612.<ref>[https://catalog.folger.edu/record/234783 Folger Shakespeare Library, catalogue X.d.572]</ref> On 20 August 1613 Anne of Denmark was received at Wells, Somerset, during her progress to Bath. The mayor William Bull hosted a dinner for members of her household including the four maids of honour.<ref>John Nichols, ''Progresses of James the First'', vol. 2 (London, 1828), p. 675.</ref>
Anna of Denmark had a portrait of Mary Middlemore at Oatlands.<ref>Jemma Field, ''Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts'' (Manchester, 2020), p. 97.</ref><ref>Wendy Hitchmough, 'Setting the Stuart court: placing portraits in the performance of Anglo-Spanish negotiations', ''Journal of the History of Collections'', 32:2 (July 2020), pp. 245-264.</ref> In July 1615 she was bought a bay ambling gelding horse to replace her lame grey horse.<ref>Frederick Madden, ''Issues of the Exchequer'' (London, 1836), p. 319.</ref> After Vincent Skinner's death, her mother Elizabeth Foukes seems also to have joined the queen's household.
On 29 April 1617 Middlemore was granted a licence by the king to have workmen seek treasure in Glastonbury Abbey, St Albans Abbey, Bury St Edmunds Abbey, and Romsey Abbey.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/fderaconventione07ryme/page/n475 Thomas Rymer, ''Foedera'', vol. 7 part 3 (Hague, 1741), pp. 9-11].</ref> She died later in the year, and perhaps did not profit from prospecting in the ruins.<ref>Francis Young, ''Edmund: In Search of England's Lost King'' (London, 2018): Thomas Rymer, ''Foedera'', vol. 18 (London).</ref> The gift has sometimes been assumed to be intended for the queen, but it may be connected with the financial ruin and death of her step-father Sir Vincent Skinner, who had been building a country house at Thornton Abbey.<ref>[https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/thornton-abbey-and-gatehouse/history/ 'Thornton Abbey, history' English Heritage]; Mark Girouard, ''Elizabethan Architecture'' (Yale, 2009), pp. 412-3.</ref> Around this time, her mother joined the queen's household.<ref>See H. M. Payne, 'Aristocratic Women and the Jacobean Court', Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, PhD 2001, p. 280 noted as "Elizabeth [?Fouke]".</ref>
Mary Middlemore died of consumption on 3 January 1618 at Whitehall Palace and was buried the next day at Westminster Abbey.<ref>''Collectanea topographica et genealogica'', vol. 7 (London, 1841), p. 357: Norman Egbert McClure, ''Letters of John Chamberlain'', vol. 2 (Philadelphia, 1939), p. 129: Thomas Birch & Folkestone Williams, ''Court and Times of James the First'', vol. 1 (London, 1848), pp. 418, 456: Joseph Lemuel Chester, ''Westminster Abbey Registers: Harleian Society'', vol. 10 (London, 1869), p. 114: William Phillimore, ''Family of Middlemore'' (London, 1901), p. 246.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://digital.nls.uk/publications-by-scottish-clubs/archive/106958445 'Aetna', H. Meikle, ''Works of William Fowler'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1914), pp. 268-9]. * [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3903783 Monument to Robert Middlemore and Dorothy Fulstone at Enfield, Geograph, Mike Quinn]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middlemore, Mary}} Category:1618 deaths Category:17th-century English women courtiers Category:17th-century deaths from tuberculosis Category:English maids of honour Category:Ladies of the Bedchamber Category:Treasure hunters Category:Household of Anne of Denmark Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey Category:Tuberculosis deaths in England