# Mary Middlemore

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'''Mary Middlemore''' (died 1618) was a Courtier and Maid of Honour to [Anne of Denmark](/source/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](/source/Henry_Middlemore) of Enfield, a groom of the privy chamber to [Queen Elizabeth](/source/Elizabeth_I_of_England), and Elizabeth Fowkes from Somerset. Henry Middlemore had been sent as a messenger in 1568 to [Mary, Queen of Scots](/source/Mary%2C_Queen_of_Scots) at [Carlisle Castle](/source/Carlisle_Castle) and to her half-brother [Regent Moray](/source/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](/source/James_VI_and_I).<ref>[Linda Levy Peck](/source/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](/source/Enfield_Town).<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](/source/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](/source/Anne_of_Denmark) made on 20 July 1603 allowed for six maids of honour and a supervisory [mother of maids](/source/Mother_of_the_Maids_(English_royal_court)), with four [chamberer](/source/chamberer)s.<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](/source/Mary_Gargrave), [Elizabeth Roper](/source/Elizabeth_Roper), [Elizabeth Harcourt](/source/Elizabeth_Harcourt), and [Mary Woodhouse](/source/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](/source/Rowland_Whyte) mentioned the maids of honour and others dancing at [Hampton Court](/source/Hampton_Court) in the presence chamber of Anne of Denmark, with a French visitor, the [Count of Vaudémont](/source/Francis_II%2C_Duke_of_Lorraine).<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](/source/Edward_la_Zouche%2C_11th_Baron_Zouche) of [Bramshill](/source/Bramshill_House), or perhaps [Edward Zouch](/source/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](/source/Thornton_Curtis) 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](/source/Peregrine_Bertie%2C_13th_Baron_Willoughby_de_Eresby).<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](/source/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](/source/Edward_Herbert%2C_1st_Baron_Herbert_of_Cherbury) 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](/source/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](/source/Hyde_Park%2C_London), 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](/source/John_Chamberlain_(letter_writer)) 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](/source/Dorothy_Bulstrode), and was beaten up by husband, [John Eyre](/source/John_Eyre_(died_1639)).<ref>[Diana Scarisbrick](/source/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](/source/Jacques_Cordier).<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](/source/Lincoln's_Inn) accounts of the masque ''[The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn](/source/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](/source/William_Fowler_(makar)) 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](/source/Henry_Frederick%2C_Prince_of_Wales) 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](/source/Wells%2C_Somerset), during her [progress to Bath](/source/Anne_of_Denmark_and_the_spa_at_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](/source/Oatlands_Palace).<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](/source/Glastonbury_Abbey), [St Albans Abbey](/source/St_Albans_Abbey), [Bury St Edmunds Abbey](/source/Bury_St_Edmunds_Abbey), and [Romsey Abbey](/source/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](/source/Vincent_Skinner), who had been building a country house at [Thornton Abbey](/source/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](/source/tuberculosis) on 3 January 1618 at [Whitehall Palace](/source/Whitehall_Palace) and was buried the next day at [Westminster Abbey](/source/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](/source/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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mary Middlemore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Middlemore) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Middlemore?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.