Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland

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As an early seventeenth-century writer of tragedy Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland , has an important place in literary history, though her play, like her first translation, was done when she was almost a child. She herself probably valued more highly her geographical, biographical and theological works, both translated and original. Her Edward II extraordinarily blends history, drama, and political commentary.
Painting of (probably) Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland, by William Larkin. She is wearing court dress, elaborate from her lace head-dress and huge lace collar to her heavily decorated shoes. She stands framed between pink curtains, beside a red and gilt chair with cushion, on a figured carpet. Her fair hair is stiffly styled away from her face. She wears a blue velvet mantle with embroidered borders over a bodice tied with ribbons: that and her sleeves and petticoat are also embroidered. Kenwood House

Milestones

1585-6

Elizabeth Tanfield (later Viscountess Falkland) was born at her father's house in Burford, Oxfordshire: either Burford Priory, or the earlier, relatively modest
Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland,. “Introduction”. The Mirror of the Worlde, edited by Lesley Peterson, McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 3-115.
5
home in Sheep Street.
Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland, and Lucy Cary. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry; with, The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of Her Daughters, edited by Barry Weller and Margaret W. Ferguson, University of California Press, pp. 1 - 59; various pages.
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Cary, Lucy, and Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland. “The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of Her Daughters”. The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry; with, The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of Her Daughters, edited by Barry Weller et al., University of California Press, pp. 183-75.
183
Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland,. “Introduction”. The Mirror of the Worlde, edited by Lesley Peterson, McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 3-115.
5

Probably 1597; before autumn 1602

The teenage Elizabeth Tanfield made a translation, The mirror of the Worlde translated / Out of French into Englishe / by E. T., from the geographer Abraham Ortelius .
This work was discovered and identified only in 2002.
Peterson, Lesley. “The Source and Date for Elizabeth Tanfield Cary’s Manuscript <span data-tei-ns-tag="tei_title" data-tei-title-lvl=‘u’>The Mirror of the Worlde</span&gt”;. Notes and Queries, Vol.
51
, No. 3, pp. 257-63.
Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland,. “Introduction”. The Mirror of the Worlde, edited by Lesley Peterson, McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 3-115.
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1602-1608

Elizabeth Cary probably composed The Tragedie of Mariam between the dates of her marriage and beginning to live with her husband .
Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland, and Lucy Cary. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry; with, The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of Her Daughters, edited by Barry Weller and Margaret W. Ferguson, University of California Press, pp. 1 - 59; various pages.
5

17 December 1612

Elizabeth Cary 's The Tragedie of Mariam , the Faire Queene of Jewry was licensed by the Stationers' Company ; it was printed in 1613.
Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland, and Lucy Cary. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry; with, The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of Her Daughters, edited by Barry Weller and Margaret W. Ferguson, University of California Press, pp. 1 - 59; various pages.
179

About 1629

Elizabeth Cary Falkland , in about a month, translated a theological work by Cardinal Perron , one of the key religious polemical treatises of the early seventeenth century.
Wolfe, Heather, editor. The Literary Career and Legacy of Elizabeth Cary, 1613-1680. Palgrave Macmillan.
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1630

Elizabeth Cary Falkland 's Reply of the Most Illustrious Cardinall of Perron appeared in print at Douai: the only part of her translation from Cardinal Perron to be published.
The Falkland edition of 1994 spells Douai (now in France) with a y.
Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland, and Lucy Cary. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry; with, The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of Her Daughters, edited by Barry Weller and Margaret W. Ferguson, University of California Press, pp. 1 - 59; various pages.
11

October 1639

Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland , died of tuberculosis, in the Catholic religion, and in her daughter's words without any agony quietly as a child, being wholly spent by her disease.
Cary, Lucy, and Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland. “The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of Her Daughters”. The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry; with, The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of Her Daughters, edited by Barry Weller et al., University of California Press, pp. 183-75.
275

Biography

After 1620 (the same year in which, after eighteen years as Lady Cary, she became Lady or Viscountess Falkland) she signed herself with her chosen religious name.
Maule, Jeremy. “Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland”. Editing Women Conference, Toronto, ON.

Birth and Family

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