Lady Arbella Stuart

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LAS , writing in the dangerous years of the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth century, was a remarkable letter-writer and also a poet.
Black and white photo of a half-length oval painting of Lady Arbella Stuart perhaps by Robert Peake the elder. Facing forward in a stiff pose, she wears a dark bodice with white bead detail around the waist and down the front, and white lace collar surrounding a white ruff. She has a little dog tucked under her left arm; her right hand holds an ornate lidded watch, to signify that time is fleeting and life short. Her dark chestnut hair, brushed back, has a black cap on top and decoration hanging along her f

Milestones

Probably October 1575

LAS was born, under the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth . Her most likely birthplace is Lennox House in Hackney (now part of London).
Stuart, Lady Arbella. “Introduction and Textual Introduction”. The Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart, edited by Sara Jayne Steen et al., Oxford University Press, pp. 1-113.
14
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

8 February 1588

LAS wrote her earliest extant letter, to her Good Lady GrandmotherBess of Hardwick .
Stuart, Lady Arbella. The Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart. Editor Steen, Sara Jayne, Oxford University Press.
119

By early May 1611

The latest surviving letter-writing by LAS consists of several overlapping drafts of a petition she addressed to James I , begging him not to believe malicious rumours against her.
Stuart, Lady Arbella. The Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart. Editor Steen, Sara Jayne, Oxford University Press.
263-6

25 September 1615

LAS died a prisoner in the Tower of London; a postmortem found she died of malnutrition (self-induced) and liver failure.
Stuart, Lady Arbella. “Introduction and Textual Introduction”. The Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart, edited by Sara Jayne Steen et al., Oxford University Press, pp. 1-113.
96-7

Biography

Birth and Family

Probably October 1575

LAS was born, under the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth . Her most likely birthplace is Lennox House in Hackney (now part of London).
Stuart, Lady Arbella. “Introduction and Textual Introduction”. The Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart, edited by Sara Jayne Steen et al., Oxford University Press, pp. 1-113.
14
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

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