Charles Cavendish (1553–1617)

Charles Cavendish (1553–1617) was an English landowner.

He was a son of Bess of Hardwick and William Cavendish (1505-1557).[1]

Bothal Castle, the Northumberland home of Charles Cavendish
Bolsover Castle which Cavendish commenced rebuilding in 1613

In July 1582 he had some involvement with Mary, Queen of Scots, who declined his request.[2] He was knighted in 1583.

Charles Cavendish wrote to his mother in 1587 describing life at court in London, the reception of Arbella Stuart, and building projects including work at Theobalds which he compared to Chatsworth.[3][4]

The musician and composer John Wilbye dedicated The First Set of English Madrigals (London, 1598) to Cavendish who had married Margaret Kitson, a daughter of his patrons, the Kitsons of Hengrave. Wilbye commended Cavendish's skills as a musician. Wilbye dedicated the Second Set to Arbella Stuart.[5]

Cavendish had a feud with the Stanhope family and in November 1599 was shot in the backside while visiting Kirkby Hardwick, where he was repairing and extending the mansion.[6][7][8] The house, also known as Sutton Hardwick, was finally demolished by the Coal Board in 1966. The site is close to Sutton Parkway railway station.

He acquired Bolsover Castle and Welbeck Abbey from Gilbert Talbot in 1613.[9] His accounts survive for building the early stages of the "Little Castle" at Bolsover.[10] Unusually for this period female labour was recorded and the women's names or their husband's names are given.[11] A design for the hall chimney, probably by John Smythson, drew on the publish work of Sebastiano Serlio.[12]

Cavendish discussed his buildings with Gilbert Talbot, now Earl of Shrewsbury, and Mary, Countess of Shrewsbury, his sister, and sent them drawings that he developed after discussions with Lord Lumley's "inventor" or architect.[13] The "inventor" provided Italianate designs with a hall and a small dining room called a "tenelli". The "tenelli" was unsuitable for an English earl, but fitting, said Cavendish, for an Italian gentleman who keeps only a pair of servants and eats only "salads and frogs, that yield little vapour."[14]

He, or his brother William Cavendish welcomed King James at Bothal Castle on 5 May 1617. The king stayed for two nights, then went on to Alnwick Abbey, the home of Francis Brandling, on his way to Scotland.[15]

Charles Cavendish died in 1617 and was buried at Bolsover.[16] His son built the monument to his parents in St Mary and St Laurence's Church, Bolsover.

Marriages and family

His first wife was Margaret Kitson, a daughter of Thomas Kitson and Margaret Donnington. She died in childbirth in 1583. Bess of Hardwick had negotiated the marriage in 1581 via her son son-in-law Gilbert Talbot who held discussions with Sir Thomas Cornwallis on details of the contract, instructed by letters from Bess.[17]

He married Catherine Ogle (d. 1627), daughter of Cuthbert, 7th Lord Ogle in 1592. She was the heiress and brought Bothal Castle to Cavendish. Their children included:

References
  1. 'Cavendish, Sir Charles (1553-1617)', History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
  2. Bess of Hardwick's Letters, Letter ID: 147, July 1582
  3. Alison Wiggins, Bess of Hardwick's Letters: Language, Materiality and Early Modern Epistolary Culture (Routledge, 2017), pp. 86-7.
  4. Bess of Hardwick's Letters, Letter ID: 209
  5. David C. Price, Patrons and Musicians of the English Renaissance (Cambridge, 1981), p. 81.
  6. 'Cavendish, Sir Charles (1553-1617)', History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
  7. Mark Girouard, Robert Smythson & the Elizabethan Country House (London, 1983), pp. 175, 231.
  8. Lucy Worsley, Cavalier: The Story of a Seventeenth-century Playboy (London, 2007), pp. 33-4.
  9. Mark Girouard, Robert Smythson & the Elizabethan Country House (London, 1983), p. 231.
  10. Mark Girouard, Robert Smythson & the Elizabethan Country House (London, 1983), p. 234.
  11. Douglas Knoop & Gwilyn Peredur Jones, 'The Bolsover Castle Building Account, 1613', Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, 49:1 (London 1936), pp. 15-6
  12. Mark Girouard, Elizabethan Architecture (Yale, 2009), p. 452.
  13. HMC Salisbury Hatfield, 19 (London, 1965), pp. 120-1
  14. M. S. Giuseppi & David McN. Lockie, HMC Salisbury Hatfield, 19 (London, 1965), p. 121.
  15. John Nichols, Progresses of James the first, vol. 3 (London, 1828), p. 297.
  16. 'Cavendish, Sir Charles (1553-1617)', History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
  17. Alison Wiggins, Bess of Hardwick's Letters: Language, Materiality and Early Modern Epistolary Culture (Routledge, 2017), pp. 161-4.
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