Elizabeth Hatton
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Hatton was the second wife of Sir William Hatton, the nephew and heir of Sir Christopher Hatton
(Lord Chancellor
of England during the reign of Elizabeth I).
After the death of William Hatton in 1597, and after a failed wooing by Francis Bacon
, Elizabeth Hatton married Edward Coke
. Elizabeth's often public disagreements with her second husband, together with her refusal to take his name, gave her a reputation as a troublesome woman. That reputation — along with a liberal dose of mistaken identity — led to the association of Elizabeth Hatton with the urban legend of Bleeding Heart Yard
.
The legend itself is a garbled version of a tale published as one of the Ingoldsby Legends by Richard Barham. The tale in question is called The House-Warming!!: A Legend Of Bleeding-Heart Yard.
In this version of the yarn, Sir Christopher Hatton has taken to wife a certain Alice Fanshawe, who is suspected of having made a deal with the Devil so that Sir Christopher might be a success at the court of Elizabeth I. Sir Christopher succeeds so well that he becomes Lord Chancellor, and the queen even goes so far as to force the bishop of Ely to give Sir Christopher the freehold of his London residence at Ely Place.
The housewarming party at the new Hatton residence is interrupted at midnight by the appearance of the Devil himself, who spirits away Lady Hatton.... All that can be found the next morning is "a LARGE HUMAN HEART!"
. She married Sir William Newport after the death of his first wife (Elizabeth Gawdy) and became Lady Elizabeth Hatton when her husband took on both the property and surname of his deceased uncle, Sir Christopher Hatton
.
On William's death in 1597, she married Sir Edward Coke
, but kept the Hatton name. They had a daughter, Frances Coke, whose forced marriage to the brother of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
, was a major factor in her parents' marital strife.
On Elizabeth's death in 1646, she was buried in the crypt at St. Andrew Guild Church in Holborn
.
Christopher Hatton
Sir Christopher Hatton was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England.-Early days:...
(Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
of England during the reign of Elizabeth I).
After the death of William Hatton in 1597, and after a failed wooing by Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
, Elizabeth Hatton married Edward Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
. Elizabeth's often public disagreements with her second husband, together with her refusal to take his name, gave her a reputation as a troublesome woman. That reputation — along with a liberal dose of mistaken identity — led to the association of Elizabeth Hatton with the urban legend of Bleeding Heart Yard
Bleeding Heart Yard
Bleeding Heart Yard is a cobbled courtyard off Greville Street in the Farringdon area of the City of London.Urban legend has it that the courtyard's name commemorates the murder of Lady Elizabeth Hatton, second wife of Sir William Hatton, whose family used to own the area...
.
Legend
The legend of Bleeding Heart Yard goes something like this....Elizabeth Hatton was a 17th century society beauty and daughter of Sir Christopher HattonChristopher HattonSir Christopher Hatton was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England.-Early days:...
. She was murdered in 1626, with her body being found on the morning of 27 January in what became known as Bleeding Heart YardBleeding Heart YardBleeding Heart Yard is a cobbled courtyard off Greville Street in the Farringdon area of the City of London.Urban legend has it that the courtyard's name commemorates the murder of Lady Elizabeth Hatton, second wife of Sir William Hatton, whose family used to own the area...
.
She had spent the evening of 26 January in the company of the Bishop of ElyBishop of ElyThe Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
at a ball in Hatton House. Later in the evening "Senor Gondomar", the SpanishSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
AmbassadorAmbassadorAn ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
, is reported to have arrived at the ball. He had one dance with Hatton and then they both disappeared into the night. The courtyard in which her body was found was located behind the stables of Hatton House.
When found, her body was described as having been "torn limb from limb" and with her heart "still pumping blood onto the cobblestones".
What lies behind the legend
The legend of Bleeding Heart Yard is a fiction cobbled together from a series of unrelated facts:- There was an illegitimate daughter of Sir Christopher Hatton named Elizabeth. She had an illegitimate daughter (also named Elizabeth) by Sir John Perrot (who may have been an illegitimate son of Henry VIIIHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
).
- "Hatton House" was originally part of Ely PlaceEly PlaceEly Place is a gated road at the southern tip of the London Borough of Camden in London, England. It is the location of the Old Mitre Tavern and is adjacent to Hatton Garden.-Origins:...
, the London residence of the Bishop of ElyBishop of ElyThe Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
. Elizabeth I compelled Bishop Richard CoxRichard Cox (bishop)Richard Cox was an English clergyman, who was Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Ely.-Biography:Cox was born of obscure parentage at Whaddon, Buckinghamshire, in 1499 or 1500....
to surrender the residence to Sir Christopher Hatton in 1581.
- Two different Christopher Hattons (both related to the original Sir Christopher) lived at about the same time as the supposed murder. The first (d. 1619) was married to Alice Fanshawe (of whom, see more below); the second (1605-1670) was married to Elizabeth Montague.
- Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de GondomarDiego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de GondomarDon Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar , was a Galician diplomat, the Spanish ambassador to England in 1613 to 1622 and afterwards, as a kind of ambassador emeritus, as Spain's leading expert on English affairs until his death...
("Senor Gondomar") was the Spanish ambassador at the court of James I of EnglandJames I of EnglandJames VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
in the periods 1613-1618 and 1619-1622 (and Elizabeth Hatton's neighbour for at least part of that time).
The legend itself is a garbled version of a tale published as one of the Ingoldsby Legends by Richard Barham. The tale in question is called The House-Warming!!: A Legend Of Bleeding-Heart Yard.
In this version of the yarn, Sir Christopher Hatton has taken to wife a certain Alice Fanshawe, who is suspected of having made a deal with the Devil so that Sir Christopher might be a success at the court of Elizabeth I. Sir Christopher succeeds so well that he becomes Lord Chancellor, and the queen even goes so far as to force the bishop of Ely to give Sir Christopher the freehold of his London residence at Ely Place.
The housewarming party at the new Hatton residence is interrupted at midnight by the appearance of the Devil himself, who spirits away Lady Hatton.... All that can be found the next morning is "a LARGE HUMAN HEART!"
The real Elizabeth Hatton
The reality is that Elizabeth Hatton was not murdered in Bleeding Heart Yard in 1626. Born Elizabeth Cecil sometime between 1574 and 1578, she was the daughter of Lord Burghley’s eldest son Thomas CecilThomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter
Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, KG , known as Lord Burghley from 1598 to 1605, was an English politician and soldier.-Life:...
. She married Sir William Newport after the death of his first wife (Elizabeth Gawdy) and became Lady Elizabeth Hatton when her husband took on both the property and surname of his deceased uncle, Sir Christopher Hatton
Christopher Hatton
Sir Christopher Hatton was an English politician, Lord Chancellor of England and a favourite of Elizabeth I of England.-Early days:...
.
On William's death in 1597, she married Sir Edward Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
, but kept the Hatton name. They had a daughter, Frances Coke, whose forced marriage to the brother of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
, was a major factor in her parents' marital strife.
On Elizabeth's death in 1646, she was buried in the crypt at St. Andrew Guild Church in Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
.
Confusion of personalities
The identification of Elizabeth Hatton with the supposed victim of the horror of Bleeding Heart Yard is no doubt caused in part by the sheer number of Christopher Hattons and Lady Hattons (Elizabeth or otherwise) in the family tree, including:- Sir Christopher Hatton (1540-1591)
- His daughter Elizabeth
- Elizabeth Hatton, née Cecil, (d. 1646)
- Christopher Hatton (d. 1619)
- His wife Alice, née Fanshawe
- Their son, Christopher Hatton (1605-1670)
- His wife Elizabeth, née Montague (d. 1672)
Sources
- The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck: A Scandal of the XVIIth Century by Thomas Longueville (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1909). A document in the public domain, made available from Project Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15257.
- "The House-Warming!!: A Legend Of Bleeding-Heart Yard" from the Ingoldsby Legends by Richard Barham. A document in the public domain, available from the Ex-Classics Web site at http://www.exclassics.com/ingold/ing55.htm.
- A BBC News reporthttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1640690.stm (6 November 2001) on the exhumation of bodies, including that of Elizabeth Hatton, from St Andrew Guild Church, Holborn.
- The Romance of George Villiers by Philip Gibbs (Hutchinson & Co., 1930), pp. 59–65.