H oby, M argaret

Abstract

Lady Margaret Hoby (1571–1633) was the first known English woman diarist. She was baptized in 1571, the only daughter of Arthur Dakins (d.1592), gentleman, landowner, and justice of the peace of Linton in East Yorkshire, and his wife, Thomasine Gye (d.1613). At an early age, Margaret lived in the home of Henry Hastings, third earl of Huntingdon (1535–95), knight of the garter, and heir presumptive to the crown through his mother, Margaret Pole (née Plantagenet), eighth countess of Salisbury (1473–1541). With the support of Hastings, Hoby married advantageously and repeatedly. Her first marriage was to Walter Devereux (c.1569–91), the brother of Robert Devereux, the second earl of Essex (1565–1601), who was the infamous long‐time favourite of Queen Elizabeth I before being executed for treason. They married in 1588 or 1589, and he died in battle in 1591. Within weeks, she was courted by both Thomas Sidney (d.1595), brother of poet Sir Philip Sidney (1554–86), and Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby (1566–1644), son of Sir Thomas Hoby (1530–66), a famous English diplomat known now for his translation of Baldassare Castiglione's The courtier (1561). Margaret married Thomas Sidney in 1591. She was married to Sidney roughly a year longer than to her first husband when Sidney died, leaving her a widow once more. A deathbed request of Hastings made it impossible for her to refuse to marry the suitor who had come in second in 1591, Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby. In the years following their 1596 nuptials, Hoby's political influence among Puritans grew, as did his estate. He became a justice of the peace in Yorkshire and a member of parliament.