Mary Sidney

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Mary Sidney Herbert (27 October 1561–1621), Countess of Pembroke, was one of the first English women to achieve a significant reputation for her literary works, translations and patronage.

She was a daughter of Sir Henry Sidney and Lady Mary Dudley. Her mother was the daughter of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and the sister of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.

Mary was also sister to the poet, courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney and she appears to have been devoted to him. At the time of his death in 1586, Philip was engaged in preparing a new English version of the Book of Psalms, and had completed 43 of the 150 psalms. Mary took on the task of completing the work, including revising Philip's versions, and a copy of the completed book was presented to Elizabeth I of England in 1599. The complete work is usually referred to as "The Sidney Psalms" or "The Sidneian Psalms", and is regarded as an important influence on the development of English poetry in the early 16th century. John Donne wrote a poem in celebration of them. They were made from previous English translations rather than the original Hebrew text, and are therefore properly called metaphrases rather than translations. Like Philip's, Mary's versions use a wide variety of poetic forms and display a vivid imagination and vigorous phrasing. Commentators have noted the influence of Calvinism, both in the text (which sometimes recalls the 1560 Geneva Bible) and in the ideas expressed.

In 1577 Mary married Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke; they had four children. They lived at Wilton House in Wiltshire, which she made a salon-like centre of literary culture, known as The Wilton Circle. The Earl died in 1600, and after his death Mary played a large part in managing the estate. She died of smallpox.

A theory has been proposed by American author Robin Williams^[link] (not the actor), that Mary Sidney was in fact William Shakespeare. According to Williams^[link], Mary Sidney had the motive, means and opportunity to write the plays. This is among many alternative theories of Shakespearean authorship.

References

Mary Sidney and Sir Philip Sidney, The Sidney Psalms. Edited by R. E. Pritchard. Carcanet, Manchester, 1992.
Underwood, Anne, "Was the Bard a woman?". Newsweek, 2005.

External Links

[Luminarium: Mary (Sidney) Herbert] Life, works, essays

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