Widower? I Barely Know 'Er! The Life, Times, and Numerous Wives of Philip Stanhope

Hello everyone, and welcome back! It is now week 5, the point in the semester when I have to start chanting "I'm not behind, I'm not behind, I'm not behind...". Before you ask, yes the spreadsheet is going well! I'll definitely have the court of Catherine Braganza finished by mid-October....I will. I swear. Will I have to stay up very very late sometimes in order to make that happen? Possibly... but as far as anyone else knows I'm right on schedule!

Anyway, this week I tried to change it up a bit. Though I've had a riveting time learning about King Charles II's many, many...many mistresses, I wanted to try something different this week, so, I would like to introduce you all to Philip Stanhope, 2nd earl of Chesterfield.

Philip Stanhope was born in the parish of St. Mary Cray in Kent in 1633, the oldest son of Lord Henry Stanhope and his wife Katherine Stanhope. His father died in 1634 just as Philip was surviving an attack of smallpox. In 1641 his mother married another man named John Poliander Kirkhoven, lord of Haemfleet in the Netherlands. I can't confirm that she married him because he had the best name ever, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was why. As a result of this marriage, he spent the next few years in the Netherlands, educated by Kirkhoven's father who was a professor of divinity at Leiden. He later studied at the prince of Orange's college at Breda. He then went to Paris where he attended Monsieur de Veau's academy, though he left after participating in a duel. In November 1650 he left Paris for Rome. He was in Rome by April 1651 but then went on to visit Naples, Venice, and Milan as well.

Stanhope returned to England by 1652, and eventually married a woman by the name of Lady Anne Percy, eldest daughter of Algernon Percy, tenth earl of Northumberland. Unfortunately, she died of smallpox on November 29, 1654 just eight days after their son was born. The son only survived for three weeks afterwards. While in mourning, Stanhope traveled to France in June 1655 and then on to Rome once more. He returned to England when his grandfather died in September 1656 and there was an attempt by his uncle to seize his estate for debt.Sometime after, Oliver Cromwell tried to convince Chesterfield to marry one of his daughters and offered him a military command position. Chesterfield, however, refused. Though there was another proposed match with a daughter of Lord Fairfax, this was called off since at the time he had been engaged in affairs with two women, Lady Elizabeth Howard and....wait for it.....Barbara Villiers herself, or as she would eventually be named, Lady Castlemaine. She really did get around.

Just as Lady Castlemaine had a capacity for being a mistress, it seems that Philip Stanhope had a capacity for duels. He and a man named Lord St. John were arrested in February of 1658 to prevent an intended duel. On June of that same year Chesterfield was held in the Tower of London, after a duel with a man named Captain Whalley MP. Though Chesterfield was involved in royalist plots, he was seen as far too engaged with his mistresses to be any sort of threat. Either way, he still had to flee the country following the death of Francis Wolley, a man he had killed in a duel on January 17, 1660 over the price of a mare. I mean...it's understandable. I know that if someone tries to dupe me about the price of a mare my first instinct is to kill him or her.

Though he was forced to leave, he was able to eventually receive a pardon from Charles II at Breda and joined the King on his journey back into England. In September of 1660, Chesterfield married Lady Elizabeth Butler. They had a daughter, and a son who died as an infant. On February 24, 1662 Chesterfield joined the court of Queen Catherine Braganza as lord chamberlain, which is a senior officer position that oversees the departments of the kingdom while giving advice and support. Though he was a court supporter, he had some difficulty in parliament, as the duke of York apparently was in love with his wife. As a response to this, Chesterfield had her taken away to Derbyshire, resigning from the court in 1665.

Poor Chesterfield couldn't catch a break. His wife died of "spotted fever" in July 1665. Though Chesterfield also contracted the disease, he was able to recover. On June 13, 1667, Chesterfield became the colonel of a foot regiment, which was to be raised for active service. However, it was disbanded following the treaty of Breda, a treaty which brought an end to the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1669, he married Lady Elizabeth Dormer soon after he was made a DCL by the duke of Ormond, the father of his former wife. He had two sons and two daughters with Dormer and on March 1670 he was named steward of the honour of Tutbury. As a result, most of 1670 was spent attending to his house gardens at Bretby in Derbyshire.

In 1672, Chesterfield opposed the declaration of indulgence, which was Charles II's attempt to extend religious liberty to Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics. On November 22, 1675 he voted for an address to Charles II to dissolve parliament as a result. Shortly before October 1677, however, Chesterfield's current wife died a week after miscarriage. The death of his third wife left him in a depressive state during 1678, causing him to stay  in his chamber for six months. However, he eventually returned to the court by 1679. In December of that same year he replaced the duke of Monmouth as chief justice in eyre south of the Trent. He also voted on November 15, 1680 against the Exclusion Bill, which sought to exclude the King's brother James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland since he was Catholic. On January 26, 1681 he was sworn a member of the privy council and attended the third Exclusion Parliament in March. On November 6, 1682, he succeeded the earl of Mulgrave as colonel of the 3rd regiment of foot guards, though he would resign this position later on.

After Charles' death, Chesterfield acted as lord sewer at James II's coronation but resigned as chief justice in eyre in October 1685 as a result of his ill health. In 1688 he was approached by the earl of Danby who asked him to join in the Orangist conspiracy, but he refused. However, he did not reveal this plot to King James II either. He joined the forces in the midlands following the invasion, prompted by a desire to guard Princess Anne, who was residing in Nottingham. He proved his loyalty to the king, refusing to join a council of war and refusing an association to destroy all papists in England if the prince of Orange was killed. In mid-December, he returned to Bretby.

Chesterfield always remained loyal to James II, voting against declaring William and Mary as king and queen in 1689 and against agreeing with Commons that James II had abdicated, leaving the throne vacant for William. He refused all offers of employment by William III and remained a Tory opponent of the court. He supported his Tory son-in-law Thomas Coke in Derbyshire elections in 1701-1702 and waited on Queen Anne shortly after her accession. When he retired, he divided his time between London and Bretby. Chesterfield eventually died on January 28, 1714 in Nottinghamshire. His son Philip Stanhope succeeded him as third earl of Chesterfield.


I found Chesterfield's story to be an interesting, yet very sad one. I cannot imagine losing half of one' s family to disease, and reading about death after death of his wives was quite depressing. Despite being surrounded by so much death, he was still able to have a pretty successful political life it seems. In fact, he never seemed to stay still! Not to mention the fact that he participated in so many duels. I honestly think this guy was lucky to have lived for as long as he did. What I found especially interesting was his loyalty to King James II. I wonder what this loyalty stems from, as he didn't seem to have extremely strong connections to the court. Perhaps he felt as though he would be betraying Charles II by supporting the man who overthrew his brother. Maybe he just saw William overthrowing James as morally wrong. Whatever the case, I found his loyalty to be quite respectful. He was a man of principle, at least in that case.

 I'm also very interested in the kind of power he possessed. One would think that men had more power than women during this time. If I asked anyone who had more power, a lord or a mistress in the 1600s, I'm sure many would say lord. Yet, he didn't have nearly the power that Lady Castlemaine or the Duchess of Portsmouth had at several points in their lives. Does this mean that gender was not as great of a factor in power as I had previously assumed? Was status and how close one was to the king the most important factor in the end? This is something I am definitely interested in exploring as I continue to record the biographies of these men and women.


Stuart Handley, ‘Stanhope, Philip, second earl of Chesterfield (1633–1714)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26253, accessed 28 Sept 2016]

Mistress Mayhem: The Story of Louise Renee de Penancoet de Keroualle

Hello everyone, and welcome back! I know you're all dying to know how my spreadsheets are faring. Well, I'm happy to inform you that it is going...exactly the same! I'm still entering in those names and dates like no other. It actually excites me when I find that someone left the Queen's court through death instead of removal. It breaks the monotony a bit, since about 90% of these people seem to have been removed. How boring.

Anyway, this week I decided to keep up with the trend of telling you guys about important women in the court. I promise that next week I'll try to shake things up a bit, but for now, I'd like to tell you all about Louise Renee de Penancoet de Keroualle.

Keroualle was born in September 1649 at the Manoir de Keroualle in Brittany, France. She was the second child of Guillaume de Penancoet, count de Keroualle. Around the year 1668, she was appointed as maid of honour to Henriette-Anne, Charles II's sister. However, after Henriette-Anne's death, she was taken into the service of Catherine of Braganza, a job that put her directly under the eye of Charles II. 

Unsurprisingly, after about a year, Louise became Charles II's mistress. Apparently, this was arranged by Lord Arlington and the French ambassador, though for what purpose I am unsure. Ten months later, on July 29, 1672 Louise gave birth to her only son by the king, Charles. Not long after, she became the King's main mistress, promptly bumping Lady Castlemaine out of the way. As Charles II tended to do, he soon provided Louise with numerous titles. On August 29, 1673 she was created Baroness Petersfield, countess of Fareham, and duchess of Portsmouth. Her son was given the last name Lennox and he was subsequently created baron of Settrington, earl of March, and duke of Richmond on August 9, 1675. 

As the years went on, her pension from Charles II continued to increase until she collected an average of about 20,000 pounds a year. It is thought that she was perhaps the most expensive of Charles' mistresses. She was given her own apartments at Whitehall Castle, which slowly expanded until she had about 24 rooms. These became an important place for her at court, as she put on grand entertainments here. They were described by John Evelyn as "luxuriously furnished and with ten times the richness and glory beyond the Queene's". Her life wasn't all parties and fun, however. In 1674, Charles II passed on a sexually transmitted disease to Portsmouth, and she suffered quite terribly from it. It is thought to be the source of her constantly resurfacing ill health after. Not only that, but Nell Gwyn, the king's other mistress, constantly irritated Portsmouth and the arrival of the duchess of Mazarin in England was an even greater threat, as the king was quite attracted to her. There were rumors that she would soon be displaced altogether. Ironically, though she was a mistress herself, she complained to the king of his infidelities in December of 1676 and by 1677 she had regained her position as his main mistress. 

Portsmouth was more than just a mistress in some respects. She was involved in court politics as well. In 1673 she fell out with Lord Arlington, whose fortunes were declining, and turned her allegiances towards his rival Thomas Osborne, earl of Danby. She assisted his son to get a position in the King's bedchamber and supported Danby when she heard he had fallen out with the duke of York at Newmarket. Her progress within politics was watched by Louis XIV who hoped she would prove useful in promoting French interests. Though she annoyed Louis by advancing mademoiselle d'Elbeuf as a bride for the duke of York, she was still encouraged to ask Louis XIV for several positions for her French relations. She began to facilitate access to Charles II for the French ambassador in her apartments to report useful information to him. 

Through these accesses and the negotiations she made, she appeared to represent French interests. This, plus her Catholicism and her association with Danby did not attract good attention for her. In June 1678, she was criticized in the House of Commons by Henry Booth. Concerned for her position she broke ties with Danby by March 1679 and associated herself with Robert, earl of Sunderland, the new secretary of state. She was involved in his secret plans to invite William of Orange to England that summer and they both supported the duke of York over the duke of Monmouth that same year. However, this didn't prevent her from being frowned upon by other people. She was seen as a "common nuisance" when the earl of Shaftesbury entered information against the duke of York. So by August 1680, she turned against him to avoid losing her position. She even openly advocated the bill to exclude the duke of York from the throne in early October.  By 1681, once she began to cover her position, Portsmouth once again used her influence with the king, convincing him to reconcile with the duke of York, who had been sent to Scotland, asking him to allow his return. Portsmouth was very good at changing sides, depending on which would benefit her the most.

Things continued to look up for her from there. In 1682, Portsmouth's son was installed as a knight of the Garter and then as master of the horse. She also assumed her role as intermediary with the French ambassador, encouraging Charles on certain French policies and urging him to avoid war with them. She met Louis XIV with messages from Charles II, bought back her family estates of Keroualle and Mesnouales which her father had to sell, and undertook her role of politics with renewed enthusiasm. She supported certain cabinet appointments, exchanged letters with Louis, and aligned herself with the duke of York and his allies. Meanwhile, Charles II showed no sign of decreasing his esteem for his mistress. In November of 1684 her son was naturalized as a French subject so he might inherit the property she had there. Things seemed to be going fantastic for Portsmouth until February 5th, 1685 when Charles II died. 

After his death, her influence was instantly gone. Her son was removed as master of the horse and she returned to France in August 1685. After the revolution of 1688 she lost her pensions but was granted an annuity by Louis XIV. She lived in Paris in the 1690s, but in 1692 she secretly went to England to join William of Orange and to try to reclaim her pension. It was not reinstated, however, and she spent the remainder of her life trying to regain financial stability in France. She eventually founded a convent in the town of Aubigny, and she was often visited by her grandson, Charles Lennox, second duke of Richmond and his wife. She died in Paris on November 14, 1734 and her grandson inherited her property. 

Louise Renee de Penancoet de Keroualle led quite the lifestyle for a mistress. Like Lady Castlemaine, she used her position as the king's main mistress to not only influence certain job appointments, but to also enter into politics. I am once again surprised at how influential a mistress can be. I feel as though she and Lady Castlemaine both had influences that Queen Braganza never had. Though she was not accounted as great a beauty as Lady Castlemaine, her desire for pleasing others got her a long way. She was smart in choosing the side that would always benefit her the most, which is why she was able to maintain such a high status until the king's death. Her involvement in both England and  France made her a very significant player in English politics, and I can't help but feel confused at this. It makes me wonder, did any queen ever have more power than the king's mistresses? Was she just an odd case or was this the norm in the court? The power play between these women and important political characters is challenging my ideas of not only who was important during these times, but also who was really in control. Was it Charles or was it his mistresses?

  S. M. Wynne, ‘Kéroualle, Louise Renée de Penancoët de, suo jure duchess of Portsmouth and suo jure duchess of Aubigny in the French nobility (1649–1734)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15460, accessed 25 Sept 2016]

Lady Castlemaine: Mistress or Monarch?

Hello everyone, and welcome to week 3 of my riveting life of making spreadsheets! I'm finally starting to get the hang of it...I think. Now instead of finding a part of this list that confuses me every 5 names, I only get confused about something every 10 names! I definitely feel that requires a round of applause on my behalf.

I actually do find filling out the spreadsheets quite cathartic in a way. Not only that, but it amazes me how many strangely specific jobs there are in Queen Catherine Braganza's English household. From job titles such as Wardrobe Keeper's Man to Necessary Woman, it would appear that there is at least one person for even the most obscure jobs in this household. I don't even know what most of these people actually do, which makes it all the more intriguing. I mean, I'm assuming a Necessary Woman is pretty important judging from that title....

Anyway, last week I introduced all of you to the most important member of this household, Queen Catherine Braganza herself. I was a bit worried about who I could talk about this week since it's kind of hard to beat the queen. However, as I was going through the list of household members, I was shocked to see one of the names on there, Barbara Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine. The King's mistress was right there on the list! Perhaps it is in poor taste, but I am going to follow my post about Queen Catherine with one relating the life of her husband's prime mistresses, Lady Castlemaine.

Born in November 1640, Barbara was the only daughter of William Villiers, second Viscount Grandison and his wife, Mary. Though I can't be sure what type of role models she had or how she was raised, it seems as though Barbara only ever had one aspiration in life, which was to be someone's mistress. 

Barbara became the mistress of Philip Stanhope, second earl of Chesterfield, while living in London in around 1656. She would send him flirtatious little notes such as, "the joy I have of being with you the last night, has made me doe nothing but dream of you". With the ego she must have given men from these notes, no wonder Barbara was such a popular mistress. She continued this affair even after marrying Roger Palmer, second son of Sir James Palmer of Dorney Court, Buckinghamshire, in 1659. She eventually bore him a daughter, Anne, in 1661. Although her affair continued until 1660, it wasn't long before she became mistress to a much more important man than Philip Stanhope, King Charles II. 

Though it is not exactly known how she met Charles II, it is thought that their affair began about 2 or 3 weeks after his arrival in London in May 1660. By July of that same year, Barbara and her husband were living just across from the privy garden of Whitehall Palace. Diarist Samuel Pepys would note the music he could hear from the house, which was an entertainment put on for the King and his brother by Barbara herself. She and Charles II were definitely not subtle about their relationship. Determined to give her a title, Charles granted her husband Roger Palmer the title of Baron Limerick and earl of Castlemaine, thus making Barbara Lady Castlemaine in December, 1661. Continuing to ignore any notion of subtlety, in June 1662 Lady Castlemaine bore her and Charles II's first son whom she named...Charles. 

Not long after he was baptized, Barbara and her husband separated. This was apparently a result of him baptizing her son in a Catholic ceremony, though one wonders if that was really the ONLY reason. Meanwhile, Charles' new bride, Catherine of Braganza, arrived in May 1662. Obviously quite determined to keep her elevated place as the king's mistress, Castlemaine proposed her appointment of lady of the bedchamber to Catherine. Needless to say, Catherine did not take this so well, refusing to accept this appointment at first. However, with the backing of Charles, she got her appointment, despite the disapproval of the queen. Lady Castlemaine was definitely proud of her position in the household. She often appeared at court events, sometimes taking a leading part in them. She even formed an alliance with the court artist, Sir Peter Lely, who painted a series of portraits of her in several guises, including that of St. Catherine, which is seen as a direct jab at the queen. She was fantastic at self-promoting herself, and one has to admit that she had a lot of guts to go up against the queen so blatantly. 

In January 1663, there were rumors that Castlemaine was having an affair with the courtier Henry Jermyn, though this did not affect her position as royal mistress at the time.  Though she experienced rivals for the king's affections at times, such as a maid of honor named Frances Stewart, she continued to control most of the King's love life. Her second son, Henry Fitzroy, was born on September of 1663 and their daughter Charlotte in September 1664. Lady Castlemaine remained as gutsy as ever, seating herself in Charles' theater box and hosting magnificent dinners for Charles and other prominent characters such as the French Ambassador and his wife. She wasn't at all shy about her position as mistress. In fact, she seemed to use every chance she had to flaunt it. Her last child with the king was born George Fitzroy in December of 1665. Her children were one of her main advantages over Catherine, as the queen could not bear children. 

Castlemaine was also well known for her tactic of withdrawing from the court unless she got what she wanted. This is what led to her great involvement of several appointments such as Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, and Charles Berkeley, earl of Falmouth, who were eventually appointed secretary of state and keeper of the privy purse. This woman had a lot of control, seemingly much more than Queen Catherine even had. It helped that anyone who showed any sort of hostility towards Castlemaine was rebuked by the king, as she always tended to have his full support. If Catherine wanted certain people appointed to high positions, they were appointed. If she wanted them gone, they were gone. 

Castlemaine was also known to be courted by foreign ambassadors. Showing a willingness to work for the French interest, she began to pass information to Ambassador de Croissy about the attitudes of the king and his ministers. This was due to the upcoming Anglo-French treaty in 1669. She and the ambassador would give dinners in honor of each other and she even received a substantial gift from Louis XIV. She attended the state visit of the king's sister Henriette-Anne in 1670 when the treaty was secretly signed. In 1670 she was given several grants by the king including her appointment as duchess of Cleveland and countess of Southampton. She was also given several palace apartments and substantial pensions for life by the king. Castlemaine seemed set for life with so many titles, lands, and funds granted to her. However, her status began declining at court in 1670, affecting her ability to collect such pensions, as she was eventually owed around £23,000. 

The end of Castlemaine's reign finally came with the arrival of Louise de Kéroualle, duchess of Portsmouth, who became the new leading royal mistress. Castlemaine still retained some relations with the king as their children helped her to maintain some importance at court, and she was still quite wealthy. However, her control of the king was pretty much over. In 1673 she had resigned her place in the queen's bedchamber and in 1675 the duchess of Portsmouth's son by the king was created a duke before her own sons.

Finding herself in an eventual need of finances, Barbara took her daughters with her to be educated in Paris in 1678, hoping to find greater luck there. She later established several relationships in Paris, including one with the English ambassador, Ralph Montagu, and another man named Henri de Chatillon. However, she only stayed in France for about four years, returning to England in 1682. Upon her return, she was regarded as quite unimportant in the court as a result of the king's current mistress, duchess of Portsmouth.  In 1705 she married Robert Feilding, a former army captain. However, this turned out to be a bigamous marriage, as he had also recently married a woman named Mary Wadsworth. Once she was informed of such marital conditions by his first wife in 1706, she confronted him about it, only to be threatened by him with a gun. He was subsequently arrested and their marriage was annulled in May 1707. She lived her remaining years in Chiswick and died of dropsy (edema) on October 9, 1709. 

Lady Castlemaine is definitely an interesting woman of history. Though she was not the queen, she had more control over both Charles II and his royal court while she was his royal mistress. She was well known for being very beautiful and had a great brilliance for knowing how to self-promote herself in court. Lady Castlemaine was so bold she would even go up against the queen, flaunting her affair with Charles at every turn. She was honestly very impressive to me, as she must have had a lot of guts to do such things. Learning about her relationship with Charles actually surprised me as well. I was aware that the mistresses of kings lived quite the life of luxury, but I had never imagined they could have so much influence within the court. Neither her nor Charles ever seemed to be worried about hiding their relationship from the public. Meanwhile, poor Catherine had to sit in the background and watch this woman influence the court, in some ways more than she ever could. I never could have imagined that a mistress would have more power than the queen, but Lady Castlemaine appears to have proven me quite wrong. 

Wynne, S. M.. “Palmer , Barbara, countess of Castlemaine and suo jure duchess of Cleveland (bap. 1640, d. 1709).” S. M. Wynne In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed., edited by David Cannadine, January 2008. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28285 (accessed September 18, 2016).

Queen Catherine of Braganza: The Most Patient Queen to Probably Exist

Hi everyone! This week I've decided to write on an individual, who is arguably one of the most important people on this list. Queen Catherine of Braganza is the very woman whom all the rest of these people are working for. Without her, they could very well have no place in the Royal Court whatsoever! Also, what better way to start out this list than with their employer?

Catherine was born on November 25th 1638 in Alentejo, Portugal. She was the only surviving daughter of John de Braganca, eighth duke of Braganca. In 1640, a rebellion against the Spanish established John de Braganca on the Portuguese throne. Years later, he proposed a marriage between Catherine and Charles Stuart, prince of Wales. This proposal, however, was rejected. As for Catherine's childhood, it is said that she rarely ventured out of the castle. According to the English consul in Lisbon, "she hath hardly been ten times out of the palace in her life".

After her father's death, Catherine's mother once again proposed marriage between Catherine and Charles, who was now Charles the II. The English were more willing to listen this time, and negotiations were made by Catherine's godfather. Among these negotiations, Catherine was to have an income of 30,000 pounds and a private chapel in any palace she might reside, as she was a Roman Catholic. Catherine and Charles were married on May 21st at Portsmouth in both a secret Roman Catholic ceremony and a public Anglican one, since Protestantism was the reigning religion of the time. Charles was a little less than pleased with Catherine's appearance, reportedly saying they had brought him a bat instead of a woman. Others also said that she had protruding teeth "wronging her mouth" and was very short. Poor Catherine's only redeeming quality seemed to be her eyes, which were considered "angelic".  

It is said that the King admired Catherine's wit and was quite fond of her. She was described as full of piety and sweetness. However, such marital compatibility was not to last. It wasn't long before Charles decided to give his mistress, the Countess of Castlemaine, a bedchamber in Catherine's house. He even went as far as to cordially introduce the two, causing quite the scene when Catherine started bleeding from the nose and fainted. She went on to rebel against her husband's actions by arguing angrily with him against her stay and erasing the Countess’ name from the list of household servants presented to her.

Catherine didn't have much influence at court either, due to her failure to have children. Once speculation started to spread that she was infertile, there were rumors that Charles was going to divorce her as she would not be able to carry on the royal line. Catherine was able to become pregnant on several occasions, but they all ended in miscarriage. Despite her issues with her husband, she continued to fulfill her role as queen. Catherine accompanied Charles on his journeys outside London and was always praised as a gracious woman. Still, she began to fear her husband would demand divorce, as his friends and even parliament were trying to convince him to do so. However, Charles always refused, though he continued to flaunt his mistress, as usual.

The Popish Plot of 1678 threatened Catherine's position, as she and her household were under suspicion of involvement in a conspiracy to kill the king. It was thought to be revenge for her husband's infidelities and desire to bring Catholicism to the throne. She continued to protest her innocence, however, and said that her husband believed her innocent as well, although he was under considerable pressure to remove all Catholics from his presence. Meanwhile, Charles continued to reject requests from people, such as the earl of Shaftesbury, to divorce Catherine. As Catholicism became more unpopular, Catherine began to be publicly insulted when she would make her way to church.

Charles II became ill in the 1680's, eventually dying on February 6, 1685. Catherine remained faithfully by his bedside during the final days of his illness. Although it is said that she fell into a depression for some months after, she recovered and took an interest in her household once more. Under the reign of Charles’ successor, James II, Catherine was bound to live in England, though she wanted to return home to Portugal. On March 30, 1692 she finally left for Portugal and eventually settled in Bemposta near Lisbon in a new palace. In 1704 she became regent to Pedro II of Portugal due to his ill health and remained regent until her death on December 31, 1705. She was buried in the monastery at Belem near Lisbon.

I think it's easy to say that Catherine didn't have the easiest of lives. She was forced to watch as her husband courted his mistresses around her home and to also live with the knowledge that he had fathered bastard children. She also had to live in a society that was ever growing in their hatred of Catholics. However, she remained devout on both fronts. She was a loyal wife to a dishonest husband and continued with her piety and Catholic religion, even though she was in the midst of a kingdom that was very antagonistic against Catholics. For that, I found Catherine quite admirable. She still was able to thrive relatively well even though she lived in a foreign country for many years and her husband thought the poor woman looked like a bat.

Wynne, S. M.. “Catherine (1638–1705).” S. M. Wynne In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed., edited by David Cannadine, January 2008. http://www.oxforddnb.com.flagship.luc.edu/view/article/4894 (accessed September 11, 2016).

Week One: The Art of the Spreadsheet

Hey guys, my name is Jodie Casleton. I'm a junior studying History at Loyola University Chicago and this semester I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on The Database of Court Officers from 1660 to 1837. This is an online computer database which provides the career histories of every officer and servant of the English royal household during this time period.

Now hold on, before everyone scrambles to look up and read the long list of names provided on this database, I should state the reason I am even able to help work on this. It turns out that the original volumes, which provide chronological lists of the holders of household offices, are missing quite a few people. Actually, less than half of the positions were originally recorded...so that's where I come in! Dr. Bucholz, the organizer of this internship and one of the original compilers of the database, is providing me with very long lists of household members who were not previously recorded. I then record in an excel spreadsheet the names, job titles, start and end dates, and a few other details about each person listed.

Sounds riveting...right? I'll admit, the idea that I'm going to spend hours recording names and dates in a spreadsheet does feel a bit daunting. It could very easily become mind-numbing work and I may be ready to throw my computer out the window if I have to type in one more job titled Groom of the Privy Chamber. However, despite the potential monotony, I'm actually quite looking forward to this work as well. My area of interest in history is Early Modern Western Europe and the courts in particular, so I think it will be fun to explore all the different job titles that were given during this time period. I will also be doing my own separate research on about a dozen people on these lists, which will give me a more in depth look at the types of people who worked for the English royal household during this time period.

Although my duties for this internship appear simple in some ways, I am excited to see what skills I acquire through this project, and I look forward to updating you guys on the progress I'm making and what I learn along the way! I promise I won't just be posting weekly pictures of the excel spreadsheet that I'm working on.....probably....maybe....I mean, unless I'm just feeling particularly proud of my work that day.

Thanks for reading! Or, at the very least, scanning quickly through.