Elizabethan England Stately Home Essay

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Stately homes would have been built for an abundance of reasons, one being to inform passers-by and potential guests about the owner of the stately home as well as to highlight information about Elizabethan England as a whole. However, it may have been built to show the triumphant career of its owner as well as to demonstrate the way the rich fitted into society and the lifestyle of the opulent members of Elizabethan England.

It is said that stately homes show us about Elizabethan England as a whole. You could say that it does as we can gage the Elizabethan trends from stately homes (such as the influence of Italy) but it goes without saying that there was a huge difference in upper and lower classes within Elizabethan England. They …show more content…

It is important to mention that Bess’ marriages count as a career. This is because in Elizabethan England woman tried to marry up a social class and men married for money, because of this I think marriage was a rather strategic move for a woman in Elizabethan England. As for Bess in particular married 4 times (Robert Barlow, William Cavendish of Chatsworth (Sir), William St. Loe of Tormarton, George Talbot 6° E. Shrewsbury) This lead her to move from the daughter of a simple gentleman to the most wealthy and powerful woman in England (bar the queen). So, how is this level of success displayed by Hardwick Hall? Firstly, the coat of arms is clearly displayed. This immidietly shows wealth and power as the family who’s COA it is was known for being rich. Secondly, the long gallery. The long gallery would have included painting of QE herself, demonstrating how close to the queen she was (and in turn placing herself in a very favourable position in the web of patronage). The long gallery also needed a lot of natural light which was provived by the enormas (for that time) amount of glass used. Lastely, her chairs were slightly raised, this was a way of her puting herself above all visitrs to Hardwick Hall litteraly and

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