1806; subsequently they ruled as emperors of Austria
until 1918.
Further reading: I. A. A. Thompson, War and Govern-
ment in Habsburg Spain, 1560–1620 (London: Athlone
Press, 1976).
Hardwick, Elizabeth (Bess of Hardwick) (1527–1608)
English noblewoman famous for her architectural patronage
Following her first husband’s death (1544), she entered
court society, meeting Sir William Cavendish, whom she
married in 1547. They purchased land at Chatsworth,
Derbyshire, and from 1551 onward Bess, later with her
two subsequent husbands, built the first great house there.
A friend of Queen Elizabeth I, Bess also had close contact
with Mary, Queen of Scots, when the latter was in the cus-
tody of Bess’s fourth husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury, dur-
ing the 1570s; the two worked a number of surviving
embroidery hangings together. Returning to Hardwick
after her marriage to Shrewsbury broke down (1584), Bess
remodeled the now ruined Old Hall there (1587–91) be-
fore employing Robert SMYTHSONto build a magnificent
and innovative house alongside it, Hardwick New Hall,
where she lived from 1597 and on which she was still
working at her death.
Further reading: David N. Durant, Bess of Hardwick:
Portrait of an Elizabethan Dynast (New York: Hyperion,
1988; new ed. London: Peter Owen, 1999); Kate Hubbard,
Bess of Hardwick 1527–1608: A Material Girl (London:
Short Books, 2002).
Harington, Sir John (1561–1612) English courtier and
writer
Born to parents who had loyally served ELIZABETH Iduring
her perilous youth, Harington became the queen’s godson.
From 1582, after an education at Eton, Cambridge, and
the Inns of Court, he divided his energy between place-
seeking in London and beautifying his country estate of
Kelston, near Bath. His wit attracted attention, but also
landed him in trouble. After he had circulated around the
court his translation of an indecent episode from Ariosto’s
ORLANDO FURIOSO, the queen banished him from her pres-
ence until he had translated the whole poem. One of the
greatest Elizabethan translations, this was published in
1591.
In 1596 Harington was again in disgrace, this time
with his Metamorphosis of Ajax, an indelicate discourse on
water closets. More dangerous was his association with
the earl of Essex, who knighted him (1599) in the course
of his Irish expedition; on the failure of Essex’s rebellion
Harington managed to exonerate himself, but was unable
to win Elizabeth’s pardon for the earl. After James I’s ac-
cession, Harington obtained little further royal patronage.
His letters and other writings, giving an interesting insight
into Harington’s character and that of the late Elizabethan
court, were eventually published as Nugae antiquae
(1769).
Further reading: Jason Scott-Warren, Sir John Haring-
ton and the Book as Gift (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University
Press, 2001).Harriot, Thomas (1560–1621) English mathematician,
astronomer, and physicist
Born and educated at Oxford, Harriot accompanied Sir
Richard Grenville as a surveyor on his 1585 trip to Vir-
ginia and published his account of the expedition in A
Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia
(1588). Shortly afterwards he entered the service of the re-
markable ninth Earl of Northumberland, the socalled
“wizard Earl,” Henry Percy. From 1590 until his health
broke down in 1615, Harriot produced a number of im-
portant works, none of which was published until long
after his death. The first to appear, Artis analyticae praxis
ad æquationes algebraicas resolvendas (1631), revealed his
power as a mathematician. He also appears to have
worked out, at about the same time as KEPLER, that plan-
ets move in elliptical orbits and to have anticipated
GALILEO’s telescopic observations of the heavens and
Willebrord SNELL’s derivation of the law of refraction.Harvey, Gabriel (c. 1545–1630) English scholar and
literary critic
Harvey’s father was a prosperous ropemaker of Saffron
Walden, Essex, who sent his son to Cambridge, where
he became a fellow of Pembroke Hall (1570). There he
became friendly with SPENSER, who celebrated him as
“Hobbinol” in The Shepheardes Calender (1579) and cor-
responded with him on poetic topics. Part of their corre-
spondence was published in 1580 as Three proper and
wittie, familiar Letters, with a two-letter sequel; in one of
the former Harvey writes scathingly of THE FAERIE QUEENE,
a judgment for which posterity has mercilessly ridiculed
him. Harvey claimed for himself the title “father of the
English hexameter” and tried to introduce classical meters
into English verse. His vanity, pedantry, and quick temper
won him many enemies both inside the university and be-
yond, although his outstanding abilities were also widely
recognized. In the early 1590s he was drawn into a vitu-
perative pamphlet controversy with Robert GREENEand
Thomas NASHE, which was eventually (1599) stopped by
official decree and confiscation of Nashe’s and Harvey’s of-
fending works. Thwarted in his attempts (1585, 1598) to
become master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Harvey retired
to his home town, where he died.Harvey, William (1578–1657) English physician and
anatomist, who discovered the circulation of the blood
After studying medicine at Cambridge University he con-
tinued his studies at the University of Padua under the
noted anatomist Girolamo FABRICIUS. Here he first recog-HHaarrvveeyy,, WWiilllliiaamm 223311