Elizabeth Talbot 1581-1651

Elizabeth TALBOT GREY, Countess of Kent 1581-1651

Biographical Note

Daughter and coheir of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury. Possibly educated by the translator John Florio. She was active at court, becoming lady of the bedchamber to Anne of Denmark in 1617. She lived mostly at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire with her husband Henry Grey, Earl of Kent (d.1639). Their circle included Robert Cotton[[, [[associates::Thomas Carew and John Selden, to whom John Aubrey claimed in his Brief Lives she married following the Grey's death in date of death;:1639.

Books

Much of her property passed to John Selden, including books. Some, but not all of these went to the Bodleian Library.

Characteristic Markings

Books with her armorial stamp survive.

Sources

• Considine, John. "Grey, Elizabeth [née Lady Elizabeth Talbot], countess of Kent (1582–1651), literary patron and supposed author." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Hoare, P. (gen.ed.), The Cambridge history of libraries in Britain and Ireland. 3 vols. Cambridge, 2006, I 321.