Editing Bess of Hardwick (section)

==Origins==
Elizabeth Hardwick was the daughter of John Hardwick of [[Derbyshire]] by his wife Elizabeth Leeke, daughter of Thomas Leeke and Margaret Fox.<ref>[[Mary S. Lovell]]: ''Bess of Hardwick''</ref> Her exact birthdate is unknown, occurring in the period 1521 to 1527; that said, according to her witness statement under oath<ref>Public record Office, Kew; C1/1101</ref> at a court hearing in October 1546, in which she gives her age at the time of her first marriage in May 1543 as being "of tender years", i.e. less than 16, would indicate 1527. It cannot be later than 1527 because of the date of her father's death, given in his Inquisition Post Mortem.<ref>PRO:E/150/743/8</ref>

The Hardwicks had arrived in Derbyshire from Sussex by the mid-thirteenth century, and farmed land granted by Robert Savage, lord of the manor of Stainsby, on the north-east border of Derbyshire, looking over Nottinghamshire. By the mid-fifteenth century the family had risen to "gentleman-yeoman" stock, with an estate of a few hundred acres located mainly in the parish of [[Ault Hucknall]] in the manor of Stainsby. The Hardwick coat of arms of Hardwick was probably granted c. 1450 to William Hardwick. The blazon is: ''Argent, a saltier engrailed azure on a chief of the second three cinquefoils of the first''.<ref name="Burke's General Armory, 1884"/> When giving evidence of his right to arms in 1569, Bess's only brother, James Hardwick (1525-1580/1), provided the heralds with a pedigree of his family which began with this William, who died {{circa|1453}}.

James was the last surviving legitimate male member of the Hardwick family. The Hardwicks were members of the minor gentry of Scarsdale; no male member of the Hardwick family rose above the status of esquire or held any important local or county offices. Bess was born into this relatively minor gentry family. Her fourth marriage to the earl of Shrewsbury in 1567 elevated her to the rank of "countess", and following the earl's death in November 1590, Bess became one of the richest women in the kingdom. She set about building her greatest monument, [[Hardwick Hall|Hardwick New Hall]], which was completed in 1599.