Katherine Knyvet,Countess of Suffolk, was born around 1564 and was the oldest child of Sir Henry Knyvet and his wife Elizabeth Stumpe. Early in her life, she married Richard Rich who died sometime before 1581. She then married Sir Thomas Howard, who twenty years later was named the Earl of Suffolk. She bore twelve children including Theophilis Howard, a successful courtier who was interested in expansion into the new world, until his final ruin due to his excessive gambling and his father’s fall from favor with the king. Elizabeth had a second well known child, Frances Howard. Francis married the Earl of Essex in order to consolidate the Howard family’s power. Her husband was impotent so she sued for an annulment. The Earl fought this annulment in order to save his reputation. After a lengthy contest and much debate, the marriage set to be terminated. Francis wished to marry a man named Robert Carr, which was opposed by Sir Thomas Overbury. She poisoned Overbury and was caught, tried, and her life was spared after her confession. She retired with her husband Carr in obscurity after serving time in the Tower of London

Katherine was known to be very beautiful in her younger years. She was also considered a woman of loose morals. During her time at court, she had many suitors and a string of alleged love affairs. She even used the position her husband achieved in the government to extort kickbacks from these suitors. In the year of 1619, at the age of 55, she was the victim of an attack of small pox that robbed her of the beauty for which she was infamous

Katherine gained a place in Queen Elizabeth’s bedchamber and the title of Keeper of the Jewels in 1599. This honor went further as she was also granted authority over the lodgings where Queen Anne gave birth to the princess. In fact, Katherine was in such a position of high esteem within the court, she would have been given the honor of godmother to Princess Sophia born of Queen Anne if the child had not perished She danced in two of the queen’s masques, one of which was written by Ben Johnson, titled The Masque of Blackness. King James wanted the actors to look African so the actors painted their faces black.

Katherine strived with some success to gain rank in court and proved utterly corrupt. She served as a liaison between Spain and Salisbury, and demanded bribes for doing so. Sir Thomas Howard was appointed Lord Treasurer, which allowed Katherine more opportunity for financial gain through corruption. Many of the details of her corruption came out in the Suffolk’s trial in 1619, where Sir John Finet alleged, “to be spared a bond of £500’ a citizen gave £83 and a sable muff to the countess”

The Countess was ultimately caught and, as a result of her treachery, she and her family were banned from court. Peers generally sympathized with Sir Thomas for being caught in her web of corruption, and she endured the blunt of the blame for the Howard’s fall from grace. After being expelled from court, Katherine continued to write letters on behalf of others seeking court positions

Katherine died in 1638, leaving her second son Thomas, the Wiltshire estates that had passed on to her after her father’s death. Lady Suffolk and her daughter, Frances, are remembered for being two of the most notorious villains in the Jacobean court. Ameilia Lanyer chose to dedicate Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum to the woman described above.

WORKS CITED

Goucher, “Ameilia Lanyer, Salve Deus Rex Judæorum (1610/11) Dedicatory Poems.” No
publication. No date. accessed 11 Oct 2011

Payne, Helen. “Howard , Katherine, countess of Suffolk (b. in or after 1564, d. 1638)”, Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2008 accessed 10 Oct 2011

Woods, Susanne., ed. The Poems of Aemilia Lanyer: Salve Dues Rex Judaeorum. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1993.