Mary Sidney was highly educated by tutors, who included a female Italian teacher. Like her learned aunt
Jane Grey, she was educated in the Reformed humanist tradition. In the 16th century, noblewomen required a good understanding of theological issues and were taught to read original texts. Mary was also schooled in poetry, music, French, the Classics, possibly in
Hebrew and
rhetoric, in needlework and practical medicine. She later translated
Petrarch's "Triumph of Death" and many other European works. She had a keen interest in chemistry and set up a chemistry laboratory at
Wilton House, run by
Walter Raleigh's half-brother. She turned Wilton into a "paradise for poets", known as "
The Wilton Circle" which included
Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, Sir John Davies and
Samuel Daniel, a salon-type literary group sustained by the Countess's hospitality. Her aim was to banish barbarism (an aim she shared with
John Florio), by strengthening and classicising the English language and also by practising "true religion", which, in her view, combined Calvinism, devotion to
Christ and acts of charity. She propagated Italian culture and literature. She was herself a
Calvinist theologian. Her public persona (at least) was pious, virtuous and learned. She was celebrated for her singing of the
psalms, her warmth, charm and beauty. In private, she was witty and, some reported, flirtatious. She ran safehouses for French reformed refugees.
Mary Sidney was younger sister and disciple to the poet, courtier and soldier
Sir Philip Sidney who was for some time, the heir of both
Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick and
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, brothers to
Guildford Dudley, husband of the
Lady Jane Grey, who were regarded as Reformed martyrs, not just by the Dudley family, but by the reformed Protestant party.
Philip Sidney was being prepared to be leader of the Protestant party at Court and supported the founding of a Protestant "empire" which would include the New World (North America) to counterbalance the threat of Catholic and Spanish domination. Mary Sidney financially supported the explorations of
Frobisher. Her son
William Herbert was a funder and supporter of New World explorations: there is a river in the US named after Pembroke.
After the death of her sister Ambrosia, the Countess appears to have been devoted to her brother
Sir Philip Sidney. Mary was a natural cultural catalyst. She had a gift of inspiring creativity in all those around her, including her circle, relatives and servants. Philip wrote much of his "Arcadia" in her presence.
Philip Sidney was engaged in preparing a new English version of the Book of
Psalms (because the translations under
Edward VI were deficient). He had completed 43 of the 150 Psalms at the time of his death during a military campaign against the Spanish in the
Netherlands in 1586.
Mary Sidney took on the task of amplifying and editing his "Arcadia" which was published as
The Countesse of Pembroke's Arcadia, one of the most widely read books for the next 300 years. She also finished Philip's translation of the Psalms (which are sung unaccompanied in Calvinist worship), composing Psalms 44-150 on her own poetry, using the 1560
Geneva Bible and commentaries by
John Calvin and
Theodore Beza. As a competent theologian, she was unafraid to disagree with Calvin on minor points. A copy of the completed book was presented to
Elizabeth I of England in 1599. This work is usually referred to as "
The Sidney Psalms" or "The Sidneian Psalms" and is regarded as an important influence on the development of English poetry in the late 16th and early 17th century.
John Donne wrote a poem in celebration of them. The Psalms were drawn from previous English translations rather than original Hebrew texts and are therefore properly called "metaphrases" rather than translations. Like Philip's, Mary Sidney's versions use a wide variety of poetic forms and display a vivid imagination and vigorous phrasing.
Mary's husband died in 1600. Thereafter she played a large part in managing Wilton and the other Pembroke estates, on behalf of her son, William, who entirely took over her role of literary patronage. After
James I visited her at Wilton in 1603 and was entertained by Shakespeare's company "The King's Men", Mary moved out of Wilton and rented a house in London. Though it is certain that the King's Men attended Wilton, whether
William Shakespeare was with them is uncertain. However, it is reported that there was at Wilton at one time, a letter in which the Mary Sidney urges her son to attend Wilton, as "we have the man Shakespeare with us". From 1609 to 1615 she lived at
Crosby Hall, now a private residence relocated to
Chelsea, London, but then located in the City of London. She may have secretly married her doctor, Sir Matthew Lister and she famously travelled to Spa on the Continent, where she relaxed by shooting pistols and played cards. She employed Italian architects to build a Bedfordshire country home with fine vistas, Houghton Hall, now in ruins, near
Milton Keynes), which
John Bunyan refers to in his works as the "House Beautiful".
She died of
smallpox at her house in
Aldersgate Street, London near the French Protestant Church and in the same street in which John Wesley was later converted in 1621, shortly after King James I visited her at Houghton Hall. After a grand funeral which celebrated her widely recognised literary achievements in
St Paul's Cathedral, her body was buried next to that of the Earl, under the steps leading to the choirstalls in
Salisbury Cathedral.
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