HATFIELD is entitled to high rank among the Stately Homes of England, whether we consider its architectural merits, its historical associations, or the picturesque attractions by which it is surrounded. Seven centuries have passed since Hatfield became a place of note; and the crown, the mitre, and the coronet have successively held sway over its destinies. Of its architectural glories, little now remains of a date anterior to that of James I., in whose reign the present noble house was built. A part, however, of the previous palace of Hatfield still exists, interesting as the home of the Princess Elizabeth, during the reign of her sister, Queen Mary. Nor was her residence here, though compulsory, a state of imprisonment and oppression, as some have said; for it is proved, from various records, that she met with considerate treatment, and lived in a state befitting her lofty rank and queenly prospects, till, on the death of Mary, she proceeded hence to take possession of the throne of England.
Hatfield House lies some twenty miles from London, in the county of Hertford, and is the seat of the most noble the Marquis of Salisbury—the representative of the grand old line of the Cecils. The history of the mansion is one of considerable interest, dating, as its name Hetfelle indicates, from Saxon times, and undergoing many changes under its royal and noble and ecclesiastical owners. It belonged to the Saxon kings until, in the reign of Edgar, it was given by that monarch to the monastery of St. Etheldreda, at Ely, which was founded in 673, destroyed in 870, and refounded in 970, and erected into a bishopric in 1108, in the reign of Henry I.
The Old Palace at Hatfield.
Thus Hatfield being attached to the new bishopric, and the manor becoming one of the many residences of the prelates, acquired, it is said, its appellation of “Bishop’s Hatfield.” Hatfield continued to be one of the palaces of the Bishops of Ely, and was occasionally used as a royal residence, until the reign of Henry VIII., when it was made over to the crown. “William de Hatfield, second son of Edward the Third, was born at the palace,” and at various times before it finally became vested in the crown, it was used and frequented by royalty. During the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. the young Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI., resided at this palace, and is variously stated to have been here and at Hertford when the news of the death of his father was conveyed to him, and when, consequently, his accession to the crown took place. In the fourth year of his reign the youthful monarch conveyed Hatfield to his sister, the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards Queen Elizabeth, and here she frequently resided. Indeed, the greater part of the troublous reign of Mary, the Princess passed at Hatfield, “with few privations and no personal hardships to endure,” but with much mental torture; for it must not be forgotten that she had been removed from Ashbridge to London and imprisoned in the Tower, for her supposed participation in Wyatt’s rebellion, and was then, under surveillance, permitted to retire to Hatfield. It was at Hatfield that Elizabeth, it is said, while seated under an oak, received the welcome intelligence of the death of her sister, “the bloody Queen” Mary, and on hearing the news she fell upon her knees, exclaiming in Latin, A Domino factum est istud, et est mirabile oralis nostris (“It is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes”), words which she adopted as a motto for her gold coinage, while on her silver issue she chose the somewhat similar one, Posui Deum adjutorem meum (“I have chosen God for my helper”). Thus Hatfield became identified with the coinage of the realm as well as with many of its rulers. The day following this event Elizabeth was waited upon at Hatfield by several noblemen of the late queen’s Council, whom she received very kindly, “but presently showed her decided preference for Sir William Cecil (afterwards Lord Burleigh)—the astute, the most politic Cecil—whom she instantly appointed principal Secretary of State.” On the 23rd of November the Queen removed from Hatfield with an escort of more than a thousand persons, and made her progress by slow degrees to Somerset House.
In 1587 Elizabeth had, it is recorded, been visited at Hatfield by Mary, whom she received with much state, and with great festivity, playing herself upon the virginals, to accompany a child who sang. It was at Hatfield, too, it is said, that Elizabeth received the proposals of marriage from the King of Sweden for his son Eric, which she turned to such profitable account with her sister by declaring that she would never listen to any overtures of this nature which had not previously received her Majesty’s sanction.
It does not appear that after her accession to the throne Queen Elizabeth ever resided at Hatfield, although she had previously been much attached to the place, and had kept up Christmas revels and Shrovetide and other festivities in a liberal manner. At one of these, Sir Thomas Pope, her guardian, made “for the Ladie Elizabeth, alle at his own costes, a greate and rich maskinge, in the great hall at Hatfielde, where the pageauntes were marvelously furnished” with “banket of sweete dishes,” “a suttletie in thirty spyce,” and wonderful garnishings, but for which “folliries” Sir Thomas got “snubbed” by his queen, who ordered these mummeries to cease.
