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What’s New: August 2024
This month’s update, introduced by Annalisa Nicholson, adds sixteen lives, with a special focus on noblewomen in Britain active from the reign of Elizabeth I to the end of the Napoleonic wars, tracing their networks and pursuits which spanned literature, philosophy, education, politics, music, architecture, and garden design: Mary Talbot, Frances Burgh, Marie Stewart, Elizabeth Harvey, Anne Lennard, Jane Martha Bentinck, Juliana Boyle, Elizabeth Montagu, Margaret Macdonald, Mary Gregory, Ann Fairfax, Margaret Heathcote, and Louisa Theodosia Jenkinson.
Featured
Mancini, Hortense (Ortensia), duchess of Mazarin (1646–1699)
Born in Rome into an élite dynasty, Hortense Mancini, duchess of Mazarin, fled France in 1668 to escape her domineering husband, and came to England in 1675 where she enjoyed the protection of Charles II. The Mazarin salon which she established at her home in the grounds of St James’s Palace became an important forum of Anglo-French cultural exchange.
