Anne Sadleir

Anne Sadleir ( Coke; 1 March 1585 – ) of Standon, Hertfordshire was an English literary patron. She was born in Huntingfield, Suffolk, the eldest daughter of the prominent lawyer, Sir Edward Coke (1552 – 1634) and his first wife, Bridget Paston (d. 1598), daughter of John Paston of Norwich, Norfolk. In a poem about her early life she wrote that she was educated at Elsing, Norfolk. Life On 13 September 1601 "at the age of fifteen" she married Ralph Sadleir (1579 – 1661) of Standon, Hertfordshire, with a dowry of £3,000. The marriage took place at Burghley House in Lincolnshire, where the bride's father, then Elizabeth I's Attorney General, "furnished the feast with all magnificence" and the "plate given by friends to the bride was above £800." Ralph was the eldest son, and heir, of the wealthy landowner, Sir Thomas Sadleir (c. 1536 – 1607), lord of the manor of Standon, and his second wife, Gertrude, daughter of Robert Markham, of Cotham, Nottinghamshire. Sir Henry Chauncy, writing thirty years after his death, says he delighted in hunting and hawking and the pleasures of country life; was famous for his noble table, his great hospitality to his neighbours, and his abundant charity to the poor. Standon Lordship, the grand manor house where the couple lived after their marriage, was built for Ralph's grandfather, Sir Ralph Sadleir (1507–1587). An autograph poem about her early life appears in the smallest of her commonplace books (R.13.74):"Hunting-field gave me BirthEllsing EducationStandon brought AfflictionWhich made Heaven my Meditation"These lines are thought by some to imply that her childless marriage was not a happy one.