ABSTRACT
Anne Cliffor d (1590-1676 ) — Dowage r Countess o f Dorset , Pembroke , and Montgomery, Barones s Clifford , Westmorlan d an d Vesey , hereditar y hig h sheriff o f the count y o f Westmorland , an d Lad y o f the Hono r o f Skipto n i n Craven — spen t th e las t thirty-thre e o f her eighty-si x years a s a substantia l landowner i n th e countie s o f Westmorlan d an d Yorkshir e i n northwester n England and as the heiress to one of the grea t northern English dynasties of the Middle Ages (Fig . 12.1). 1 A n ardent architectura l patron and family historian, she restored an d inhabited six ancestral Norman castles (Appleby , Brougham, Brough, Pendragon , Skipton , an d Barden) , renovated numerou s churches , and erected public buildings and commemorative and funerary monuments . Thes e achievements o f he r ol d age , however , wer e hard-won . Upo n hi s deat h i n 1605, Clifford' s father , George , thir d Ear l o f Cumberland , disinherited her , despite th e jurisdiction o f an entai l (dating from th e reig n of Edward VI ) that protected femal e heir s an d despit e th e fac t tha t sh e wa s hi s onl y survivin g child.
