ABSTRACT
Maria Touchet (c.1578-1611 ), the daughter of Lord Audley, married Thomas Thynne, the heir to Longleat, on the day she first met him, 16 May 1594. They were both 16. Thomas's parents, Joan and John, had long regarded Maria's family on her mother's side (the Marvins) as bitter enemies, and when, a whole year later, they learned of the secret marriage, they were very angry and tried to have it declared invalid. It was not until 1601 that the validity of the union was affirmed, and even then Thomas's parents would not accept that their son and Maria were husband and wife. Nor were they ever reconciled with the Marvins. It has been suggested that the whole affair, which became well known, might have led Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet. In 1604 John died intestate. As eldest son, Thomas inherited Longleat, though not without a fierce legal battle with his mother. Maria bore three sons, and died in childbirth in 1611, when she was about 34. The following three letters were, of course, private documents between a wife and husband; the letters are especially interesting for their mixture of tones, as Maria constructs particular images of herself in the role of wife and Thomas in that of husband. See also 2: 1.
