Anne Clifford (1590 - 1676). Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, suo jure 14th Baroness de Clifford was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became suo jure 14th Baroness de Clifford. She was a patron of literature and as evidenced by her diary and many letters was a literary personage in her own right. She held the hereditary office of High Sheriff of Westmorland which role she exercised from 1653 to 1676. Lady Anne was born on 30 January 1590 in Skipton Castle, and was baptised the following 22 February in Holy Trinity Church in Skipton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. She was the only surviving child and sole heiress of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland of Appleby Castle in Westmorland and of Skipton Castle, by his wife, Lady Margaret Russell, daughter of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford. Her childhood tutor was the poet Samuel Daniel. On the death of her father on 30 October 1605, she succeeded suo jure to the ancient title Baroness de Clifford, a barony created by writ in 1299, but her father's earldom passed as was usual, to the heir male, namely his younger brother Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland, to whom he had willed his estates. He had bequeathed to Anne the sum of E15,000. In her young adulthood she engaged in a long and complex legal battle to obtain the family estates, which had been granted by King Edward II under absolute cognatic primogeniture, instead of the E15,000 willed to her. Her main argument was that she was just 15 years old at the time. It was not until the death in 1643 without male progeny of Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland, the 4th Earl's only son, that Anne managed to regain the family estates, although she did not obtain possession until 1649. Her parents' marriage was soured by the deaths of Anne's two elder brothers before the ages of 5 and her parents lived apart for most of her childhood. The strain of the marriage was seen in the public realm as well, especially after the separation. Her father maintained an important position at the court of Elizabeth I, while her mother received no recognition in regards to her husband at court. As her parents were separated, her mother maintained a matriarchal position in her house, for the family was kept under her care. She was brought up in an almost entirely female household, evoked in Emilia Lanier's Description of Cookeham, and received an excellent education from her tutor, Samuel Daniel the poet. As a child she was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. She danced in masques with Queen Anne of Denmark, consort of King James I, and played the Nymph of the Air in Samuel Daniel's masque Tethys's Festival, and played roles in several of the early court masques by Ben Jonson, including The Masque of Beauty and The Masque of Queens. In April 1613 she joined Anne of Denmark's progress to Bath. Lady Anne married twice: Firstly on 27 February 1609 to Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset. Sackville's grandfather had arranged the marriage, writing in April 1607 to ask the courtier George More of Loseley to influence the Countess of Cumberland for the match with that virtuous young lady the Lady Anne. The old Earl of Dorset had to counter rumours against his family honour that he trumped negotiations for her hand from the heir to the Earl of Exeter. By her first husband Anne had five children, three sons who all died before adulthood and two daughters and co-heiresses: Lady Margaret Sackville, elder daughter, wife of John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet, by whom she had eleven children. The title Baron de Clifford thenceforth descended in the Tufton family. Lady Isabella Sackville, younger daughter, wife of James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton. Her children died without progeny, and her share of the Clifford maternal inheritance reverted to the Earls of Thanet, her sister's family. Secondly in 1630, as his second wife, she married Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery, KG, whose first wife, Lady Susan de Vere had died the year before. Both marriages were reportedly difficult; contemporaries cited Lady Anne's unyielding personality as a cause, whilst her cousin Edward Russell, 3rd Earl of Bedford, compared her to the River Rhone. A more sympathetic view might blame some of the troubles in her first marriage on her husband's extravagance and his infidelities. Her first husband was a prominent figure at court. Her disagreement with her husband over her inheritance claims proved another source of difficulty within their marriage. Lord Dorset believed she should settle the inheritance case rather than pursue through the courts.