The fascinating life of Frances Jennings, elder sister of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, charting her marriages and changes of fortune, her exile and return, her ambition, political manoeuvring and sincere piety. Frances Jennings, elder sister of Sarah, duchess of Marlborough, had an interesting and eventful life, most notably as the influential wife of Richard Talbot, earl of Tyrconnell, Catholic viceroy of Ireland under James II. Born circa 1649 into a Hertfordshire gentry family, she was a noted beauty at the Restoration court. There, she met and married George Hamilton, a Catholic officer who, after 1667, served in Louis XIV's army. In Paris, Frances raised three daughters, converted to Catholicism, and became an active member of the English Catholic emigre community. Following Hamilton's death, she remarried to Richard Talbot. As vicereine of Ireland, Frances helped re-establish Catholic hegemony, assisting in the foundation of convents and re-consecration of Christ Church cathedral. During the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland (1689-91), Frances fled to James II's exiled court in France. In 1691, she received word that her husband, now Jacobite duke of Tyrconnell, had died. Attainted for high treason, she used the Marlboroughs' influence to recover her Irish estates. In 1708, she returned to Dublin, where she died in 1731. Highlighting Frances's political manoeuvrings, religious identity and deep family attachments, this book portrays a complex and contested figure, a woman who acted on multiple stages, in diverse roles, challenging expectations of rank, gender, and 'nationality' in unexpected ways.

About the Author
FRANCES NOLAN is an IRC Post-Doctoral Researcher in the Department of History at Maynooth University.

Reviews
The Jacobite Duchess has a tremendous depth of research [...], and this adds rich detail to the narrative. * FACHRS *
[A] significant contribution to the history of an individual life, and through it, the history of early modern England and Ireland. This thoroughly researched work takes a scholarly approach to the history and simultaneously remains a pleasure to read. -- BRITISH CATHOLIC HISTORY
Frances was a complicated and complex woman and Nolan does an excellent job of writing a non-hagiographic life. We need more histories of complex and difficult women and Nolan's book provides many ideas for how to do them. -- Amy M. Froide * Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies and Renaissance Quarterly *



Book Information
ISBN 9781783276141
Author Dr Frances Nolan
Format Hardback
Page Count 276
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Weight(grams) 1g