ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

   Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, the family home of Elizabeth Craven's ancestors, has been occupied by a succession of Berkeleys since before the Norman Conquest. Rarely however has it been governed by a woman. Anne, Lady Berkeley,  by Meister Drucke  The exception is Anne, Lady Berkeley, who in the reign of Henry VIII held it and controlled the large estates unaided. Not only that, but we are told that she acted as a judge and sat on the Bench. In The Percy Anecdotes we read:-" In the reign of Henry VIII. when during some family quarrels, Maurice Berkely, Nicholas Poyntz, and a riotous company of their servants, entered the park of Lady Anne Berkeley, at Yate, killed the deer, and set a hay-rick on fire, this lady repaired to court, and made her complaint. The king immediately granted her a special commission under the great seal to inquire, hear, and determine these riots and misdemeanors, and made her one of the commissioners and of the quorum. She the...

   The Berkeley family was always notorious for scandal and wild escapades. Elizabeth Craven's elder sister eloped when very young, and one of her aunts had done the same.    The most scandalous episode in the family history took place in 1682 during the Restoration period, when Lady Henrietta Berkeley, daughter of the first Earl of Berkeley, ran away with her sister's husband, Lord Grey. He was prosecuted for abduction by Lord Berkeley, despite the fact that Henrietta had consented to the flight. Lady Henrietta (Harriett) Berkeley From an original picture by Sir Godfrey Kneller, at Strawberry Hill.    This scandal left its mark on the literature of the period, as Aphra Behn borrowed elements of the story for her sensational novel,  Love Letters from a Nobleman to his Sister.    Ford, Lord Grey of Warke, w as a bold, irrepressible rake, mixed up in more than one risky enterprise. He took a leading part in the Monmouth Rebellion, and wherever...