Mary Fitton

Mary Fitton
Portrait of Mary Fitton circa 1595
Born	June 1578 Gawsworth, Cheshire
Died	1647
Spouse(s)	William Polwhele (m. 1606–09) (widowed) John Lougher (m. 1612–36) (widowed)
Parent(s)	Sir Edward Fitton Alice Halcroft

Mary Fitton (or Fytton) (Baptised 24 June 1578 – 1647) was an Elizabethan gentlewoman who became a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth. She is noted for her scandalous affairs with William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Leveson, and others. She is considered by some to be the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Fitton was the daughter of Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth, Cheshire and Alice Halcroft. Her elder sister, Anne, married John Newdigate in 1587, at the age of fourteen. She also had two brothers. Richard, who died in 1610 and very little is known about him. The other brother has no record and is unknown.

About 1595 Mary Fitton became a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth. Her father recommended her to the care of Sir William Knollys, comptroller of the Queen's household. Sir William promised, "I will be as careful of her well doing as if I were her own true father." But Knollys, though fifty and already married, soon became suitor to Mary Fitton, in hope of the speedy death of the actual Lady Knollys. He wrote of his passion to her sister and even named Mary's niece, whom he was sponsoring as godfather, "Mary". His infatuation was well known and mocked in court.

In 1599, Mary had to quit the court because she was suffering from a mixture of physical and mental symptoms that Elizabethans called "suffocation of the mother", probably a form of hysteria. When she returned to court, she refused Knollys.

In June 1600 Mary led a dance in the masque celebrating the fashionable wedding of Lady Anne Russell, granddaughter of the Earl of Bedford, with Henry Somerset, later created Marquess of Worcester, at Lord Cobham's residence in Blackfriars. Led by Mary, the maids performed an allegorical dance and afterwards chose substitutes from the audience. Mary boldly chose the queen, telling her that she represented Affection (which then meant passionate love), to which the queen replied "Affection? Affection's false."