By 1580, it was obvious that Queen Elizabeth I would have no children, and this focused attention on the Earl of Derby as a possible future king.

After his death in 1594, opinion in the matter of the succession began to favour King James VI of Scotland who, in 1603, indeed succeeded Elizabeth I.

[2] The Dowager Countess of Derby and her three daughters had access to an extensive network of highly influential people, including the royal court.

Lord Castlehaven was also more than ten years younger than his new wife, had previously shown Catholic sympathies and generally not behaved in the manner expected of a nobleman.

It was felt that Anne Stanley, who was connected to the most important and oldest noble families of England, had married beneath her.

The marriage was not a success and Lord Audley left Fonthill Gifford while his wife Elizabeth continued to live there.

Should Elizabeth become pregnant by Skipwith, Castlehaven planned to make this child his heir, thus depriving his own son of his inheritance.

When questioned about this, Anne Stanley testified that soon after their marriage, Castlehaven had declared that as a husband he had absolute control over his wife's body, and that she was obliged to do whatever he demanded.

[5] The inhabitants of Fonthill Gifford told the Privy Council's investigators that Lord Castlehaven had sexual relations with both male and female staff, including the footman Lawrence Fitzpatrick, and that he was a voyeur.

Anne Stanley's account of the rape and her subsequent suicide attempt was confirmed, also by the alleged rapist Giles Broadway.

The investigators recorded only the testimony of male servants; women were considered unreliable witnesses, especially if they were of lower class.

The Dowager Countess was not prepared to take in her granddaughter Elizabeth, Lady Audley, who she feared would be a bad influence on her younger siblings.

[6] The trial of Lord Castlehaven was remarkable in that the judges explicitly ruled that a woman could testify against her husband in criminal proceedings, especially if she was a victim.

There is little doubt that Anne Stanley's influential mother and sisters made efforts to influence the case in their favour.

[2] Anne Stanley and her daughter Elizabeth Audley did not appear in court; it was unthinkable that a noblewoman would speak publicly about sexual matters.

[5][6] The Touchet family urged King Charles I to pardon Lord Castlehaven, arguing that Anne Stanley was a promiscuous woman and an unreliable witness.

Both withdrew the confessions they had made during the trial of Lord Castlehaven, possibly because they had been falsely promised immunity, and claimed they were innocent.

On the scaffold, Broadway declared Anne Stanley to be the most wicked woman who ever lived; he claimed she had sexual relations with servants and had killed her own child.

Lord Castlehaven's sister, the poet and Protestant prophetess Eleanor Davies Touchet, wrote a number of these leaflets.

The fact that both Lord Castlehaven and Giles Broadway had portrayed her as immoral and evil minutes before they were executed further damaged her reputation.

Anne Stanley was financially dependent on the income she still received from the estate of her first husband, and on the support from her mother and brothers-in-law.

This work describes the triumph of chastity over debauchery; it was written by Milton in 1634 for the Earl of Bridgewater, who was married to Anne Stanley's sister Frances.