Lanier was a member of the minor gentry through her Italian father's appointment as a royal musician. She was further educated in the household of Susan Bertie, Countess of Kent. After her parents' death, Lanier was the mistress of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, first cousin of Elizabeth I of England. In 1592, she became pregnant by Carey and was subsequently married to court musician Alfonso Lanier, her cousin. She had two children, but only one survived into adulthood.
Lanier was largely forgotten for centuries, but study of her has abounded in recent decades.[37] She is remembered for contributing to English literature her volume of verses Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, for which she is seen as the first professional female poet in the English language.[38] Indeed she is known as one of England's first feminist writers in any form, and potentially as the "dark lady" of Shakespearean myth.[39]
