‘I had read the history of France’… Montpensier 3 p. 15.
‘employed and trusted…’ 1/11 December 1653 n.s., Nicholas to Hyde, Nicholas Papers.
‘the Shield from Heaven…’ Abraham Cowley, Pindarique Odes, “To Mr Hobs”.
‘the Louvre Presbyter…’ 5/15 January 1650, Hatton to Nicholas, Nicholas Papers.
‘It was not until spring 1652 that he was even appointed to the Privy Council…’ Hyde, Rebellion. The date is unknown. The History of Parliament says 1651, not 1652.
‘you must never think to see me again…’ Cologne, 31 October/10 November 1654, Charles II to Jermyn, Clar. S.P. no. 2063.
‘Get out!’, she reportedly shrieked’ … ‘Allez, allez; vous este une impertinent!’. 1 January 1655, Hatton to Nicholas, Nicholas Papers.
‘all’s well…’ about early December 1654, Charles II to Jermyn, draft, Clar. S.P. no. 2096, 2.
‘You are not to judge of the queen’s affections…’ Paris, 21 January 1656, Jermyn to Charles II, Thurloe S.P., vol. 1 p. 691.
THE CHTEAU OF COLOMBES 1656 – 1660
‘I cannot chose but embrace…’ Jermyn to Sir Marmaduke Langdale; Senlis, France, 22 November 1654, Holme Hall MSS, H.M.C. Various II, which catalogues it in 1653: the tone strongly suggests that it was written after the 1654 rising had failed.
‘Lord Jermyn’, the English ambassador reported…’ 2/12 January 1655/6, Rene Angier to Cromwell, Thurloe S.P. vol. 4 p. 375.
‘Mr Jackson…’ February 1655, Charles II to Jermyn, Clar. S.P. no. 64.
‘used by the King…’ 3 April 1655, Hyde to Nicholas, Clar. S.P. no. 87, stating that ‘Mr Jackson stays at Dusseldorp’.
‘Mr Juxley…’ London, 8 March 1655, O’Neill to Nicholas, Nicholas Papers vol. 2 p. 219.
‘Mr Welworth…’ 2 September/12 October 1649 (sic), Hatton to Nicholas, Nicholas Papers. The Clarendon Society’s transcription of this letter includes a footnote attached to Jermyn’s name which is not entirely clear; “‘Mr Welworth’, a pseudonym, in Nicholas’s summary on the back of the letter”. This means either that Mr Welworth was a pseudonym used by Nicholas and Hatton of Jermyn, or a pseudonym used by Jermyn himself.
‘Nemo…’ 30 August/ 9 September 1659, probably from Walter Montagu to Bellings, Clar. S.P.
‘Lord Clancarrl…’ Clar. S.P. vol. 62 f. 52.
‘conversations with Jermyn…’, Paris, 18/28 April 1657, Bampfield to Sir John Hobart, Clar. S.P. no. 843 1; 18/28 April 1657, Bampfield to Thurloe, S.P. Dom., 154 and Clar. S.P. 543 2.
‘Hyde had picked up on Bampfield’s unreliability…’, 3/13 March 1653, Nicholas to Hyde, Nicholas Papers vol. 2 p. 7.
‘Cromwell’s prospective treaty with Spain..’, Madrid, 13 July 1657, Bennet to Hyde, Clar. S.P. no. 979.
‘the engagements contracted with the dead monster…’ 10/20 September 1658, Jermyn to Charles II, Clar. S.P. vol. 58 f. 352-3, see Clar. S.P. 3, p 415.
‘I see we carry our lousy fate…’ 22 October 1659, Colepeper to Nicholas, Nicholas Papers.
‘Mazarin agreed to draw up a special agreement…’ That, at least, is what is stated in The Life and Death of… Henrietta Maria de Bourbon, published 10 years later, which tells us that Jermyn managed to have private articles agreed between the Spanish and French, independent of the treaty. Presumably, this was achieved by the meeting with Mazarin at Saint-Vincent.
‘with mighty joy…’ Paris, 19-20/29-30 November 1659, Nicholas Armorer to Lady Mordaunt, Coates.
‘the best quartered of anybody…’ Colombes, 26 November/6 December 1659, Mordaunt to Lady Mordaunt, Coates.
‘with him among his papers…’ Kingstone’s report of what Jermyn had told Lord Aubigny, 29 March/8 April 1660, Kingstone to Thurloe, Thurloe S.P. vol. 7 p. 891; Kingstone to Hyde, 8 April 1660, Clar. S.P. vol. 71 f. 71-2.
‘it was to the English Freemasons that Jermyn may now have looked for support…’ Reasons for believing this are stated in the next chapter.
‘implacably bitter…’ London, 18 April 1660, Morley to Hyde, Clar. S.P. vol. 71 f. 295-6.
‘the Lord Chancellor cannot be put out…’ London, 13 April 1660, Dr Morley to Hyde, Clar. S.P. vol. 71 f. 233-4.
‘with all the marks of joy imaginable’ Reresby’s diary.
‘you may judge of my joy…’ Colombes, 29 May/9 June 1660, Henrietta Maria to Charles II, qu. Cartwright.
RESTORATION! 1660 – 1662
‘Closer Union…’ 25 March/4 April 1661, Jermyn to Charles II, Clar. S.P. vol. 74, 288-9.
‘They will be preserved so very much…’ Paris, 19 July 1662, Jermyn to Winchelsea (in Pera), H.M.C. 71, Finch 1.
‘pleased with Harry Jermyn’s love…’ 10/20 May and 24 May/3 June 1658, Daniel O’Neil to Hyde, Clar. S.P. 60, 517-20 and 61, 19-20.
‘beating his toy drum…’ Cronin, p. 35.
‘Comte de St Alban…’ 23 June 1661, S.P., qu. Lister 2, p 410.
‘a new tie which will draw still closer…’ 1 April 1661, Louis XIV to Charles II, Œevre de Louis XIV, 1806.
‘According to some sources, the Portuguese marriage’… Carte and Lister (p.126) agreed that the idea of the Portuguese marriage originated with Jermyn and Henrietta Maria, who certainly wanted her son to marry a Catholic princess. However, Robert Southwell, in his biography of Ormonde, wrote that the idea had been proposed by Melo to Monck and Morice before Restoration. Even if the plan had originated with Melo, there is no reason to disbelieve that Jermyn was the first to advocate it in France.
‘GRAND MASTER OF THE FREEMASONS’ 1662
‘We are graciously pleased at the humble…’ Charles II’s confirmation of the grant of what would become St James’s Square, 1662, S.P. Dom., Warrant Book 7, 1662, September 1662.
‘High Steward of Greenwich…’ My arguments for Jermyn’s pivotal role here are stated in ‘Henry Jermyn and the Creation of Greenwich’, Bygone Kent 19 no. 10 pp. 613-617.
‘poor Cowley…’ Colombes, 7/17 August 1667, Jermyn to Hyde, Clar. S.P. vol. 85 f. 398-9.
‘but according to his usual humanity…’ Thomas Spratt to Martin Clifford, 1668, in introduction to Spratt’s edition of Cowley’s Complete Works (Cowley, Works).
‘Anderson’s Constitutions…’ this topic was first broached in my article “Henry Jermyn, Grand Master of the Freemasons?”, Freemasonry Today, issue 6, Autumn 1998 p. 46.
‘Shortly after the Restoration, Jermyn and Charles were talking in a chamber at Whitehall…’ Scott, Sir W., Personal History of Charles II, compiled ‘from various authentic sources’, printed in the appendix to Bohn’s 1859 edition of Sir Walter Scott’s edition of Gramont’s Memoirs, Henry G. Bohn, London, 1859.
‘Antrim had granted Jermyn a share of the estates’ revenue…’ The entire Antrim affair caused a vast amount of back-biting, misconceptions and downright lies, which I attempted to untangle in ‘The Earl of St Alban’s, The Marquis of Antrim and the Irish Acts of Settlement and Explanation, 1660-1684’, The Irish Genealogist, vol. 10, no. 2, 1999, pp 234-240.
‘In 1640, Jermyn and Henrietta Maria had organised a survey of St James’s’… Jermyn’s development of St James’s is outlined more fully in my article ‘Founder of the West End? Henry Jermyn and the Development of St James’s, Westminster, Westminster History Review, no. 2, 1999, pp. 13-18.
‘The beauty of this great town…’ 14 August 1663, Jermyn to Charles II, S.P. Dom. 340, p. 239. It is gratifying to note that this quote now heads the Museum of London’s display on the growth of Stuart London.
‘Ours is the crowning era…’ Virgil, Eclogues IV, lines 4-6.
SOMERSET HOUSE 1662 – 1663
‘the sponge that sucked in…’ Clar. MS 122, qu. Ollard.
‘The design aims higher…’ Whitehall, 7 and 11 October 1662, Nicholas to Ormonde, Clar. S.P. qu. Lister 3, pp. 223-5.
‘planned to replace Hyde’s friend, Lord Treasurer Southampton, with Jermyn himself…’ This, at least, is the story reported in Pepys’ Diary for 17 October a
nd 22 November 1662.
‘for courting Lady Castlemaine…’ 30 December 1662, Sir George Fletcher to Daniel le Fleming, H.M.C., Le Fleming Mss.
‘he suffered the great belly…’ Mrs Delarivierre Manley, The New Atlantis.
‘The King hath declared…’ 29 July 1667, Pepys’ Diary.
‘The King hesitated…’ Old D.N.B., sub. Grafton.
‘rudely bred…’ Complete Peerage 6 p. 44 n.(a).
‘exceedingly handsome…’ 6 September 1679, Evelyn’s Diary.
‘Including Baron Ipswich…’ Ruvigny, sub Dover.
‘a large fit of the gout…’ Whitehall, 4 January 1672/3, Jermyn to Essex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, B.L. Stowe MS 201, f.9.
THE SECOND ANGLO-DUTCH WAR 1664 – 1666
‘Lionne, ‘who hath…’ Paris, 10 May 1661, Jermyn to Hyde, Clar. S.P., Bodleian Library, qu. Lister 3 pp. 124-128.
THE ROAD TO BREDA 1664 – 1667
‘thirteen or fourteen great and good houses…’ 14 August 1663, petition for freehold and Patent Roll 17 Car. II 1665, Part 6, no. 3077, membrane 17, qu. in full by Dasent.
‘hung with gilded leather containing tapestry…’ 9 September 1676, Duke of Norfolk’s Deeds, Arundel Castle, cited in Dasent.
‘Charles had recently started copying Jermyn’s habit…’ 17 October 1666, Pepys’ Diary.
‘he heard that Henrietta Maria had died. Then… robbers lept out…’ The false report of the Queen’s death is in John Carlisle’s letter to Williamson, 28 January 1667 (S.P. Dom., vol. 189, 1667) and the true report of Jermyn’s robbery is in a letter of 22 February/4 March 1666/7 from Sir Heneage Finch to John Finch (H.M.C., 71, Finch I).
‘Pray be pleased to tell me…’ Paris, 16/26 March 1667, Jermyn to Hyde, Clar S.P. vol. 85 f. 143-4; Lister 3 pp. 450-2.
‘fell into flames of passion…’ Paris, 10/20 April 1667, Jermyn to Hyde, Clar S.P. vol. 85 f. 197-8; Lister 3 pp. 459-60.
‘open-faced…’ 20/30 April 1667, Jermyn to Hyde, Clar. S.P. vol. 85 f. 225-6.
‘We are so amazed with the number…’ Brussels, 3/13 May 1667, Sir William Temple to Jermyn, Temple, Works 1, p. 268-9.
‘But when he reached the market town of Arras he could go no further…’ The principal sources for Jermyn’s peace negotiations are Jermyn’s correspondence with Charles II, Hyde and Arlington in the Clarendon State Papers in the Bodleian Library, and with Holles and Coventry in the Longleat collection, with much useful commentary too from the Venetian ambassadors (S.P. Ven) and Hyde’s autobiography. His own correspondence tells clearly what happened on his ill-fated trip to Arras, whilst the false story of his ignominious expulsion from the French court at Douai seems to have originated with Col. Bullen Reames, who stated that a letter (which was, in fact, non-existent) had arrived from Jermyn about 24 or 25 June ‘wherein he says that the King of France did lately fall out with him, giving him ill names, saying that he had belied him to our king by saying he had promised to assist our King and to forward the peace, saying that indeed he had offered to forward the peace at such a time, but it was not accepted of, or so he thinks himself not obliged, and would do what was fit for him; and so made him go out of his sight in great displeasure’, a story repeated at once in Pepys’ Diary on 26 June 1667 and the following day by Charles Bertie (London, 27 June 1667, Charles Bertie to Sir Thomas Osborne, H.M.C., Lindsey Mss), ‘our correspondence with France is very bad, my Lord St Albans being banished [from] the French army and the Court’. Jermyn’s own letters show that none of this was true.
‘repeated on gilt-edged paper…’ Feiling, Keith; British Foreign Policy 1660–1672. Macmillan & Co. Ltd, London, 1930.
THE GRAND DESIGN 1667 – 1668
‘author of these misfortunes…’ Paris, 26 June/6 July 1667, Jermyn to Hyde, Clar. S.P. vol. 85 f. 346-7.
‘St Alban’s writ to, that he may bewail…’ Anon, Last Instructions to a painter, about the Dutch Wars, 1667, (printed 1681).
‘the King’s service and your own quiet…’ Colombes, 10/20 July 1667, Jermyn to Hyde, Clar. S.P. vol. 85 f. 357-8.
‘if he dies without some very signal calamity…’ Clar. MS 122, qu. Ollard.
‘Charles now agreed to follow a new version of Jermyn’s Closer Alliance – the Grand Design…’ All discussion of Grand Design is rendered difficult for historians because the letters of Charles II to Madame, at the AAE, which provide most information about it, only survive up to June 1669. We know, therefore, that James; Arlington; Clifford; Arundell (Henrietta Maria’s Master of the Horse) and, possibly Belasyse (Feiling) – all Catholics, with the possible exception at that stage of Arlington – were told of the plan in January 1669. Later, Turenne, Buckingham, Lionne, Louvois and Colbert de Croissy were informed of everything except for the conversion clause. Historians have argued – somewhat half-heartedly – over the point at which Jermyn was admitted to the secret, minus the conversion clause. Some argue that it was as late as June 1669 (Mignet), whilst a letter from Charles II to Madame refers to someone, decoded variously as Arlington (Cartwright) or Jermyn (Bryant), who ‘does believe there is some business with France, which he knows nothing of’ (Whitehall, 25 May 1669, Charles II to Madame). Even if the code-name used in the letter was Jermyn’s – which is not known at all – there is no evidence that ‘some business’ was definitely the Grand Design. Jermyn’s complicity in the plan as early as March 1669 is certainly indicated by Charles II’s instructions to him to brief Arundell when he arrived in Paris that month on a mission to reaffirm to Louis the King’s desire for the Grand Design (7 March 1669, Charles to Madame, Cartwright). The simplest explanation is that no specific record exists of Jermyn’s admission to the Grand Design because it never happened. On the contrary: what everyone else seems to have missed are the repeated proposals for just such a plan, albeit without the conversion clause, in Jermyn’s correspondence going right back to before the Restoration – and who is more likely to have dreamed up the conversion clause, and convinced Jermyn about it too on the grounds that it would usher in religious freedom for all – than Henrietta Maria herself?
‘my ministers are anything but what I will have them…’ 8 July 1668, Charles II to Madame, qu. Bryant.
SAINT-DENIS 1669
‘she is not yet near so well as we wish to see her…’ 10 April 1669, Jermyn to Arlington, S.P. France, qu. Green, Letters.
‘she coughs not much…’ 17 April 1669, Jermyn to Arlington, S.P. France, qu. Green, Letters.
‘You cannot imagine what a noise Lord St Albans…’ 6 May 1669, Charles II to Madame, qu. Bryant.
‘If that which hath happened here…’ Colombes Sep: 10 [16]69’, i.e. 30 August/10 September, S.P. (France) 78/127 f 85-6.
‘I am sure without this…’ 1/11 September 1669, Ralph Montagu to Arlington, qu. Hervey, Rushbrook p. 284.
‘the easiest way of carrying on things here with decency… you ought to pity me…’ Colombes, 1/11 September 1669 (morning), Jermyn to Arlington, S.P. (France) 78/127 ff 91-94v.
‘At ten o’clock that morning, the congregation began to proceed…’ The account of Henrietta Maria’s funeral is from the Rélation de la pompe funèbre, faite en l’Eglise de S. Denys en France, pour la Reyne Mère d’Angleterre (Brussels, n.d.), quoted in Marshall.
THE SECRET TREATY OF DOVER 1669 – 1678
‘You will believe me easily…’ Colombes, 30 August/10 September 1669, Jermyn to Arlington. S.P. (France) 78/127 f. 87-90.
‘I have no tears in reserve’… D’Aulnoy.
‘he became obsessed with the much younger ‘Miledy’…’ The Baroness d’Aulnoy referred to the object of Jermyn’s desires as ‘Miledy’, and proceeded to describe her affair with Buckingham’s nephew Lord Arran. This was clearly Richard Butler, Earl of Arran, the widower of Buckingham’s niece. He was Earl of Arran in Ireland, but James Douglas, later 4th Duke of Hamilton, was Earl of Arran in Scotland. This caused confusion at court and, because Des Maizeux wrote that Jermyn withdrew his attentions from Katherine Crofts wh
en she was courted by ‘The Earl of Arran, afterwards Duke of Hamilton’, some writers have made the mistake of assuming that d’Aulnoy’s (Irish) Arran was Hamilton, the Scottish Arran and that, ergo, Miledy was Katherine Crofts. In fact, the identities of both men are perfectly clear, and, in any case, d’Aulnoy indicates that Miledy’s status was of higher rank to Katherine, who was a baron’s sister. My identification of Miledy as Elizabeth Bagot, widow of Lord Falmouth, is conjectural. Like Miledy, Lady Falmouth was a renowned beauty and a great favorite of the King, and Gramont referred to her as “your Miledi” in a letter to Falmouth in 1664 (23 November 1664, Gramont to Charles, Earl of Falmouth, Hartmann). It is appreciated that ‘Miledy’ was used as frequently as ‘Milord’, but Gramont’s use of the term indicates he may have been using a particular nickname. This idea led me to look at David Loggan’s engraving of ‘Miledy’ dressed as Britannia, which appears at the front of the publications of the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. The girl depicted bears a remarkable similarity to Sir Peter Lely’s portrait of Lady Falmouth at Althorpe, though I would be the first to admit that many of Lely’s portraits of young women are pretty similar. Lady Falmouth certainly socialised with the Jermyns – in 1667, Pepys even reported a rumour that she was going to marry Harry Jermyn.
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