Henry Percy, Baron Percy of Alnwick | |
---|---|
Died | 1659 France |
Allegiance | Royalist |
Rank | General of the Ordinance |
Battles/wars | Battle of Cropredy Bridge |
Henry Percy, Baron Percy of Alnwick (died 1659), son of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, sat in the Short Parliament as the member for Portsmouth, and in the Long Parliament an M.P. for Northumberland; an originator of the "first army plot" in 1641, after which he retired to France. He was appointed general of the ordnance of the king's army and created baron, 1643; but fell in disgrace in 1644 through his desire for peace. In 1648 he resigned his command and went to France where he joined Queen Henrietta Maria's party. [1] He died in France around March 1659.
Henry Percy, the younger son of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, was educated at a school at Isleworth, under Mr. Willis, [2] and subscribed at Christ Church, Oxford on 7 December 1624. [3] In 1628 he was elected member of parliament for Marlborough and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. On 21 March 1631 he unsuccessfully applied for the post of secretary to the chancellor of the exchequer. [4] Stratford designed to appoint him captain of a company in the Irish army, but the influence exerted for Lorenzo Cary frustrated the intention. [5] As a courtier Percy was more fortunate; he obtained great influence with Queen Henrietta Maria, and employed it to further the interests of his brother, the Earl of Northumberland, and his brother-in-law, the Earl of Leicester. [6] In March 1633 Percy acted as Lord Weston's friend in the quarrel between him and the Earl of Holland. [7] His favour, however, continued to increase; in November 1639 he was appointed master of the horse to the Prince of Wales, and on 6 June 1640 he was appointed captain and governor of Jersey for life. [8]
In April 1640, Percy was elected MP for Portsmouth in the Short Parliament. He was elected MP for Northumberland for the Long Parliament in November 1640. Percy was one of the originators of what was termed the "First Army Plot" in March 1641, but according to his own story simply designed to procure a declaration from the army in support of the king's policy, and was innocent of the plan to bring it up to London in order to put force on the parliament. When the plot was discovered he endeavoured to flee to France, but was set upon and wounded by the country people in Sussex, and remained for some time in hiding. To facilitate his own escape, he was induced to write a letter to his brother, giving an account of the conspiracy, which furnished the popular leaders with conclusive proof of the reality of the design, and was held by the Royalists to be a treacherous betrayal of his duty to the King. [9] The sole punishment inflicted upon him for his share in the plot was his expulsion from the House of Commons, which took place on 9 December 1641. [10]
Percy went to France, but at the outbreak of the war made himself useful to Queen Henrietta Maria, who employed him as an agent to King Charles, and obtained his restoration to favour. "Truly", she wrote, "I think him very faithful, and that we may trust him". Thanks to her support, he became on 22 May 1643 general of the ordnance in the king's army, and was created on 28 June of the same year Baron Percy of Alnwick. [11] [12]
Percy fought at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge on 29 June 1644, and accompanied the king into Cornwall in his pursuit of the Earl of Essex; but, having taken part in Henry Wilmot's intrigue to force the king to make peace, he fell into disgrace, and was obliged to resign his command. [13] "His removal" says Clarendon, "added to the ill-humour of the army; for though he was generally unloved as a proud and supercilious person, yet he had always three or four persons of good credit and reputation, who were esteemed by him, with whom he lived very well; and though he did not draw the good fellows to him by drinking, yet he eat well, which in the general scarcity of that time drew many votaries to him, who bore very ill the want of his table, and so Avere not without some inclination to murmur even on his behalf." [14] On 11 January 1645 Percy and two other Royalist peers were placed under arrest by the King on the charge of holding correspondence with his enemies and uttering disrespectful speeches, but in reality on account of the persistency with which they urged him to open negotiations with Parliament. [15] Percy was released a few weeks later, and, having procured a pass from Essex, sought to take ship for the continent. On his way he was taken prisoner by William Waller and Oliver Cromwell at Andover. Among Percy's party "there was a youth of so fair a countenance that Cromwell doubted of his condition, and, to confirm himself, willed him to sing, which he did with such a daintiness that Cromwell scrupled not to say to Lord Percy that being a warrior he did wisely to be accompanied by Amazons, on which that lord in some confusion did acknowledge that she was a damsel; this afterwards gave cause for scoff at the king's party". [16] Percy arrived at Paris at the end of March 1645, and, though the King had cautioned the Queen not to trust him too much, was speedily as great a favourite with Henrietta as before. [17] In March 1648 he was wounded in a duel with Prince Rupert, and in the following October was put under arrest for giving the lie to Lord Colepeper in the presence of the Prince of Wales. [18]
As Percy belonged to the queen's party and to the faction of Secretary Robert Long, he is spoken of with great severity in the correspondence of Edward Hyde and Edward Nicholas. They regarded him as an atheist because he favoured Hobbes, and advised Charles II to comply with the demands of the Presbyterians or any other party which would undertake to restore his throne. When he was made Lord Chamberlain and admitted to the Privy Council, their disgust knew no bounds. [19] Hyde, however, was subsequently reconciled to Percy, who brought about a meeting between the queen and the chancellor of the exchequer, and is praised in the History of the Rebellion for his economical administration of the king's household. [20] When Percy thought of making his peace with the Protector, Hyde dissuaded him, and told him that few men were so fit to be about the king's person, or engaged in the counsels likely to carry him home. [21]
Percy died unmarried at Paris in France [3] in around March 1659. [22]
John Lilburne, also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after the English Civil Wars 1642–1650. He coined the term "freeborn rights", defining them as rights with which every human being is born, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or human law. In his early life he was a Puritan, though towards the end of his life he became a Quaker. His works have been cited in opinions by the United States Supreme Court.
Sir John Wildman was an English politician and soldier.
Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, KG, JP was an English aristocrat, and supporter of the Parliamentary cause in the First English Civil War.
Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke was an English lawyer, writer, parliamentarian and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.
Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, PC was an English aristocrat, soldier and courtier.
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, KG was an English nobleman. He was a grandee and one of the wealthiest peers of the court of Elizabeth I. Under James I, Northumberland was a long-term prisoner in the Tower of London, due to the suspicion that he was complicit in the Gunpowder Plot. He is known for the circles he moved in as well as for his own achievements. He acquired the sobriquet The Wizard Earl, from his scientific and alchemical experiments, his passion for cartography, and his large library.
The House of Percy is an English noble family. They were among the most powerful noble families in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages. The noble family is known for its long rivalry with the House of Neville, another family powerful in northern England during the 15th century. The Percy-Neville feud provoked the War of the Roses, at the time known as the Civil Wars, in England.
John Jones Maesygarnedd was a Welsh military leader and politician, known as one of the regicides of King Charles I following the English Civil War. A brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, Jones was a Parliamentarian and an avid republican at a time when most of Wales was Royalist, and became one of 57 commissioners that signed the death warrant authorising the execution of Charles I following his trial. After the Restoration of the monarchy, Jones was one of few excluded from the general amnesty in the Indemnity and Oblivion Act, and was tried, found guilty, then hanged, drawn and quartered at Charing Cross.
Henry Cromwell was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland.
Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland was an English nobleman and one of the leaders of the Rising of the North in 1569.
Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland, KG was an English nobleman and a member of the courts of both Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII.
William Legge was an English military officer and politician who was a close associate of Prince Rupert of the Rhine.
Thomas Bardolf, 5th Baron Bardolf was an English baron who was the Lord of Wormegay in Norfolk, of Shelford and Stoke Bardolph in Nottinghamshire, and of Hallaton (Hallughton) in Leicestershire, among others, and was "a person of especial eminence in his time".
Sir Robert Reynolds (1601–1678) was an English lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) Long Parliament who took the parliamentary side on the outbreak of the Civil War. He served as Solicitor General and Attorney General during the First Commonwealth and supported the restoration of the Monarchy during the Second.
William Sydenham (1615–1661) was a Cromwellian soldier; and the eldest brother of Thomas Sydenham. He fought for Parliament and defeated the Royalists in various skirmishes in Dorset. He was member of the various parliaments of the Commonwealth, avowal conservative principles, and defended the liberties of Englishmen. In 1654 made councillor and commissioner of the treasury by Oliver Cromwell. Took the side of the army against Parliament. In 1660, after the Protectorate, and before the Restoration, he was expelled from the Long Parliament. After the Restoration, he was perpetually incapacitated from holding office by the Indemnity and Oblivion Act.
Murrough MacDermod O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin, was an Irish nobleman and soldier, who came from one of the most powerful families in Munster. Known as Murchadh na dTóiteán, he initially trained for war in the Spanish service. He accompanied the Earl of Strafford into Leinster on the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and was appointed governor of Munster in 1642. He had some small success, but was hampered by lack of funds and he was outwitted by the Irish leader, Viscount Muskerry, at Cappoquin and Lismore. His forces dispersed at the truce of 1643.
Matthew Thomlinson (1617–1681) was an English soldier who fought for Parliament in the English Civil War. He was a regicide of Charles I. Tomlinson was a colonel of horse (cavalry) in the New Model Army and was one of the officers presenting the remonstrance to parliament in 1647. He took charge of Charles I in 1648, until Charles's execution, but refused to be his judge. He followed Oliver Cromwell to Scotland in 1650.
Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond, son of Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond; succeeded his brother as earl, 1639; was lord-lieutenant of Clare, 1640–41: had his rents seized, 1644; admitted a parliamentary garrison to Bunratty Castle and went to England: joined Charles I; successfully petitioned parliament for £2,000 spent in the parliamentary cause.
Anne Percy, Countess of Northumberland was an English noblewoman and one of the instigators of the Northern Rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I of England. To avoid punishment for her prominent role in the failed insurrection, Anne, along with her infant daughter, was forced into exile in Flanders, where she spent the rest of her life involving herself in Catholic plots and maintaining contact with the other English Catholic exiles. In Liège while living on a pension from King Philip II of Spain, she wrote Discours des troubles du Comte du Northumberland. Her husband Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, who had led the rebellion, was executed for treason. Three of her daughters were left behind in England and raised by their paternal uncle, Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland.
The 1641 Army Plots were two separate alleged attempts by supporters of Charles I of England to use the army to crush the Parliamentary opposition in the run-up to the First English Civil War. The plan was to move the army from York to London and to use it to reassert royal authority. It was also claimed that the plotters were seeking French military aid and that they planned to seize and fortify towns to become Royalist strongholds.