Council of the West

Last updated

The Council of the West
History
Founded1539
DisbandedLast Session 1540
Succeeded by South West Regional Assembly, South West of England Regional Development Agency
Leadership
Lord President
Lord Russell


The Council of the West was a short-lived administrative body established by Henry VIII of England for the government of the western counties of England (Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorset, and Somerset). It was analogous in form to the Council of the North; and also comparable to the Council of Wales and the Marches.

The Council was established in March 1539, with Lord Russell as its Lord President. Members included Thomas Derby, Sir Piers Edgcumbe, Sir Richard Pollard and John Rowe. However, the fall of Thomas Cromwell, the chief political supporter of government by Councils, and the tranquility of the western counties made it largely superfluous. It last sat in the summer of 1540, although it was never formally abolished. [1] The influential role of Russell in the region, however, continued and he was instrumental in the putting down of the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549. The historian Joyce Youings has argued that, if Cromwell had not fallen, the Council would have become part of a network of such bodies, and that his fall saved the region, and England, from his "passion for a salaried bureaucracy". [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Cromwell</span> English military and political leader (1599–1658)

Oliver Cromwell was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the British Isles. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and latterly as a politician. A leading advocate of the execution of Charles I in January 1649, which led to the establishment of The Protectorate, he ruled as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death in September 1658. Cromwell remains a controversial figure due to his use of the army to acquire political power, and the brutality of his 1649 campaign in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Cromwell</span> English statesman and politician

Thomas Cromwell, briefly Earl of Essex, was an English statesman and lawyer who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charges for the execution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Protectorate</span> British government (1653–1659)

The Protectorate, officially the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, is the period from 16 December 1653 to 25 May 1659 during which England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and associated territories were joined together in the Commonwealth of England, governed by a Lord Protector. It began when Barebone's Parliament was dismissed, and the Instrument of Government appointed Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. Cromwell died in September 1658 and was succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Fairfax</span> English politician and general (1612–1671)

Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented commander, Fairfax led Parliament to many victories, notably the crucial Battle of Naseby, becoming effectively military ruler of England, but was eventually overshadowed by his subordinate Oliver Cromwell, who was more politically adept and radical in action against Charles I. Fairfax became unhappy with Cromwell's policy and publicly refused to take part in Charles's show trial. Eventually he resigned, leaving Cromwell to control the country. Because of this, and also his honourable battlefield conduct and his active role in the Restoration of the monarchy after Cromwell's death, he was exempted from the retribution exacted on many other leaders of the revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford</span> English royal minister

John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford was an English royal minister in the Tudor era. He served variously as Lord High Admiral and Lord Privy Seal. Among the lands and property he was given by Henry VIII after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, were the Abbey and town of Tavistock, and the area that is now Covent Garden. Russell is the ancestor of all subsequent Earls and Dukes of Bedford and Earls Russell, including John Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and philosopher Bertrand Russell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Council of the North</span>

The Council of the North was an administrative body first set up in 1484 by King Richard III of England, to improve access to conciliar justice in Northern England. This built upon steps by King Edward IV of England in delegating authority in the north to Richard, duke of Gloucester, and in establishing the Council of Wales and the Marches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton</span> English politician (1505–1550)

Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, KG was an English peer, secretary of state, Lord Chancellor and Lord High Admiral. A naturally skilled but unscrupulous and devious politician who changed with the times, Wriothesley served as a loyal instrument of King Henry VIII in the latter's break with the Catholic church. Richly rewarded with royal gains from the Dissolution of the Monasteries, he nevertheless prosecuted Calvinists and other Protestants when political winds changed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prayer Book Rebellion</span> Popular revolt in Devon and Cornwall in 1549

The Prayer Book Rebellion or Western Rising was a popular revolt in Cornwall and Devon in 1549. In that year, the first Book of Common Prayer, presenting the theology of the English Reformation, was introduced. The change was widely unpopular, particularly in areas where firm Catholic religious loyalty still existed, such as Lancashire. Along with poor economic conditions, the enforcement of the English language led to an explosion of anger in Cornwall and Devon, initiating an uprising. In response, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset sent John Russell to suppress the revolt, with the rebels being defeated and its leaders executed two months after the beginning of hostilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell</span> English noblewoman

Elizabeth Seymour was a younger daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wulfhall, Wiltshire and Margery Wentworth. Elizabeth and her sister Jane served in the household of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. The Seymours rose to prominence after the king's attention turned to Jane. In May 1536, Anne Boleyn was accused of treason and adultery, and subsequently executed. On 30 May 1536, eleven days after Anne's execution, Henry VIII and Jane were married. Elizabeth was not included in her sister's household during her brief reign, although she would serve two of Henry VIII's later wives, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. Jane died 24 October 1537, twelve days after giving birth to a healthy son, Edward VI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle</span> English landowner

Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire was a Cornish administrator and alleged conspirator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell</span> English nobleman (c. 1520 – 1551)

Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, KB was an English nobleman. He was the only son of the Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex and Elizabeth Wyckes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josias Fendall</span> Governor of Maryland

Lieutenant-General Josias Fendall, Esq., was the 4th Proprietary Governor of Maryland. He was born in England, and came to the Province of Maryland. He was the progenitor of the Fendall family in America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Long (courtier)</span> English politician and courtier

Sir Richard Long was an English politician and courtier, for many years a member of the Privy Chamber of Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Bromley (chief justice)</span> English judge

Sir Thomas Bromley was an English judge of Shropshire landed gentry origins who came to prominence during the Mid-Tudor period. After occupying important judicial posts in the Welsh Marches, he won the favour of Henry VIII and was a member of Edward VI's regency council. He was appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench by Mary I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Morrison (ambassador)</span> English scholar and diplomat

Sir Richard Morrison was an English humanist scholar and diplomat. He was a protégé of Thomas Cromwell, propagandist for Henry VIII, and then ambassador to the German court of Charles V for Edward VI.

Sir Gerald Aylmer was an Irish judge in the time of Henry VIII, who played a key part in enforcing the Dissolution of the Monasteries. His numerous descendants included the Barons Aylmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Howard</span> Queen of England from 1540 to 1541

Catherine Howard, also spelt Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn, and the niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Howard was a prominent politician at Henry's court, and he secured her a place in the household of Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, where she caught the King's interest. She married him on 28 July 1540 at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, just 19 days after the annulment of his marriage to Anne. He was 49, and she was between 15 and 21 years old, though it's widely accepted that she was 17 at the time of her marriage to Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Joyce</span> Officer in the New Model Army

Lieutenant-Colonel George Joyce was an officer and Agitator in the Parliamentary New Model Army during the English Civil War.

Patrick Barnewall was a leading figure in the Irish Government of the 1530s and 1540s. He owed his position largely to his close links with Thomas Cromwell. He sat in the Irish House of Commons as MP for County Dublin, and held the offices of Solicitor General for Ireland and Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Today he is mainly remembered for his role in founding the King's Inns. He belonged to a junior branch of the family of Lord Trimlestown: his own descendants held the title Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Berkeley (died 1581)</span> English politician

Sir Maurice Berkeley of Bruton in Somerset and of Berkeley House, Clerkenwell, Middlesex, served as Chief Banner Bearer of England to Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI and to Queen Elizabeth I, and rose rapidly in the Tudor court. He came from a cadet branch of the great Berkeley family of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, but in his career, his initial advantage was due to his mother's second marriage to Sir John FitzJames, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1526–1539, which by 1538 had brought him into the household of Thomas Cromwell, from which he passed into the royal household by 1539.

References

  1. Willen, Diane (Autumn 1975). "Lord Russell and the Western Counties, 1539-1555". The Journal of British Studies. 15 (1): 26–45. doi:10.1086/385677.
  2. Youings, Joyce A. (1960). "The Council of the West". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 10.