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Portrait of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland
Autograph signature of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland

Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland (1602-1668)

ALGERNON PERCY, tenth Earl of Northumberland (1602-1668), son of Henry, ninth earl of Northumberland, was born in London, and baptised 13 Oct. 1602.1 Percy was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, as family papers prove, and not at Christ Church, Oxford, as stated by Collins and Doyle.2 His father then sent him to travel abroad, providing him with detailed instructions what to observe and how to behave.3 On 4 Nov. 1616 he was created a knight of the Bath.4 In the Parliament of 1624 he represented the county of Sussex, and in those called in 1625 and 1626 the city of Chichester. He was summoned to the House of Lords as Baron Percy on 28 March 1627, and succeeded his father as tenth Earl of Northumberland on 5 Nov. 1632.

Charles I was anxious to secure the support of Northumberland, and conferred upon him, on 16 May 1635, the order of the Garter.5 For the next few years he was continually trusted with the highest naval or military posts. On 23 March 1636 he was appointed admiral of the fleet raised by means of ship-money in order to assert the sovereignty of the seas. It effected nothing beyond obliging a certain number of Dutch fishermen to accept licenses to fish from Northumberland's master. But its ineffectiveness was due rather to the policy of Charles than to his admiral's fault.6 Northumberland was full of zeal for the king's service, and presented to him in December 1636 a statement of the abuses existing in the management of the navy, with proposals for their reform; but, though supported by ample proof of the evils alleged, the commissioners of the admiralty took no steps to remedy them. 'This proceeding,' wrote Northumberland to Strafford, 'hath brought me to a resolution not to trouble myself any more with endeavouring a reformation, unless I be commanded to it.'7 Strafford, who had supported Northumberland with all his might, urged him to be patient and constant in his endeavours, and pressed, through Laud, for his appointment as one of the commissioners of the admiralty, or as lord high admiral.8

In April 1637 Northumberland was a second time appointed admiral, but again found himself able to achieve nothing. His disgust was very great. He wrote to Strafford from his anchorage in the Downs complaining bitterly. 'To ride in this place at anchor a whole summer together without hope of action, to see daily disorders in the fleet and not to have means to remedy them, and to be in an employment where a man can neither do service to the state, gain honour to himself, nor do courtesies for his friends, is a condition that I think nobody will be ambitious of.9 On 30 March 1638 Northumberland was raised to the dignity of lord high admiral of England, which was granted him, however, only during pleasure, and not, as in the cases of Nottingham and Buckingham, for life.10 It was intended that he should retain his post until the Duke of York was of age to succeed him.11

The troubles in Scotland brought Northumberland military office also. In July 1638 the king appointed a committee of eight privy councillors for Scottish affairs, of which Northumberland was one. The consideration of the discontent of the people and of the king's unpreparedness for war made him think it safer for the king to grant the Scots the conditions they asked than rashly to enter into a war. 'God send us a good end of this troublesome business,' he wrote to Strafford,' for, to my apprehension, no foreign enemies could threaten so much danger to this kingdom as doth now this beggarly nation.'12 On 26 March 1639, when the king prepared to proceed to the north to take command of the army, Northumberland was appointed general of all the forces south of the Trent and a member of the council of regency.13 His private letters to his brother-in-law, the Earl of Leicester, show that Northumberland was dissatisfied with the king's policy, and had no confidence in most of his fellow-ministers. Secretary Coke he held incapable, and endeavoured to get his place for Leicester. Secretary Windebanke he regarded not only as incapable, but as treacherous, and was enraged by his interference with the command of the fleet, which allowed Tromp to destroy Oquendo's ships in an English harbour.

Northumberland's own views inclined him to an alliance with France rather than Spain, and he was opposed to Hamilton, Cottington, and the Spanish faction in the council. Strafford was his friend, but he thought him too much inclined to Spain, and Laud's religious policy he disliked. The discontent which existed in England and the emptiness of the king's treasury seemed to him to render the success of the war against the Scots almost impossible14 For these reasons Northumberland hailed with joy the summoning of the Short Parliament, and regretted the vehemence with which the Commons pressed for the redress of their grievances. 'Had they been well advised,' he wrote to Lord Conway, 'I am persuaded they might in time have gained their desires.'15 Backed only by Lord Holland, he opposed the dissolution of the parliament in the committee of eight, and spoke against Strafford's proposal for a vigorous invasion of Scotland. Vane's notes of his speech are: 'If no more money than proposed, how then to make an offensive war? a difficulty whether to do nothing or to let them alone, or go on with a vigorous war.'16 'What will the world judge of us abroad,'he complained to Leicester, ' to see us enter into such an action as this is, not knowing how to maintain it for one month? It grieves my soul to be involved in these counsels, and the sense I have of the miseries that are like to ensue is held by some a disaffection in me. . . . The condition that the king is in is extremely unhappy; I could not believe that wise men would ever have brought us into such a strait as now we are in without being certain of a remedy.'17

As early as the previous December Charles had announced to Northumberland that he meant to make him general of the forces raised for the second Scottish war.18 According to Clarendon, Strafford was originally designed for the post, but he chose rather to serve as lieutenant-general under the Earl of Northumberland, believing that the conferring of that precedence upon him would more firmly fasten him to the king's interest, and that his power in the northern parts would bring great advantage to the king's services.19 His commission is dated 14 Feb. 1640.20 Northumberland, in spite of his doubts and despondency, vigorously exerted himself to organise the army, and contributed £5,00021 to the loan raised for the king's service in 1639.22 But in August 1640 he fell ill, and Strafford took command of the army in his place.23

In the Long Parliament Northumberland gradually drew to the side of the opposition. He was one of the witnesses against Strafford on the twenty-third article of the impeachment; and, though denying that Strafford had intended to use the Irish army against England, his evidence to the lord deputy's recommendation of arbitrary measures was extremely damaging. The king, wrote Northumberland to Leicester, was angry with him because he would not perjure himself for Strafford.24

Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, Lord High Admiral of England by Van Dyck, 1630s Northumberland himself was vexed because the king declined to promote Leicester.25 Clarendon represents Northumberland sending to the House of Commons Henry Percy's letter about the army plot as the first visible sign of his defection.26 It was followed in the second session by an open alliance with the opposition party in the House of Lords. Northumberland signed the protests against the appointment of Lunsford to the command of the Tower, against the refusal of the House of Lords to join the commons in demanding the militia, and against their similar refusal to punish the Duke of Richmond's dangerous words. The popular party showed their confidence in Northumberland by nominating him Lord Lieutenant of the four counties of Sussex, Northumberland, Pembroke, and Anglesey (28 Feb. 1642). His possession of the post of Lord High Admiral secured the parliamentary lenders the control of the navy. When the king refused to appoint the Earl of Warwick to command the fleet, the two houses ordered Northumberland to make him Vice-Admiral, and Northumberland obeyed. On 28 June 1642 the king dismissed Northumberland from his office, but too late to prevent the sailors from accepting Warwick as their commander.27

Charles felt Northumberland's defection very severely. He had raised him to office after office, and, as he complained, 'courted him as his mistress, and conversed with him as his friend, without the least interruption or intermission of all possible favour and kindness.'28 In three letters to Sir John Bankes, Northumberland explained his position. 'We believe that those persons who are most powerful with the king do endeavour to bring parliaments to such a condition that they shall only be made instruments to execute the commands of the king, who were established for his greatest and most supreme council . . . . It is far from our thoughts to change the form of government, to invade upon the king's just prerogative, or to leave him unprovided of as plentiful a revenue as either he or any of his predecessors ever enjoyed.' He protested that the armaments of the parliament were purely defensive in their aim. 'Let us but have our laws, liberties, and privileges secured unto us, and let him perish that seeks to deprive the king of any part of his prerogative, or that authority which is due unto him. If our fortunes be to fall into troubles, I am sure few (excepting the king himself) will suffer more than I shall do: therefore for my own private considerations, as well as for the public good, no man shall more earnestly endeavour an agreement between the king and his people.'29

True to these professions, Northumberland, though he accepted a place in the parliamentary committee of safety (4 July 1642), was throughout counted among the heads of the peace party.30 On 10 Nov. 1642 he was sent to present a message of peace to the king at Colebrook, and in the following March he was at the head of the parliamentary commissioners sent to treat with the king at Oxford. Whitelocke praises his 'sober and stout carriage to the king,' his civility to his brother commissioners, and the 'state and nobleness' with which he lived while at Oxford.31 His zeal for peace made him suspected by the violent party. Harry Marten took upon himself to open one of Northumberland's letters to his wife, and, as he refused to apologise, Northumberland struck him with his cane. This took place on 18 April 1643 in the Painted Chamber, as Marten was returning from a conference between the two Houses, and was complained of by the Commons as a breach of privilege.32 In June Northumberland was accused of complicity in Waller's plot, but indignantly repudiated the charge, and Waller's statements against him are too vague to be credited33 He was one of the originators of the peace propositions agreed to by the House of Lords on 4 Aug. 1643, and appealed to Essex for support against the mob violence which procured their rejection by the Commons.34 Finding Essex disinclined to support the peace movement, Northumberland retired to Petworth, and for a time absented himself altogether from the parliamentary councils. Clarendon, who held that the king might have won back Northumberland by returning him to his office of Lord Admiral, asserts that if the other peers who deserted the Parliament at the same time had been well received by the king, Northumberland would have followed their example.35

A few months later Northumberland returned to his place in Parliament, and the two Houses showed their confidence by appointing him one of the committee of both kingdoms (16 Feb. 1644). In the treaty at Uxbridge in January 1645 Northumberland again acted as one of the parliamentary commissioners, and was their usual spokesman.36 But he was hardly as ready to make concessions as before. 'The repulse he had formerly received at Oxford upon his addresses thither, and the fair escape he had made afterwards from the jealousy of the parliament, had wrought so far upon him that he resolved no more to depend upon the one or provoke the other, and was willing to see the king's power and authority so much restrained that he might not be able to do him any harm.'37 During 1645 he acted with the leaders of the independents, helping to secure the passage of the self-denying ordinance, and the organisation of the new model army.38 On 18 March he was appointed to the guardianship of the king's two youngest children, with a salary of £3,00039 a year; and it was even reported that if the king continued to refuse to come to terms, the Duke of Gloucester would be made king, with Northumberland as Lord Protector.40 After the fall of Oxford the Duke of York also passed into his custody, with an allowance of £7,50041 for his maintenance.

With the close of the war Northumberland again took up the part of mediator. His own losses during its continuance had amounted to over £42,000,42 towards which, on 19 Jan. 1647, parliament had voted him £10,000.43 In January 1647 he united with Manchester and the leading presbyterian peers in drawing up propositions likely to be more acceptable to the king than those previously offered him. They were forwarded through Bellievre, the French ambassador, who transmitted them to Henrietta Maria.44 On 26 Nov. 1646 Northumberland had been accused of secretly sending money to the king during the war, and the charge had been investigated at the desire of the Commons by a committee of the House of Lords; but the informer himself finally admitted that the charge was false.45 That it should have been made at all was probably the effect of his obvious preference for a compromise with Charles.

Northumberland was one of the peers who left their seats in Parliament after the riots of July 1647, and signed the engagement of 4 Aug. to stand by the army for the restoration of the freedom of the two Houses.46 It was at Northumberland's house, Syon, near Brentford, that the conferences of the seceders and the officers of the army were held and an agreement arrived at.47

When the king was in the hands of the army, and during his residence at Hampton Court, he was allowed to see his children with more frequency than before, Parliament, however, stipulating that Northumberland should accompany his charges. In one of these interviews it is said that Charles gently reproached Northumberland for his defection, and hinted that, if he would return to his allegiance, the Duke of York should be married to one of his daughters. But Northumberland remained firm against any temptations: while his opposition to the vote of no address proved that fear was equally unable to make him swerve from the policy of moderation and compromise.48 On 21 April 1648 the Duke of York escaped from Northumberland's custody, and made his way in disguise to Holland. But as early as 19 Feb. Northumberland had asked to be relieved of his charge, and declined to be responsible if he should escape; so the two Houses, on hearing the Earl's explanation, acquitted him of all blame in the matter.49 In the following September Northumberland was appointed one of the fifteen commissioners sent to negotiate with Charles at Newport, and appears from his subsequent conduct to have regarded the king's concessions as a sufficient basis for the settlement of the nation. In the House of Lords he headed the opposition to the ordinance for the king's trial. 'Not one in twenty of the people of England,' he declared, 'are yet satisfied whether the king did levy war against the houses first, or the houses first against him: and, besides, if the king did levy war first, we have no law extant that can be produced to make it treason in him to do; and for us to declare treason by an ordinance when the matter of fact is not yet proved, nor any law to bring to judge it by, seems to me very unreasonable.'50

Under the Commonwealth and protectorate Northumberland remained rigidly aloof from public affairs. He consented, however, to take the engagement to be faithful to the Commonwealth.51 At his own request Parliament relieved him of the expensive and troublesome charge of Prince Henry and the Princess Elizabeth, appointing, at his own suggestion, his sister, the Countess of Leicester, to fill his place.52 He took no part in any plots against the government. An attempt to make him out to be a delinquent failed; but the demand that Wressell Castle should be made untenable, and the consequences of a loan raised by the parliament, for which he had become engaged, gave him some vexation.53 He refused to sit either in Cromwell's House of Lords or in that summoned by his son [Richard Cromwell] in 1659. To Richard's invitation he is said to have replied that, ' till the government was such as his predecessors have served under, he could not in honour do it; but, that granted, he should see his willingness to serve him with his life and fortune.'54

He looked forward to the restoration of the House of Lords as a necessary part of the settlement of the nation, but deprecated any premature attempt on the part of the lords themselves to reclaim their rights. On 5 March 1660 he wrote to the Earl of Manchester, referring to the recent attempt made by some of the lords to persuade Monck to allow them to sit, and urging its unseasonableness.55 An unconditional restoration he did not desire, and was one of the heads of the little cabal which proposed that merely those peers who had sat in 1648 should be permitted to take their places in the Upper House, and that these should impose on Charles II the conditions offered to his father at the Newport treaty.56 In the Convention Parliament which met in April 1660 he supported a general act of indemnity, and was heard to say that, 'though he had no part in the death of the king, he was against questioning those who had been concerned in that affair; that the example might be more useful to posterity and profitable to future kings, by deterring them from the like exorbitances.'57

Though the policy which Northumberland had pursued must have been extremely distasteful both to the king and to his ministers, he was sworn in as a privy councillor immediately after the king's return (31 May 1660)58 He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Sussex (11 Aug. 1660) and joint Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland (7 Sept. 1660), and acted as Lord High Constable at the coronation of Charles II (18-23 April 1661). But he exercised no influence over the policy of the king, and took henceforth no part in public affairs. He died on 13 Oct. 1668, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and was buried at Petworth.

Clarendon terms Northumberland 'the proudest man alive,' and adds that 'if he had thought the king as much above him as he thought himself above other considerable men, he would have been a good subject.' 'He was in all his deportment a very great man,' and throughout his political career he behaved with a dignity and independence more characteristic of a feudal potentate than a seventeenth-century nobleman. Without possessing great abilities, he enjoyed as much reputation and influence as if he had done so. 'Though his notions were not large or deep, yet his temper and reservedness in discourse, and his unrashness in speaking, got him the reputation of an able and a wise man; which he made evident in his excellent government of his family, where no man was more absolutely obeyed; and no man had ever fewer idle words to answer for; and in debates of importance he always expressed himself very pertinently.'59 At the commencement of the Civil war he had 'the most esteemed and unblemished reputation, in court and country, of any person of his rank throughout the kingdom.' At the close of the struggle he preserved it almost unimpaired. 'In spite of all the partial disadvantages which were brought upon him by living in such a divided age, yet there was no man perhaps of any party but believed, honoured, and would have trusted him. Neither was this due to any chance of his birth, but, as all lasting reputation is, to those qualities which ran through the frame of his mind and the course of his life.'60

Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, with Lady Percy and Daughter. After Van Dyck

Northumberland married twice: first, in January 1629, Lady Anne Cecil, eldest daughter of William, second earl of Salisbury. This match was strongly disapproved by the bridegroom's father, who attributed his wrongs to the jealousy of the first Earl of Salisbury, and declared that the blood of Percy would not mix with the blood of Cecil if you poured it in a dish.'61 She died on 6 Dec. 1637, and was buried at Petworth.62 By her Northumberland had issue five daughters, three of whom—Catharine, Dorothy, and Lucy—died in childhood: Lady Anne Percy, born on 12 Aug. 1633, married, on 21 June 1652, Philip, Lord Stanhope, and died on 29 Nov. 1654; Lady Elizabeth Percy, born on 1 Dec. 1636, married, on 19 May 1653, Arthur, Lord Capel (created Earl of Essex in 1661), and died on 5 Feb. 1718.63

Northumberland's second wife was Lady Elizabeth Howard, second daughter of Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk. The marriage took place on 1 Oct. 1642. She died on 11 March 1705. By this marriage the great house built by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, came into Northumberland's possession, and was henceforth known as Northumberland House. It was demolished in 1874 to make room for Northumberland Avenue.64 By his second countess Earl Algernon had issue: (1) Josceline, eleventh Earl of Northumberland, born on 4 July 1644, married, on 23 Dec. 1662, Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, [4th] Earl of Southampton, and died on 21 May 1670, leaving a son, Henry Percy, who died on 18 Dec. 1669, and a daughter, Elizabeth Percy, born on 26 Jan. 1667, afterwards Duchess of Somerset; (2) Lady Mary Percy, born on 22 July 1647, died on 3 July 1652.



1. Chamberlain, Letters during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, p. 157; Collins, Peerage, ed. Brydges, ii. 346.
2. Fonblanque, House of Percy, ii. 367.
3. Antiquarian Repertory, iv. 374.
4. Doyle, Official Baronage, ii. 663.
5. Strafford Letters, i. 363, 427; Fonblanque, ii. 630.
6. Gardiner, History of England, viii. 156; Strafford Letters, i. 524; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1635-6, pp. xx, 357.
7. Strafford Letters, ii. 40, 49; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1636-7, pp. 202, 217, 251; Fonblanque, ii. 379.
8. Strafford Letters, ii. 54.
9. ib. ii. 84; Gardiner, viii. 219; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1637, pp. xxi-xxv.
10. ib. 1637-8, p. 321; Collins, ii. 247.
11. Strafford Letters, ii. 154; Gardiner, viii. 338.
12. ib. ii. 186, 266.
13. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1638-9, p. 608.
14. Collins, Sydney Papers, ii. 608-23; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1639-40, pp. 22, 526; Strafford Letters, ii. 276.
15. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1640, pp. 71, 115; Sydney Papers, ii. 623.
16. Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. p. 3 ; Gardiner, History of England, ix. 122.
17. Collins, Sydney Papers, ii. 652, 654.
18. ib. ii. 626.
19. Rebellion, ed. Macray, ii. 80 n.
20. Rushworth, iii. 989.
21. £5,000 in 1639 was roughly equivalent in purchasing power to £659,000 in 2010.
Source: Measuring Worth.
22. Sydney Papers, ii. 629; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1640, pp. 294, 363, 514, 572.
23. ib. pp. 588, 603.
24. Rushworth, Trial of Strafford, pp. 533, 543; Sydney Papers, ii. 665.
25. ib. ii. 661-6.
26. Rebellion, iii. 228; Commons' Journals, ii. 172-5.
27. Clarendon, Rebellion, iv. 330, v. 376; Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. p. 85; Gardiner, History of England, x. 176, 185, 208.
28. Clarendon, Rebellion, iii. 228; Memoirs of Sir Philip Warwick, p. 117.
29. Bankes, Story of Corfe Castle, pp. 122, 129, 139.
30. Gardiner, Great Civil War, i. 53, 80.
31. Memorials, edit. 1853, i. 195-201; Old Parliamentary History, xii. 29, 201.
32. Lords' Journals, vi. 11; Clarendon, Rebellion, vii. 20.
33. Sanford, Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion, pp. 543, 562.
34. ib. p. 576; Gardiner, Great Civil War, i. 185; Clarendon, Rebellion, vii. 166-75.
35. Rebellion, vii. 21, 188, 244, 248.
36. Whitelocke, i. 377, 385 ; Clarendon, Rebellion, viii. 218.
37. ib. viii. 244.
38. Gardiner, Great Civil War, ii. 189; Sanford, Studies and Illustrations, p. 353.
39. £3,000 in 1645 was roughly equivalent in purchasing power to £397,000 in 2010.
Source: Measuring Worth.
40. ib.; Lords' Journals, vii. 279, 327.
41. £7,500 in 1645 was roughly equivalent in purchasing power to £992,000 in 2010.
Source: Measuring Worth.
42. £42,000 in 1647 was roughly equivalent in purchasing power to £4,660,000 in 2010.
Source: Measuring Worth.
43. £10,000 in 1647 was roughly equivalent in purchasing power to £1,110,000 in 2010.
Source: Measuring Worth; Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. p. 86; Commons' Journals, viii. 651.
44. Gardiner, Great Civil War, iii. 213.
45. Lords' Journals, viii. 578, 678.
46. Lords' Journals, ix. 385.
47. Waller, Vindication, p. 191.
48. Green, Lives of the Princesses of England, vi. 360; Gardiner, Great Civil War, iv. 52.
49. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1648-9, p. 19; Lords' Journals, x. 220; Life of James II, i. 29-33.
50. Gardiner, Great Civil War, iv. 289.
51. Sanford, Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion, p. 292.
52. Cary, Memorials of the Civil War, ii. 127, 138; Commons' Journals, vi. 216.
53. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1649-50, p. 286; Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. pp. 87-8.
54. Clarendon State Papers, ii. 432.
55. Manchester, Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne, i. 395.
56. Collins, Sydney Papers, ii. 685; Clarendon State Papers, iii.729.
57. Ludlow, Memoirs, 267, ed. 1894.
58. Blencowe, Sydney Papers, p. 158.
59. Rebellion, vi. 398, viii. 244.
60. Sir William Temple to Josceline, eleventh Earl of Northumberland, 26 Dec. 1668; Fonblanque, ii. 475.
61. Fonblanque, ii. 370.
62. Strafford Letters, ii. 142.
63. ib. i. 76, 116, 469; Collins, ii. 353; Fonblanque, ii. 388, 407.
64. Wheatley, London Past and Present, ii. 603.




Source:

Lee, Sidney. "Algernon Percy, Tenth Earl of Northumberland."
The Dictionary of National Biography. Vol XLIV. Sidney Lee, Ed.
New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895. 385-90.




Other Local Resources:




Books for further study: Brenan, Gerald. A History of the House of Percy.
            Fremantle & Co., 1902.

Collins, Arthur. An History of the Ancient and Illustrious Family of the Percys.
           Gale ECCO, 2010. (Reprint from 1750)

De Fonblanque, E. Barrington. Annals of the House of Percy.
           London: Richard Clay & Sons, 1887.

Lomas, Richard. A Power in the Land: The Percys.
           East Linton: Tuckwell Press, Ltd., 1999.

Rose, Alexander. Kings in the North: The House of Percy in British History.
            Phoenix Press, 2003.





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Sir William Stanley
Archbishop Thomas Bourchier
Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex
John Mowbray, 3. Duke of Norfolk
John Mowbray, 4. Duke of Norfolk
John Howard, Duke of Norfolk
Henry Percy, 2. E. Northumberland
Henry Percy, 3. E. Northumberland
Henry Percy, 4. E. Northumberland
William, Lord Hastings
Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter
William Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel
William Herbert, 1. Earl of Pembroke
John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford
Thomas de Clifford, 8. Baron Clifford
John de Clifford, 9. Baron Clifford
John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester
Thomas Grey, 1. Marquis Dorset
Sir Andrew Trollop
Archbishop John Morton
Edward Plantagenet, E. of Warwick
John Talbot, 2. E. Shrewsbury
John Talbot, 3. E. Shrewsbury
John de la Pole, 2. Duke of Suffolk
John de la Pole, E. of Lincoln
Edmund de la Pole, E. of Suffolk
Richard de la Pole
John Sutton, Baron Dudley
James Butler, 5. Earl of Ormonde
Sir James Tyrell
Edmund Grey, first Earl of Kent
George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent
John, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton
James Touchet, 7th Baron Audley
Walter Blount, Lord Mountjoy
Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns
Thomas, Lord Scales
John, Lord Lovel and Holand
Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell
Sir Richard Ratcliffe
William Catesby
Ralph, 4th Lord Cromwell
Jack Cade's Rebellion, 1450


Tudor Period

King Henry VII
Queen Elizabeth of York
Arthur, Prince of Wales
Lambert Simnel
Perkin Warbeck
The Battle of Blackheath, 1497

King Ferdinand II of Aragon
Queen Isabella of Castile
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

King Henry VIII
Queen Catherine of Aragon
Queen Anne Boleyn
Queen Jane Seymour
Queen Anne of Cleves
Queen Catherine Howard
Queen Katherine Parr

King Edward VI
Queen Mary I
Queen Elizabeth I
Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond

Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland
James IV, King of Scotland
The Battle of Flodden Field, 1513
James V, King of Scotland
Mary of Guise, Queen of Scotland

Mary Tudor, Queen of France
Louis XII, King of France
Francis I, King of France
The Battle of the Spurs, 1513
Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1520
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Eustace Chapuys, Imperial Ambassador
The Siege of Boulogne, 1544

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex
Thomas, Lord Audley
Thomas Wriothesley, E. Southampton
Sir Richard Rich

Edward Stafford, D. of Buckingham
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire
George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford
John Russell, Earl of Bedford
Thomas Grey, 2. Marquis of Dorset
Henry Grey, D. of Suffolk
Charles Somerset, Earl of Worcester
George Talbot, 4. E. Shrewsbury
Francis Talbot, 5. E. Shrewsbury
Henry Algernon Percy,
     5th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Algernon Percy,
     6th Earl of Northumberland
Ralph Neville, 4. E. Westmorland
Henry Neville, 5. E. Westmorland
William Paulet, Marquis of Winchester
Sir Francis Bryan
Sir Nicholas Carew
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford
Thomas Seymour, Lord Admiral
Edward Seymour, Protector Somerset
Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury
Henry Pole, Lord Montague
Sir Geoffrey Pole
Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland
Henry Manners, Earl of Rutland
Henry Bourchier, 2. Earl of Essex
Robert Radcliffe, 1. Earl of Sussex
Henry Radcliffe, 2. Earl of Sussex
George Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon
Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter
George Neville, Baron Bergavenny
Sir Edward Neville
William, Lord Paget
William Sandys, Baron Sandys
William Fitzwilliam, E. Southampton
Sir Anthony Browne
Sir Thomas Wriothesley
Sir William Kingston
George Brooke, Lord Cobham
Sir Richard Southwell
Thomas Fiennes, 9th Lord Dacre
Sir Francis Weston
Henry Norris
Lady Jane Grey
Sir Thomas Arundel
Sir Richard Sackville
Sir William Petre
Sir John Cheke
Walter Haddon, L.L.D
Sir Peter Carew
Sir John Mason
Nicholas Wotton
John Taylor
Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Younger

Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio
Cardinal Reginald Pole
Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester
Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London
Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London
John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester
John Aylmer, Bishop of London
Thomas Linacre
William Grocyn
Archbishop William Warham
Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham
Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester
Edward Fox, Bishop of Hereford

Pope Julius II
Pope Leo X
Pope Clement VII
Pope Paul III
Pope Pius V

Pico della Mirandola
Desiderius Erasmus
Martin Bucer
Richard Pace
Christopher Saint-German
Thomas Tallis
Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent
Hans Holbein, the Younger
The Sweating Sickness

Dissolution of the Monasteries
Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536
Robert Aske
Anne Askew
Lord Thomas Darcy
Sir Robert Constable

Oath of Supremacy
The Act of Supremacy, 1534
The First Act of Succession, 1534
The Third Act of Succession, 1544
The Ten Articles, 1536
The Six Articles, 1539
The Second Statute of Repeal, 1555
The Act of Supremacy, 1559
Articles Touching Preachers, 1583

Queen Elizabeth I
William Cecil, Lord Burghley
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Sir Francis Walsingham
Sir Nicholas Bacon
Sir Thomas Bromley

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick
Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon
Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley
Sir Francis Knollys
Katherine "Kat" Ashley
Lettice Knollys, Countess of Leicester
George Talbot, 6. E. of Shrewsbury
Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury
Gilbert Talbot, 7. E. of Shrewsbury
Sir Henry Sidney
Sir Robert Sidney
Archbishop Matthew Parker
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich
Sir Christopher Hatton
Edward Courtenay, E. Devonshire
Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland
Thomas Radcliffe, 3. Earl of Sussex
Henry Radcliffe, 4. Earl of Sussex
Robert Radcliffe, 5. Earl of Sussex
William Parr, Marquis of Northampton
Henry Wriothesley, 2. Southampton
Henry Wriothesley, 3. Southampton
Charles Neville, 6. E. Westmorland
Thomas Percy, 7. E. Northumberland
Henry Percy, 8. E. Northumberland
Henry Percy, 9. E. Nothumberland
William Herbert, 1. Earl of Pembroke
Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Howard, 1. Earl of Northampton
Thomas Howard, 1. Earl of Suffolk
Henry Hastings, 3. E. of Huntingdon
Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland
Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland
Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland
Henry FitzAlan, 12. Earl of Arundel
Thomas, Earl Arundell of Wardour
Edward Somerset, E. of Worcester
William Davison
Sir Walter Mildmay
Sir Ralph Sadler
Sir Amyas Paulet
Gilbert Gifford
Anthony Browne, Viscount Montague
François, Duke of Alençon & Anjou

Mary, Queen of Scots
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell
Anthony Babington and the Babington Plot
John Knox

Philip II of Spain
The Spanish Armada, 1588
Sir Francis Drake
Sir John Hawkins

William Camden
Archbishop Whitgift
Martin Marprelate Controversy
John Penry (Martin Marprelate)
Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury
John Dee, Alchemist

Philip Henslowe
Edward Alleyn
The Blackfriars Theatre
The Fortune Theatre
The Rose Theatre
The Swan Theatre
Children's Companies
The Admiral's Men
The Lord Chamberlain's Men
Citizen Comedy
The Isle of Dogs, 1597

Common Law
Court of Common Pleas
Court of King's Bench
Court of Star Chamber
Council of the North
Fleet Prison
Assize
Attainder
First Fruits & Tenths
Livery and Maintenance
Oyer and terminer
Praemunire


The Stuarts

King James I of England
Anne of Denmark
Henry, Prince of Wales
The Gunpowder Plot, 1605
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset
Arabella Stuart, Lady Lennox

William Alabaster
Bishop Hall
Bishop Thomas Morton
Archbishop William Laud
John Selden
Lucy Harington, Countess of Bedford
Henry Lawes

King Charles I
Queen Henrietta Maria

Long Parliament
Rump Parliament
Kentish Petition, 1642

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford
John Digby, Earl of Bristol
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax
Robert Devereux, 3rd E. of Essex
Robert Sidney, 2. E. of Leicester
Algernon Percy, E. of Northumberland
Henry Montagu, Earl of Manchester
Edward Montagu, 2. Earl of Manchester

The Restoration

King Charles II
King James II
Test Acts

Greenwich Palace
Hatfield House
Richmond Palace
Windsor Palace
Woodstock Manor

The Cinque Ports
Mermaid Tavern
Malmsey Wine
Great Fire of London, 1666
Merchant Taylors' School
Westminster School
The Sanctuary at Westminster
"Sanctuary"


Images:

Chart of the English Succession from William I through Henry VII

Medieval English Drama

London c1480, MS Royal 16
London, 1510, the earliest view in print
Map of England from Saxton's Descriptio Angliae, 1579
London in late 16th century
Location Map of Elizabethan London
Plan of the Bankside, Southwark, in Shakespeare's time
Detail of Norden's Map of the Bankside, 1593
Bull and Bear Baiting Rings from the Agas Map (1569-1590, pub. 1631)
Sketch of the Swan Theatre, c. 1596
Westminster in the Seventeenth Century, by Hollar
Visscher's View of London, 1616
Larger Visscher's View in Sections
c. 1690. View of London Churches, after the Great Fire
The Yard of the Tabard Inn from Thornbury, Old and New London




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