1642 English Civil War—earl Of Leicester/queen Henriett

We find the most interesting Live Book Auction. Here are the best deals we found for 1642 English Civil War—earl Of Leicester/queen Henriett for sale on the Internet.

This auction is now closed.
		$
If you want to see its description or find similar items currently for sale please click here.

1642 English Civil War—earl Of Leicester/queen Henriett Picture(s) and Description:

1642 English Civil WarEarl of Leicester/Queen Henrietta 2 VERY RARE Pamphlets on Charles I, Rebels at Newark The title page to the first pamphlet in this small volume reads, A Briefe Relation of the Remarkeable Occurrences in the Northerne parts: Viz. The Landing of the Qveenes Maiestie In the Bay of Burlington: And the repulse given unto the Rebels at the Towne of Newark: Both signified by severall Letters on the same day, being Friday March. 3. 1642. Printed by H. Hall. M.DC.XLII. Note that this pamphlet, which was printed with seven leaves, has only the first four leaves remaining.

The title page to the second pamphlet reads, A Letter from the Lord of Leicester, to the Right Honourable the Earle of Northumberland, and by him communicated to the House of Peeres. Declaring the true causes of his long stay at Court, and with what earnest desires he continually pressed His Majesty to assigne his dispatch, which He notwithstanding denied to grant. Also how and in what manner His Majesty took away the Horses bought by the Parliament for the service of Ireland, and imployed them to his owne use. Die Lunae Septemb. 26. 1642. Ordered by the Lord in Parliament, That this Letter shall be forthwith printed and published. J. Brown Cler. Parliamentorum. London, Printed for Iohn Wright, Septemb. 27. 1642. There are four leaves to this pamphlet, and it is complete.

The first pamphlet is an extremely scarce work. I can find no other copies online, though the Oxford Library has a copy. It is not listed in ESTC at the British Library. It is the report of an event at the beginning of Englands Civil War, the first skirmishes of which broke out in 1642. Among heightened tension between the Parliament and King Charles I, his Roman Catholic queen, Henrietta, took their daughter to the Prince of Orange for safekeeping in the Netherlands. Hesitant to return until things had calmed down in England, Henrietta finally set sail with a small fleet of Dutch reinforcements, landing at length in the Bay of Burlington, rather than her intended port at Newcastle. She sat two days at anchor until the Earl of Newcastle could escort her ashore, with armed guard.

The author (reputed to be Peter Heylyn) notes that several rebel ships got wind of the queens arrival, and

made all the haste they could to fall on upon Her before the comming of the Kings Army. And though they came not soone enough to hinder her from landing, as twas hoped they might; they did their best to kill Her in Her bed, as she was asleepe, and make the Land more cruell to Her, then the Seas had beene: Which being an attempt so barbarous, as would not easily finde beliefe from a private pen, such as no story o fthe Turkes or Scythians, or any other savage or uncivill Nations can give a Parallel unto; it shall be told you in the words of a publike person, who on the morrow after gave this accompt there by letter, which was dispatched away by one of the ordinary Messengers, attending then upon the Queene.

The letter that Heylyn quotes in full, dated Burlington this 25 of February. 1642, relates an eyewitness account of the gunshot and cannon shot attack by night upon the place in the town where the queen was sleeping, her hasty escape out into the fields and hiding in a ditch, and her insistence on returning back to the town once the attack had ceased, unwilling to allow them the vanity of saying, They made Her forsake the Towne.

The letter is quoted in full, but there are only two more lines of text after the letter, and then the rest of the pages (three leaves) are lost.

The reputed author of this work, Peter Heylyn (1600-1662), served under King Charles I and Charles II of England as a cleric and writer of church history, among other things. A firm adversary of the Puritans, and equally firm supporter of the Church of England and Archbishop Laud, Heylyn suffered during the reign of the Commonwealth but was afterward restored to favor with the ascension of Charles II.

Heylyn was meticulous in his details of historical writing, even as blindness and age advanced. He was in reality a "living library," having committed to his memory much of the his library that had been ransacked during the Commonwealth years or that he could no longer see with his eyes.

When the king was restored to the throne, Heylyn was there and gave Charles II the royal scepter, presenting it on his knees. He rejoiced that his "bad old eyes" could see the king settled on his fathers throne at last. The king had said earlier to him, "Peter, I will have you buried under your seat at Church [Heylyn was sub-dean and prebendary at Westminster], for you are rarely seen, but there or at your study." A year later, when Heylyn died, his tomb and epitaph were indeed placed near his seat.

The second pamphlet in this volume is a letter from Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester (1595-1677), who in 1642 was in a difficult predicament. A statesman and diplomat, he had been appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland by Charles I. However, the king never gave him his marching orders, though Leicester spent much time at court (then being held in the city of York) trying to press the king on this issue. Leicester wrote a letter to Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, who was Lord High Admiral of England. Northumberland had turned against the king, and Leicester wrote to explain his long stay at court and to complain of the kings brazen theft of many of the horses that Parliament had purchased to send into Ireland with Leicester.

It becomes clear in this letter that Leicester was not a forceful personality. He was afraid that he would incurre the censure of the Parliament for negligence or slacknesse in service, and hoped that Northumberland would explain to Parliament why Leicester was not galloping off to Ireland. He writes,

When I came to Yorke, I told the King that I was come thither to receive His Majesties commandements and instructions for that imployment which he had done me the honour to confer upon me, and I did humbly beseech him that I might not be stayed at Court because the Parliament did desire my speedy repaire into Ireland, and that his service, as I conceived did require it, at least that some Governour (if I were not thought worthy of it) should be presently sent into that Kingdome. The King told me that he would thinke of it, but I must confesse I did not finde His Majesty so ready to dispatch me as I hoped and expected; From that time I did not faile to beseech His Majesty to send me away upon every oportunity that I had of speaking to him, and I thinke there passed not a day that I did not desire the Secretarys of state and some other persons about the King to put his Majesty in mind of me. I obeyed His Majesty and came after him to this Towne where I have attended ever since perpetually solliciting to be dispatched.

Leicester never received marching orders from Charles I, and resigned as lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1643.

He also complained in his letter of the kings appropriation of many of the fine horses that Parliament had purchased for the Ireland expedition. Leicester protests that he was innocent as a new borne Child in the matter and that he had opposed it as much as I had power to doe so. However, he walked a fine line here, because he was not sure that it would be safe to write that he outright opposed a direct order from his king. His account of his conversation with one of his servants on the matter is quite amusing, in his attempts to be politically correct.

However, his letter was considered by Parliament as fuel for the fires of rebellion being lit against Charles I, and was enthusiastically printed as propaganda against the ill-fated king, who would eventually lose his throne and his head to the Parliamentarians.

These two pamphlets are bound in what appear to be very early 17th century full calf bindings with ornate floral design tooled into one side of each of the full calf covers. Covers also have double rule borders. There is no spine, and the front cover is detached. Some rubbing wear to covers and corners, but otherwise very lovely. The paper size of A Briefe Relation is slightly smaller on the bottom border than The Letter from the Lord of Leicester, and the publishers are different, so it is possible that this binding was made to bind these two pamphlets together.

The inside front cover has an armorial bookplate of the family of William Coxhead Marsh, who inherited Gaynes Park in Essex in 1811. As noted above, the last three leaves are missing from the pamphlet A Briefe Relation. The letter from Leicester is complete. Paper is high-quality rag that is still crisp and clean, though outer edges are slightly darkened with age. Light dampstaining on lower left portion of A Briefe Relation. Because the spine is not present, most of the pages are loose from the binding, though still bound together. No blank endpapers.

Book measures about 5.5 x 7.5 x 1/4 and has 8 leaves, with no blank endpapers. NO RESERVE; free postage for media mail in US (more for international); see my end-of auction e-mail for specific rates and optional insurance. Satisfaction guaranteed. For other rare, unusual antiquarian books that begin at $9.99, see my auction listings.