Duke of Suffolk

“ Knights and gentlemen flocked forth from many a chateau to join themselves to the army of the miraculous Maid, whilst humble peasants, fired by patriotism and zeal, came nightly into our camp seeking to be enrolled amid those who followed and fought beneath her banner.
And so for three days we marched, our ranks swelling, our hearts full of zeal and confidence, till news was brought us that the Duke of Suffolk, one of the bravest and most chivalrous of English knights and soldiers, had thrown himself and his followers into Jargeau, and was hastily fortifying it for a siege. ”

“ His titles and estates were forfeited, but in 1399 the earldom of Suffolk and most of the estates were restored to his son Michael (c. 1361–1415) . Michael, the 3rd earl (1394–1415) , was killed at the battle of Agincourt, and the earldom passed to his brother William (1396–1450) , who was created earl of Pembroke in 1443, marquess of Suffolk in 1444, and duke of Suffolk in 1448 (see Suffolk, William de la Pole, Duke of) . The duke’s son, John, 2nd duke of Suffolk (1442–1491) , married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard, duke of York, and sister of King Edward IV., by whom he had six sons. ”

“ Suffolk tried in vain to soothe her fears. She refused to listen, and brought him to his knees with the announcement that unless he would wed her there and then, she would continue to believe that he had come only to entice her back to England and force her into marriage with Charles. What was the poor Duke to do, between his promise to Henry and the pleading of Mary? He did what every other man with a heart in his breast and warm blood in his veins would have done, he cast prudence to the winds and secretly married the woman he loved. ”

“ Grocyn and all of our London savants crowded eagerly to hear him.”
“Well! well! I knew nothing of these most agreeable particulars,” said Suffolk; “I only knew that it was he who induced Parliament to refuse the subsidy demanded for the Queen of Scots. If he continues to repeat such exploits as that, I venture to predict he will not be chancellor very long.”
“Oh! as to that,” replied the duke, “he is a man who will never compromise his conscience. ”

“ Are you the butcher, Suffolk? where's your knife?
Is Beaufort term'd a kite? where are his talons? ⁠196
Suf. I wear no knife to slaughter sleeping men;
But here's a vengeful sword, rusted with ease,
That shall be scoured in his rancorous heart
That slanders me with murther's crimson badge. ⁠200
Say, if thou dar'st, proud Lord of Warwickshire,
That I am faulty in Duke Humphrey's death.
War. What dares not Warwick, if false Suffolk dare him? ⁠203
Queen. He dares not calm his contumelious spirit,
Nor cease to be an arrogant controller,
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times. ”

“ Margaret said the only possible way, in her opinion, was for Suffolk to marry the Lady Lisle, a child of nine years old, Suffolk's ward, and the daughter and heiress of John Grey, late Lord Lisle. This penance both Henry and Suffolk said was too much, for it was not fair to 83 bind the man to a contract which the child could repudiate on coming of age; anything else but not that. So Henry wrote to the Emperor expressing his astonishment that rumour had arisen of a possible marriage between the Duchess of Savoy and the Duke of Suffolk, his "tres leal cousin et conseiller." ”

“ ELEANOR, Duchess of Gloucester
CARDINAL Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, great-uncle to the King
DUKE OF SOMERSET
DUKE OF SUFFOLK
DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM
LORD CLIFFORD
YOUNG CLIFFORD, his son
VAUX
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of YORK ”

“ On another tomb lies the statue of the Lady Frances, Duchess of Suffolk, represented dressed in her robes. She was the daughter of the famous Charles Brandon by Mary the French Queen, daughter to Henry VII. and became Duchess of Suffolk by marrying Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset, who, upon her father’s decease, was created Duke of Suffolk. On her tomb are two inscriptions, the first in Latin verse in praise of her virtues, and the other in English, shewing her different marriages. ”

“ The powerful party which prosecuted the revenge of Gloucester's injuries, and now allied itself to the ambitious Duke of York, were the more numerously backed by the nobility, who regarded Suffolk with envy, as a man who, being but the grandson of a merchant, had risen over their heads, and made himself all but monarch. ”

“ With 'God preserve the good Duke Humphrey!'
I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss, 164
He will be found a dangerous protector.
Buck. Why should he then protect our sovereign,
He being of age to govern of himself?
Cousin of Somerset, join you with me, 168
And all together, with the Duke of Suffolk,
We'll quickly hoise Duke Humphrey from his seat.
Car. This weighty business will not brook delay;
I'll to the Duke of Suffolk presently. 172
Exit Cardinal. ”

“ The cession of Maine and Anjou had excited the deepest indignation; but when month after month had brought only news of the invasion of Normandy and the loss of town after town, the whole population appeared stung to madness. Suffolk was denounced as the queen's minion, as a man who was so besotted by the charms of a foreign woman as to sacrifice for his pleasure our fairest inheritance. On his head they heaped, not only his fair share of those transactions, but the full odium of the release of the Duke of Orleans, contrary to the injunction of the sagacious Henry V. ”

“ She felt a strong affection for him, and also for Lady Suffolk, not only on account of their having acted so important a part in promoting her marriage, but also on account of the very kind and attentive manner in which they had treated her during the whole period of her journey. Thus the cardinal and Suffolk, on the one hand, had the advantage, in their quarrel with the Duke of Gloucester, of great personal influence over the king and queen, while Gloucester himself, on the other hand, enjoyed in some respects a still greater advantage in his popularity with the mass of the people. ”

“ Such inconsistency is very common in Shakespeare. Compare I. iv, lines 35 ff. and 67 ff. It is not necessary to explain that Gloucester's eyes were dim, or that his agitation prevented him from getting more than the general import of the passage. The author was writing for auditors, who would not compare the two texts.
I. i. 65. We here create thee the first Duke of Suffolk. The Earl of Suffolk was created Marquis, September 14, 1444, and was made Duke, June 2, 1448, three years after the coronation of Queen Margaret (May, 1445) . ”

“ In short, the unity of a divided nation was restored under a set of politic kings, who enforced the laws, kept down the nobility, and, in spite of their despotism, were generally loved by the people.
319.1 A notable example of this is afforded by the letters of Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, which will be found printed in my Letters and Papers of Richard III. and Henry VII. His successor in title, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the favourite of Henry VIII., wrote quite as barbarous a hand, and outraged orthography in a manner equally bewildering. ”

“ In 1515, the Lady Mary, sister to the King, was married to the French King, with whom he lived 82 days only; after whose death he sent Sir Charles Brandon Viscount Lisle, whom he had created Duke of Suffolk, for the Queen of France, his sister, who desired to return into England, whom the said Duke, by the King's license, married; in their return they visited this city, and were grandly received; several of the printed accounts say, that this year the Queen of France and Duke of Norfolk were here, but it is a mistake for Suffolk. ”

“ The Duke of Suffolk, whose sad fate it was to be perpetually getting himself into trouble in the present, for fear of calamities which might never occur in the future, ran away in terror lest he should be suspected of complicity with the rebellion; a proceeding which of course roused suspicion instantly, and sealed not only his own fate, but that of his daughter, Lady Jane Grey. The latter was beheaded on the twelfth of February, the former on the twenty-third. For weeks the prisons were full, and the gallows perpetually at work. ”

“ The men of Suffolk’s party, such as Lord Say, Viscount Beaumont, and Thomas Daniel, still remained about the king, and were nearly as unpopular as he had been. The offices formerly held by Suffolk were divided among them and their particular friends.68.2 Even if the Court had desired to call in men of greater weight, they were not then at hand. The Duke of Somerset was in France, and the Duke of York in Ireland ”

“ The duke of Glocester, high-spirited and haughty, and educated in the lofty pretensions which the first successes of his two brothers had rendered familiar to him, could not yet be induced to relinquish all hopes of prevailing over France; much less could he see with patience his own opinion thwarted and rejected by the influence of his rival in the English council. But, notwithstanding his opposition, the earl of Suffolk, a nobleman who adhered to the cardinal’s party, was despatched to Tours, in order to negotiate with the French ministers. ”

“ In the spring of 1513, when his brother Edmund was put to death in England, he assumed the title of Duke of Suffolk, and became an avowed claimant of the crown of England. Though his pretensions were not formidable, discharged soldiers of the garrison of Tournay (then in English hands) threatened to join him (Cal. Henry VIII, vol. ii. Nos. 325–6) . It was reported, too, in Spain that he had been given the command of a French fleet. Later in the year he led a company of six thousand men against the English at the siege of Thérouanne. ”

“ The young and enthusiastic, supported by others who had good reasons for being in opposition to established authorities, were those who had placed themselves in correspondence with the Duke of Suffolk. ”

“ The attachment had existed before her marriage with Louis, whom she had agreed to accept, in spite of his age and infirmity, on being promised that if she survived him she should have her own choice next time. Nor was her brother Henry unwilling, for his part, to redeem the pledge, but several of his council thought the match with Suffolk unbecoming, while in France rumour gave her to the Duke of Savoy or to the Duke of Lorraine. One Friar Langley, too, at Paris, warned her to beware of Suffolk, for he had traffickings with the devil. ”

“ Suffolk and Somerset were busy, self-important, self-seeking men, and coveted power and office for their own private ends. The Duke of York, who succeeded to Duke Humphrey's position, was a far more capable man, but he was committed to the hopelessly unpractical programme of perpetual war with France. His position, too, was rendered difficult by the fact that Duke Humphrey's death had made him next heir to the throne after the feeble young king, for there was now no other male of the house of Lancaster surviving. ”

“ The French contrived to find occasion for extorting a promise to surrender all the English possessions in Anjou and Maine, a concession that was to prove fatal to Suffolk and his policy. Still for the time his success was complete, and his position as the personal friend of the young king and queen seemed secure. Humphrey of Gloucester died in February 1447, within a few days of his arrest, and six weeks later Cardinal Beaufort died also. Suffolk was left without an obvious rival, but his difficulties were great. ”

“ Unfortunately for the other purposes of the Duke's mission, Francis found out his secret, and, after putting him to the blush, promised every possible assistance in the matter he had most at heart. The King was as good as his word; but the impatience of the young couple, who feared strong opposition in England, induced them to be married in France before they left. On their return Suffolk was in serious danger from the indignation of King Henry and his nobles; but by Wolsey's intercession he procured his pardon. ”

“ They had a formal audience of the king at Noyon on 2 Feb., after which Francis sent for the duke to see him in private, and to his consternation said to him, 'My lord of Suffolk, there is a bruit in this my realm that you are come to marry with the queen, your master's sister.' Suffolk in vain attempted to deny the charge, for Francis had extracted the confession from Mary herself by what dishonourable overtures we need not inquire and Francis, to put him at his ease, promised to write to Henry in his favour. ”

“ If servants' talk is any indication of their masters' opinions, then Suffolk must have been hot against the French alliance, for his servants could "not hold their tongues from speaking against France." [495] If this be so, Suffolk was now definitely in opposition to Wolsey. The trial and death of the Duke of Buckingham, undoubtedly Wolsey's work, for wanting to make himself King, shocked the whole Court and increased this bitterness against the Cardinal, long felt by the older nobles. ”

“ Sixteen rebels at least were executed in Suffolk, and still more in Norfolk.
On the breaking out of a fierce quarrel between John of Gaunt [q. v.] and his former ally, Henry Percy, first earl of Northumberland [q. v.] , Suffolk attended the council at Berkhampstead in which the duke brought his charges against the earl, and, on the latter being ordered under arrest, Suffolk joined with Warwick in acting as his surety (Walsingham, ii. 44; Chron. Angliæ, p. 329) . Northumberland now became the favourite of the London mob, and Suffolk won back his old popularity. ”