Earl of Peterborough

“ By Charles I he was created Earl of Peterborough, by letters patent of 9 March 1627-8. On the outbreak of the civil war he adhered to the parliament, and held the commission of general of the ordnance under the Earl of Essex, but he died of consumption, 18 June 1642. He left, besides his heir, Henry, the second earl, a son John, afterwards Lord Mordaunt of Reigate and Viscount Mordaunt of Avalon [q. v.] ; and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Thomas, son and heir to Edward Howard, first lord Howard of Escrick [q. v.] ”

“ The victory of Prince Eugene rendering the presence of the Earl of Peterborough unnecessary in Piedmont, he made a second voyage to Genoa, to induce that republic to lend King Charles and his Allies money for his establishment. The English fleet in the Mediterranean continued sailing from place to place with six or eight thousand men on board, seeking some occasion to annoy the coast of France, whilst these men might have been of the utmost service in Spain if commanded by Peterborough. ”

“ One of the most remarkable speeches of that day was made by a young man, whose eccentric career was destined to amaze Europe. This was Charles Mordaunt, Viscount Mordaunt, widely renowned, many years later, as Earl of Peterborough. ”

“ Add to this that the Earl was a charming man, full of courage and enthusiasm, and able to command the unbounded affection of his troops, and you have the born leader of men. Of Peterborough's brilliant exploits in the Peninsula in 1705 a whole book might be written. His chief attention was first given to the important town of Barcelona, a place which had successfully withstood Rooke, and in the most remarkable fashion he captured the strong fort of Monjuich, the citadel of the town, with a force of only 1,200 foot and 200 horse. ”

“ I don't think that anything can be considered as a certainty in which you have the Earl of Peterborough to reckon with.”
“He is a great man,” the duke said—“a great man, and has performed marvels; but there is a limit to the possibilities which one man can perform, and here that limit is passed. I shall give orders, Captain Stilwell, that your imprisonment is made as little disagreeable as possible, and that you have everything you require.”
Jack expressed his thanks and retired. ”

“ John Freind's vindication of the Earl of Peterborough's conduct in Spain appeared, and he was promptly arrested by an order of the House of Lords. He was, however, released, 19 Jan. 1707–8, and the attorney-general was instructed to prosecute him. ”

“ It being desirable there should be a male heir-presumptive to the crown, the king was anxious his brother should take unto himself a second wife. And that a lady might be found worthy of the exalted station to which such a union would raise her, the Earl of Peterborough was sent incognito to report on the manners and appearance of the princesses of the courts of Neuburg and of Modena. ”

“ The governor being very unpopular, and suspected of a design to remove many of the prisoners, was surrounded by an enraged mob: but the Earl of Peterborough entered the town on the 14th of October with a troop of dragoons and the grenadiers of the army, put a stop to the plundering of the miquelets, and prevented the slaughter of the governor and his garrison; at the same time such excellent order and discipline were preserved among the English soldiers, that their conduct has been lauded by historians. ”

“ He had also fought under the banners of Marshal Turenne in the Low Countries, by whom he was called the "handsome Englishman." At the siege of Maestricht he further advanced his fortunes, succeeding the famous Earl of Peterborough in the command of the English troops, then in alliance with Louis XIV. He was not a man of intellectual culture, nor was he deeply read. It is said that even his spelling was bad; but his letters were clear and forcible. He made up his deficiency in education by irresistibly pleasing manners, remarkable energy, and a coolness of judgment that was seldom known to err. ”

“ Peterborough married, in 1644, Lady Penelope O'Brien, daughter of Barnabas, sixth earl of Thomond, by whom he had two daughters: Elizabeth, who died unmarried, and Mary, who married Henry Howard, seventh duke of Norfolk [q. v.] , from whom she was divorced in 1700. The Countess of Peterborough was groom of the stole to Mary of Modena, and survived till April 1702. ”

“ The garrison, commanded by the archduke, defended their positions with great bravery, but would have been obliged to surrender had not the fleet of Sir John Leake, answering the appeals of Charles but contrary to the original orders of Peterborough, come to their assistance on the 8th of May, whereupon the French raised the siege on the 11th of May. It is difficult to understand the action of Peterborough during this campaign, unless on the supposition that he was out of sympathy with the movement for placing an Austrian prince on the throne of Spain. ”

“ Hist. ed. 1775, iii. 24; The Trial of Mr. Mordaunt, second son of John, Earl of Peterborough, at the pretended High Court of Justice in Westminster Hall, the first and second of June 1658, London, 1661, fol.; Thurloe State Papers, vii. 80 et seq.; Mercur. Polit. 27 May to 3 June 1658; Cobbett's State Trials, v. 907, vi. 786; Reilly's Historical Anecdotes of the Families of the Boleynes, Careys, Mordaunts, &c., 1839; Anecdotes, &c., of Elizabeth, Viscountess Mordaunt, commencing 1656, 1810; Russell's Earl of Peterborough and Monmouth, 1887 ”

“ See Dugdale's Warwickshire, vol. i. p. 577: Parkins's continuation of Blomefield's Norfolk, vol. iv. p. 643; and that very rare volume compiled by order of the second Earl of Peterborough, called "Halstead's Genealogies," fo. ”

“ The Prince was startled. The attempt, he said, was hopeless, but he was ready to take his share; and, without further discussion, he called for his horse.
Fifteen hundred English soldiers were assembled under the Earl. A thousand more had been posted as a body of reserve at a neighbouring convent, under the command of Stanhope. After a winding march along the foot of the hills, Peterborough and his little army reached the walls of Monjuich. There they halted till daybreak. As soon as they were descried, the enemy advanced into the outer ditch to meet them. ”

“ N. of London; has an old town-hall, manufactures of farm implements, trade in malt and coal, and is a great railway centre; the cathedral is one of the finest in Britain, of very varied architecture, was restored and reopened afterwards in 1890.
Peterborough, Charles Mordaunt, Earl of, saw some active service as a volunteer in Charles II.'s navy, and on the accession of James II. threw himself into politics as an opponent of the king; William III. showed him great favour ”

“ After some demur on the score of religion, the pope refusing a dispensation for the marriage of the princess with a prince who was not a declared catholic, the scruples of the family were overcome, Peterborough being proxy for the duke (30 Sept. 1673) . Peterborough then escorted the princess to England, landing at Dover on 21 Nov. ”

“ He sat for Ripon in the parliament of 1685, and for Peterborough in the Convention parliament of 1688–9. In the debate on the state of the nation (January 1689) he argued with great force that the conduct of the king in quitting the realm amounted to an abdication. He represented Peterborough from 1689 to 1698 and from 1700 to 1710, usually supporting the tories. ”

“ In Philip, Duke of Wharton, the world beheld, happily, almost the last of that series of rich, profligate, bold, and desperate men, who, like the second Buckingham, gilded a few fair points of character by the aid of resplendent talents. It was the destiny of Lord Peterborough to reap disappointment and chagrin from the seed which he had sown in the mind of his eldest son and heir, John Lord Mordaunt, whom he survived. [4]
7The regard of Lord Peterborough at this period for the Duchess of Marlborough was as assiduous as his enmity towards her and the Duke became afterwards remarkable. ”

“ This nobleman, whose enmity towards Marlborough became afterwards conspicuous, was at this time one of the numerous votaries of the arrogant Duchess. Lord Peterborough’s extravagances gave a meteor-like celebrity to his general character. Among many of the celebrated individuals who illumined the age, he would, nevertheless, have been eminent, even had his course been less peculiar, and his deportment like that of ordinary men. ”

“ No man ever spoke more disparagingly of Marlborough than his enemy, Lord Peterborough, though even he did justice to Marlborough’s abilities; but Lord Peterborough was especially severe on the duke’s love of money. The latter spent wisely, the former squandered profusely, and374 cheated his heirs. The duke in the Bath-rooms, dunning a dean for sixpence, is not so degrading a picture as Peterborough, in the Bath market, cheapening commodities, and walking about in his blue ribbon and star, with a fowl in his hand and a cabbage or a cauliflower under either arm. ”

“ The latter, indeed, would be flooded over if human energy were to cease in protecting them for one single year. The most curious feature in these vast dreary flats is the splendour of the ecclesiastical buildings that rise up above the horizons at great distances. Peterborough is hardly out of sight before the towers of Ely appear, vast and gray. ”

“ Among the privileges claimed by the abbot as early as the 13th century was that of having a prison for felons taken in the soke and borough. In 1576 Bishop Scamble sold the lordship of the hundred of Nassaburgh, which is coextensive with the soke, to Queen Elizabeth, who gave it to Lord Burghley, and from that time until the 19th century he and his descendants, marquesses of Exeter, had a separate gaol in Peterborough for prisoners arrested in the soke. The trades of weaving and wool combing were carried on in Peterborough in the 14th century. ”

“ Of all cities, none has better earned the homage of the English patriot, the English scholar, and the English architect, than Peterborough. Her Abbot was brought home, sick unto death, from the field of Hastings; her monks were among the first English­men who came under the Conqueror's frown. Her Minster suffered more from Hereward and his Norse friends than from her new French Abbot, Turold. At Peterborough our history was compiled, not in Latin but in English; the English that had grown up from the union of many generations of Danes and Angles, dwelling not far from Rutland. ”

“ King Henry, says the ‘Peterborough Chronicle,’ was on his way to the continent when he was detained at Burne (Eastbourne) by stress of weather. While waiting there he sent for the abbot of Peterborough to come to him in haste, and on his arrival urged him to accept the bishopric of Rochester. ”

“ The old parish church of St John originally stood to the east of the cathedral, but was rebuilt on its present site in the centre of the city (1401–1407) in Perpendicular style. The educational establishments include the Henry VIII. grammar or chapter school, which used the chapel of St Thomas à Becket until 1885, the St Peter’s training college for schoolmasters for the dioceses of Peterborough, Ely and Lincoln, erected from designs of Sir Gilbert Scott (1864) ; and Deacon’s and Ireland’s charity school, established in 1721 for the clothing and educating of twenty poor boys. ”

“ The original letter, in the king's own hand-writing, is still in the possession of the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough, and has recently been placed in a frame by the entrance from the south aisle. The following is a copy:—"James R. Trusty and wel-beloved, wee greet you well, for that wee remember it appertaynes to ye duty wee owe to our dearest mother that like honour should be done to hir body and like monument be extant of hir as to others, hirs and our progenitors have bene used to be done, and ourselves have already performed to our deare sister ye late Queen Elizabeth. ”

“ Before the advent of the railroad, Peterborough, like Wells, was merely an ecclesiastical town, with little excuse for existence save its cathedral. In the last fifty years, however, the population has increased five-fold and it has become quite on important trading and manufacturing center. It is situated in the midst of the richest farm country in England and its annual wool and cattle markets are known throughout the Kingdom. The town dates from the year 870, when the first cathedral minster was built by the order of one of the British chieftains. ”

“ The modern prosperity and rapid growth of the town are chiefly due to the trade caused by the junction of so many railway lines. Adjoining the town are extensive works and sheds connected with the Great Northern and Midland railways. The principal manufacture is that of agricultural implements The parliamentary borough returns one member (since 1885) . The municipal borough, incorporated in 1874, is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 1878 acres. The soke or liberty of Peterborough, with a population of 41,192, constitutes a separate administrative county (1888) . ”

“ The last abbot became the first bishop.
It is remarkable that of the two queens buried at Peterborough, the body of one has been removed to Westminster by the orders of her son, and that a similar removal had been previously designed for the body of the other. Queen Katherine's daughter, Queen Mary, left directions in her will that "the body of the virtuous Lady and my most dere and well-beloved mother of happy memory, Queen Kateryn, which lyeth now buried at Peterborowh," should be removed and laid near the place of her own sepulture, and that honourable monuments should be made for both. ”

“ The wretched monarch had made his chief councillor the Prince of Lichtenstein, who had none of the brilliant dashing qualities of Peterborough, and against that dead German weight Peterborough strove in vain. The timid stupid king was immovable, till Galway—finding that he was unsupported in Madrid, and that the Spaniards looked with indignation on an army of Portuguese with a heretic general in possession of their capital—took his departure. Meanwhile King Philip and the Duke of Berwick had met, and, on the frontier, had received fresh reinforcements from France. ”