Earl of Salisbury

“ Of the proceedings subsequent to the Plot we are told: "In passing these laws for the security of the Protestant Religion, the Earl of Salisbury exerted himself with distinguished zeal and vigour, which gained him great love and honour from the kingdom, as appeared in some measure, in the universal attendance on him at his installation with the Order of the Garter, on the 20th of May, 1606, at Windsor." (Birch, Historical View, p. 256.)
[71] This belief is so notorious that one instance must suffice as evidence for it. ”

“ With hard rowing they got beyond the power of their assailants and made their way into the city; but the queen and her friends insisted on imputing the outrage to the earl himself, and demanded his arrest. The earl found it politic to retire to Warwick, and afterwards to his former post at Calais. On this the queen and her council turned their machinations against his father, the Earl of Salisbury, whom Lord Audley was commissioned to arrest and bring prisoner to London. ”

“ What! dear Raoul de Fulke, is thy friend fallen now so low, that he—Earl of Salisbury and of Warwick, chief of the threefold race of Montagu, Monthermer, and Nevile, lord of a hundred baronies, leader of sixty thousand followers—is not greater than Edward of March, to whom we will deign still, with your permission, to vouchsafe the name and pageant of a king? ”

“ The earl of Salisbury was wounded and taken prisoner, and immediately beheaded, with several other persons of distinction, by martial law at Pomfret. [*] There fell near three thousand Yorkists in this battle: the duke himself was greatly and justly lamented by his own party; a prince who merited a better fate, and whose errors in conduct proceeded entirely from such qualities as render him the more an object of esteem and affection. He perished in the fiftieth year of his age, and left three sons, Edward, George, and Richard, with three daughters, Anne, Elizabeth, and Margaret. ”

“ The death of the earl of Salisbury is, as has just been noticed, stated in the Cottonian MS. to have taken place in the preceding year. “This yere [Ao. vij. Hen. VI.] about Midsommer, the Cardenal seilid over the see with a feire compeigny wagid for to have, and werred upon the Lollards in Prage: but a litel before the departyng of the Cardenal out of England, therle of Suffolk, the lord Talbot, the lord Scalis, and many other lordes, knyghts, and squyers, were taken and slayne at the sege of Orliaunce, and the sege broken.” ”

“ At this moment the Earl of Salisbury made an effort to save his comrades from the destruction on which they were about to rush.
'My lord,' said he, addressing the Count of Artois, 'I implore you to listen to the wholesome counsel of the grand masters. They have been long in this country, and learned by experience the craft as well as the strength of our foes. We, being strangers, [130] are ignorant of the perils ”

“ This nobleman married a daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, but died without issue. His sister and heiress, Margery, who was married to John de Mareschal, brother to the Earl of Pembroke, succeeded to the estates, and her husband became seventh earl. This honour he did not enjoy long, but died without issue “within about half a year of his brother-in-law the late earl.” The widow [197] then, by special arrangement of Henry III., married John de Placetis, or Plessitis, a Norman by birth, and a great favourite of the king. ”

“ In his last moments he said, “Ease and pleasure quake to hear of death; but my life, full of cares and miseries, desireth to be dissolved.” It was this nobleman who exchanged his mansion of Theobalds, with the king, for Hatfield. On his death, his title and estates descended to his only son, William Cecil, who became second Earl of Salisbury; and, dying in 1688, was succeeded by James Cecil, as third Earl of Salisbury. The fourth Earl of Salisbury, also named James, died in 1694, and his great grandson, James Cecil, the seventh Earl, was created Marquis of Salisbury by George III., in 1789. ”

“ The Earl of Salisbury, lord high treasurer, lord chancellor Ellesmere, and Sir Ralph Winwood, who became in later years secretary of state, sympathised with his opinions, and a lavish hospitality at Lambeth, which James I strongly recommended him to maintain, secured him the favour of many ‘lords spiritual and temporal, divers privy councillors and men of highest rank.’ But enemies of Abbot were also to be found among the king’s councillors. Sir Robert Carr, the king’s favourite, afterwards Viscount Rochester and Earl of Somerset, viewed his stern integrity with suspicion. ”

“ In 1225 he went on an expedition to Gascony, being wrecked on the Isle of Ré on the return voyage. The hardships of this adventure undermined his health, and he died at Salisbury on the 7th of March 1226, and was buried in the cathedral there. The eldest of Longsword’s four sons, William (c. 1212–1250) did not receive his father’s earldom, although he is often called earl of Salisbury. In 1247 he led the English crusaders to join the French at Damietta and was killed in battle with the Saracens in February 1250. ”

“ I was a mere lad, a page in the Earl of Salisbury’s house. A good man was he, but the jealousies and hatreds of the nobles had begun long ago, and the good King hoped, as he ever hoped, to compose them. So he brought about a compact between my father and the Dacre of Whitburn for a marriage between their children, and caused us both to be bred up in the Lady of Salisbury’s household, meaning, I trow, that we should enter into solemn contract when we were of less tender age ”

“ Three days before the duke suffered Richard's son was created Earl of Salisbury—a second title which had belonged to Clarence—and three days after the event Richard himself obtained licenses from the king to erect two considerable religious establishments, each presided over by a dean, the one at Barnard Castle and the other at Middleham, for the souls of himself and his wife after their decease, as well as of his father, brothers, and sisters. ”

“ Then he sent the Earl of Salisbury, with one portion of his army to ravage the eastern part of his own dominions, while he carried fire and slaughter into the northern part; torturing, plundering, killing, and inflicting every possible cruelty upon the people; and, every morning, setting a worthy example to his men by setting fire, with his own monster-hands, to the house where he had slept the last night. Nor was this all; for the Pope, coming to the aid of his precious friend, laid the kingdom under an Interdict again, because the people took part with the Barons. ”

“ On 16 March 1337, at the parliament held in London, Montacute was created Earl of Salisbury. In the following April he was sent to Philip to declare Edward's claim to the French crown, and thence on an embassy to the emperor Lewis, Rupert, Count Palatine, the Duke of Bavaria, and other princes of Germany and the Netherlands, to organise a league against France (Lettenhove, xxiii. 97; Rymer, ii. ii. 969, 992, 995) . In October he was commissioned to treat with Scotland, but in July 1338 commanded a successful raid into Scotland from Carlisle. ”

“ The earl of Salisbury at last approached the place with an army, which consisted only of ten thousand men; and not being able, with so small a force, to invest so great a city, that commanded a bridge over the Loire, he stationed himself on the southern side towards Sologne, leaving the other, towards the Beausse, still open to the enemy. ”

“ Salisbury was a wise and valiant man, not, indeed, to be ranked with patriotic statesmen, such as William the earl-marshal and Hubert de Burgh, but far superior to most of the nobles of his day, and sincerely attached to the interests of the royal house from which he came, faithful as long as it was possible to his brother John, and a good servant to his young nephew Henry. ”

“ Three days later whilst surveying the city from a window in Tourelles he was wounded by a cannon-shot, and died on the 3rd of November 1428. Salisbury was the most skilful soldier on the English side after the death of Henry V. Though employed on diplomatic missions both by Henry V. and Bedford, he took no part in politics save for a momentary support of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, during his visit to England in 1427–1428. He was a patron of John Lydgate, who presented to him his book The Pilgrim (now Harley MS. 4826, with a miniature of Salisbury, engraved in Strutt’s Regal Antiquities) . ”

“ Her mother conveyed her away secretly to a castle in Normandy, to save her from possible dangers during her minority. An English knight, William Talbot, romantically undertook, as a troubadour, to discover her whereabouts, and, after two years, brought her back to England. King Richard betrothed her as a royal ward to his half-brother, William Longespée, son of Fair Rosamund, who became, through her, Earl of Salisbury. At King John’s coronation at Westminster, William, Earl of Salisbury, is noted as being present among the throng of nobility. ”

“ Nay, if that be all thy fear, take with thee this pledge,—that Warwick’s treason to the House for which my father fell dissolves his power over one driven to disown him as a brother,—knowing Earl Salisbury, had he foreseen such disgrace, had disowned him as a son. And if there be defeat and flight and exile, wherever thou wanderest, Hastings, shall Katherine be found beside thee. Fare thee well, and Our Lady shield thee! may thy lance be victorious against all foes,—save one. ”

“ Nicholas Longespée (1292-1297) was fourth and youngest son of the first Earl of Salisbury, and Countess Ela.
[106] Simon of Ghent, or de Gand (1297-1315) , first empowered the mayor and citizens to fortify the city. According to a document printed in the "Rolls Chronicles," 1891, the visitation of many of the churches, about 1300, compares badly with a similar record for 1220; ignorance of the clergy, gross neglect of the fabric, insufficient and dilapidated books and vestments, with other evidences of lack of energy, are very frequent. ”

“ If this thing come to pass, wilt thou go with the nobles, or wilt thou go with thy poor?
I hate the nobles! cried Richard passionately. Have I not told thee? I hate mine uncle the Duke, and Thomas of Woodstock that tosseth me in air as I were a shuttlecock. I hate Salisbury, and Devon,—yea, even the Earl of March, Etienne. They do not love me. Their eyes are cold; and when they smile upon me I could kill them. I will go with the common folk, they are my people.
There will not be a king so great as thou, nor so beloved! cried Calote. ”

“ On the death of his father in 1867, he entered the house of lords and took rank as the foremost debater in the upper chamber. In 1878 he acted as joint plenipotentiary of Great Britain at the Congress of Berlin, and two years later became secretary of state for foreign affairs. When the Earl of Beaconsfield died in 1881, Lord Salisbury became the recognized leader of the Conservative party. ”

“ In 1369 he was one of the knights sent to help the Black Prince in Aquitaine, under Edmund, earl of Cambridge. In 1373 he served under Salisbury at sea, and again when Salisbury had custody of Calais, where he did him such faithful service that he received two manors from him as a reward. ”

“ The troops that he collected and those that the king brought over deserted, and Salisbury is said to have advised Richard to flee to Bordeaux. At Conway he was present at the interview between the king and the Earl of Northumberland. He accompanied Richard to Flint, and Henry, who met Richard there, refused to speak to Salisbury. He took leave of Richard at Chester, received a summons to attend parliament on 6 Oct., and was probably present at the proceedings connected with the accession of Henry IV. On the 16th the commons petitioned that Richard's evil counsellors might be arrested. ”

“ Along with his eldest son, now Earl of Warwick and his colleague as warden of the western marches of Scotland, Salisbury helped to persuade York at Dartford to lay down his arms (Paston Letters, i. cxlviii) . But the continuance of Somerset in power, in defiance of the arrangement Salisbury had helped to mediate, must have irritated him, and he seems to have ignored the orders of the government in regard to the war which now broke out between the Neville and Percy clans in Yorkshire. ”

“ Salisbury. Fought in France | Died 1415. = Thomas Mowbray. Died 1434. | [See Mowbray.] | | +------------------------------+----+ | | William = Joan Neville, Humphrey 15th Earl. | daughter of Earl 14th Earl. Died 1487. | of Salisbury. | Thomas, 16th Earl = Margaret Woodville. Died 1524. | | William, 17th Earl = Anne, sister of Died 1543. | the Earl of | orthumberland. | Henry, 18th Earl = Catherine Grey, Imprisoned in | daughter of 2nd Edward VI.’s reign. | Marquis of Dorset. Died 1579. | | Mary = Thomas Howard, who became Earl of Arundel.
[xlviii]
(Family founded in Henry I.’s reign.) ”

“ Enter Salisbury.
Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought today.
SALISBURY.
By th’ mass, so did we all. I thank you, Richard.
God knows how long it is I have to live,
And it hath pleased him that three times today
You have defended me from imminent death.
Well, lords, we have not got that which we have;
’Tis not enough our foes are this time fled,
Being opposites of such repairing nature.
YORK.
I know our safety is to follow them;
For, as I hear, the King is fled to London
To call a present court of parliament.
Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth.
What says Lord Warwick? ”

“ The policy of the "Great Contract" had certainly broken down, and the King, under Cecil's guidance, had certainly not known how to manage an English parliament. In writing to the King he found it hard to satisfy himself. Several draft letters remain, and it is not certain which of them, if any, was sent. But immediately on Salisbury's death he began, May 29th, a letter in which he said that he had never yet been able to show his affection to the King, "having been as a hawk tied to another's fist;" ”