Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG (died 3 March 1542) was an illegitimate son of the English king Edward IV, half-brother-in-law of Henry VII, and an uncle of Henry VIII, at whose court he was a prominent figure and by whom he was appointed Lord Deputy of Calais (1533–40). The survival of a large collection of his correspondence in the

Lisle Letters The Lisle Papers are the correspondence received in Calais between 1533 and 1540 by Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (c.1480-1542), Lord Deputy of Calais, an illegitimate son of King Edward IV and an uncle of King Henry VIII, and by his wif ...

makes his life one of the best documented of his era.

Biography

Arthur Plantagenet was born between 1461 and 1475 in Calais, which was then an English possession in France. He died at the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

, where he is buried. The identity of his mother is uncertain; the most likely candidate appears to be the "wanton wench" Elizabeth Wayte, although the historical record is spotty on this issue, and it is not entirely clear that Wayte is distinct from another of Edward's mistresses,

Elizabeth Lucy Elizabeth Lucy (fl c. 1460s) was the long-standing mistress of King Edward IV of England, and probable mother of several children by him, including Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle. Accounts of her life Lucy's family background is not know ...

. Another possible candidate is Elizabeth Shore. His godfather was

William FitzAlan, 16th Earl of Arundel William Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel, 6th Baron Maltravers (23 November 1417 – 1487) was an English nobleman. Born on 23 November 1417, William was the second son of John Fitzalan, 6th Earl of Arundel (1385–1421), and Eleanor Berkeley ( ...

. He spent his childhood at the court of his father Edward IV. How he passed his youth after his father's death in 1483 is not known. In 1501 he joined the household of his half-sister, the queen consort

Elizabeth of York Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which mark ...

, and moved to the household of Henry VII after her death in 1503. After the accession of his nephew Henry VIII in 1509, he was formally designated an Esquire of the King's Bodyguard and was a close companion of Henry's (despite the age difference). In 1514 he was appointed

High Sheriff of Hampshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Hampshire. This title was often given as High Sheriff of the County of Southampton until 1959. List of High Sheriffs *1070–1096: Hugh de Port "Domesday Book Online" *1105: Henry de Port (son of Hugh) *1129: W ...

and made captain of the Vice-Admiral's ship '' Trinity Sovereign,'' rising to become

Vice-Admiral of England The Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is an honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. The title holder is the official deputy to the Lord High Admiral, an honorary (although once operational) office which was vested in t ...

. In 1519 he and his wife, Elizabeth Grey Baroness Lisle, took possession of the lands that had belonged to her father (her brother and niece having both died). In 1520, he attended his nephew, King Henry VIII, at the

Field of Cloth of Gold The Field of the Cloth of Gold (french: Camp du Drap d'Or, ) was a summit meeting between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France from 7 to 24 June 1520. Held at Balinghem, between Ardres in France and Guînes in the English P ...

. On 25 April 1523, Arthur Plantagenet was created

Viscount Lisle The title of Viscount Lisle has been created six times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, on 30 October 1451, was for John Talbot, 1st Baron Lisle. Upon the death of his son Thomas at the Battle of Nibley Green in 1470, the viscoun ...

. He was also selected

Privy Councilor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

, Governor of Calais, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and named as

Constable of Calais The town of Calais, now part of France, was in English hands from 1347 to 1558, and this page lists the commanders of Calais, holding office from the English Crown, called at different times Captain of Calais, King's Lieutenant of Calais (Castl ...

after the death of

John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (1467 – 19 March 1533) was an English soldier, statesman and translator. Family John Bourchier, born about 1467, was the only son of Sir Humphrey Bourchier (d.1471 at the Battle of Barnet) and Elizabeth T ...

on 16 March 1533.

Constable of Calais

The

suggest that as Constable of Calais he was honest and conscientious but not especially competent. Among the letters is one from

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

rebuking him for referring trivial matters back to the king and Council, criticising him for his inability to refuse a favour to anyone who asks for one, and hinting that Lady Lisle's dominant influence over him has made him something of a laughing stock. Yet the Crown itself did not hesitate to employ him on routine errands: in 1537 queen consort

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

during her pregnancy developed a passion for

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

, and since quail were abundant in the marshes around Calais, Lisle had to devote much time to supplying them to the Queen.

Imprisonment and death

In 1540, several members of the Plantagenet household in Calais were arrested on suspicion of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, on the charge of plotting to betray the town to the French. Suspicion unavoidably fell upon Arthur as well, and he was recalled to England and eventually arrested on 19 May 1540. The actual conspirators were executed, but there was no evidence connecting Arthur with the plot. Nevertheless, he languished in the

for two years until the king decided to release him. However, upon receiving news that he was to be released he suffered a heart attack and died two days later. The 18th-century historian Francis Sanford commented "Henry VIII's Mercy was as fatal as his Judgments".

Lisle Letters

During his time in Calais, Arthur and his wife had to manage much of their affairs outside Calais by correspondence. Copies of 3,000 of these letters were seized as evidence after Arthur was arrested. They survive in the

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...

, and were published in abridged form as the

, becoming a valuable historical resource for a critical period in English history.

Marriages and children

Arthur Plantagenet married twice, producing children by his first wife only. His first marriage was on 12 November 1511 to Elizabeth Grey (died 1529), daughter of Edward Grey, 1st

(died 1492). She was the widow of

Edmund Dudley Edmund Dudley (c. 1462Gunn 2010 or 1471/147217 August 1510) was an English administrator and a financial agent of King Henry VII. He served as a leading member of the Council Learned in the Law, Speaker of the House of Commons and Presi ...

, treasurer to King Henry VII, who had been executed in 1510 by Henry VIII. The next day the king granted Arthur some of the Dudley estates which had come to the crown due to Dudley's attainder. By Elizabeth he had three daughters: *Frances, who married twice: firstly to her step-brother John Basset (1520–1541) of

Umberleigh Umberleigh is a former large manor within the historic hundred of (North) Tawton, but today a small village in North Devon in England. It used to be an ecclesiastical parish, but following the building of the church at Atherington it became ...

, Devon, the son of Arthur's second wife by her first marriage, Honor Grenville (died 1566); secondly Frances married Thomas Monke (c. 1515 – c. 1583)Vivian, p.569, pedigree of Monk of

Potheridge Potheridge (''alias'' Great Potheridge, Poderigge, Poderidge or Powdrich) is a former Domesday Book estate in the parish of Merton, in the historic hundred of Shebbear, 3 miles south-east of Great Torrington, Devon, England. It is the site ...

, Devon, of an ancient Devonshire family. Her great-grandson by this marriage was George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1608–1670). *Elizabeth, who married Sir Francis Jobson, Member of Parliament for Colchester *Bridget, who married William Carden awarden Secondly, in 1529 as her second husband, he married Honor Grenville (1493–1566) the daughter of Sir Thomas Grenville (died 1513) of

Stowe Stowe may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Stowe, Buckinghamshire, a civil parish and former village **Stowe House **Stowe School * Stowe, Cornwall, in Kilkhampton parish * Stowe, Herefordshire, in the List of places in Herefordshire * Stowe, Linc ...

in the parish of

Kilkhampton Kilkhampton ( kw, Kylgh) is a village and civil parish in northeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is on the A39 about four miles (6 km) north-northeast of Bude. Kilkhampton was mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Chilc ...

, Cornwall, by his wife Isabella Gilbert. She was the widow of

Sir John Bassett ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

(1462–1528) of

, Devon. Arthur had no children by Honor, but he helped to bring up her children, including John Basset, who became the husband of his daughter Frances from his first marriage; Anne Bassett, an alleged mistress of Henry VIII, and Elizabeth Bassett, a royal maid-of-honour also known as Mary Bassett.

Arms

Before his first marriage, Arthur Plantagenet bore his paternal arms, with

baton sinister The baton sinister (alternatively baston) is a charge used in heraldry. Heraldic charge It is a diminutive of the bend sinister and constitutes a narrow strip that runs from the upper right to the lower left of a coat of arms. Sinister (meani ...

azure for bastardy, of Edward, 4th Duke of York (later King Edward IV): Quarterly 1st: Arms of King Edward III; 2nd & 3rd: ''Or a

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

gules'' (

de Burgh de Burgh (also spelt de Bourgh, and Burke, and also Latinised as de Burgo) is an Anglo-Norman surname deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (c ...

), 4th: ''Barry or and azure, on a chief of the first two pallets between two base esquires of the second over all an inescutcheon argent'' (

Mortimer Mortimer () is an English surname, and occasionally a given name. Norman origins The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; ...

). The arms of Edward, 4th Duke of York, emphasise his descent from

Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, (; 29 November 133817 October 1368) was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. He was named after his birthplace, at Antwerp in the Duc ...

(1338–1368), third son of King Edward III (on which basis the House of York claimed the throne), who married Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster (1332–1363). Their daughter Philippa de Burgh married

Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March Edmund de Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and ''jure uxoris'' Earl of Ulster (1 February 135227 December 1381) was the son of Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, by his wife Philippa, daughter of William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury and Catherine G ...

, whose son

Roger de Mortimer, 4th Earl of March Roger de Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, 6th Earl of Ulster (11 April 137420 July 1398) was an English nobleman. He was considered the heir presumptive to King Richard II, his mother's first cousin. Roger Mortimer's father, the 3rd Earl of Marc ...

, was the great-grandfather of Edward, 4th Duke of York. After his first marriage, Arthur Plantagenet added an inescutcheon of pretence of Grey, Viscounts Lisle, quarterly of six, 1st: ''Barry of six argent and azure in chief three torteaux'' (Grey, Viscount Lisle); 2nd: ''Barry of argent and azure, an orle of martlets gules'' (Valence, Earl of Pembroke); 3rd: ''Gules, seven mascles or conjoined 3, 3, 1'' (Ferrers of Groby); 4th: ''Gules, a lion rampant within a bordure engrailed or'' (Talbot); 5th: ''Gules, a fesse between six crosses crosslet or'' (Beauchamp); 6th: ''Gules, a lion statant guardant argent crowned or'' ( Lisle); in chief a label of three points argent. He bore as crest: ''On a cap of maintenance gules turned up ermine, and inscribed in front with the letter A, a genet guardant per pale sable and argent, standing between two

broom A broom (also known in some forms as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. I ...

-stalks proper''.Blazon of crest
also by: Bentley, Samuel (ed.), Excerpta Historica The broom plant ('' Planta genista'') inspired the naming of the

Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet () was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy) to 1485, when Richard III died in ...

dynasty and the genet alluded to it. File:Arms of Arthur Plantagenet (before 1511).svg, Arms before his first marriage (1511) File:Arms of Arthur Plantagenet (after 1511).svg, Arms after his first marriage (1511) File:Coat of arms of Arthur Plantagenet, viscount Lisle.svg, Coat of arms with the genet and ''Planta genista'' crest

Notes

References

Sources

* * * *Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) ''The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620'', Exeter, 1895.