George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley,
KB (1601 – 10 August 1658) was a seventeenth-century English nobleman and a prominent patron of literature in his generation.
Family
George Berkeley, baptized 26 October 1601 at
Low Leyton
Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the Riv ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
, was the only surviving son of
Sir Thomas Berkeley (11 July 1575 – 22 November 1611) and
Elizabeth Carey, daughter and sole heir of
George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon
George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon KG (1547 – 9 September 1603) was the eldest son of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon and Anne Morgan. His father was first cousin to Elizabeth I of England. In 1560, at the age of 13, George matriculated ...
.
He was the grandson of
Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley
Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley, KB (26 November 1534 – 26 November 1613) was an English peer and politician. He was Lord Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of Gloucestershire. He was the grandfather of George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley.
Fam ...
(d. 26 November 1613), by his first wife, Katherine Howard (d. 7 April 1596), third daughter of
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516/1517 – 19 January 1547), KG, was an English nobleman, politician and poet. He was one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry and was the last known person executed at the instance of King Henry VII ...
and
Frances de Vere, daughter of
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, Lord Great Chamberlain KG PC (c. 1482 – 21 March 1540). was an English peer and courtier.
Career
John de Vere, born about 1482, was the son of John de Vere and Alice Kilrington (alias Colbroke), and the gr ...
and
Elizabeth Trussell.
Career
Berkeley's childhood was spent in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...
, where he was a pupil of the translator,
Philemon Holland
Philemon Holland (1552 – 9 February 1637) was an English schoolmaster, physician and translator. He is known for the first English translations of several works by Livy, Pliny the Elder, and Plutarch, and also for translating William Camden's ...
of
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
, and of
Henry Ashwood.
He succeeded to his titles of Baron Berkeley of Berkeley, Mowbray, Segrave, & Breuse of Gower at the death of his grandfather,
Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley
Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley, KB (26 November 1534 – 26 November 1613) was an English peer and politician. He was Lord Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of Gloucestershire. He was the grandfather of George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley.
Fam ...
, on 26 November 1613. His family seat was at
Berkeley Castle
Berkeley Castle ( ; historically sometimes spelled as ''Berkley Castle'' or ''Barkley Castle'') is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century, and it has been desi ...
in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of ...
. He was made a Knight of the
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) a ...
on 4 November 1616, when
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...
was made
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...
. He was educated at
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...
, and received his M.A. degree from the university in 1623. He was made a member of the
Council of Wales and the Marches
The Court of the Council in the Dominion and Principality of Wales, and the Marches of the same, commonly called the Council of Wales and the Marches () or the Council of the Marches, was a regional administrative body based in Ludlow Castle wi ...
in 1633.
Berkeley supported a range of important writers in the
Jacobean and
Caroline
Caroline may refer to:
People
*Caroline (given name), a feminine given name
* J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player
* Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player
Places Antarctica
* ...
eras. A number of significant figures dedicated their works to him in gratitude for his patronage—;or in hope of receiving it. These included
Robert Burton
Robert Burton (8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640) was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, who wrote the encyclopedic tome '' The Anatomy of Melancholy''.
Born in 1577 to a comfortably well-off family of the landed gentry, Bur ...
, who dedicated ''
The Anatomy of Melancholy
''The Anatomy of Melancholy'' (full title: ''The Anatomy of Melancholy, What it is: With all the Kinds, Causes, Symptomes, Prognostickes, and Several Cures of it. In Three Maine Partitions with their several Sections, Members, and Subsections. Ph ...
'' to Berkeley upon its publication in 1621. Berkeley was a notable patron of
English Renaissance drama:
Philip Massinger
Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including '' A New Way to Pay Old Debts'', ''The City Madam'', and ''The Roman Actor'', are noted for their satire and realism, and their polit ...
dedicated his play ''
The Renegado
''The Renegado, or The Gentleman of Venice'' is a late Jacobean stage play, a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger and first published in 1630. The play has attracted critical attention for its treatment of cultural conflict between Christia ...
'' to Berkeley on its 1630 publication, as
James Shirley
James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist.
He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so m ...
did his ''
The Young Admiral
''The Young Admiral'' is a Caroline era tragicomedy written by James Shirley, and first published in 1637. It has often been considered Shirley's best tragicomedy, and one of his best plays.
The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry H ...
'' in 1637.
John Webster
John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and '' The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and c ...
dedicated ''
The Duchess of Malfi'' to Berkeley in 1623. The wording of Webster's dedication suggests that Webster was seeking Berkeley's patronage rather than acknowledging support already given; it is not known to what degree the supplication was effective.
Through both his own and his wife's families Berkeley was connected with established traditions of support for literature. His maternal grandfather had backed the
Lord Chamberlain's Men
The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a company of actors, or a " playing company" (as it then would likely have been described), for which Shakespeare wrote during most of his career. Richard Burbage played most of the lead roles, including Hamlet, Oth ...
, the acting company of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. Berkeley himself has been described as "a friend of the
King's Men." His wife was connected to Katherine Stanhope, the dedicatee of Massinger's ''
The Duke of Milan
''The Duke of Milan'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Philip Massinger. First published in 1623, the play is generally considered among the author's finest achievements in drama.
Performance
Massinger's play was first perform ...
.''
At his death in 1658, Berkeley was succeeded as 9th Baron Berkeley by his second son, also named George Berkeley.
(Note: members of the
Berkeley family
The Berkeley family is an ancient English noble family. It is one of only four families in England that can trace its patrilineal descent back to Anglo-Saxon times (the other three being the Arden family, the Swinton family and the Wentworth f ...
, the descendants of Robert Fitzharding, are usually referred to by the Berkeley surname. The 8th Baron is George Berkeley in many sources. In his own era, however, in the dedications of contemporaneous works such as ''The Duchess of Malfi'', he is identified as George Harding.)
Marriage and issue
Berkeley married, on 13 April 1614, Elizabeth Stanhope (d. 1669), the second daughter and coheir of
Sir Michael Stanhope of
Sudbourne
Sudbourne is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, located approximately north of Orford.
All Saints' Church dates from the 14th century but was much restored in 1879. It is a grade II* listed building.
Between 964 and 975 King ...
,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...
, by Anne Reade (b. 21 December 1604), the daughter of Sir William Reade of
Osterley
Osterley () is an affluent district of the historic parish of Isleworth in west London approximately from Charing Cross and is part of the London Borough of Hounslow. Most of its land use is mixed agricultural and aesthetic parkland at Oster ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
.
[.]
The marriage produced three children, but had broken down by 1630:
*Charles (1623–41) drowned, when returning to England from France.
*Elizabeth (1624–61) married Edward, eldest son of John Coke of
Holkham
Holkham is a small village and civil parish in north Norfolk, England, which includes a stately home and estate, Holkham Hall, and a beach, Holkham Gap, at the centre of Holkham National Nature Reserve.
Geography
The parish has an area of and ...
, Norfolk
*
George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley
George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley PC FRS (1628 – 10 October 1698) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1654 until 1658 when he succeeded to the peerage.
Life
Berkeley was the son of George Berkele ...
Notes
References
*
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*
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, George Berkeley, 8th Baron
8
1601 births
1658 deaths
George
Patrons of literature
People from Warwickshire
17th-century English nobility
17th-century philanthropists
Knights of the Bath