Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough (15 November 1621 – 19 June 1697) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
soldier, peer and courtier.
Early life
Styled Lord Mordaunt from 1628, he was the eldest son of
John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough
John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough (died 1642) was an English peer.
Life
He was the eldest son of Henry Mordaunt, 4th Baron Mordaunt, a Roman Catholic kept for a year in the Tower of London on suspicion of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot ...
. He was educated at
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
, under
Sir Henry Wotton, and shortly before the outbreak of the
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...
was sent to France to be out of harm's way.
[ :s:Mordaunt, Henry, second Earl of Peterborough (DNB00)]
He returned to England in 1642, and served for a little while in the parliamentary army, where he commanded his ailing father's troop of horse. In April 1643, after his father's death, he deserted to the king at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. Now Earl of Peterborough, he joined the
Cavaliers and fought at the battles of
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
,
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
and
Newbury in 1643. At Newbury, he was wounded in the arm and thigh, and had his horse shot under him. In command of a regiment raised at his own expense he served in the west during the following summer and winter, at
Cropredy Bridge
Cropredy Bridge is a bridge in north Oxfordshire, England, that carries the minor road between Cropredy and the hamlet of Williamscot. It spans the River Cherwell, which is also the boundary between the civil parishes of Wardington (which inclu ...
and
Lostwithiel
Lostwithiel (; kw, Lostwydhyel) is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increas ...
in 1644. In about December 1644, he married
Lady Penelope O'Brien (the only daughter of the
5th Earl of Thomond) and they had two daughters. He was in France during the later phases of the struggle. In 1646 he returned to England and
compounded for his estates. A private interview with
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
as he passed through
Ampthill
Ampthill () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population estimate of 8,100 (Mid year estimate 2017 from the ONS). It is administered bAmpthill Town Council The ward of Ampthill which also i ...
to
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
, in the summer of 1647, prompted him to make a last effort on the king's behalf, and in July 1648 he united with
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros, (30 January 1628 – 16 April 1687) was an English statesman and poet.
Life
Early life
George was the son of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, favourite of James I a ...
and
Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland
Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland (baptised 15 August 1590, died 9 March 1649), was an English courtier and politician executed by Parliament after being captured fighting for the Royalists during the Second English Civil War. Younger brother of ...
in raising the royal standard at
Dorking. The plan was to seize
Reigate
Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...
, but foiled in this, the insurgents were driven back on
Kingston, and eventually dispersed in the neighbourhood of
Harrow by the parliamentary forces (7 July). Mordaunt was severely wounded, but escaped to
Antwerp, and in the following year returned to England and recompounded for his estates (May 1649).
[
]
Under Charles II
When Charles married Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...
in 1661, he acquired English Tangier as part of her dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...
and Peterborough was sent there as its Governor, arriving 29 January 1662 in command of a regiment of foot which he raised in England (and which would become known as the Tangier Regiment
The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Ar ...
), Harley's (ex-Parliamentary) regiment from Flanders, and remnants of Royalist regiments, also from Flanders. The force was ill-equipped, lacking basic supplies of fuel, beds, cooking pots and ordnance equipment. In April 1662, he concluded a treaty with the Moors under Ahmad al-Khadir ibn Ali Ghaïlan but, in a disastrous sally out (3 May 1662), his force was soundly defeated. Confining the rest of the troops within the city walls, he himself returned to England unexpectedly, arriving in Plymouth on 8 June 1662. He was sent back, with some reinforcements, but was recalled in December of that year and replaced by Andrew Rutherford. He himself was awarded a generous pension.[Pepys' Diary, 15 December 1662; 3 April 1663]
He served in the Dutch war, at first as a volunteer in the fleet of the Earl of Sandwich
Earl of Sandwich is a noble title in the Peerage of England, held since its creation by the House of Montagu. It is nominally associated with Sandwich, Kent. It was created in 1660 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. ...
, afterwards in command of the ''Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
'' at the Battle of Lowestoft
The Battle of Lowestoft took place on during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer, Lord Obdam attacked an English fleet of equal size comm ...
in 1665 under James, Duke of York. Later he commanded the ''Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
'' at the Battle of Solebay
The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
The battle began as an attempted raid on Solebay port where an English fleet was anchored and large ...
in 1672.
In 1670 he was appointed Groom of the Stole
The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene.
The physical intimacy of the role naturally led to ...
to the Duke of York, and on 24 February 1673 ambassador extraordinary to arrange the terms of his proposed marriage with the Archduchess Claudia Felicitas
Claudia Felicitas of Austria (30 May 1653 – 8 April 1676) was by birth an Archduchess of Austria and by marriage Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess consort of Austria, Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia as the second wife of Leopol ...
of Innsbruck. He had hardly crossed the Channel, however, when the news of the Emperor Leopold I
Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; hu, I. Lipót; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria An ...
's determination to marry the archduchess himself put an end to the project. He was then commissioned to ascertain the respective personal and other attractions of the Princess Mary of Modena
Mary of Modena ( it, Maria Beatrice Eleonora Anna Margherita Isabella d'Este; ) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James II and VII. A devout Roman Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was then the young ...
, and several other ladies between whom the duke's choice lay, and Mary having been fixed upon, proceeded to Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
in the following August as ambassador extraordinary to arrange the match. After some demur on the grounds of religion, Pope Clement X
Pope Clement X ( la, Clemens X; it, Clemente X; 13 July 1590 – 22 July 1676), born Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 April 1670 to his death in July 1676. Elected pope at ag ...
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 September 1673). Peterborough then escorted the princess to England.[
On 10 July 1674 Peterborough was sworn of the ]privy council
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 ...
, and in 1676 was appointed deputy earl-marshal. In 1680 he was deprived of that office and his pension, and excluded from the council, on suspicion of complicity in the alleged Popish Plot
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate C ...
. Nevertheless, though suffering from fever, he had himself carried down to Westminster Hall, to vote against the condemnation of Lord Stafford (7 December) In October 1681 he was summoned to Scotland by the Duke of York, whom he attended on his return to England in the following March. On 28 February 1683, he was restored to his place in the council.[
]
Under James II
He bore St. Edward's sceptre at the coronation of James II, by whom he was made Groom of the Stole
The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene.
The physical intimacy of the role naturally led to ...
and a Knight of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...
in 1685, and colonel of the 3rd regiment of horse. In March 1687 he was received into the Roman church. When the King fled England in 1688, Peterborough was caught trying to escape with him, taken near Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
and committed to 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 separa ...
(24 December).[
]
Later life
He was stripped of all his former offices and on 26 October 1689 he was impeached of high 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 ...
, together with the Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury.
Background
The title was first created for Patrick de S ...
, 'in departing from their allegiance, and being reconciled to the Church of Rome'. The proceedings were stalled by the subsequent dissolution, and on 9 October 1690, he was released on bail. In February 1696 he again fell under suspicion of treasonable practices, and was confined to his own house, but was enlarged the following May. Peterborough was lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
s of Turvey in Bedfordshire and Drayton, Northamptonshire
Drayton is a hamlet in England, in the county of Northamptonshire, in the parish of Daventry, from the centre, occupying mainly with suburban housing the lower-lying north western side of the town.
Toponymy
The name derives from the Old Engli ...
, and was for many years lord-lieutenant of the latter county. He died on 19 June 1697, and was buried in the parish church of Turvey.[
]
Family
Peterborough married, in 1644, Lady Penelope O'Brien, daughter of Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond
Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond (1590-November 1657), son of Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond; succeeded his brother as earl, 1639; was lord-lieutenant of Clare, 1640–41: had his rents seized, 1644; admitted a parliamentary garrison to ...
and Anne Fermor, by whom he had two daughters: Elizabeth, who died unmarried, and Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, who married Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, (11 January 1655 – 2 April 1701) was an English nobleman, politician, and soldier. He was the son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk, and Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of ...
, from whom she was divorced in 1700. The Countess of Peterborough was the groom of the stole to Mary of Modena, and survived till April 1702.[ ]Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...
admired her: "a very wise woman".
On his death in 1697, his earldom passed to his nephew, the Earl of Monmouth, and his barony (which was able to pass through the female line) passed to his daughter, the Duchess of Norfolk. Since she died childless, the barony returned to the earls of Peterborough until that title died out in 1814.
References
;Attribution
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterborough, Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl Of
1621 births
1697 deaths
People educated at Eton College
Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire
Fellows of the Royal Society
Garter Knights appointed by James II
Lord-Lieutenants of Northamptonshire
Lord-Lieutenants of Rutland
Members of the Privy Council of England
Roundheads
People associated with the Popish Plot
Governors of Tangier
17th-century English diplomats
Soldiers of the Tangier Garrison
Grooms of the Stool
Earls of Peterborough
British colonels
Court of James II of England
6