James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle
KB (c. 1580March 1636) was a British
noble
A noble is a member of the nobility.
Noble may also refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Noble Glacier, King George Island
* Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land
* Noble Peak, Wiencke Island
* Noble Rocks, Graham Land
Australia
* Noble Island, Gr ...
.
Life
A Scot, he was the son of Sir James Hay of Fingask, second son of Peter Hay of
Megginch (a branch member of Hay of Leys, a younger branch of the Erroll family) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Crichton of Ruthven.
[''Historical Account of the Family of Hay of Leys'']
(Edinburgh, 1832), pp. 20-1. Accessed January 2020. His mother was Margaret Murray, cousin of
George Hay, afterwards
1st Earl of Kinnoull.
His aunts married well and had two well regarded uncles. His uncle Peter Hay of Megginch married Margaret Ogilvie, daughter of Sir Patrick Ogilvie of Inch, and are the ancestors of the later
Earls of Kinnoull via their son, his first cousin Peter of Kirklands of Megginch.
His uncle Edmund Hay was Professor of Scots Law at
Douay.
He was knighted and taken into favour by
James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
, brought into England in 1603, treated as a "prime favourite" and made a gentleman of the bedchamber. In 1604, he was sent on a mission to France and pleaded for the Huguenots, which annoyed
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...
and caused a substantial reduction of the present made to the English envoy. On 21 June 1606, he was created by patent a baron for life with precedence next to the barons, but without a place or voice in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
, no doubt to render his advancement less unpalatable to the English lords.
The king bestowed on him numerous grants, paid his debts, and secured for him a rich bride in the person of
Honora Denny
Honora Denny (died 1614) was an English courtier.
She was the daughter of Edward, Lord Denny and Mary Cecil, a daughter of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter. Some sources use the name "Honoria" or "Honor".
She married a prominent Scottish-born c ...
, only daughter and heir of
Edward, Lord Denny. Their marriage was celebrated by ''
Lord Hay's Masque
''Lord Hay's Masque'' was an early Jacobean era masque, written by Thomas Campion, with costumes, sets and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones. The masque was performed on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1607, in the Great Hall of Whitehall Palace. ...
,'' staged on 6 January 1607. On 9 February 1608 he performed in the masque ''
The Hue and Cry After Cupid'' at
Whitehall Palace
The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...
as a sign of the zodiac, to celebrate the wedding of
John Ramsay, Viscount Haddington to Elizabeth Radclyffe. In 1610 he was made a
Knight 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) as on ...
, and in 1613 master of the wardrobe, while in 1615 he was created Lord Hay of
Sawley, and took his seat in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in ...
.
Honora, Lady Hay was favourite of
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Engl ...
and they enjoyed the company of a Venetian diplomat and musician Giulio Muscorno. Muscorno quarrelled with the ambassador
Antonio Foscarini
Antonio Foscarini (c. 1570 in Venice – April 22, 1622) belonged to the Venetian nobility and was Venetian ambassador to Paris and later to London. He was the third son of Nicolò di Alvise of the family branch of San Polo and Maria Barbarigo di ...
and it was said that the queen and Lady Hay promoted Muscorno's cause. Honora, Lady Hay died in 1614 and was buried on 16 August at Waltham Abbey.
Hay was sent to France in 1616 to negotiate the marriage of Princess Christina with
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 ...
. Before he left London news arrived that the French fashion in clothing had changed and his outfits would have to be remade.
Lady Haddington made a joke about his companions, that there were three
mignards; himself,
Sir Henry Rich and
Sir George Goring, three dancers; Sir Gilbert Hawten,
John Auchmoutie
John Auchmoutie of Scoughall (floruit 1580–1635) was a Scottish courtier and performer in masques.
Career
He was groom of the bed chamber and master and keeper of the royal wardrobe in Scotland. His sister, Elizabeth Auchmoutie, was one of the n ...
, and Abercromby, and three fools or buffoons; Sir Thomas German,
Sir Ralph Shelton, and Sir Thomas Badger. On his return, being now a widower, he was made a
Privy Councillor
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
A com ...
.
In February 1617 he presented a masque by
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
, ''
Lovers Made Men'', to the French ambassador
Baron de Tour at his house in London. The performance was staged by the
Countess of Bedford and said to have cost £2200. Later that year, he married Lady Lucy Percy (1599–1660), daughter of
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, KG (27 April 1564 – 5 November 1632) was an English nobleman. He was a grandee and one of the wealthiest peers of the court of Elizabeth I. Under James I, Northumberland was a long-term prisoner ...
(the famous "Wizard Earl"), by his wife
Dorothy Devereux.
In 1618 he resigned the mastership of the wardrobe for a large sum in compensation. He was created Viscount Doncaster, and in February 1619 was despatched on a mission to
Germany, where during the beginning
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...
he identified himself with the cause of the "Winter King", Elector
Frederick V of the Palatinate
Frederick V (german: link=no, Friedrich; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both ...
, and urged James to make war in his support. In 1621 and 1622 he was sent to
France to obtain peace for the
Huguenots
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
from
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...
, in which he was unsuccessful, and in September 1622 was created
Earl of Carlisle
Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England.
History
The first creation came in 1322, when Andrew Harclay, 1st Baron Harclay, was made Earl of Carlisle. He had already been summoned to Parliamen ...
.
Next year he went to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
on the occasion of Prince Charles's journey to
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, and again in 1624 to join
Henry Rich, afterwards Lord Holland, in negotiating the prince's marriage with
Henrietta Maria
Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She wa ...
, when he advised James without success to resist
Richelieu's demands on the subject of religious toleration. In 1624 he was made a knight of the
Order 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 C ...
. Charles's marriage in 1625 was
by proxy, so the wedding contract was signed by Carlisle and Holland. The king's representative at the actual wedding was
the duke of Chevreuse, yet Carlisle and Holland acted as witnesses.
Carlisle became gentleman of the bedchamber to
King Charles I after his accession. In 1628, after the failure of the expedition to
Rhe, he was sent to make a diversion against
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
in
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of G ...
and
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
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; he counselled peace with Spain and the vigorous prosecution of the war with France, but on his return home found his advice neglected. He took no further part in public life, and died in March 1636.
Carlisle was a man of good sense and of accommodating temper, with some diplomatic ability. His extravagance and lavish expenditure, his double suppers and costly entertainments, were the theme of satirists and wonder of society, and his debts were said at his death to amount to more than £80,000. A lavish banquet for the French ambassador in 1621 at
Essex House involved
sweetmeats
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categorie ...
costing £500 and
ambergris
Ambergris ( or , la, ambra grisea, fro, ambre gris), ''ambergrease'', or grey amber is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales. Freshly produced ambergris has a mari ...
used in cooking costing £300, and the total bill was £3,300.
Clarendon said he left a reputation of a very fine gentleman and a most accomplished courtier, and after having spent, in a very jovial life, above £400,000, which upon a strict computation he received from the crown, he left not a house or acre of land to be remembered by.
Colonial proprietor
Hay by 1612 was a director of the
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day Main ...
. He was a patentee and councillor of the plantation of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, and showed great interest in the colonies.
Carlise also had an interest in the Caribbean. There
James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough
James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough (c. 1552–1629) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1597 and 1622. He was Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland and then in England, and wa ...
was a rival, who had to be bought off. Another rival was the
Earl of Montgomery
The title Earl of Montgomery (pronounced "Mun-''gum''-ery") was created in the Peerage of England in 1605 for Sir Philip Herbert, younger son of the 2nd Earl of Pembroke. The first Earl inherited the Earldom of Pembroke in 1630 from his brothe ...
. On 2 July 1627 Carlisle obtained from the king a
grant
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
*Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
*Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
* Grant, Inyo County, ...
of all the
Caribbean Islands
Almost all of the Caribbean islands are in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest island is Cuba. Other sizable islands include Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the smaller islands are ref ...
, including
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
, this being a confirmation of a former concession given by
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
* James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
* James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334– ...
. A colonial plantation venture on Barbados was led in 1628 by
Marmaduke Roydon
Sir Marmaduke Roydon (also Rawdon and Rawden, with Royden a contemporary spelling) (1583 – 28 April 1646) was an English merchant-adventurer and colonial planter, known also as a Royalist army officer.
Life
The son of Ralph Roydon or Rawdon o ...
, a prominent
City of London merchant and one of Carlisle's major creditors.
Family
Hay's first wife was Honoria Denny. His second wife,
Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle
Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle (''née'' Percy; 15995 November 1660) was an English courtier known for her beauty and wit. She was involved in many political intrigues during the English Civil War.
Life
She was born Lady Lucy Percy, the second ...
, was involved in many conspiracies, or allegations thereof, during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...
.
The first earl was succeeded by James, his only surviving son by his first wife. James married Margaret Russell, third daughter of
Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford
Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC (1587 – 9 May 1641) was an English nobleman and politician. He built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect. He is also known f ...
, but James died without issue on 30 October 1660. At his death, the peerage became extinct in the Hay family.
References
*
*Roy E. Schreiber, ''The First Carlisle Sir James Hay, First Earl of Carlisle as Courtier, Diplomat and Entrepreneur, 1580-1636'', Transactions of the American Philosophical Society New Series, Vol. 74, No. 7 (1984), pp. 1–202. Published by: American Philosophical Society. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1006420.
*
Attribution:
*
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlisle, James Hay, 1st Earl Of
17th-century Scottish people
17th-century English nobility
*01
Peers of England created by James I
Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire
Knights of the Garter
Colony of Barbados people
1580s births
1636 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
17th-century English diplomats
English duellists