Sir Amias Paulet (1532 – 26 September 1588) of
Hinton St. George
Hinton St George is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated outside Crewkerne
Crewkerne ( ) is a town and electoral ward in Somerset, England, southwest of Yeovil and east of Chard all in the South Somerset district. The civil p ...
, Somerset, was an English diplomat,
Governor of Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the la ...
, and the
gaoler
A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...
for a period of
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
.
Origins
He was the son of
Sir Hugh Paulet
Sir Hugh Paulet (bef. 1510 – 6 December 1573) (or Poulet, his spelling) of Hinton St George in Somerset, was an English military commander and Governor of Jersey.
Origins
Born after 1500, he was the eldest son of Sir Amias Paulet of Hinton S ...
of Hinton St George by his wife Philippa Pollard, a daughter of Sir
Lewis Pollard
Sir Lewis Pollard (c. 1465 – 21 October 1526) of Grilstone in the parish of Bishop's Nympton, Devon, was Justice of the Common Pleas from 1514 to 1526 and served as MP for Totnes in 1491 and was a JP in Devon in 1492. He was knighted a ...
(c.1465 – 21 October 1526),
Justice of the Common Pleas
Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas ...
, of
King's Nympton
King's Nympton (Latinised to ''Nymet Regis'') is a village, parish and former manor in North Devon, England in the heart of the rolling countryside between Exmoor and Dartmoor, some 4½ miles () S.S.W. of South Molton and N. of Chulmleigh. The ...
, Devon.
Career
Paulet went to Jersey in 1550 when his father was made Governor and immediately acted as his assistant. The following year he was sent by his father to complain to the Privy Council that officials in
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
were refusing to hand over six thieves who had escaped from Jersey. He was sent to Paris with a letter for the Constable of France, and thence to Normandy, returning ultimately to Jersey with his prisoners.
In 1556 he was formally appointed Lieutenant-Governor
and by the end of the decade he was effectively running the island in his father's absence. He kept this post until 1573. His father Hugh died that year, and Paulet was made Governor, a post he held until his death. There was much concern at this time about invasion by the French and Paulet went on a spying mission to the Brittany coast to discover for himself whether ships and troops were being gathered. Nothing happened because the death of the French king brought a temporary cessation to threats against the Channel Islands. However, relations with nearby Normandy were not good, as shown by a letter from Amias to his father:
Mr St Aubin has been arrested by Mons Boisrougier of Coutances, and after fourteen days imprisonment dismissed with the loss of a goshawk and 20 ells of canvas. I wrote to this Monsieur for redress, but he answered he was sorry he had dismissed his prisoner, and that his stock was not better, advising me to look to myself, as he hoped to pluck me out of my house, as he had the Captain of Alderney. If I had the Queen's leave, I would ask no aid but the retinue of this Castle to pluck him out of his house.
Amias continued his father's work on strengthening Mont Orguiel Castle, despite the lack of funds available from Elizabeth. He wrote in 1557:
"Though I have husbanded Her Majesty's money well I have been constrained to employ more than I received, and our walls want a third part yet".
And in 1563:
"I am much deceived, considering the depth of the foundation, the height and thickness of the walls, if a greater piece of work hath ever been done for the like sum".
And again in 1573:
"A strong piece of work, begun four or five years ago, lacks completion of one third. Four hundred pounds will be needed this year and four hundred next."
Like his father, Amias was strongly anti-Catholic, although more Calvinist than Protestant. When the first
Huguenot
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 Be ...
refugees poured into Jersey in 1558 he appointed some of the priests among them as Rectors and ignored his father's wishes, and to an extent those of Queen Elizabeth, over which prayer book should be used in island churches. His appointment to the Town Church of Guillaume Morise, a Huguenot minister from Anjou, led to the establishment of what Chroniques de Jersey described as the first "real Reformed Church in Jersey".
There was a second influx of Huguenots in 1568 and they, too, were welcomed by Amias, although his father had reservations and wrote:
"I approve my son's zeal in receiving these strangers, but I cannot like their continued abode in the isle. They should be passed on." But father and son got on well, despite these occasional disagreements, and in 1571 Amias was made joint-Governor, becoming sole Governor on his father's death, probably in 1578, although there are no records of the transition.
In 1576
Queen Elizabeth raised him to
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
, appointed him Ambassador to Paris and at the same time put the young
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
under his charge.
Paulet was in this embassy until he was recalled November 1579. In 1579, he took into his household, the young
Jean Hotman, son of
Francis Hotman
Francis may refer to:
People
*Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome
*Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Francis (surname)
Places
*Rural Mu ...
, to tutor his two sons Anthony and George. When the family returned to England, the tutor and his two charges settled at Oxford.
His duties increasingly meant that Amias was absent from the island for long periods. He was appointed resident Ambassador in France for three years in 1576 and appointed Guillaume Lempriere, Seigneur of Trinity, his Lieutenant-Governor. He was clearly well trusted, because Queen Elizabeth's principal secretary Sir Francis Walsingham wrote:
"Her Majesty wishes you in matters that concern her service to deal as you think fit, though you have no special direction, such trust she reposes in you."
He was present in Jersey in 1583 for the swearing-in of his son Anthony as Lieutenant-Governor and his brother George as Bailiff, before leaving to join the Privy Council.
A fanatical
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
with a harsh character, Paulet was appointed gaoler of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Elizabeth in January 1585, at
Chartley Castle
Chartley Castle lies in ruins to the north of the village of Stowe-by-Chartley in Staffordshire, between Stafford and Uttoxeter (). Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned on the estate in 1585. The remains of the castle and associated earthworks a ...
, and guarded her very strictly.
He replaced the more tolerant Sir
Ralph Sadler
Sir Ralph Sadler or Sadleir Privy Council of England, PC, Knight banneret (1507 – 30 March 1587) was an English statesman, who served Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII as Privy Council of England, Privy Councillor, Secretary of State (England) ...
who had given Mary far more liberty. He remained her keeper until Mary's execution at
Fotheringhay Castle
Fotheringhay Castle, also known as ''Fotheringay Castle'', was a High Middle Age Norman Motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Fotheringhay to the north of the market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire, England (). It was probably founded a ...
on 8 February 1587.
After Mary's conviction, Walsingham wrote to Paulet requesting he assassinate Mary, to spare Elizabeth from involvement in her death. In a letter to Walsingham, Paulet refused to "make so great a shipwreck of my conscience, or leave so great a blot to my poor posterity, as shed blood without law or warrant". He was the appointed
Chancellor of the Order of the Garter The Chancellor of the Order of the Garter is an officer of the Order of the Garter.
History of the office
When the Order of the Garter was founded in 1348 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, by Edward III of England three officers were initiall ...
.
Marriage and progeny
He married Margaret Harvey, a daughter of Antony Harvey, of
Columbjohn
Columb John (today "Columbjohn") in the parish of Broadclyst in Devon, England, is a historic estate that was briefly the seat of the prominent Acland family which later moved to the adjacent estate of Killerton.
Nothing of the structure of the ...
in Devon, an "expert surveyor", by whom he had three sons and three daughters:
* Hugh Paulet (b. 1558), the eldest son, who predeceased his father.
*
Anthony Paulet
Sir Anthony Paulet (1562–1600) of Hinton St George, Somerset, was Governor of Jersey from 1588 until his death in 1600.
Origins
He was born at Hinton St George, Somerset the eldest son of Sir Amias Paulet (1532–1588) by his wife Margaret Her ...
(b. 1562), eldest surviving son and heir,
who also succeeded his father as Governor of
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
. His son was
John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett
John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett (1585 – 20 March 1649), of Hinton St George, Somerset, was an English sailor and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1610 and 1621 and was later raised to the peerage.
Origins
Poulett was the so ...
(born c. 1585).
* George Paulet (b. 1565), who married his distant cousin Elizabeth Paulet, daughter and heiress of Edward Paulet of
Goathurst
Goathurst is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Somerset, around 3 miles from the town of Bridgwater. The parish includes the hamlets of Andersfield and Huntstile. The village is on the route of the Samaritans Way South West ...
, in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
* Joan Paulet, wife of Robert Haydon (1560–1626) of Bowood, Epford and
Cadhay House in Devonshire.
* Sarah Paulet, second wife of
Sir Francis Vincent, 1st Baronet (c. 1568 – 1640) of
Stoke d'Abernon,
[Per Acland monumental inscription, Landkey, Devon] in Surrey.
Sir Francis Vincent's third wife was Eleanor Mallet (1573–1645), the widow and step-first cousin of Sir
Arthur Acland (died 1610) of
Acland in the parish of
Landkey
Landkey ( kw, Lannke) is a small village in the county of Devon in the south-west of England with a population of 2274, falling to 1,734 at the 2011 census. It is situated from the nearest town of Barnstaple. The village is a major part of t ...
, and of
Columbjohn
Columb John (today "Columbjohn") in the parish of Broadclyst in Devon, England, is a historic estate that was briefly the seat of the prominent Acland family which later moved to the adjacent estate of Killerton.
Nothing of the structure of the ...
in the parish of
Broadclyst
Broadclyst is a village and civil parish in the East Devon local government district. It lies approximately 5 miles northeast of the city of Exeter, Devon, England, on the B3181. In 2001 its population was 2,830, reducing at the 2011 Census to 1 ...
, Devon.
* Elizabeth Paulet, died unmarried.
Death and burial
Paulet died in London on 26 September 1588 and was buried in the church of
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...
. However, his remains and monument were later removed to the
Church of St George, Hinton St George
The Church of St George in Hinton St George, Somerset, England includes 13th-century work by masons of Wells Cathedral, and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
The vestry and north chapel of 1814 are said to be by James Wyatt, howe ...
, after the original church was rebuilt. His name (as "Amyas le Poulet") was used by
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
for a character in ''
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court of King Arth ...
''.
Works
*
See also
* ''
Elizabeth R
''Elizabeth R'' is a BBC television drama serial of six 85-minute plays starring Glenda Jackson as Queen Elizabeth I of England. It was first broadcast on BBC2 from February to March 1971, through the ABC in Australia and broadcast in America ...
''
* ''
Elizabeth: The Golden Age''
References
Sources
* ''Jersey Through the Centuries: A Chronology'', Leslie Sinel, Jersey, (1984)
* ''Mary, Queen of Scots'', Antonia Fraser, (1971), Dell Publishing Company, Inc., New York
''Letter books of Amias Paulet'' Morris, John, ed., (1874)
''Copy-book of Sir Amias Poulet's letters, written during his embassy to France'' Ogle, Octavius, ed., (1866), Roxburghe Club
External links
His portrait at the National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulet, Amias
16th-century English diplomats
Knights Bachelor
Ambassadors of England to France
Governors of Jersey
People from Somerset
1532 births
1588 deaths
Amias
Chancellors of the Order of the Garter
Burials at the Poulett mausoleum, Church of St George (Hinton St George)