X. Original Letters to the Tremoille family, chiefly from Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia: communicated by Monsieur Paul Marchegay; together with remarks on the same by Augustus W. Franks, Esq., Director

Paul Marchegay; Augustus W. Franks Esq.

doi:10.1017/S026134090000429X

X. Original Letters to the Tremoille family, chiefly from Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia: communicated by Monsieur Paul Marchegay; together with remarks on the same by Augustus W. Franks, Esq., Director

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012

Paul Marchegay and

Augustus W. Franks Esq.

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M. Paul Marchegay of Angers, ancien Archiviste du departement de Maine et Loire, has forwarded to the Society transcripts of some letters which he has found among the records of the Tremoille family, preserved at Serrant in Anjou.

They consist chiefly of twenty-one unpublished letters written by Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia, and three by the King of Bohemia, all addressed to various members of the Tremoille family. One letter, however, which is of an earlier date, relates only indirectly to Elizabeth, and should properly be considered before those written by the unfortunate daughter of James I. or her husband.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , 1863 , pp. 143 - 172

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S026134090000429X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1863

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References

^{page 144 note a} Letter from Beaulieu to Trumbull, dated Paris, Feb. 13, 1611–12. Winwood's Memorials, iii. 335.

^{page 144 note b} Nichols's Progresses of James I. vol. ii. p. 438.

^{page 144 note c} Beaulieu to Trumbull, 5 March, 1611–12. Winwood's Memorials, iii. 345.

^{page 144 note d} Nichols's Progresses of James I. vol. ii. p. 442.

^{page 144 note e} Chamberlain to Carleton. S. P. Dom. Jas. I. lxviii. 104.

^{page 144 note f} Beaulieu to Trumbull, Paris, 18 April, 1612. Winwood's Memorials, iii. p. 358.

^{page 144 note g} Green's Princesses of England, vol. v. p. 184.

^{page 144 note h} S. P. Dom. Jas. I. vol. Ixix. 10. Birch's Court of James I. vol. i. p. 166.

^{page 145 note a} Winwood's Memorials, iii. p. 365.

^{page 145 note b} Lodovick Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lenox.

^{page 145 note c} Whitehall.

^{page 145 note d} Charenton, the Protestant church near Paris, destroyed by a mob of Catholics, 21 September, 1621. It was not rebuilt till 1624. The new edifice was erected by the celebrated architect, Jacques de Brosse, it was calculated to contain 14,000 persons, and was demolished on the 21st of October, 1685, at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

^{page 145 note e} Shrewsbury.

^{page 145 note f} Arabella Stuart:—Mary, wife of Gilbert, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, was suspected of being an accomplice in the flight of Arabella Stuart, and was imprisoned in the Tower; see a letter from Mr. John More to Sir Ralph Winwood, dated June 18th, 1611 (Winwood's Memorials, iii. p. 281). She was released about two years afterwards.

^{page 145 note g} Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham.

^{page 146 note a} Elizabeth, who afterwards married the Palgrave.

^{page 146 note b} This feast is noticed in a letter from Chamberlain to Carleton, S. P. Dom. Jas. I. lxix. 4.

^{page 146 note c} Of France.

^{page 146 note d} With regard to the rank which the young de la Trémoille was expected to hold at the English court, M. Marchegay has forwarded the following illustrative passage from a letter written by the Duchesse de Bouillon to her sister, March 5th, 1612:—“Je pensois aprendre l'arivée de mes^ra. vos enfans a Paris; je croy qu'elle ne peut plus guere tarder, sy mons^r. vostre fils fait le voiage d'Engleterre. Je n'en doute point, et c'est pourquoy je ramentoy a mon Monsieur [le due de Bouillon] le ranc qu'il y doit tenir, et comme mons^r de Rohan y a fait la planche, qu'il n'en doit rien relacher, més plus tost en demander plus que moins, en cela et tout autre chose. Je m'assure qu'y vous y servira avec soing et afection.”

^{page 147 note a} Probably Sir George Carew.

^{page 148 note a} For the king's warrant for part of Elizabeth's trousseau, see Archæologia, Vol. XXVI. p. 380.

^{page 148 note b} A full account of the pageants, &c. on this occasion may be found in Mrs. Green's careful Life of Elizabeth, in Princesses of England, vol. v. and in Nichols’ Progresses of James I. vol. ii.

^{page 148 note c} See Phineas Pett's account, Archæologia, Vol. XII. p. 267.

^{page 148 note d} The expenses of the Princess's journey were communicated to the Society by Sir Charles Young, Garter, and are printed in Archæologia, Vol. XXXV. p. 1.

^{page 148 note e} Elizabeth was a great writer; Mrs. Green had some years since collected upwards of 400 letters by her, with the intention of publishing them; for some of her letters see Bromley's Koyal Letters, and Archæologia, Vol. XXXVII. p. 224; also Collections of Sussex Archæological Society, vol. iv. p. 222. A series of letters to her from the king of Bohemia may be found in Aretin, Beyträge zur Geschichte und Literatur.

^{page 148 note f} En 1598.

^{page 149 note a} En 1604.

^{page 151 note a} Green's Princesses, vol. v. p. 259.

^{page 151 note b} Green's Princesses, vol. v. p. 263.

^{page 151 note c} Letter from Elizabeth to James I. Green's Princesses, vol. v. p. 278.

^{page 151 note d} S. P. Dom. Jas. I. vol. xc. 24.

^{page 153 note a} State Papers, Dom. Jas. I. clix. 63.

^{page 154 note a} Green's Princesses, vol. v. p. 456.

^{page 155 note a} Frederick Henry, born Jan. 2, 1614; he was accidentally drowned while going out with his father to meet the Dutch fleet from the West Indies, Jan. 1629.

^{page 155 note b} Achatius de Dhona, born 22 Oct. 1581, died 12 Sept. 1647; much employed in negotiations by the Elector Palatine.

^{page 155 note c} Anne, daughter of Edward Sutton, 9th Baron Dudley, married John Meinhard von Schomberg, March 1615.—Green, Princesses, vol. v. p. 264; S. P. Dom. Jas. I. lxxx. 85. She died 8 Dec. 1615.

^{page 156 note a} They set out on the tour in the High Palatinate, in the middle of June, 1615, and returned home on the 15th of August.

^{page 156 note b} Madame de la Tremouille was probably on a visit to her brother Maurice Prince of Orange. She was in Holland in 1618, as appears from a letter from Aerssen to the Prince, dated 9th Oct. 1618, warning him of a design to seize his person at Haarlem, and speaking of the want of respect shown to the Duchesse de la Tremoille in that town. See Groen von Prinsterer, Archives de la Maison d'Orange—Nassau, 2nd S. tom. ii. p. 556. This seems to fix the date of the letter No. III.

^{page 156 note c} The Duchesse had become a dowager by the marriage of her son Henri de la Tremoille, Due de Thouars, on Jan. 19, 1619, to his cousin Marie de la Tour, daughter of the Due de Bouillon. Anselme, Histoire Genealogique, &c. iv. 171.

^{page 156 note d} The death of Anne of Denmark, which occurred March 2nd, 1619.

^{page 157 note a} Madeleine, daughter of Sebastien de Bruneau, and wife of Pierre de Beringhen, a Frisian, premier valet de chambre to Henry IV. and Louis XIII. She was sister to the famous Madame des Loges. See Historiettes de Tallemant des Reaux, vol. iii. p. 30.

^{page 158 note a} Brunn, the capital of Moravia.

^{page 158 note b} Elizabeth arrived at Prague Oct. 1619, and was crowned

^{page 158 note c} prophétie.

^{page 159 note a} Called further on Villernon; no relation apparently to Jancourt de Villernoul, son-in-law of Duplessis-Mornay. [P. M.]

^{page 159 note b} The celebrated Prince Rupert, born Nov. 26, 1619, and baptized March 31, 1620 (Green's Princesses, vol. v. p. 322). His sponsors were Bethlehem Gabor elect-king of Hungary, the Duke of Wirtemberg, and the States of Bohemia, &c. H died Nov. 29, 1682.

^{page 160 note a} Frederic youngest son of Madame de la Tremoille; he did not long deserve the praise bestowed on him here. [P. M.]

^{page 161 note a} Küstrin, a fortress, belonging to the Elector of Brandenburg, 48 miles from Berlin. She had only just arrived there, having been at Frankfort Nov. 25.

^{page 161 note b} Probably one of her ladies married to a Frenchman, [P. M.]

^{page 161 note c} The Queen had been delivered of her fourth son, Prince Maurice, a few days previously, Jan. 1621.

^{page 163 note a} The Duke of Brunswick on attempting to cross the Maine at Höchst was attacked by the Imperialists tinder Tilly, 29th June, 1622, and his forces were nearly annihilated.

^{page 163 note b} Charlotte de la Tremoille, who married Lord Strange, and became, on his father's death, Countess of Derby.

^{page 163 note c} Tutor to the Comte de Laval, [P.M.]

^{page 164 note a} Her husband the Due de Bouillon had died the 25 March, 1623, at Sedan (Baluze, Maison d'Auvergne, vol. i. 441).

^{page 164 note b} The success of the Duke of Brunswick was, however, only temporary; and shortly afterwards he was defeated near Stadtlo with very severe loss by the combined forces of Anhalt and Tilly.

^{page 165 note a} Louis Maurice de la Tremoille, second son of the Due de Thouars; he served in Italy in 1642, and afterwards having entered into holy orders became Abbé of Charroux and of Sainte Croix de Tallemont, and died in 1681.

^{page 165 note b} James I. died 27 March, 1625.

^{page 166 note a} Sir Harry Vane, cofferer to the king.

^{page 166 note b} Henry of Nassau, son of William the Silent and who became by his brother Maurice's death Prince of Orange, had lately married Amelie, daughter of John Albert, Count of Solms, who had been one of the ladies of the Queen of Bohemia, and to whom she was deeply attached.

^{page 166 note c} Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, died 23rd April, 1625.

^{page 166 note d} The marriage of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria was solemnised at Paris 11th May, 1625.

^{page 166 note e} Marie dei Medici, widow of Henri IV. At the end of August, 1638, when she was received at the Hague in great state, she displayed but little friendship to the Queen of Bohemia, if we are to believe Tallemant des Réaux. “La feu Eeyne-Mere, qui estoit la plus glorieuse personne du monde … ne traitta pas trop bien cette Reyne mesme, car elle ne baisa point ses filles. La reyne de Bohêne en eut un despit estrange, et ne la reconduisit que jusqu'a la porte de son antichambre.” (Historiette lxiv.) [P. M.]

^{page 167 note a} The following is the letter of Charlotte de la Tremoille, to which the above [XXI.] is the answer.

“Madame,—Je me promectz que Vostre Majesté me fera l'honneur de croire que, de toutes les personnes du monde, il n'y en a point qui soit plus vivement touchée que moi de l'affliction dont il a pleu a Dieu de la visiter; et veux croire qu'elle n'aura desagreable les tesmognages que je luy en rends par cellecy: bien marrie, Madame, de ne pouvoir rien pour l'allegement de la douleur de Vostre Majesté, a laquelle je prie Dieu envoyer les consolations qu'il cognoist luy estre necessaires, et moy me rendre si heureuze qu'estant honnorée de ses commandemens, je puisse, par toutes sortes d'obeissances et de très humbles services, luy tesmogner que je n'ay rien de plus cher que la qualité, &c. &c. [P. M.]

^{page 167 note b} A chateau in Berry.

^{page 167 note c} Henri de Nassau obliged the garrison of Groll to capitulate the 20th of August, 1627, before the eyes of the Spanish army come to relieve it.

^{page 168 note a} In the Isle of Rhé, opposite to La Rochelle.

^{page 168 note b} Christian IV. King of Denmark.

^{page 168 note c} Charlotte de la Treinoille, Lady Strange; her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Countess of Derby, had died in March, 1626.

^{page 168 note d} Sir Dudley Carleton married first Anne, daughter and coheir of George Gerard, second son of Sir William Gerard, of Dorney, co. Bucks, the lady here alluded to. He subsequently married Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Glenham and widow of Viscount Bayning, who survived him.

^{page 168 note e} The greyhound Apollon, already mentioned.

^{page 168 note f} A political tract on the celebrated declaration of love that Buckingham made to Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII. See the “Memoires of Madame de Motteville.” [P. M.]

^{page 168 note g} François de l'Aubespine, Marquis d'Hauterive, afterwards Governor of Breda, [P. M.]

^{page 170 note a} Rhenen on the Rhine, a favourite resort of the King and Queen of Bohemia for hunting, and where they built a villa.

^{page 170 note b} James Hay, Earl of Carlisle, went as Ambassador Extraordinary to Savoy in April or May,.1628.

^{page 170 note c} The fleet left Plymouth under Lord Denbigh, April 27th, 1628, but returned re infecta.

^{page 170 note d} M. d'Espesses, French Ambassador at the Hague; under his auspices a friendly correspondence of letters and presents took place between Elizabeth and the Queen-mother of France. See Carleton's Despatches Aug. and Oct. 1627. His successor was very different in his behaviour, and was subsequently displaced at the request of Elizabeth.

^{page 170 note e} Charles Stanley, eldest son of Lord Strange, by Charlotte de la Tremoille, was godson to Charles I.

^{page 170 note f} Amelie de Solms, Princess of Orange.

^{page 171 note a} S. P. Dom. chas. II. xxiii. 39.

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X. Original Letters to the Tremoille family, chiefly from Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia: communicated by Monsieur Paul Marchegay; together with remarks on the same by Augustus W. Franks, Esq., Director

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