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Sir Charles Percy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

Mark Nicholls
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Extract

IN THE CHANCEL of Dumbleton Church, Gloucestershire, there is a monument bearing the following inscription:

Here lye the bodies of Sir Charles Percye Knight 3rd Sonne of the Earle of Northumberland and of Dame Dorathy his Wife the Daughter of Thomas Cocks of Cleeve Esquire and of Anne their daughter. Sir Charles was buried the 9 Day of Iuly Anno Domini 1628, Dame Dorathy the 28th of Iune 1646.

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Articles
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , May 1987 , pp. 237 - 250
Copyright
© 1986 Trustees of the Catholic Record Society and individual contributors

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References

Notes

1 I am grateful to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, K. G., for his permission to read the relevant documents at Alnwick Castle. My thanks are due also to Mr. Colin Shrimpton, the Archivist at Alnwick, for his ready help and advice during the research for this article.

2 I am indebted to F. H. Invine, the churchwarden, for assistance with this information. The painted tomb, with three effigies, is described in Sir Robert, Atkyns, The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire (2nd edn., London, 1768) 1, p. 213;Google Scholar Verey, David, Gloucestershire, the Vale and Forest of Dean (1976) p. 174;Google Scholar 1. Roper, M., ‘Monumental effigies’, T.B.G.A.S., 32, pp. 242–4.Google Scholar

3 B.L., Additional MS. 32327, f. 42.

4 The former was William Tallentyre, rector of Kirkby Overblow; see Fisher, E. J., ‘Some Yorkshire estates of the Percies’ (Leeds Ph.D. thesis, 1954) 1, p.78.Google Scholar The tutor in France was Thomas Mortimer. Charles Percy and his brothers seem to have gone to France sometime after Christmas 1582 when the declaration of the account of William Wycliffe recorded presents given to William, Charles and Richard (Syon MS. U.I.Im).

5 See, however, C.R.S., 4, pp. 96–9, where it is suggested that all the sons had been brought home earlier and lost to the Roman Catholic Church. It appears that Father Allen and Father Persons were mistaken, or perhaps the boys travelled again to France in 1585.

6 P.R.O., SP 15/29/39.

7 B.L., Egerton MS. 2074, f. 95, a letter from the countess of Northumberland to Thomas Mortimer, the boys’ tutor, 9 Apr. 1585.

8 B.L., Add. MS. 32327, f. 42.

9 Foster, Joseph, Alumni Oxonienses. Early Series (Oxford, 1891–2) 3, p. 1147.Google Scholar

10 P.R.O., SP 78/21, f. 276. See also David Cabreth's letter from Calais early in 1588 (SP 78/18/33).

11 Syon MS. X.II.12. Box 5c, breving book, 14 Feb.-13 Mar. 1591.

12 Syon MS. U.I.2i, declaration of account of George Dutton, 16 Feb. 1591–19 May 1591; Batho, G. R., ed., The Household Papers of Henry Percy, ninth earl of Northumberland (Camden Society, 1962) pp. 9–14.Google Scholar

13 A military career was a common choice for the younger sons of the nobility and gentry; see Lawrence, Stone, The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558–1641 (Oxford, 1965) pp. 169, 265.Google Scholar Of the ninth earl of Northumberland's brothers, Charles and Richard became career officers, Josceline seriously contemplated doing so and George, the youngest, is also supposed to have fought in the Low Countries in later life: Gerald, Brenan, A History of the House of Percy (1902), 2, p. 209.Google Scholar

14 Shaw, W. A., The Knights of England (1906) 2, p. 89;Google Scholar Nichols, J. G., ed., ‘Journal of the Siege of Rouen, 1591, by Sir Thomas Coningsby, of Hampton Court, co. Hereford’, in The Camden Miscellany, 1 (Camden Society, 1847) pp. 27, 71;Google Scholar Rachael, Poole, ed., ‘A Journal of the Siege of Rouen in 1591’, E.H.R., 17, p. 536.Google Scholar

15 Sturgess, H. A. C., ed., Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple (1949) 1, p. 66.Google Scholar

16 Dorothy was the widow of Sir Thomas Perrott, son of Sir John Perrott, the disgraced Lord Deputy of Ireland who died in the Tower in 1592.

17 Hatfield MS. 33/48. Vere made Percy his bedfellow at camp.

18 Hatfield MS. 172/112.

19 Syon MS. Q.I.3.

20 Hatfield MS. 67/82.

21 Collins, Arthur, ed., Letters and Memorials of State … (1746), 2, p. 54.Google Scholar For Sir Charles’ part in the Islands voyage see Clements, Markham, ‘The fighting Veres’: Lives of Sir Francis Vere …and of St Horace Vere (1888) p. 249.Google Scholar

22 A.P.C., 1597–8, pp. 82, 84–5, 87, 96, 101, 114–16, 142–3, 166, 196, 519, 613; Hatfield MS. 56/ 93, 94.

23 Sir Charles’ brother Richard was acting-colonel in command of the vanguard at the Blackwater. In the fighting, Richard was knocked over by a bullet which glanced off his breastplate, but escaped any serious injury: Wood, H., ed., The Chronicle of Ireland, 1584–1608 by Sir Perrott, James (Dublin, 1933) pp. 152–3;Google Scholar Hayes-McCoy, G. A., Irish Battles (1969) pp. 119–27.Google Scholar

24 Hatfield MS. 177/141.

25 Hatfield MS. 178/9.

26 Hatfield MS. 58/38.

27 McClure, N. E., ed., The Letters of John Chamberlain (Philadelphia, 1939) 1, p 62.Google Scholar

28 Hatfield MS. 176/116.

29 Lambeth Palace MS. 621, p. 129.

30 Hatfield MS. 73/43.

31 Fynes, Moryson, An Itinerary … containing his Ten Yeeres Travel! … (London, 1617), part 2, p. 43.Google Scholar

32 Ibid, p. 59.

33 P.R.O., SP 63/207, part 3/51i

34 P.R.O., SP 63/207, part 5/87i; Hayes-McCoy, Irish Battles, pp. 138–9.

35 Moryson, Itinerary, part 2, p. 85. His company was reduced in strength from 200 to 150 on 25 Nov. 1600 (Lambeth Palace MS. 615, p. 36).

36 H.M.C., The Manuscripts of … the Duke of Rutland … at Belvoir Castle, 4, p. 433.

37 Sir Charles’ and Sir Josceline's part in the Essex rebellion is discussed by Mary H. Fernald in her Brown Ph.D. thesis, ‘The Members of the Essex rebellion’ (1976).

38 PR O., SP 12/278/78, 85.

39 Hatfield MSS. 76/80; 180/22.

40 Hatfield MS. 77/8.

41 Moryson, Itinerary, part 2, p. 91.

42 A.P.C., 1600–1, pp. 214–15; P.R.O., SP 63/210/70A.

43 A.P.C., 1600–1, p. 159.

44 B.L., Additional MS. 12497, fols. 285–6, 289, 291.

45 Public Record Office: Deputy Keeper's 4th Report (1843) Appendix 2, p. 296.

46 A.P.C., 1600–1, p. 194.

47 Ibid., pp. 283–4.

48 Ibid., pp. 353–4.

49 Thomas, Rymer, ed., Foedera, conventiones, literae (The Hague, 1739–45) 7, part 2, pp. 39–41.Google Scholar

50 Hatfield MS. 93/74, 75.

51 The provision for her younger sons made by the countess of Northumberland on 30 May 1592, in the form of an indenture to lead uses of a fine (Syon MS. X.I. Box 1, bundle 3c), replaced an earlier provision (Syon MS. X.I. Box 1, bundle 4d) which had been rendered obsolete by the death of her second son Thomas in 1587. The latter was formally revoked on the same day that the new indenture was sealed (Syon MS. X.I. Box 1, bundle 3d). See also the inquisition post mortem on Katherine (PRO., C142/248/22).

52 P R.O., C54/1564, 6 June 39 Eliz.

53 Petworth House MSS. 5689, m. 3 dorso; 5706, m. 2 dorso.

54 De Fonblanque, E. B., Annals of the House of Percy (1887) 2, p. 583.Google Scholar

55 Batho, Household papers, p. xlix.

56 P.R.O., C66/2126/9; Syon MS. XII. 16, Box 1b. Licence to sell Calverton was granted to the earl and Sir Charles.

57 Syon MS. G.II.4f; Petworth House MS. 608.

58 Before his death in 1611, Sir Allan Percy was receiving £200 a year out of the household (Syon MS. U.I.3e, Edmund Powton, declaration, 24 Feb. 1600–27 Mar. 1602). When Sir Charles’ annuity was increased, his brother Sir Richard was already receiving £150, Sir Josceline £200 and George f80, increased to £100 in 1617 (Syon MS. U.I.4am, as: general accounts, 1616, 1617).

59 Syon MS. U.I.2w, Edward Francis, declaration of account, 21 Sep. 1594–6 Mar. 1595; Syon MS. U.I.3e, Edmund Powton, declaration, 24 Feb. 1600–27 Mar. 1602.

60 When told that he had been fined by the council, Sir Josceline was said to have quipped that the council were wise men indeed to be able to find so many pounds; he, on the other hand, was quite unable to find so many pence: Lippincott, H. F., ed., ‘Merry Passages and leasts’: A Manuscript Jestbook of Sir Nicholas Le Strange, 1603–1655 (Salzburg, 1974) p. 134.Google Scholar

61 Syon MS. U.I.3e.

62 For Northumberland's part in James's accession see my thesis ‘Politics and Percies: The ninth earl of Northumberland, his brothers, and Gunpowder Plot’ (Ph.D., Cambridge, 1985), pp. 14–84.

63 Stow, John, Annales, or, a Generait Chronicle of England … (edited and continued by Edmond Howes, London, 1631), p. 817;Google Scholar Gardiner, S. R., History of England from the Accession of James I to the outbreak of the Civil War, 1603–1642 (1883–4), 1, p. 85.Google Scholar Sir Charles left for Scotland the next morning; see Jones, H. V., ed., ‘The Journal of Levinus Munck’, E.H.R., 68, p. 243;Google Scholar B.L., Stowe MS. 150, f. 180.

64 Spottiswoode, John, The History of the Church of Scotland … (London, 1655) pp. 473–5;Google Scholar David, Masson, ed., Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1599–1604 (Edinburgh, 1884) p. 551.Google Scholar

65 Jeayes, I. H., ed., Letters of Philip Gawdy of West Hurling, Norfolk, and of London to variousmembers of his family, 1579–1616 (1906) p. 132.Google Scholar

66 P. R.O., PROB 11/104, fols. 368v-70 (Hutchins’ will, 28 Jan. 1602); Collins, Arthur, Collins'Peerage of England … Greatly augmented, and continued to the present time, by Sir SamuelEgerton Brydges (1812) 2, p. 327.Google Scholar

67 P.R.O., C2 James I P4/49; C33/107, fol. 581; C78/133/8.

68 PRO., SP 12/275/146. Henry IV, part 2 was written in 1598. SP 46/22, fol. 143, is a letter written at Winchester on 21 November from Sir Charles to the same man. In this letter he asked Carlington to secure ‘my lord's’ support in gaining a lease of tithes from Trinity College, Oxford. I suspect that ‘Carlington’ was Dudley Carleton, that the lord was Northumberland, and that both letters date from 1603 or 1604 when Carleton was in the earl's service.

69 Albert J. Loomie, ed., Spain and the Jacobean Catholics. (C.R.S., 64) p. 6. Sir Charles’ religious sympathies are clear enough. Writing to the earl's catholic officer Francis Wycliffe about estate affairs in 1598, Percy headed the paper ‘Jesus … ‘ but then crossed the word through—rather halfheartedly (Syon MS. X.II.1, Box 17be i). Northumberland's brothers were termed catholics in a Borghese Auuiso (sic) of 20 Sep. 1605 (P.R.O., PRO 31/9/113, fol. 387).

70 Although the issue did not become public in England until the following spring, it is interesting to notice that Sir Charles was expected in Brussels at the end of 1604 (P.R.O., SP 77/7, f. 70, Josias Brugman to Thomas Farnian, 21 Dec. 1604).

71 PRO., SP 14/13/32.

72 Brussels, Archives Générales du Royaume: Papiers d'État et de l'Audience 365, f. 10v; L. Willaert, ‘Negociations Politico-Religieuses entre L'Angleterre et les Pays-Bas Catholiques, 1598–1625’, pt. 4, Revue D'Histoire Ecclésiastique, 7 (1906) p. 595.

73 H.M.C., Manuscripts of… the Duke of Buccleuch … at Montagu House, Whitehall, 1, p. 54.

74 B.L., King's MS. 128, f. 37.

75 Lambeth Palace MS. 3202, f. 5v.; Edmund, Lodge, ed., Illustrations of British History (1838) 3, p. 150.Google Scholar

76 B.L., King's MS. 128, f. 56.

77 Ibid., fols. 65–6: ‘a few days back he [James] said openly, and intentionally in the presence of Sir Charles Percy, that he was very well aware that there were gentlemen in his kingdom rash and foolhardy enough to enter the service of foreign princes and gamble their own lives without learning whether he approved of what they did or whether it was appropriate. The king said also that if anyone was so keen to serve in a war, that man should go to Hungary, where the cause was just and without doubt for all sorts of people. Nor could he love or hold in good regard those of his subjects who volunteered to fight for princes whose religion was other than his own’.

78 B.L., Stowe MS. 168, f. 17v.; H.M.C., Buccleuch, 1, p. 81.

79 Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1603–7, p. 241. After the discovery of Gunpowder Plot, the earl of Northumberland claimed that he had helped prevent his brother becoming colonel, had ‘crossed him in it under hand’, and that it had been he who had first told the king of Sir Charles's plans. At that time, however, the earl was seizing upon every circumstance to prove his own loyalty (Alnwick Castle MS. 101, f. 9v).

80 Lunn, Maurus, ‘Chaplains to the English Regiment in Spanish Flanders, 1605–06’, Recusant History, 11, pp. 136–42;Google Scholar Willaert, ‘Negociations’, pp. 596–8; Edwards, Francis, Guy Fawkes. The Real Storyof the Gunpowder Plot? (1969) pp. 93–8.Google Scholar

81 See Gardiner, History of England, 1, pp. 227–8; also John, J. La Rocca, ‘English Catholics and the Recusancy Laws, 1558–1625: A Study in Religion and Politics’ (Rutgers University Ph.D. thesis, 1977) pp. 211–21.Google Scholar

82 Hatfield MS. 114/105, undated, endorsed ‘1605’, but addressed to Cecil as earl of Salisbury and so written after 4 May.

83 PRO., SP 77/7, f. 302; see also SP 77/8, f. 47v.

84 Lunn, art. cit., pp. 143–50.

85 P.R.O., E178/4162 (Middlesex, 3 James I, Exchequer special commission). See George, B. Morgan, The Great English Treason for Religion … (Oxford, 1931–2) 2, p. 75.Google Scholar

86 Alnwick Castle MS. 101, f. 4.

87 See my communication ‘The Wizard Earl in Star Chamber’, The Historical Journal (forthcoming).

88 B.L., Add. MS. 30305, f. 20.

89 For the ‘Spanish Treason’, out of which developed Gunpowder Plot, see Loomie, Albert J., Guy Fawkes in Spain: The Spanish Treason in Spanish Documents (Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research Special Supplement 9, 1971) pp. 4–39.Google Scholar See also Jenny Wormald, ‘Gunpowder, Treason, and Scots’, Journal of British Studies, 24 (April, 1985) pp. 150–7.

90 B.L., King's MS. 128, f. 65.

91 William, Sanderson, A Compleat History of the lives and reigns of Mary … and …James … (London, 1656) p. 334.Google Scholar

92 B.L., King's MS. 128, f. 30.

93 The most balanced account of Gunpowder plot and its aftermath remains that by Gardiner in History of England, 1, pp. 234–85. Some, however, do not share Gardiner's faith in the ‘official’ version of events. See, for example, Hugh Ross Williamson, The Gunpowder Plot (1951) and Edwards, Guy Fawkes ….

94 P.R.O., SP 14/216/136.

95 Finch, Mary E., The Wealth of Five Northamptonshire Families, 1540–1640 (Northamptonshire Record Society, 19) pp. 76–94.Google Scholar

96 For an interesting, if sympathetic, biography of Digby see [Thomas, Longueville], The Life of a Conspirator (1895).Google Scholar For Ambrose Rookwood see Williamson, Gunpowder Plot, pp. 128–9.

97 Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1603–7, p. 241.

98 The portraits, by unknown artists, are in Petworth House, Sussex, home of Sir Charles’ father and brother.

99 Christopher Whitfield, ‘Shakespeare's Gloucestershire Contemporaries and the Essex Rising’, T.B.G.A.S., 82, pp. 188–201.

100 P.R.O., C66/1764/56, dated 1 Apr. 1608. See also CP25(2)/Gloucestershire 6 Jarnes I; T.B.G.A.S., 17, pp. 238–9.

101 Gloucestershire County Record Office: MS. GDR/VI/86, bishop's transcripts, Dumbleton registers, 1607/8.

102 P.R.O., C78/173/7.

103 Cecil Monro, ed., Acta Cancellariae (London, 1847), pp. 270–2.

104 Percy left no will; administration of his estate was granted to his brother-in-law Charles Cocks (Alnwick Castle, Letters and Papers, vol. 13, f. 35).