Sir John Luttrell was an English soldier

Soldier

A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...

, diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

, and courtier

Courtier

A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

 under Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 and Edward VI

Edward VI of England

Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...

. He served under Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp of Hache, KG, Earl Marshal was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549....

 (later Duke of Somerset

Duke of Somerset

Duke of Somerset is a title in the peerage of England that has been created several times. Derived from Somerset, it is particularly associated with two families; the Beauforts who held the title from the creation of 1448 and the Seymours, from the creation of 1547 and in whose name the title is...

 and Lord Protector

Lord Protector

Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...

) in Scotland and France. His service is commemorated in an allegorical portrait by Hans Eworth

Hans Eworth

Hans Eworth was a Flemish painter active in England in the mid-16th century. Along with other exiled Flemings, he made a career in Tudor London, painting allegorical images as well as portraits of the gentry and nobility. About 40 paintings are now attributed to Eworth, among them portraits of...

.

Life and military career

John Luttrell was the eldest son of Sir Andrew Luttrell of Dunster Castle

Dunster Castle

Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo-Saxon period. After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century,...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Wyndham. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Griffith Ryce, by whom he had three daughters, Catherine, Dorothy, and Mary. John Luttrell, his younger brother, and his uncle Thomas Wyndham

Thomas Wyndham (navigator)

Thomas Wyndham was an English naval officer and navigator.The son of Sir Thomas Wyndham of Felbrigg and Elizabeth Wentworth, he was educated at Louvain University and possibly in Italy....

 served as boy pages in the household of Cardinal Wolsey during his embassy to France in July 1527.

Luttrell accompanied Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford in the first stages of the military expeditions to Scotland known as the Rough Wooing and was present at the taking of Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 and Leith

Leith

-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

. He was knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

ed at Leith by Hertford on 11 May 1544, immediately following the capture and burning of Edinburgh

Burning of Edinburgh (1544)

The Burning of Edinburgh in 1544 by an English sea-borne army was the first major action of the war of the Rough Wooing. A Scottish army observed the landing on 3 May 1544 but did not engage with the English force. The Provost of Edinburgh was compelled to allow the English to sack Leith and...

.

In 1546, as the border wars in Scotland dragged on, Luttrell accompanied Hertford to France where the earl had been appointed commander of the English forces at the captured port of Boulogne

Boulogne-sur-Mer

-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....

. Luttrell commanded a force of 100 men during five months of "fast moving raids, vicious skirmishes, and ambushes" between Hertford's army and the French.

After the death of Henry VIII on 28 January 1547, Hertford, elevated to Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector to his nephew Edward VI, pursued Henry's goal of forcibly allying Scotland to England by marrying Edward to the young Mary, Queen of Scots, a conflict now known as the Rough Wooing

The Rough Wooing

The War of the Rough Wooing was fought between Scotland and England. War was declared by Henry VIII of England, in an attempt to force the Scots to agree to a marriage between his son Edward and Mary, Queen of Scots. Scotland benefited from French military aid. Edward VI continued the war until...

. In September 1547, Luttrell accompanied Somerset's army into Scotland, and led the vanguard of 300 men at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh

Battle of Pinkie Cleugh

The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, on the banks of the River Esk near Musselburgh, Scotland on 10 September 1547, was part of the War of the Rough Wooing. It was the last pitched battle between Scottish and English armies, and is seen as the first modern battle in the British Isles...

, where the Scots were resoundingly defeated. In the aftermath of Pinkie, Luttrell was appointed captain of the English base on the island of Inchcolm

Inchcolm

Inchcolm is an island in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. Repeatedly attacked by English raiders during the Wars of Scottish Independence, it was fortified during both World Wars to defend nearby Edinburgh...

 in the Firth of Forth

Firth of Forth

The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...

, from whence he harassed Scottish shipping with little success. His uncle Thomas Wyndham

Thomas Wyndham (navigator)

Thomas Wyndham was an English naval officer and navigator.The son of Sir Thomas Wyndham of Felbrigg and Elizabeth Wentworth, he was educated at Louvain University and possibly in Italy....

 visited in December with two warships. Eventually the base was abandoned, and Luttrell was sent north to take command of Dundee and Broughty Castle

Broughty Castle

Broughty Castle is a historic castle in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland. It was completed around 1495, although the site was earlier fortified in 1454 when George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus received permission to build on the site. His son Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus was coerced into...

 in March 1548. One of Luttrell's brothers was killed in Dundee in November 1548.

He was trusted as a diplomatist no less than as a soldier, and, in March 1549, he was appointed one of the two English commissioners to treat with the Earls of Argyll, Athol and Errol and others, with a view to the expulsion of the French (who were allied with the Scots against the English) from Scotland, and a marriage between Edward and Mary. The negotiation, however, came to nothing. Some of Luttrell's correspondence at this time was captured by the French, and still survives, but perhaps the most remarkable survival is his 'letter of defiance' written to James Doig of Dunrobin besieging him at Broughty Castle

Broughty Castle

Broughty Castle is a historic castle in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland. It was completed around 1495, although the site was earlier fortified in 1454 when George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus received permission to build on the site. His son Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus was coerced into...

 in November 1548. The tide was already turning in Scotland's favour, and on 12 February 1550 Broughty was captured by French forces.

Luttrell was held for ransom as a prisoner of James Doig of Dunrobin. On the day peace was declared in England, 29 March 1550, Thomas Wyndham was sent to Scotland with two post horses and five Scottish hostages to exchange for Luttrell. In addition, Sir George Douglas

George Douglas of Pittendreich

George Douglas of Pittendreich was a member of the powerful Douglas family who struggled for control of the young James V of Scotland in 1528. His second son became James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton and Regent of Scotland. Initially, George Douglas promoted the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and...

 and the Master of Semple organised payment of £1000 on 16 May 1550. He was released in an exchange of prisoners, but was immediately arrested for a debt to a Dundee merchant. Regent Arran paid this £19-11s in September 1550. Back in England, he was rewarded with a gift of land in July 1550 by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick

John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland

John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, KG was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane Grey on the English throne after the King's death...

, who had seized control of the Council from Somerset the prior year.

Sir John Luttrell died in an epidemic

Epidemic

In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

 of the sweating sickness

Sweating sickness

Sweating sickness, also known as "English sweating sickness" or "English sweate" , was a mysterious and highly virulent disease that struck England, and later continental Europe, in a series of epidemics beginning in 1485. The last outbreak occurred in 1551, after which the disease apparently...

 on 10 July 1551, while preparing for an expedition to Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 with his uncle, Thomas Wyndham.
His three daughters were co-heiresses to one third part of his estates, the other two-thirds devolving, by two entail

Entail

Entail may refer to:* Fee tail, a term of art in common law describing a limited form of succession....

s and Sir John's will, upon his next brother, Thomas Luttrell.

Portrait

An allegorical

Allegory

Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...

 portrait of John Luttrell

John Luttrell (picture)

Sir John Luttrell is an allegorical oil painting of a Tudor soldier.-Details:Sir John Luttrell was an English soldier, diplomat, and courtier under Henry VIII and Edward VI. The Flemish artist Hans Eworth produced a portrait of him in 1550, noted for its use of allegorical images...

 with the goddesses Pax

Pax (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Pax [paqs] was recognized as a goddess during the rule of Augustus. On the Campus Martius, she had a temple called the Ara Pacis, and another temple on the Forum Pacis. She was depicted in art with olive branches, a cornucopia and a scepter...

, Venus

Venus (mythology)

Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...

, Minerva

Minerva

Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...

, and the Three Graces

Charites

In Greek mythology, a Charis is one of several Charites , goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. They ordinarily numbered three, from youngest to oldest: Aglaea , Euphrosyne , and Thalia . In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces"...

 by Hans Eworth

Hans Eworth

Hans Eworth was a Flemish painter active in England in the mid-16th century. Along with other exiled Flemings, he made a career in Tudor London, painting allegorical images as well as portraits of the gentry and nobility. About 40 paintings are now attributed to Eworth, among them portraits of...

 is thought to commemorate Luttrell's service with the English forces in Boulogne as well as the subsequent Treaty of Boulogne (24 March 1550) which formally ended England's long war with Scotland and France. (John's brother Captain Hugh Luttrell, fought at Boulogne, but deserted and was thought to have tried to betray the town to the French) The painting's complex allusions to Luttrell's military service and to the role of sea power in the war with Scotland and France were expounded by Dame Frances Yates

Frances Yates

Dame Frances Amelia Yates DBE was a British historian. She taught at the Warburg Institute of the University of London for many years.She wrote extensively on the occult or Neoplatonic philosophies of the Renaissance...

 in 1967. The inscription on the rock in the foreground reads;

More than the Rock Amydys the Raging Seas,
The Constant Hert no Danger Dreddys nor Fearys
S. I. L. (Sir John Luttrell), 1550 HE (Hans Eworth)"

His right bracelet reads, "Nec Fregit Lucrum 1550", and the left "Nec Fingit Discrimen." The first appears to mean; "Not in Cold Profit", the second, "Not to Discriminate," apparently deriving from the Meditations

Meditations

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CE, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy....

of Marcus Aurelius.

The original — signed with Eworth's "HE" monogram — was donated to the Courtauld Institute of Art by Lord Lee of Farnham in 1932. The painting was in "badly damaged" condition when given to the Institute, but has subsequently been conserved and restored. A well-preserved copy made by George Luttrell in 1591 and which now hangs at Dunster Castle was the source of much of Dame Frances Yates' research.