Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
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Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
(1555 – 1601) was the son of Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
, and Richard Bertie
. Bertie was Lady Willoughby de Eresby's second husband, the first being Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Peregrine Bertie's half-brothers, Henry
and Charles Brandon
, died as teenagers. His sister Susan
married the Earl of Kent
and then the nephew of Bess of Hardwick
. Owing to religious politics, the parents had to move outside England
and the boy was born at Wesel
on the River Rhine.
accession to the throne in 1558, his parents returned to England and applied for a patent of naturalization for him. He formally became English on 2 August 1559. He married Mary de Vere
, daughter of the John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford
between Christmas 1577 and 12 March 1578. When his mother died in 1580, he succeeded to her barony and he took his seat in the House of Lords
on 16 January 1580.
to Antwerp. The French royal duke had arrived as a suitor of the un-married Elizabeth. In the same year he was sent to Denmark
to invest Frederick II
with the Order of the Garter
. Lord Willoughby de Eresby arrived at Elsinore
on 22 July and left on 27 September 1582. His ulterior purpose was to obtain an understanding whereby English merchant ships would not be molested while in Danish waters. In 1585, he returned to Denmark on behalf of Elizabeth in support of Henry III of Navarre and to obtain Danish help for England's efforts on behalf of the independent Netherlands
.
These journeys were made at Bertie's expense as his correspondence with Francis Walsingham
made clear, he was becoming desperate to be paid or to escape from the diplomatic duties. After two and a half months of working on the Danish king, Bertie got him to offer to try to persuade the Spanish king to retire from the Low Countries. Frederick also agreed to send 2,000 horse
to back up the English force already in the Netherlands. On achieving this much, Peregrine set off for England by way of Hamburg
, Emden
and Amsterdam
. From March 1586 Bertie served in the Netherlands as governor of Bergen-op-Zoom under Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
, who was Governor-General of the United Provinces
. After Leicester's departure for England in December 1586, he was made general of the English forces. He suffered defeat at the Battle of Zutphen
. Subsequently, he fought for the Huguenot
s under Henry of Navarre.
Bertie's final appointment was Governor of Berwick upon Tweed on the Scottish border and Warden of the East March
in 1598, displacing Robert Carey
. At the request of Robert Cecil
he organised the kidnap of Edmund Ashfield
, an Englishman visiting James VI of Scotland. Peregrine died at Berwick.
that the parents of John Smith of Jamestown
rented a farm which was the site of John's birth.
, Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home.
Baron Willoughby de Eresby
Baron Willoughby de Eresby is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ in 1313 for Robert de Willoughby of Eresby Manor, near Spilsby, Lincolnshire. The fourteenth Baron was created Earl of Lindsey in 1626. His great-grandson, the fourth Earl and seventeenth Baron, was created...
(1555 – 1601) was the son of Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
Catherine Willoughby
Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk, suo jure 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby , was an English noblewoman living at the royal courts of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI and later, Queen Elizabeth I...
, and Richard Bertie
Richard Bertie (courtier)
Richard Bertie was an English landowner and religious evangelical. He was the second husband of Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, Duchess Dowager of Suffolk and a woman who Henry VIII was considering as his seventh wife shortly before his death; she also received a proposal...
. Bertie was Lady Willoughby de Eresby's second husband, the first being Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Peregrine Bertie's half-brothers, Henry
Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk
Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk , styled Lord Henry Brandon before 1545, was an English nobleman, the son of the 1st Duke of Suffolk, by his fourth wife, the suo jure 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby....
and Charles Brandon
Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk , known as Lord Charles Brandon until shortly before his death, was the son of the 1st Duke of Suffolk and the suo jure 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby....
, died as teenagers. His sister Susan
Susan Bertie, countess of Kent
Susan Bertie was the daughter of Catherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, née Willoughby, by her second husband, Richard Bertie. Susan was the noblewoman memorialized by Lanyer at the beginning of the Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum as the "daughter of the Duchess of Suffolk." At sixteen years of age, she...
married the Earl of Kent
Earl of Kent
The peerage title Earl of Kent has been created eight times in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.See also Kingdom of Kent, Duke of Kent.-Earls of Kent, first creation :*Godwin, Earl of Wessex...
and then the nephew of Bess of Hardwick
Bess of Hardwick
Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (c. 1521 – 13 February 1608, known as Bess of Hardwick, was the daughter of John Hardwick, of Derbyshire and Elizabeth Leeke, daughter of Thomas Leeke and Margaret Fox...
. Owing to religious politics, the parents had to move outside England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the boy was born at Wesel
Wesel
Wesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.-Division of the town:Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Feldmark,Fusternberg, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.-History:...
on the River Rhine.
Early life
Born on 12 October, 1555, he was baptized at the church of Saint Willibrord on 14 October. On Elizabeth I'sElizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
accession to the throne in 1558, his parents returned to England and applied for a patent of naturalization for him. He formally became English on 2 August 1559. He married Mary de Vere
Mary de Vere
Mary de Vere , married names Bertie and Hart was a noblewoman of the sixteenth century.In 1577 the hard-drinking, straight-talking Peregrine Bertie successfully courted Mary, sister of the Earl of Oxford, a lady known, in the words of Mark Anderson, “for her quick temper and harsh tongue.” Though...
, daughter of the John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford was born to John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford and Elizabeth Trussel, daughter of Edward Trussel...
between Christmas 1577 and 12 March 1578. When his mother died in 1580, he succeeded to her barony and he took his seat in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on 16 January 1580.
Diplomat and soldier
In 1582, he was commissioned to escort the Duke of Anjou from CanterburyCanterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
to Antwerp. The French royal duke had arrived as a suitor of the un-married Elizabeth. In the same year he was sent to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
to invest Frederick II
Frederick II of Denmark
Frederick II was King of Denmark and Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death.-King of Denmark:Frederick II was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Frederick II stands as the typical renaissance ruler of Denmark. Unlike his father, he...
with the Order of the Garter
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
. Lord Willoughby de Eresby arrived at Elsinore
Elsinore
Helsingør is a city and the municipal seat of Helsingør municipality on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. Helsingør has a population of 46,279 including the southern suburbs of Snekkersten and Espergærde...
on 22 July and left on 27 September 1582. His ulterior purpose was to obtain an understanding whereby English merchant ships would not be molested while in Danish waters. In 1585, he returned to Denmark on behalf of Elizabeth in support of Henry III of Navarre and to obtain Danish help for England's efforts on behalf of the independent Netherlands
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
.
These journeys were made at Bertie's expense as his correspondence with Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
made clear, he was becoming desperate to be paid or to escape from the diplomatic duties. After two and a half months of working on the Danish king, Bertie got him to offer to try to persuade the Spanish king to retire from the Low Countries. Frederick also agreed to send 2,000 horse
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
to back up the English force already in the Netherlands. On achieving this much, Peregrine set off for England by way of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Emden
Emden
Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
and Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. From March 1586 Bertie served in the Netherlands as governor of Bergen-op-Zoom under Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...
, who was Governor-General of the United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. After Leicester's departure for England in December 1586, he was made general of the English forces. He suffered defeat at the Battle of Zutphen
Battle of Zutphen
The Battle of Zutphen was a confrontation of the Eighty Years' War on 22 September 1586, near Zutphen , the Netherlands. It was fought between forces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, aided by the English, against the Spanish, who sought to regain the northern Netherlands.Important...
. Subsequently, he fought for the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
s under Henry of Navarre.
Bertie's final appointment was Governor of Berwick upon Tweed on the Scottish border and Warden of the East March
Scottish Marches
Scottish Marches was the term used for the Anglo-Scottish border during the late medieval and early modern eras—from the late 13th century, with the creation by Edward I of England of the first Lord Warden of the Marches to the early 17th century and the creation of the Middle Shires, promulgated...
in 1598, displacing Robert Carey
Robert Carey, 1st Earl of Monmouth
Robert Carey, 1st Earl of Monmouth was an English nobleman and courtier. He was the youngest son of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon and Anne Morgan, daughter of Sir Thomas Morgan and Anne Whitney.As a young man he accompanied several diplomatic missions abroad and took part in military expeditions...
. At the request of Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
he organised the kidnap of Edmund Ashfield
Edmund Ashfield (Catholic agent)
Edmund Ashfield was an English Catholic from Tattenhoe in Buckinghamshire. He was educated at St Mary Hall, Oxford. In 1599 he travelled to Edinburgh to meet James VI of Scotland. The resident English diplomat organised his kidnap and rendition apparently in the belief that Ashfield was an agent...
, an Englishman visiting James VI of Scotland. Peregrine died at Berwick.
Landowner
It was on Peregrine's estate at Willoughby, LincolnshireWilloughby, Lincolnshire
Willoughby is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. It lies within the civil parish of Willoughby with Sloothby, and south of the town of Alford...
that the parents of John Smith of Jamestown
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
rented a farm which was the site of John's birth.
Popular song
The military career of Baron Willoughby is celebrated in the popular balladBallad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home.