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1ST DUKE 0E1 GEORGE VILLIERS BUCKINGHAM

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 724 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUKE 0E1 See also:GEORGE See also:VILLIERS See also:BUCKINGHAM  (1592 1628), See also:English statesman, See also:born in See also:August 1592,2 was a younger son of See also:Sir See also:George See also:Villiers of Brooksby . His See also:mother, See also:Mary, daughter of See also:Anthony See also:Beaumont of Glenfield, See also:Leicestershire, who was See also:left a widow See also:early, educated him for a courtier's See also:life, sending him to See also:France with Sir See also:John See also:Eliot; and the lad, being " by nature contemplative," took kindly to the training . He could See also:dance well, fence well, and talk a little See also:French, when in August 1614 he was brought before the See also:king's See also:notice, in the See also:hope that he would take a See also:fancy to him . The moment was favourable . Since See also:Salisbury's See also:death See also:James had taken the business of See also:government upon himself . But he 1 i.e. in the Villiers See also:line; see above . 2 The Life, by Sir See also:Henry See also:Wotton, gives August 28th as the date of his See also:birth, but, when See also:relating his death on August 23rd, adds, " thus died the See also:great peer in the 36th See also:year of his See also:age compleat and three days over." August 28th was therefore probably a misprint for August loth.wanted some one who would chat with him, and amuse him, and would also fill the See also:office of private secretary, and See also:save him from the trouble of saying no to importunate suitors . It would be an additional See also:satisfaction if he could See also:train the youth whom he might select in those arts of statesmanship of which he believed himself to be a perfect See also:master . His first choice had not proved a happy one . See also:Robert Carr, who had lately become See also:earl of See also:Somerset, had had his See also:head turned by his See also:elevation . He had grown peevish toward his master, and had placed himself at the head of the party which was working for a See also:close See also:alliance with See also:Spain . The See also:appearance of Villiers, beaming with See also:animal See also:spirits and See also:good See also:humour, was therefore welcomed by all who had an See also:interest in opposing the designs of Spain, and he was appointed See also:cup-See also:bearer the same year .

For some little See also:

time still Somerset's pre-See also:eminence was maintained . But on the 23rd of See also:April 1615, Villiers, in spite of Somerset, was promoted to be See also:gentleman of the bedchamber, and was knighted on the 24th; the See also:charge of murdering See also:Overbury, brought against Somerset in See also:September, completed his downfall, and Villiers at once stepped into the See also:place which he had vacated . On the 3rd of See also:January 1616 he became master of the See also:horse, on the 24th of April he received the See also:order of the Garter, and on the 27th Of August 1616 was created See also:Viscount Villiers and See also:Baron Waddon, receiving a See also:grant of See also:land valued at £8o,000, while on the 5th of January 1617 he was made earl, and on the 1st of January 1618 See also:marquess of Bucking-See also:ham . With the exception of the earl of See also:Pembroke he was the richest nobleman in See also:England . Those who expected him to give his support to the See also:anti-See also:Spanish party were at first doomed to disappointment . As yet he was no politician, and he contented himself with carrying out his, master's orders, whatever they were . In his See also:personal relations he was kindly and jovial towards all who did not thwart his wishes . But James had taught him to consider that the patronage of England was in his hands, and he took good care that no See also:man should receive promotion of any See also:kind who did not in one way or another pay See also:court to him . As far as can be ascertained, he cared less for See also:money than for the gratification of his vanity . But he had not merely himself to consider . His numerous kinsfolk were to be enriched by See also:marriage, if in no other way, and See also:Bacon, the great philosopher and statesman, was all but thrust from office because he had opposed a marriage suggested for one of See also:Buckingham's See also:brothers, while Cranfield, the first financier of the See also:day, was kept from the See also:treasury till he would forsake the woman whom he loved, to marry a penniless See also:cousin of the favourite . On the 19th of January 1619 James made him See also:lord high See also:admiral of England, hoping that the ardent, energetic youth would impart something of his own See also:fire to those who were entrusted with the oversight of that See also:fleet which had been almost ruined by the peculation and carelessness of the officials .

Something of this, no doubt, was realized under Buckingham's See also:

eye . But he himself never pretended to the virtues of an See also:administrator, and he was too ready to fill up appointments with men who flattered him, and too reluctant to dismiss them, if they served their See also:country See also:ill, to effect any permanent See also:change for the better . It was about this time that he first took an See also:independent See also:part in politics . All England was talking of the revolution in Bohemia in the year before, and men's sympathy with the See also:continental Protestants was increased when it was known that James's son-in-See also:law had accepted the See also:crown of Bohemia, and that in the summer of 1620 a Spanish force was preparing to invade the See also:Palatinate . Buckingham at first had thrown himself into the popular See also:movement . Before the summer of 162o was at end, incensed by injuries inflicted on English sailors by the Dutch in the See also:East Indies, he had swung See also:round, and was in close agreement with See also:Gondomar, the Spanish See also:ambassador . He had now married See also:Lady Katherine See also:Manners, the daughter of the earl of See also:Rutland, who was at See also:heart a See also:Roman See also:Catholic, though she outwardly conformed to the English See also:Church, and this alliance may have had something to do with the change . Buckingham's mistakes were owing mainly to his levity . If he passed briskly from one See also:camp to the other, an impartial observer might usually detect some personal See also:motive at the bottom . But it is hardly probable that he was himself conscious of anything of the sort . When he was in reality acting under the See also:influence of vanity or See also:passion it was easy for him to persuade himself that he was doing his See also:duty to his country . The See also:parliament which met in 1621, angry at discovering that no help was to be sent to the Palatinate, See also:broke out into a loud outcry against the See also:system of monopolies, from which Buckingham's brothers and dependants had See also:drawn a profit, which was believed to be greater than it really was .

At first he pleaded for a See also:

dissolution . But he was persuaded by See also:Bishop See also:Williams that it would be a wiser course to put himself at the head of the movement, and at a See also:conference of the See also:Commons with the Lords acknowledged that his two brothers had been implicated, but declared that his See also:father had begotten a third who would aid in punishing them . In the See also:impeachment of Bacon which soon followed, Buckingham, who owed much to his See also:wise counsels, gave him that assistance which was possible without imperilling his own position and influence . He at first demanded the immediate dissolution of parliament, but afterwards, when the cry See also:rose louder against the See also:chancellor, joined in the attack, making however some See also:attempt to mitigate the severity of the charges against him during the See also:hearing of his See also:case before the See also:House of Lords . Notwithstanding, he took See also:advantage of Bacon's need of assistance to wring from him the See also:possession of See also:York House . In the See also:winter of 1621, and the succeeding year, Buckingham was entirely in Gondomar's hands; and it was only with some difficulty that in May 1622 See also:Laud argued him out of a See also:resolution to declare himself a Roman Catholic . In See also:December 1621 he actively supported the dissolution of parliament, and there can be little doubt that when the Spanish ambassador left England the following May, he had come to an understanding with Buckingham that the See also:prince of See also:Wales should visit See also:Madrid the next year, on which occasion the Spanish court hoped to effect his See also:conversion to the Roman Catholic Church before giving him the See also:hand of the infanta Maria . They set out on their adventurous expedition on the 17th of See also:February 1623, arriving at Madrid, after passing through See also:Paris on the 7th of See also:March . Each party had been the dupe of the other . See also:Charles and Buckingham were sanguine in hoping for the restitution of the Palatinate to James's son-in-law, as a marriage See also:gift to Charles; while the Spaniards counted on the conversion of Charles to Roman Catholicism and other extreme concessions (see CHARLES I.) . The See also:political See also:differences were soon accentuated by personal disputes between Buckingham and See also:Olivares and the grandees, and when the two See also:young men sailed together from See also:Santander in September, it was with the final resolution to break entirely with Spain . James had gratified his favourite in his See also:absence by raising him to a dukedom .

But the splendour which now gathered round Buckingham was owing to another source than James's favour . He had put himself at the head of the popular movement against Spain, and when James, acknowledging sorely against his will that the Palatinate could only be recovered by force, summoned the parliament which met in February 1624, Buckingham, with the help of the See also:

heir apparent, took up an independent political position . James was See also:half driven, half persuaded to declare all negotiations with Spain at an end . For the moment Buckingham was the most popular man in England . It was easier to overthrow one policy than to construct another . The Commons would have been content with sending some assistance to the Dutch, and with entering upon a privateering See also:war with Spain . James, whose See also:object was to regain the Palatinate, believed this could only be accomplished by a continental alliance, in which France took part . As soon as parliament was prorogued, negotiations were opened for a marriage between Charles and the See also:sister of See also:Louis XIII., Henrietta Maria . But a difficulty arose . James and Charles had engaged to the Commons that there should be no concessions to the English Roman Catholics, and Louis would not hear of the marriage unless very large concessions were made . Buckingham, impatient to begin the war as soon as possible, persuaded Charles, and the two together persuaded James to throw over the promises to the Commons,and to accept the French terms . It was no longer possible to summon parliament to See also:vote supplies for the war till the marriage had been completed, when remonstrances to its conditions would be useless .

Buckingham, for Buckingham was now virtually the ruler of England, had thus to commence war without money . He prepared to throw 12,000 Englishmen, under a See also:

German adventurer, See also:Count See also:Mansfeld, through France into the Palatinate . The French insisted that he should marcah through See also:Holland . It mattered little which way he took . Without provisions, and without money to buy them, the wretched troops sickened and died in the winter frosts . Buckingham's first military enterprise ended in disastrous failure . Buckingham had many other schemes in his teeming See also:brain . He had offered to send aid to See also:Christian IV., king of See also:Denmark, who was proposing to make war in See also:Germany, and had also a See also:plan for sending an English fleet to attack See also:Genoa, the ally of Spain, and a plan for sending an English fleet to attack Spain itself . Before these schemes could be carried into operation James died on the 27th of March 1625 . The new king and Buckingham were at one in their aims and See also:objects . Both were anxious to distinguish themselves by the chastisement of Spain, and the recovery of the Palatinate . Both were young and inexperienced .

Phoenix-squares

But Charles, obstinate when his mind was made up, was sluggish in See also:

action and without fertility in ideas, and he had See also:long submitted his mind to the versatile and brilliant favourite, who was never at a loss what to do next, and who unrolled before his eyes visions of endless possibilities in the future . Buckingham was sent over to Paris to urge upon the French court the importance of converting its alliance into active co-operation . There was a difficulty in the way . The See also:Huguenots of La Rochelle were in See also:rebellion, and James had promised the aid of English See also:ships to suppress that rebellion . Buckingham, who seems at first to have consented to the See also:scheme, was anxious to mediate See also:peace between the king of France and his subjects, and to save Charles from compromising himself with his parliament by the appearance of English ships in an attack upon Protestants . When he returned his See also:main demands were refused, but hopes were given him that peace would be made with the Huguenots . On his way through France he had the insolence to make love to the See also:queen of France . Soon after his return parliament was opened . It would have been hard for Charles to pass through the session with See also:credit . Under Buckingham's guidance he had entered into engagements involving an enormous See also:expenditure, and these engagements involved a war on the See also:continent, which had never been popular in the House of Commons . The Commons, too, suspected the marriage treaty contained engagements of which they disapproved . They asked for the full See also:execution of the See also:laws against the Roman Catholics, and voted but little money in return .

Before they reassembled at See also:

Oxford on the 1st of August, the English ships had found their way into the hands of the French, to be used against La Rochelle . The Commons met in an ill-humour . They had no confidence in Buckingham, and they asked that persons' whom they could See also:trust should be admitted to the king's See also:council before they would vote a See also:penny . Charles stood by his See also:minister, and on the 12th of August he dissolved his first parliament . Buckingham and his master set themselves to See also:work to conquer public See also:opinion . On the one hand, they threw over their engagements to France on behalf of the English Roman Catholics . On the other hand they sent out a large fleet to attack See also:Cadiz, and to seize the Spanish treasure-ships . Buckingham went to the See also:Hague to raise an immediate See also:supply by pawning the crown jewels, to place England at the head of a great See also:Protestant alliance, and to enter into fresh obligations to furnish money to the king of Denmark . It all ended in failure . The fleet returned from Cadiz, having effected nothing . The crown jewels produced but a small sum, and the money for the king of Denmark could only be raised by an See also:appeal to parliament . In the meanwhile the king of France was deeply offended by the treatment of the Roman Catholics, and by the seizure of French vessels on the ground that they were engaged in carrying goods for Spain .

When Charles's second parliament met on the 6th of February 1626, it was not long before, under Eliot's guidance, it asked for Buckingham's See also:

punishment . He was impeached before the House of Lords on a long See also:string of charges . Many of these charges were exaggerated, and some were untrue . His real See also:crime was his See also:complete failure as the See also:leader of the See also:administration . But as long as Charles refused to listen to the complaints of his minister's incompetency, the only way in which the Commons could reach him was by bringing criminal charges against him . Charles dissolved his second parliament as he had dissolved his first . Subsequently the See also:Star Chamber declared the See also:duke See also:innocent of the charges, and on the 1st of See also:June Buckingham was elected chancellor of See also:Cambridge University . To find money was the great difficulty . Recourse was had to a forced See also:loan, and men were thrown into See also:prison for refusing to pay it . Disasters had occurred to Charles's See also:allies in Germany . The fleet sent out under Lord See also:Willoughby (earl of See also:Lindsey) against the Spaniards returned See also:home shattered by a See also:storm, and a French war was impending in addition to the Spanish one . The French were roused to See also:reprisals by Charles's persistence in seizing French vessels .

Unwilling to leave La Rochelle open to the entrance of an English fleet, See also:

Richelieu laid See also:siege to that stronghold of the French Huguenots . On the 27th of June 1627 Buckingham sailed from See also:Portsmouth at the head of a numerous fleet, and a considerable land force, to relieve the besieged See also:city . His first enterprise was the siege of the fort of St See also:Martin's, on the Isle of Re . The ground was hard, and the siege operations were converted into a See also:blockade . On the 27th of September the defenders of the fort announced their readiness to surrender the next See also:morning . In the See also:night a fresh See also:gale brought over a flotilla of French See also:provision boats, which dashed through the English blockading See also:squadron . The fort was provisioned for two months more . Buckingham resolved to struggle on, and sent for reinforcements from England . Charles would gladly have answered to his See also:call . But England had long since ceased to care for the war . There was no money in the See also:exchequer, no See also:enthusiasm in the nation to supply the want . Before the reinforcements could arrive the French had thrown a See also:superior force upon the See also:island, and Buckingham was driven to See also:retreat on the 29th of See also:October with heavy loss, only 2989 troops out of nearly 7000 returning to England .

His spirits were as buoyant as ever . Ill See also:

luck, or the misconduct of others, was the cause of his failure . He had new plans for carrying on the war . But the parliament which met on the 17th of March 1628 was resolved to exact from the king an See also:obligation to refrain from encroaching for the future on the liberties of his subjects . In the See also:parliamentary See also:battle, which ended in the concession of the See also:Petition of Right, Buckingham took an active See also:share as a member of the House of Lords . He resisted as long as it was possible to resist the demand of the Commons, that the king should abandon his claim to imprison without showing cause . When the first unsatisfactory See also:answer to the petition was made by the king on the 2nd of June, the Commons suspected, probably with truth, that it had been dictated by Buckingham . They prepared a remonstrance on the See also:state of the nation, and See also:Coke at last named the duke as the cause of all the misfortunes that had occurred . " The duke of Bucks is the cause of all our miseries . . . that man is the grievance of grievances." Though on the 7th of June the king granted a satisfactory answer to the petition, the Commons proceeded with their remonstrance, and on the 11th demanded that he might no longer continue in office . Once more Charles refused to surrender Buckingham, and a few days later he prorogued parliament in anger . The popular feeling was greatly excited .

Lampoons circulated freely from hand to hand, and Dr Lambe. a See also:

quack See also:doctor, who dabbled in See also:astrology, and was believed to exercise influence over Bucking-ham, was murdered in the streets of See also:London . See also:Rude doggerellines announced that the duke should share the doctor's See also:fate . With the clouds gathering round him, Buckingham went down to Portsmouth to take the command of one final expedition for the See also:relief of La Rochelle . For the first time even he was beginning to acknowledge that he had undertaken a task beyond his See also:powers . There was a force of inertia in the officials which resisted his efforts to See also:spur them on to an enterprise which they believed to be doomed to failure . He entered gladly into a scheme of pacification proposed by the Venetian ambassador . But before he could know whether there was to be peace or war, the See also:knife of an See also:assassin put an end to his career . John See also:Felton, who had served at Re, had been disappointed of promotion, and had not been paid that which was due to him for his services, read the See also:declaration of the Commons that Buckingham was a public enemy, and eagerly caught at the excuse for revenging his private wrongs under See also:cover of those of his country . Waiting, on the morning of the 23rd of August, beside the See also:door of the See also:room in which Buckingham was breakfasting, he stabbed him to the heart as he came out . Buckingham married Lady Katherine Manners, daughter of See also:Francis, 6th earl of Rutland, by whom he left three sons and one daughter, of whom George, the second son (1628-1687), succeeded to the dukedom .

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