George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
PC FRS | |
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Personal details | |
Born | 30 January 1628 |
Died | 16 April 1687 | (aged 59)
Spouse | Mary Fairfax |
Parents | |
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 19th Baron de Ros,
A Royalist during the English Civil War, in 1651 he joined Charles II's court-in-exile in France. He returned to England in 1657 after a disagreement with the king, but subsequently supported the Stuart Restoration in 1660. Buckingham was imprisoned by Charles on several occasions before rising to be one of his most influential advisors, becoming a key member of the Cabal ministry in 1668. In 1674 he was dismissed and driven into political opposition.
He was restored to the king's favour in 1684, but took no major part in public life after the accession of James II a year later. Buckingham had a lifelong interest in science and poetry, and was the author of several satires and plays.
Life
Early life
George was the son of
Involvement in the English Civil War
In the Civil War he fought for the King, and took part in Prince Rupert of the Rhine's attack on Lichfield Close in April 1643.[1]
Under the care of the Earl of Northumberland, George and his brother travelled abroad and lived in Florence and Rome. When the Second English Civil War broke out they joined Royalists under the command of Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland in Surrey, in July 1648.[1]
Holland scraped together a small force of 600 men and appointed Buckingham as his General of the Horse.
Exile with Charles II
Because of his participation in the rebellion, his lands, which had been restored to him in 1647 on account of his youth, were confiscated and given to his future father-in-law, Thomas,
In opposition to Hyde, Buckingham supported the alliance with the Scottish
His subsequent negotiations with Oliver Cromwell's government, and his readiness to sacrifice the interests of the church, separated him from the rest of Charles's advisers and diminished his influence. His estrangement from the royal family was completed by his audacious courtship of the king's widowed sister Mary, Princess of Orange, and by a money dispute with Charles.[8]
Return and imprisonment
In 1657, he returned to England, and on 15 September married
After the Restoration
The returning King Charles at first received Buckingham (who met him at his landing at
He was, however, debarred from high office by the influence of
-
Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh
(1630–1673). -
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington
(1618–1685). -
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1628–1687).
-
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Baron Ashley of Wimborne St Giles(1621–1683).
-
John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale (1616–1682).
He was released by 17 July, was restored to favour and to his appointments on 15 September, and took an active part in the prosecution of Clarendon. When Clarendon fell, he became the chief minister, even though he held no high office except that of Master of the Horse, bought from the Duke of Albemarle in 1668.
Villiers was a signatory to The Several Declarations of The Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa, a document published in 1667 which led to the creation of the Royal Africa Company.[11][12]
In 1671 he was elected chancellor of Cambridge, and in 1672 high steward of the
Buckingham was thought to be behind the idea of obtaining the divorce of the childless queen,
In June 1672, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, he accompanied Arlington to Nieuwerbrug to impose terms on the Prince of Orange, and when these were refused with Arlington arranged a new treaty, the Accord of Heeswijk with Louis. After all this activity he suffered a keen disappointment in being passed over for the command of the newly formed Blackheath Army in favour of the Duke of Schomberg. Buckingham was given command of a regiment, but resented serving under Schomberg. He now knew of the secret treaty of Dover, and towards the end of 1673, his jealousy of Arlington became open hostility. He threatened to impeach him, and endeavoured with the help of Louis to stir up a faction against him in parliament.[8]
Downfall
This, however, was unsuccessful, and in January 1674 both houses of Parliament attacked Buckingham. In the
Buckingham retired, reformed his ways, attended church with his wife, began to pay his debts, became a "patriot", and was claimed by the country or opposition party as one of their leaders. In the spring of 1675 he was conspicuous for his opposition to the
He took an active part in prosecuting those implicated in the "
Retirement
He took no part in public life after James II's accession, but returned to his manor of Helmsley in Yorkshire, probably because of poor health and exhausted finances. In 1685 he published a pamphlet, entitled A short Discourse on the Reasonableness of Man's having a Religion in which after discussing the main subject he returned to his favourite topic, religious toleration. The tract provoked some rejoinders and was defended, amongst others, by William Penn, and by the author himself in The Duke of Buckingham's Letter to the unknown author of a short answer to the Duke of Buckingham's Paper (1685). In hopes of converting him to Roman Catholicism, James sent him a priest, but Buckingham ridiculed his arguments. He died on 16 April 1687, from a chill caught while hunting, in the house of a tenant in Kirkbymoorside in Yorkshire (it is known as Buckingham House and it is located in the town centre), expressing great repentance and feeling himself "despised by my country and I fear forsaken by my God".[14]
The miserable picture of his end drawn by
Character
Buckingham was one of the archetypal Restoration
But even the duke's critics agree that he was good-humoured, good-natured, generous, an unsurpassed mimic, and the leader of fashion. His good looks and amusing wit made him irresistible to his contemporaries, in spite of his moral faults and even crimes. A contemporary observer at the Court of Charles II found him: "Courteous, affable, generous, magnanimous...he is adored by the people....On the other hand he is an atheist, blasphemer, violent, cruel and infamous for his licentiousness, in which he is so wrapped up that there is no sex, nor age, nor condition of persons who are spared from it".
The Duke was the patron of Abraham Cowley, Thomas Sprat, Matthew Clifford and William Wycherley. He dabbled in chemistry and set up the Vauxhall glassworks at Lambeth, (see below). John Dryden described him under the character of Zimri in celebrated lines in the poem Absalom and Achitophel (to which Buckingham replied in Poetical Reflections on a late Poem ... by a Person of Honour, 1682):[14]
A man so various that he seemed to be/Not one, but all mankind's epitome;/Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong,/Was everything by starts and nothing long;/But, in the course of one revolving moon/Was chymist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon../..Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late,/He had his jest, but they had his estate.[14]
"He saw and approved the best", says Brian Fairfax, "but did too often deteriora sequi (Latin > "follow the worst")". Buckingham himself wrote "Methinks, I see the wanton houres flee, And as they passe, turne back and laugh at me"; his last recorded words, "O! what a prodigal have I been of that most valuable of all possessions—Time!"[14]
Works
Buckingham wrote
Like
Scientific interests
The Duke had a lifelong interest in science, acquired during the civil war, while he was exiled in France. There, he carried out a variety of laboratory experiments assisted by Prince Charles (the future Charles II).[19] He was especially interested in alchemy, and hoped to find a method of producing the philosopher's stone[20][21] This obsession with alchemy continued throughout his lifetime so that his frequent absences from court, mistakenly attributed to visits to a lover were, very often, periods when the Duke was engrossed in his experiments.[22]
During his lifetime, Buckingham set up a number of laboratories, where he would carry out his experiments. The first was a purpose-built facility in the grounds of Fairfax Hall, which he had acquired through his marriage to Mary Fairfax, the daughter of Lord Fairfax.[23][24][25] He also had a laboratory installed in Wallingord House, in Westminster,[26] a property which was restored to him after the restoration of the monarchy. Later in life, when he was out of favour at court, he retired back to Fairfax Hall to pursue his favourite pastimes, hunting and working in his laboratory.[22][13] Later still, when he was sent to the Tower, accused of treason, he was permitted to set up his own private laboratory, so he could continue with his experiments.[27][28]
In addition to his personal interests, Buckingham was also involved with the wider scientific activities of the time. He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Society on 15 May 1661.[29] The society listed his specialist expertise as "Chemical".[30] The duke maintained a regular but low-level interest in the society. For example, he was requested by the society, to instruct his chemist to distil charcoal for their weekly experiments[31] and to supply a sample of unicorn horn for investigation by the members.[31] Later, on 4 December 1666, the Earl of Northampton and the Bishop of Exeter were tasked with asking the Duke to accommodate the society with some rooms in York House, Strand.[32]
The Duke had other scientific activities including his frequent visits to the king's own laboratory, which was situated in Whitehall, where he would observe the experiments and dissections in the company of the king.[33] Also, Buckingham acquired the Vauxhall Glassworks and enlarged the factory there.[28][34] Evelyn praised the quality of its products, in his diary on 19 September 1676.[35] However, unlike king Charles, he showed no interest in botany. John Evelyn, visiting Cliveden House (which Brian Fairfax[22][36][37] considered to be one of Buckingham's expensive Substructiones Insanae), on 23 July 1679, was disappointed to find a garden containing mainly ferns.[38]
Unfortunately, the many hours the Duke spent in his laboratories damaged his health, so that later in life he showed the symptoms of mercury poisoning.[39]: 477 [40]
Legacy
In the 2003
In the 2004 motion picture Stage Beauty, Ben Chaplin plays him.[citation needed]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Yorke 1911, p. 724.
- ^ a b Linnane 2006, p. 68.
- ^ ACAD & VLRS641G.
- ^ Hobbes & Malcolm 1994, p. 778.
- ^ Ferguson 1871, p. 30.
- ^ a b Linnane 2006, p. 69 ff..
- ^ Yorke 1911, pp. 724–725.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Yorke 1911, p. 725.
- ^ a b Eales 2004.
- ^ Yardley 2009.
- OCLC 42746420.
- )
- ^ a b Yorke 1911, pp. 725–726.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Yorke 1911, p. 726.
- ^ Oxford Archaeology 2002, pp. 1–2 (PDF 4–5).
- ^ Linnane 2006, p. 19–20.
- ^ a b Bryant 2017, p. 212.
- ^ Middleton 1980, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Falkus, Christopher (1972). Charles II. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 30.
- ^ Burghclere 1903, p. 27.
- ^ Airy 1847, p. 182.
- ^ a b c Fairfax 1758, p. 37.
- ^ Fairfax 1758, p. 32.
- ^ Burghclere 1903, p. 147.
- ^ Drake, F. (1736). History and Antiquities of the City of York. London: William Boyer. p. 269.
- ^ Fairfax 1758, p. 33.
- ^ Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Seventh Report, Part 1, for March 1667, Report and Appendix. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. pp. 468, 469 (for 1879).
- ^ a b Hanrahan 2006, p. 175.
- ^ Birch 1756a, p. 23.
- ^ Birch 1756a, p. 406.
- ^ a b Birch 1756a, p. 26.
- ^ Birch 1756b, p. 132.
- ^ Blomberg, W.N. (1738). An Account of the Life and Writings of Edmund Dickinson. London: Montagu. p. 86.
- ^ Spratt, Thomas (1667). The History of the Royal Society of London. London. p. 251.
- ^ Evelyn 1952, p. 113.
- ^ Firth, Charles H. (1899). Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 58 — Villiers, George (1628–1687). Smith, Elder & Co. p. 25.
- ^ Hanrahan 2006, p. 131.
- ^ Evelyn 1952, p. 138.
- ^ Burnet, "History of my Own Time", Part 1, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1847
- ^ Burghclere 1903, p. 229.
References
- "Villiers, George (VLRS641G)", A Cambridge Alumni Database, University of Cambridge
- Eales, Jacqueline (2004), "Fairfax, Anne, Lady Fairfax (1617/18–1665)", doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/66848 (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Airy, Osmund (1847), Burnet, History of My Own Time, Part 1, London: Clarendon Press
- Birch, Thomas (1756a), The History of the Royal Society of London, Vol.1, London: Millar
- Birch, Thomas (1756b), The History of the Royal Society of London, Vol.2, London: Millar
- Bryant, Christopher (2017), Entitled: A Critical History of the British Aristocracy, Great Britain: Transworld Publishers, ISBN 9780857523167
- Burghclere, Lady W. (1903), George Villiers, Second Duke of Buckingham, London: John Murray
- Evelyn, John (1952), Diary of John Evelyn, Vol. 2, London: Dent & Sons Ltd.
- Fairfax, Brian (1758). A Catalogue of the curious collection of pictures of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham : in which is included the valuable collection of Sir Peter Paul Rubens : with the life of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, the celebrated poet, written by Brian Fairfax... London: W. Bathoe.
- Ferguson, Richard Saul (1871), Cumberland and Westmorland M.P.'s from the Restoration to the Reform Bill of 1867, 1660–1867, London: London Bell 2nd Daldy, p. 30
- Hanrahan, D.C. (2006), Charles II and the Duke of Buckingham, U.K.: Sutton Publishing
- Hobbes, Thomas; Malcolm, Noel (1994), The Correspondence: 1660–1679, The Clarendon Edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes, p. 778, ISBN 0-19-824065-1(Volume 2 of the Corrsponcence; volume 6 of the Works).
- Linnane, Fergus (2006), The Lives of the English Rakes, London
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Lorenzo Magalotti at the Court of Charles II, translated by Middleton, W.E. Knowles, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1980, pp. 47–48
- Oxford Archaeology (8 November 2002), The south Terrace at Clivden, Archaeological Watching Brief (PDF), OA Library
- Yardley, Bruce (May 2009), "Villiers, George, second duke of Buckingham (1628–1687)", doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28294 (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
Attribution:
- public domain: Yorke, Philip Chesney (1911), "Buckingham, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of", in Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 724–726 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Media related to George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by or about George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham at Wikisource
- Finding aid to George Villiers Buckingham papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
- Works by George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)