Simon Renard
Simon Renard de Bermont | |
---|---|
Anthonis Mor | |
Born | 1513 |
Died | 1573 |
Occupation(s) | Ambassador of Emperor Charles V, advisor of Philip II of Spain. |
Spouse | Jeanne Lullier |
Simon Renard, Sieur of Bermont and Lieutenant of Aumont or Amont, (1513- 8 August 1573) was a Burgundian diplomat who served as an advisor to Emperor Charles V and his son Philip II of Spain, who were also counts of Burgundy. Renard had the court appointment of Master of Requests in Ordinary of the Emperor's household. He was ambassador of Spain in France and England. As ambassador to England, he acquired an extraordinary degree of influence over Mary I of England, and until her marriage to Philip, which he promoted, he was thought by many to be controlling the English Government.
Life
Simon Renard is generally known as Renard (Fox in English), and was from the town of Vesoul. In May 1549, he was in Paris, reporting on the Anglo-French initiatives and negotiations that would end the war of the Rough Wooing, a French plan to take and fortify Alderney, and the progress of other wars.[2] He recorded the joy of Henry II of France in July 1549 when he received five English banners captured at Inchkeith.[3]
Military secrets
In France in 1549, Renard took information from several informants, three of whom he called Mars, Mercury, and the Captain. The Captain was perhaps Captain Marino who with his brother Ippolito, the Man from Lyons, and Colonel Melun of Cremona, an exile from Milan, who also provided military information to his colleague Jean de Saint Mauris. Marino's intelligence came from his nephew who served with Coligny.[4] Mercury and the Captain offered information on the weaknesses of French and Piedmontese fortifications. Mercury's brother was a soldier in Scotland under d'Esse. The Captain was knowledgeable of Venetian affairs.[5]
London
Renard joined
Mary threw a banquet in October 1553 when Renard's colleagues, Scheyfve, Jean de Montmorency, Sieur de Courriéres, and Jacques de Marnix, Sieur de Thoulouse, left England in October 1553, as Mary of Hungary had banqueted her envoy, the Lord Warden, Thomas Cheney.[6] They were entertained with the music of hautboys, cornets, flutes, harps, and dulcimers. Renard noted that Princess Elizabeth, Mary's half-sister, and Lady Lennox, Mary's preferred heir, were seated together in a window above.[7]
The Princess Elizabeth
In a newsletter to Charles V discussing
Renard remained in England negotiating the marriage of Queen Mary I with the future King Philip II of Spain. His diplomatic career was eventually compromised by his former secretary or master household in London. Etienne Quiclet, who sold his ciphers and papers to the French. In September 1557 Quiclet was put on trial in France and revealed secrets that embarrassed Renard.[10] Philip, who unlike his father had never liked or trusted Renard, dismissed him in the following year.[11]
Influence on English history
Renard's influence over Mary is agreed to have been very great. When he was made sole ambassador in London she wrote to Charles V that "his presence is and shall always be very acceptable to us".
On 9 September 1553, just before his three ambassadorial colleagues were recalled from England, Renard described Mary to
Mary, however, did not always take his advice: she showed far more clemency to the supporters of
After Mary's marriage, Renard's influence declined, due to Philip's suspicion of him, and he asked to be recalled, but the Emperor refused, believing that the experience he had gained of English affairs, and Mary's affection for him, made him invaluable as an envoy. When a coolness developed between the royal couple, Renard took it upon himself to advise Philip that while Mary might not be as "agreeable and gracious" as he wished, nonetheless she deserved to be treated with consideration.
When it became clear that Philip and Mary's marriage would be childless, Renard reversed his previous policy and urged Mary to reconcile with Elizabeth and recognise her as heir presumptive. Deeply though Renard distrusted Elizabeth, he was even less happy at the prospect of the throne passing to the next heir,[17] Mary, Queen of Scots, who was shortly to be married to Francis II of France, and was thus wholly identified with French interests.[18]
He was finally recalled from England at his own request in the autumn of 1555, although he continued for some time afterwards to advise the Emperor on English affairs.
Reputation
Renard has been praised by historians for his intelligence, patience, subtlety and diplomatic skill. However English historians, notably Mary's biographer
His coat-of-arms was red with a gold chevron, charged with three silver crescents.
References
- ^ See family's house, now City Hall of Vesoul Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Calendar of State Papers Spain, vol. 9 (London, 1912), 380, 387, 395.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 9 (London, 1912), 404.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Spanish, vol. 9 (London, 1912), 348, 421 & footnote.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Spanish, vol. 10 (1914), 26, 30, 77.
- ^ Calendar State Papers, Spain, vol. 11 (London: HMSO, 1916), 298.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Spanish, 1553, vol. 11 (London, 1916), 214, 229, 248–8, 306, 308.
- ^ Patrick Fraser Tytler, England under the reigns Edward VI and Mary, vol. 2 (London: Bentley, 1839), pp. 306–313: Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 12 (London, 1949).
- ^ The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, 8 (London, 1839), p. 609
- ^ Calendar State Papers Spanish, vol. 11 (London, 1916), 248–9..
- ^ CSP Spain, vol. 13 (London, 1954), 281.
- ^ CSP Spanish, vol. 11 (London, 1916), 251
- ^ Christopher Morris,The Tudors (Batsford, 1955).
- ^ Alison Weir, Children of England (Jonathan Cape, 1996): Calendar State Papers, Spain, vol. 11 (London: HMSO, 1916), 228.
- ^ CSP Spanish, vol. 11 (London, 1916), 298.
- ^ H. F. M. Prescott, Mary Tudor, the Spanish Tudor (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1952).
- ^ By the normal rules of inheritance at least: although the succession to the throne of Henry VIII was a notoriously complex issue, it was not disputed by either Mary I or Elizabeth I that the Queen of Scots, the only child of Henry's only nephew, had at the least a very strong claim to be regarded as the next heir.
- ^ Sir John Neale Elizabeth I (Pelican, 1988), p. 51.
- ^ Prescott Mary Tudor (1952)
- Renard de Bermont by Manfred Reinnarth: many references predominantly in German.
- Michel Baelde: Biography of Simon Renard
- History of disorders of the Netherlands by Jean Luc Joseph van der Vynckt, 1822 p. 119