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The Earl of Sunderland
Robert Spencer, Second Earl of Sunderland
Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire
In office
4 December 1687 – 20 June 1689
Lord President of the Council
In office
4 December 1685 – October 1688
MonarchJames II
Preceded byMarquess of Halifax
Succeeded byMarquess of Carmarthen
Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire
In office
12 December 1679 – 2 September 1681
Secretary of State for the Northern Department
In office
10 February 1679 – 26 April 1680
MonarchCharles II
Preceded bySir Joseph Williamson
Succeeded bySir Leoline Jenkins
Personal details
Born
Robert Spencer

(1641-09-05)5 September 1641
Paris, Kingdom of France
Died28 September 1702(1702-09-28) (aged 61)
Althorp, Northamptonshire
Resting placeBrington, Northamptonshire
Spouse
(m. 1665)​
Parent(s)Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland
Dorothy Sidney
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford
OccupationPolitician
Quartered arms of Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, KG, PC

Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, KG, PC (5 September 1641 – 28 September 1702) was an English nobleman and politician of the Spencer family. An able and gifted statesman, his caustic temper and belief in absolute monarchy nevertheless made him numerous enemies. He was forced to flee England in 1688, but later established himself with the new regime after the Glorious Revolution of that year. Subsequently, he took on a more disinterested role as an adviser to the Crown, seeking neither office nor favour. He evinced no party loyalty, but was devoted to his country's interests, as he saw them. By the notoriously lax standards of the Restoration Court, his private life was remarkably free from scandal, which won him favour in the more sober post-Revolution state.[1]

Life

Early life

Robert Spencer was born in Paris in 1641. His father was Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland, who was killed at the First Battle of Newbury, and his mother was the Lady Dorothy Sidney, daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester. At the age of three he inherited his father's dignities, becoming Baron of Wormleighton and Earl of Sunderland.[2] Lady Sunderland had him educated after his father's death, first engaging a Calvinist tutor for him, Dr Thomas Pierce, and afterwards sending him to Christ Church, Oxford. After quitting school he joined the English Army, rising to the rank of captain in Prince Rupert's Regiment of Horse. On 10 June 1665 he was married to Lady Anne Digby. She was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Bristol, and died in 1715.[3] Sunderland then served successively as ambassador to Madrid (1671–1672), Paris (1672–1673), and the United Provinces (1673). He was Gentleman of the Bedchamber from 1673 to 1679, before being invested a Privy Councillor and appointed Secretary of State for the Northern Department in 1679. At the same time, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary to Paris.[4]

His political skills and energetic character rapidly marked him as a rising man: even Bishop Burnet, who disliked him, praised his statesmanship and his "quick and ready apprehension, and swift decision of business".[5] He was accused by some of seeking and clinging to office simply for the salary, to support his reportedly extravagant lifestyle.[6] Despite his otherwise blameless life he had a weakness for gambling, which often involved him in debt,[7] and a passion for art. He was a collector of paintings, and made extensive alterations to Althorp,[8] but his private life was sober, and he was personally inexpensive.

Career under Charles II and James II

Sunderland's professed mission was to aggrandise England in the European community, and to strengthen her diplomatic ties with the other rivals of French power. He laboured from 1679 to 1681 to conjoin an alliance against France, but apart from a treaty with Spain in 1680, little came of it.

Sunderland's relations with Paul Barillon, whose long tenure as Ambassador from Louis XIV (from 1677 to 1688) produced many memorable exchanges between the two, were tenuous and strained. When Louis failed to give James any assistance against the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, Sunderland told Barillon sharply "the King your master may have plans I cannot discern, but I hope he will put things right by making it clear that this has all been a misunderstanding".[9] When Barillon protested that his master's aim was "the Peace of Europe" Sunderland said that it was impossible for everyone in Europe to want peace at the same time: "myself I think it will last until one side or the other has a good reason for breaking it".[10] To prevent Barillon from gaining too much influence, Sunderland intercepted and leaked an unusually indiscreet dispatch where the Ambassador boasted of having blocked an Anglo-Dutch treaty. Charles II was predictably furious, and Barillon was for a time forbidden from the Court. Sunderland remarked that if Barillon would behave himself so, it was "but just that it come home to him".[11]

Lord Sunderland also served as Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire during the minority of Lord Shrewsbury until 1681. That year, he was dismissed by Charles II, due to his opposition to the Duke of York's succession. Presently Sunderland regained the King's confidence (through the principal royal mistress, the Duchess of Portsmouth). Intermittently, between 1682 and 1688, he served as Secretary of State for the Southern Department, Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, and Lord President of the Council; in 1687, he signed the King's grant of religious freedom for the Brenttown (Brenton) tract in Prince William County, Virginia, to encourage settlement of French Protestants. The same year he openly embraced the Roman Catholic faith, insincerely, it would seem, and merely to please the King. Later that year he was made a Knight of the Garter.

However, while he enjoyed the confidence of Queen Mary of Modena, it was clear that he was growing uncomfortable under the recently enthroned James: the violently hostile reception he got from the public when he gave evidence at the Trial of the Seven Bishops left him badly shaken. When he urged James to put away his mistress Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester, James said that he had not realised Sunderland was his confessor, and told him to mind his own business for the future. Sunderland's unpopularity was now almost universal: Burnet wrote that it was "the wonder of all mankind" that James continued to employ him.[12] He was summarily dismissed at last in October 1688, with the remark, "You have your pardon; much good doe it you. I hope you will be more faithful to your next master than you have been to me."[13]

Career under William III

Sunderland escaped in disguise to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where he lay low for some time, before being officially arrested, and immediately released, by the Dutch authorities. Offering his service to the Prince of Orange, he moved on to Utrecht, where he remained quietly for the duration of the upheavals in England, when William III and Mary II took the throne. Afterwards, he wrote to Sir John Churchill, a prominent English statesman, asking him to "make things easy for a man in my condition". Despite his notorious rudeness and bad temper, Sunderland had a surprising ability to make lasting friendships, and some of his friends, including John Evelyn and Thomas Tenison, had influence with the new régime. His sister Dorothy had married George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, a key adviser to William III in the early years of his reign, and though he and Sunderland had never been close, Halifax felt obliged from family solidarity to make a plea on Sunderland's behalf.[14] At first, William III excepted Sunderland from the Indemnity Act of 23 May 1690, but he was allowed to return to the country early the next year. At the same time, he had been excepted from James' 1692 Instrument of Pardon.

Sunderland in Classical Dress, by Carlo Maratta

On his return, Sunderland formally reverted to Anglicanism, taking the oaths in April 1691 and quietly recommenced sitting in the House of Lords. In May William paid a visit to him at his home at Althorp, in Northamptonshire, to discuss public affairs. Over the next years, the King frequently visited him and gave him confidence, but Sunderland did not dare to fully enter public life until September 1693, when he took a house in the city. He repeatedly advised the King to select all of his ministers from one political party, and eventually effected a reconciliation between William and his sister-in-law, the later Queen Anne. He was an influential adviser, inducing William to accept only Whigs in his government. William, never vindictive, was untroubled by Sunderland's past services to James, who had made it very clear that Sunderland was the one man he would never forgive, though he had made tentative advances towards the fallen King. Most of William's servants had at sometime betrayed him, and he valued Sunderland for his frankness and ability to voice unwelcome truths. It has been suggested that Sunderland's notorious rudeness actually appealed to the King, who detested flattery and could himself be distinctly rude.[15] Once when William said that, while the Whigs personally liked him better than the Tories, the Tories were better friends to Monarchy, Sunderland shrewdly replied: "but you must consider that you are not their Monarch". He even wrote a letter telling the King that if his Ministers were not fit for his service, it was his own fault for not choosing better men.[16]

This notable lack of ordinary good manners made Sunderland countless enemies: Bishop Burnet wrote that "he had too much heat, both of imagination and of passion, was apt to speak freely both of persons and things, and raised himself many enemies from a contemptuous treatment of those who differed from him".[17] His remarkable ability to adapt to the wishes of three different monarchs was considered a fault rather than a virtue: as Burnet observed "he came by this to lose so much that even those who esteemed his parts depended little on his probity".[18]

While his own private life was blameless, Sunderland in the winter of 1697–98 became involved in a scandal when his daughter Elizabeth's husband, Lord Clancarty, a leading Jacobite, escaped from the Tower of London. The marriage had been arranged between Sunderland and Clancarty's uncle Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel, when the young bride was but thirteen and her husband only three years older; it had proved a disaster which greatly damaged Sunderland's reputation.[19] Clancarty escaped and found Elizabeth, whom he had not seen since 1684, persuading her to consummate the marriage at long last. The servants alerted her brother Charles, who had Clancarty arrested. The resulting furore gravely embarrassed Sunderland, but seems to have merely amused the King, who dryly remarked that no one wanted to speak to him of anything but "that little spark Clancarty". He gave the couple permission to move to Germany, where they settled in Altona, Hamburg, and there they lived out their lives. Elizabeth never saw her parents or her brother again.[20]

Sunderland became Lord Chamberlain of the Household in April 1697, and was a Lord Justice for a short period, but "the general suspicion with which he was regarded terrified him". At the same time he was approaching sixty, a respectable age in those days, and besides his health was failing. He eventually retired from public life in December 1697.

Sunderland died in 1702. He had led a secluded life at Althorp for some time, and his only surviving son, Charles, succeeded to his titles and honours.[21]

Family

Anne, Countess of Sunderland

He married Anne Digby, daughter of George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, on 9 June 1665. After an awkward start, when Sunderland broke off the engagement for no known reason,[22] the marriage was a very happy one: Lady Sunderland was rumoured to have had numerous lovers, but there is little evidence to support this, and Sunderland, despite his questionable political principles, was a devoted husband and father. They had at least five children.[23]

They are believed to have had two or more other children who died young, as Lady Sunderland referred in a letter to "my two living of seven children".

See also

Ancestry

Notes and references

  1. ^ Kenyon p. 8
  2. ^ Kenyon p. 3
  3. ^ Kenyon p. 8
  4. ^ Kenyon p. 23
  5. ^ Burnet p. 129
  6. ^ Burnet p. 129
  7. ^ Burnet p. 129
  8. ^ Kenyon pp. 9–10
  9. ^ Kenyon p. 118
  10. ^ Kenyon p. 119
  11. ^ Kenyon p. 40
  12. ^ Burnet p. 222
  13. ^ Kenyon p. 226
  14. ^ Kenyon p. 228
  15. ^ Kenyon, J.P. The Stuarts 1966 (Fontana ed.) p. 174
  16. ^ Kenyon p. 317
  17. ^ Burnet p. 129
  18. ^ Burnet p. 129
  19. ^ Burnet p. 216
  20. ^ Kenyon p. 302
  21. ^ Kenyon p. 328
  22. ^ Diary of Samuel Pepys 1 July 1663
  23. ^ Kenyon p. 8

External links

6 Annotations

First Reading

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Robert Spencer was an ancestor of Princess Di (born Diana Spencer)
... as was Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of Charles II and Barbara Villiers Palmer, Lady Castlemaine.
See http://worldroots.com/brigitte/di…

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

SPENCER, ROBERT, second Earl Of Sunderland (1640-1702), only son of Henry Spencer, first earl of Sunderland, by his wife, Dorothy ('Sacharissa'); born at Paris; succeeded to the title, 1643; studied in Southern Europe and at Christ Church, Oxford, showing much precocity; married, in 1665, a rich heiress, Anne Digby; after paying assiduous court to Charles II's mistresses, obtained political employment on embassies to Madrid and to Paris, 1671-2: early in 1679, upon payment of 6,000l., succeeded Williamson as secretary of state for the northern department; during the next eighteen months was in the inner cabinet, and exercised much influence; dismissed for his intrigues with the demagogues and exclusionists (February 1681), on which he recanted, made abject submission to James, duke of York, and regained his place in 1683, striving especially to oust Halifax and Rochester from favour; as a strenuous supporter of the royal prerogative, no less than as a subtle contriver of expedients, commended himself to James II on his accession in 1685, and showed his skill by the way in which he avoided being compromised by Monmouth; his unscrupulous intrigues against his chief rival with James II, Rochester, consummated by his throwing in his lot with the victorious catholic party, and by his gaining the complete confidence of James II’s queen; supported the repeal of the Test Act, the recall of the three British regiments from Holland, and the committal of the seven bishops; renounced protestantism, 1687, but was disturbed by the internal feuds of the catholic party, and was all the time making overtures to the Prince of Orange; was sceptical of the success of an invasion, but flattered himself that he might act as mediator between king and parliament; advised remedial measures when too late; fled in female disguise to Rotterdam early in November 1688; reverted to protestantism, and from Rotterdam sent William of Orange (William III) numerous explanations and suggestions, which convinced William that his skill as a wirepuller was indispensable; advised William III to confide in a united whig ministry in preference to a composite body of whigs and tories, and by his own diplomatic skill made the scheme a success; endeavoured to obtain ostensible position and power, and (1697) was made lord chamberlain and one of the lords justices; his appointment strongly resented, even the whig junto, though they owed him much, shrinking from his defence; hastily resigned office, but retained his great wealth and much of his influence until his death. He has generally been considered, and probably with justice, as the craftiest, most rapacious, and most unscrupulous of all the politicians of his age.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Cosmo, the future Grand Duke of Turin, visited Holdenby House, Northants., in May 1669 on his way to Oxford.

I've standardized the spelling of names I know, corrected scanning errors I could figure out, and increased the number of paragraphs. I apologize if I guessed incorrectly:

244

On the morning of 2/12 May, 1669 the weather being very fine, his highness, having heard mass privately, left Cambridge, taking the road to Northampton,…

His highness left Northampton for Oxford, in variable weather; the road, almost the whole of the way, was uneven; and the country, for the most part uncultivated, abounding in weeds, which surround on every side the royal villa of Holdenby, a square palace, situated on the highest part of an eminence, of which you have a view on the right, as you go along the road.

FOR COSMO’S VISIT TO NORTHAMPTON AND VIEW OF HOLDENBY HOUSE, SEE NORTHAMPTON = https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

After taking a view of Holdenby, we entered into a park, separated by palisades from the adjacent territory, belonging to the villa of Althorp, a seat of my Lord Robert Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, who had given his highness repeated and pressing invitations to visit him there.

Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland = https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

Before he reached the villa, his highness was received and escorted by the said earl, who was anxiously expecting his arrival. Immediately on alighting, he went to see the apartments on the ground floor, from which he ascended to the upper rooms, and found both the one and the other richly furnished.

His highness paid his compliments to my lady, the wife of the master of the house, and daughter of my Lord George Digby, Earl of Bristol, by whom the Earl had three children, one son and two daughters; and when he had spent some time in this visit, the hour of dinner arrived, which was splendid, and served in the best possible style.

ANNE DIGBY SPENCER, COUNTESS OF SUNDERLAND = https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
George Digby, Earl of Bristol = https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 2

249

At table his highness sat in the place of honor, in an armchair, he having previously desired that my lady, the wife of the earl, might be seated in a similar one; the earl also was obliged by his highness to take his place close to him, the gentlemen of his retinue sitting separately upon stools.
When dinner was over, his highness was conducted through the other apartments of the mansion, all of which were sumptuously furnished; and having observed the manner in which one apartment communicated with another, he went down into the garden, in which, except some ingenious divisions, parterres, and well-arranged rows of trees, there is little to be seen that is rare or curious; as it is not laid out and diversified with those shady walks, canopied with verdure, which add to the pleasantness of the gardens of Italy and France, but of which the nature and usage of this country would not admit.

This villa is built at the bottom of a valley, surrounded by beautiful hills, clothed with trees. To get into the court (which is situated betwixt two large branches of the building that bound two of its sides, which correspond with each other as to their shape and style of architecture, and have betwixt them the principal part of the house which is in front) we ascended a bridge of stone, under which is to run the water, which will collect in great abundance from the springs that issue from the surrounding hills. The whole of the edifice is regularly built, both as to its exterior and interior, and is richly ornamented with stone of a white color, worked in the most exquisite manner, which is dug from a quarry at Weldon, 14 miles distant. If they could take off a certain natural roughness from this stone, and give it a polish, it would not be inferior to marble.

250

The ascent from the ground floor to the noble story above, is by a spacious staircase of the wood of the walnut-tree, stained, constructed with great magnificence; this staircase, dividing itself into two equal branches, leads to the grand saloon, from which is the passage into the chambers, all of them regularly disposed after the Italian manner, to which country the earl was indebted for a model of the design, and it may be said to be the best planned and best arranged country-seat in the kingdom, for though there may be many which surpass it in size, none are superior to it in symmetrical elegance.

At a proper hour, after dinner, his highness departed from the villa, highly gratified with the politeness of the earl, who sent him, in his own coach-and-six, as far as Brackley, a town in the county of Northampton, formerly of considerable extent, and celebrated for the fine woolen cloths which were manufactured there; at present it is merely a collection of a few houses.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 3

His highness there changed horses, for the sake of expediting his journey.
They travelled from Althrop to Brackley, through a country partly in tillage and partly in pasture; and of a similar description was the road to Oxford, although it became rather flatter.

His highness arrived at Oxford at one in the morning, 3/13 May, 1669
FOR COSMO’S VISIT TO OXFORD, SEE
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

@@@

From:
TRAVELS OF COSMO THE THIRD, GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY,
THROUGH ENGLAND,
DURING THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES THE SECOND (1669)
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT
https://archive.org/stream/travel…

His highness, Cosmo, must be considered only as a traveler. Under his direction, the narrator of the records was Count Lorenzo Magalotti, afterwards Secretary to the Academy del Cimento, and one of the most learned and eminent characters of the court of Ferdinand II.

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1663

  • Jul