THE SOMERSETS.
MEE Duke of Beaufort, the head of this splendid clan, whose name has for four centuries been synonymous with aristocracy, is the lineal representative of a branch of the Plantagenets, a branch which is in England termed "base-born," but in many countries would be only a branche cadetle. He is the lineal male descendant of John of Gaunt, Shakespeare's "John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster," heir of a house which, though the great Peer who is the stem of all English royalty only subsequently married its ancestress, was once legitimatized in the fullest manner by Act oi Parliament, and only lost that position through a second taint of illegitimacy.
The Sower:seta are the descendants of Charles Somerset, illegitimate son of Henry Beaufort—so called from a castle in _Anjou—Duke of Somerset, grandson of John Beaufort, eldest illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Catherine Swinford. Henry Beaufort was first cousin to Margaret Beaufort, mother of Sing Henry VII., so that Charles Somerset and the first of the Tudor Princes stood in the relation of second cousins. The Beauforts had been_ legitimatized in the 15th of Richard II., and it would seem that this legitimatization extended originally to the succession to the Crown, for the worths
in the Patent Roll, " excepta dignitate regali," are an interlineation, probably inserted at the time that Henry IV. " exemplified " the grant in 1407, in which exemplification these words appear. The Beauforts had devoted their fortunes and lives to the Lancastrian cause, one Duke having fallen in battle and two on the scaffold, independently of other members of the family, during the course of the Wars of the Roses. Henry Ilaaufort, Duke of Somerset, was taken prisoner at the battle of I lexham, and executed April 3, 1463, leaving issue by Joan Hill or "de la Montaign " an only natural son, CHARLES, who assumed the surname of SOMERSET. The Tudor dynasty took good care of the fortunes of their " base-born " cousin. In 1485 he was made a Privy Councillor, and was a Knight in the 2nd of Henry VII., in which year he was made Constable of Helmsley Castle, in Yorkshire, and in the next year Admiral of the Fleet. In the 6th year of the reign he was sent with the Order of the Garter to the Emperor Maximilian. He was also himself made a Knight of the Garter and a Banneret, and Captain of the Guard July 17, 1496. In the 17th of Henry VII. he was sent Ambassador to the Emperor, and concluded two treaties, June 19 and June 20, 1502. He next made a great match with Elizabeth Herbert, daughter and heiress of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Hunting- don, thus obtaining Ragland Castle and the largest part of the older Herbert inheritance. On this marriage he was created by patent of November 26, 1506, Baron Herbert of Rag- land, Chepstow, and Gower, and became as such Governor of Payne and Montgomery Castles. He was Lord Chamberlain to Henry VII., and continued in the same office by Henry VIII., who made him also one of his Privy Council. In 1513 he accompanied the latter King to France, and was present at the taking of Terouenne and Tourney, was created Lord Cham- berlain for life, and on the 1st of February, 1514, Earl of Worcester. He conducted the Princess Mary to France on her marriage with 'King Louis, was employed in negotiating the peace with that country, and in 1521 a peace between France and the Emperor Charles V. He also sat on the trial of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. He died April 15, 1526. He was twice married after the death of his first wife, and was succeeded by Henry, his son by his first marriage, and second Earl of Worcester. The second Earl played no conspicuous part in history, and died November 26, 1549. The inquisition taken in Gloucestershire after his death shows that he died seized of the manors of Wolveston alias Woollaston, and grange of Woollaston, Modesgate, alias Maiolt, Brockwere, Alveston, Halleshall, and Hewelsfield, and t32 messusges, 3 mills, 1,000 acres of ploughed land, 70 of meadow, 1,000 of pasture, 600 of wood, 500 of heath and turf, and 20/. 8s. rent in Brockwere, Wolveston, Almington, Alveston, Hewelsfield, and Modesgate, with the fisheries in the Wye called Plomwere, Ashwere, Ithelswere, and Walwere, the rectory of Wal- were, and advowsons and vicarage of the same, the manor of Tidden- ham, and divers messuages, lands, and tenements in Strote, Widden, Bisten, Bottesley, and Sudbury, all in the county of Gloucester. He was succeeded by his eldest son William, third Earl of Worcester, and a Knight of the Garter. His life was as uneventful as his father's, the principal thing recorded of him being that he went to France in 1573 as the representative of Elizabeth at the christening of a daughter ofiCharles IX. He died February 21, 1589, and by an inquisition taken at Cardiff he died possessed in the county of Glamorgan of the lordships and manor of Gower, Kilvey, and castle of the borough of Swansea, parcel of the manor of Gower, the demesne lands of the castle of Oystermouth, with the appurtenances in Clyn Forest, the manors of Wringston, Michelston, and the rectory of the church, half the manor of West Orchard, and the manor of Lancarman. He was succeeded by his only son Edward, fourth Earl of Worcester, who was sent Ambassador to James VI. of Scotland in 1591, to congratulate him on his marriage and safe return from Denmark; in the 43rd of Elizabeth was made Master of the Horse, and James I. continued him in the office, con- stituting him also one of the Commissioners for the Earl Marshal- ship. In the 13th James I. he exchanged the office of Master of the Horse for that of Lord Privy Seal, and two years afterwards had a new grant of that office, with a fee of 1,500/. per annum for life. He was also made a Knight of the Gaiter. He died at his house in the Strand, March 3, 1628. Sir Robert Naunton, of the Privy Council to Queen Elizabeth, and Secretary of State under James I., gives the following account of the Earl:—" My Lord of Worcester I have here put last, but not least, in the Queen's [Elizabeth] favour. He was of the ancient and noble blood of the ikauforts, and of her grandfather's line by the mother, which the Queen could never forget, especially when there was a concurrence of old blood with fidelity, a mixture which ever sorted with the Queen's nature. And though there might appeai something in this House which might avert her grace, I mean contrariety or suspicion in religion, yet the Queen ever respected this House, principally this noble lord. In his youth (part thereof he spent before he came to reside at Court) he was a very fine gentleman, and the best horseman and tilter of the times. And when years had abated these exercises of honour, he grew then to be a faithful and profound counsellor. And as I have placed him last, so was he the last liver of all the servants of her favour." This leaning towards the Roman Catholic faith no doubt was the cause why this family did slot assume during the Tudor period the prominence their great possessions might have seemed to command. In the next two generations the heads of the House openly professed Romanist opinions. The fourth Earl married a daughter of Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, and had by her eight sons and seven daughters. The eldest son, William, Lord Herbert, died unmarried during his father's lifetime. Thomas, the third son, was one of those sent to Scot- land to announce the death of Queen Elizabeth, was made a Knight of the Bath by James, and on December 8, 1626, created Vis- count Somerset of Cashel, in Tipperary (an Irish peerage), but leaving only a daughter, who died unmarried, his title became ex- tinct. One of the Earl of Worcester's daughters, Blanche, married Thomas, heir of Lord Arundell, of Wardour, and became celebrated in the Civil War for her defence of Wardour Castle against the Par- liamentary forces. Henry, the second but eldest surviving son, suc- ceeded as fifth Earl of Worcester. He was an avowed Roman Catholic, and a most determined Cavalier. His exertions in behalf of King Charles were enormous, and his sacrifices corresponded. Clarendon somewhat invidiously observes that he "was generally reputed the greatest moneyed man of the kingdom, and pro- bably might not think it an untbrifty thing rather to disburse it for the King, who might be able to repay it, than to have it taken from him by the other party, which would be hardly questionable if they prevailed." Somerset at any rate maintained his castle of Ragland for the King from 1042 to August 19, 1640, with a garrison of 800 men, without any contribution from other sources. He then surrendered on terms to Fairfax. But besides this his eldest son had raised and commanded a considerable army in South Wales and the adjoining English counties, which was an important branch of the Royal forces. The King made Ragland Castle his retreat for some time after the disastrous cam- paign of 1045, and there exists a volume professing to be an account of a conference on religion between the King and Somerset during the former's stay at the castle. The Earl had been by letters patent, dated Oxford, November 2, 1642, created Marquis of Worcester, but the Long Parliament never recognized those titles given after the outbreak of the Civil War, and by them he was still called Earl. After the surrender of Ragland Castle to Fairfax it was entirely dismantled by order of the Parliament, and the timber adjoining it cut down and sold, the lead on the castle alone fetching 6,000/., and the timber of the roofing being sent to Bristol to rebuild the houses burnt during the sieges of that city. The family estimated their losses in these dilapidations at 100,000/., besides about an equal sum advanced to the King. The income of the Somerset estate according to that year's audit was 20,000/. per annum. Various grants were made by the Parlia- ment out of it, among others one of 1,680/. per annum to Oliver Cromwell and his heirs in March, 1648, 1,000/. per annum of which Cromwell at once offered towards the expenses of the war in Ireland. The Marquis himself, being committed to the formal custody of the Usher of the Black Rod, died in December, 1646, and was succeeded as sixth Earl or second Marquis of Worcester by his son Edward, who had played a very conspicuous part during the first Civil War.
Lord Clarendon, who was not well disposed towards the Somersets, says that the King "committed South Wales to the charge of Lord Herbert, eldest son to the Marquis of Worcester, whom he made his Lieutenant-General, adding Monmouthshire to his commission. There were, in the opinion of many, great objections against committing that employment to that noble Lord, whose person many men loved and very few hated. First he had no knowledge or experience in the martial profession, "—not an uncommon fault, however, in commanders on both sides in that war,—" then his religion, being of that sort of Catholics the people rendered odious by accusing it to be most Jesuited, men appre- hended would not only produce a greater brand upon the King of
favouring papists and popery than he had been yet reproached with. This gave opportunity and excuse to many persons of property and great interest in those counties (between whom and that Lord's family there had been perpetual feuds and animosities) to lessen
their zeal to the King's cause out of jealousy of the other's religion. And those contestations had been lately improved with some sharpness by the Lord Herbert's carriage towards the Lord Marquis of Hertford daring the time of his residence there, when out of vanity V) .magnify his own power he had not shewed that due regard to that of the other which he should have had. But, on the other hand, the necessity of disposing those parts, divided from the rest of the kingdon, under the command of some person of honour and interest was very visible." Lord Herbert "was a man of more than ordinary affection and reverence to the person of the King, and one who, he was sure, would neither deceive nor betray him." This Lord Herbert is generally considered to have been created Earl of Glamorgan and Baron Beaufort of Caldecote Castle on the 1st of April, 1644, and for the creation of these
dignities there is now remaining in the Signet Office a bill under the Royal Sign Manual. Great doubt exists, however, whether any
patent passed the Great Seal, but the title of Glamorgan. is treated as existing in the Marquis by a patent of Charles II., and has been occasionally assumed by his descendants on coffin-plates, &c. King
Charles addressed several letters to him by the title of Earl of Glamorgan, and there is a most extraordinary commission, dated the same day, April 1, 1644, and addressed to "Edward Somerset, alias Plantagenet, Lord Herbert, Baron Beaufort of Caldecote, Grismorid, Chepstow, Ragland, and Gower, Earl of Glamorgan,' giving him power to fill up certain blank patents of creation to every dignity, from a marquis to a baronet, with the promise of the Princess Elizabeth in marriage to his son Plantagenet, with a portion of 300,0001., and the title of Duke of Somerset to himself and his heirs male for ever. After the Restoration, in consequence of a motion made in the House of Lords to the effect that this patent was deemed "in prejudice to the Peers," the Marquis of Worcester (23rd August, 1660) stated that a patent had been placed in his hands by the late King to create him Duke of Somerset, on certain conditions which had not been performed, and that he was ready to deliver it up ; and accordingly, on the 3rd of September following it is stated to have been given up. The commission referred to was secretly granted to Glamorgan by the King, without the knowledge of his representative in Ireland, Ormonde, or any of the Protestant members of his Council in either kingdom, and was for the purpose of concluding terms with the Catholic rebels much more favourable to them than any which Ormonde had the power or was disposed to grant, although the " cessation " concluded by the latter in the King's name in the preceding September had already created a most un- favourable impression in England, and alienated many of the Cavalier party. The commission appointed Glamorgan "gene- ralissimo of three armies, English, Irish, and foreign, and admiral of a fleet at sea," with the most unreserved powers over all subordinate officers, and permission to address the King if any of the Royal orders contravened his plans. After the Restoration, in a letter addressed to Clarendon, dated June 11, 1660, the Earl of Glamorgan (then Marquis of Worcester) explains the nature of the commission entrusted to him by the late King : —" My Lord Chancellor," he says, "for His Majesty's better information, through your favour, and by the channel of your Lordship's understanding things rightly, give me leave to acquaint you with one chief key wherewith to open the secret passages between his late Majesty and myself in order to his service, which was no other than a real exposing of myself to any expense or difficulty rather than his just design should not take place, or, in taking effect, that his honour should suffer. An effect, you may justly say, relishing more of a pas- sionate and blind affection to His Majesty's service than of discre- tion and care of myself. This made me take a resolution that he should have seemed angry with me at my return out of Ireland, until I had brought him into a posture of power to own his com- mands, to make good his instructions, and to reward my faithful- ness and zeal therein.
"Your Lordship may well wonder, and the King too, at the amplitude of my commission. But when you have understood the length of His Majesty's design you will soon be satisfied that nothing less could have made me capable to effect it, being that one army of ten thousand men was to have come out of Ireland through North Wales ; another of a like number, at least, under my command-in-chief, to have expected my return in South Wales, which Sir Henry Gage was to have commanded as Lieutenant- General ; and a third should have consisted of a matter of six thousand men, two thousand of which were to have been Liegois, commanded by Sir Francis Edmonds, two thousand Lorrainers, to have been commanded by Colonel Browne, and two thousand of such French, English, Scots, and Irish as could be drawn out of Flanders and Holland. And the six thousand were to have been
landed, by the Prince of Orange's assistance, in the associated counties, and the Governor of Lynn, cousin-german to Major Bacon, major of my own regiment, was to have delivered the town unto them.
"The maintenance of this army of foreigners was to have come from the Pope and such Catholic princes as he should draw into it, having arranged to afford and procure 30,0001. a month, out of which theforeign army was firstto be provided for, and the remainder to be divided among other armies. And for this purpose I had power to treat with the Pope and Catholic princes, with particular advantages promised to Catholics, for the quiet enjoying their re- ligion without the penalties which the statutes in force had power to inflict upon them. And my instructions for this purpose and My powers to treat and conclude thereupon were signed by the King under his pocket signet, with blanks for me to put in the names of Pope or princes, to the end the King might have a starting-bole to deny the having given me such commissions, if excepted against by his own subjects, leaving me, as it were, at stake who, for His Majesty's sake, was willing to undergo it, trusting to his word atone.
"In like manner did I not stick upon having this commission in- grossed, enrolled, or assented unto by his Council, nor indeed the seal to be put unto it in an ordinary manner, but as Mr. Endymion Porter and I could perform it with rollers and no screw-press.
"One thing I beseech your I.ovdship to observe, that though I had power by it to erect a mint anywhere, and to dispose of His Majesty's revenues and delinquents' estates, yet I never did either to the value of a farthing, notwithstanding my own necessities, acknowledging that the intention of those powers given me was to make use of them when the armies should be afoot, which design being broken by my commitment in Ireland, I made no use of those powers, and consequently repaying now whatever was disbursed by any for patents of honour, as now I am contented to do, it will evidently appear that nothing bath stuck to my fingers in order to benefit or self-interest, which I humbly submit to His Majesty's princely consideration, and the management of my concerns therein to your Lordship's grave judgment, and to the care of me, which your Lordship was pleased to own, was recommended unto you by the late King, my most gracious master, of glorious memory."
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