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Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke (May 1607 – 4 March 1643) was a radical Puritan activist and leading member of the opposition to Charles I of England prior to the outbreak of the First English Civil War in August 1642. Appointed Parliamentarian commander in Staffordshire and Warwickshire, he was killed by a Royalist sniper at
Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of ...
on 2 March 1643. The son of a minor member of the Lincolnshire gentry, Greville was adopted at the age of four by his childless distant cousin Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, and inherited his title and Warwick Castle in 1628. A devout
Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
, he was closely associated with Puritan activists and opponents of the 1629 to 1640 period of
Personal Rule The Personal Rule (also known as the Eleven Years' Tyranny) was the period from 1629 to 1640, when King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland ruled without recourse to Parliament. The King claimed that he was entitled to do this under the Roya ...
, including John Pym, John Hampden and Arthur Haselrig. From 1640 to 1642, he and Lord Saye were central to securing support in the House of Lords for legislation passed by the
Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons c ...
. Although less well remembered than other leaders like Pym and Hampden, Greville's early death was viewed as a significant loss at the time. His energy and conviction Charles must be defeated militarily meant many preferred him as commander to the Earl of Essex. His conviction "true religion" required belief in God, rather than a specific form of worship prefigured later divisions between Presbyterian moderates and religious Independents like Oliver Cromwell.


Personal details

Robert Greville was born May 1607 near
Helpringham Helpringham is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the edge of the Fens, and southeast of Sleaford. It is noted for its Grade I listed St Andrew's Church. History In 1885, ''Kelly's ...
, only surviving son of Fulke Greville (1575–1632), an "obscure Lincolnshire squire", and his wife Mary Copley. His sister Dorothy (1605–1650) married Arthur Haselrig, who was one of the Five Members in January 1642, while Godfrey Bosvile (1596–1658), a half-brother from his mother's first marriage, became a close friend and political associate. Greville's prospects were transformed in 1611 when he was adopted by his childless distant cousin Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, and inherited his title and Warwick Castle in 1628. In 1630 he married Catharine (died 1676), daughter of
Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC (1587 – 9 May 1641) was an English nobleman and politician. He built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect. He is also known f ...
; they had three sons who survived into adulthood, Francis (1637–1658), Robert (1638–after 1680) and Fulke (1643–1710).


Education and political opposition

Greville received what was then considered a comprehensive education, attending
Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
before travelling through Europe from 1624 to 1627. He visited Paris, Venice and Turin but the time spent in the
Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
centres of Leiden and Geneva seems to have been decisive in instilling his Puritan views. While in Leiden, he is thought to have met
John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist * John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' * John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *Joh ...
, an advocate of Puritan colonisation of North America who organised the Mayflower voyage. This may account for his subsequent involvement in the
Saybrook Colony The Saybrook Colony was an English colony established in late 1635 at the mouth of the Connecticut River in present-day Old Saybrook, Connecticut by John Winthrop, the Younger, son of John Winthrop, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. ...
and
Providence Island Company The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritans including Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick in order to establish the Providence Island colony on Providence Island and Mosq ...
, of which he became a founder member. In early 1628, he was elected MP for Warwick, a session dominated by the struggle over the Petition of Right. His election was challenged and voided on 31 May but before a
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
could take place, his adoptive father died on 30 September. Greville inherited his titles and thereafter sat in the House of Lords. Many contemporaries resented his alleged low social origins, while his religious radicalism also set him apart. Combined with the suspension of Parliament during the 1629 to 1640 period of
Personal Rule The Personal Rule (also known as the Eleven Years' Tyranny) was the period from 1629 to 1640, when King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland ruled without recourse to Parliament. The King claimed that he was entitled to do this under the Roya ...
, the result was minimal involvement in local politics. Instead, he became part of a national network of Puritan activists, whose projects included establishment of the Providence Company in 1630. He reportedly declared his willingness to fund the entire project in return for control, an offer rejected by John Pym, the company treasurer. Although the
Providence Island colony The Providence Island colony was established in 1630 by English Puritans on what is now the Colombian Department of San Andrés and Providencia, about east of the coast of Nicaragua. Although intended to be a model Puritan co ...
never prospered and was captured by the Spanish in May 1641, company meetings provided cover for co-ordinating political opposition. Many members were prominent in the
Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
opposition in 1640, including Pym, John Hampden,
Francis Rous Francis Rous, also spelled Rouse (c. 1581 to 1659), was an English politician and Puritan religious author, who was Provost of Eton from 1644 to 1659, and briefly Speaker of the House of Commons in 1653. Stepbrother of Parliamentary leader Joh ...
, Lord Saye and Sir
William Waller Sir William Waller JP (c. 159719 September 1668) was an English soldier and politician, who commanded Parliamentarian armies during the First English Civil War, before relinquishing his commission under the 1645 Self-denying Ordinance. ...
. Despair at the political situation of the 1630s led Greville to contemplate emigration along with many others, including Oliver Cromwell. To provide a vehicle for this, he and Lord Saye founded the SayeBrooke colony in 1635, an amalgamation of Lord Saye and Lord Brooke. They dropped the idea when their proposed political constitution was rejected by
John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led ...
of Massachusetts, who insisted only full church members be allowed to vote. Concern over the potential for religious tyranny led Saye and Brooke to reject clerical involvement in civil affairs, the origin of the subsequent split between Presbyterians such as Pym and religious Independents like Cromwell.


Wars of the Three Kingdoms

At the outbreak of the
Bishops' Wars The 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars () were the first of the conflicts known collectively as the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which took place in Scotland, England and Ireland. Others include the Irish Confederate Wars, the First and ...
in 1639, Greville and Lord Saye were briefly imprisoned at York for refusing to support the war. Greville was suspected of being in secret contact with the
Covenanters Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covena ...
and there may have been some truth to this; he was appointed by Parliament to negotiate with the victorious Scots, which resulted in the Treaty of Ripon and elections for the Long Parliament in November. He organised support in the Lords for legislation passed by Pym in the
Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons c ...
, including the impeachment of Archbishop William Laud and execution of Strafford in May 1641. Political tensions came to a head with the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641; Charles and Parliament both supported raising an army to suppress it but feared it would be used against them first. Appointed Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire in April 1642, Greville began recruiting men and securing weapons at Warwick Castle; in June, Parliament made him commander of troops recruited for Ireland but the First English Civil War began in August. He used his contacts in the City of London to raise the funding which proved crucial in enabling Parliament to survive the first months of the war. Appointed Parliamentarian commander in Staffordshire and Warwickshire, on 23 August Greville repulsed an attempt by the Earl of Northampton to capture Warwick Castle. He raised a regiment which fought at Edgehill in October; although absent on that occasion, he helped repulse the Royalist advance on London at
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings which ...
in November. After he and Sir John Gell secured
Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
in February 1643, they moved onto
Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of ...
; on 2 March, Greville was killed by a sniper. He was buried in the
Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick The Collegiate Church of St Mary is a Church of England parish church in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It is in the centre of the town just east of the market place. It is grade I listed, and a member of the Major Churches Network. The churc ...
. Greville's death was a serious blow, not least because his energy and commitment to defeating Charles militarily meant many viewed him as a better choice than the Earl of Essex, the current Parliamentarian commander. In addition, his successor in the East Midlands was Sir John Gell, a man whose propensity for feuding and aggressiveness made him unpopular even among his own supporters. According to Puritan diarist
Lucy Hutchinson Lucy Hutchinson (; 29 January 1620 – October 1681) was an English translator, poet, and biographer, and the first person to translate the complete text of Lucretius's '' De rerum natura'' (''On the Nature of Things'') into English verse, d ...
, Gell "had not understanding to judge the equity of the cause, nor piety, nor holiness", while his men were "the most licentious, ungovernable wretches that belonged to the Parliament".


Political and religious views

Despite a well-deserved reputation for religious radicalism, Brooke supported ministers with a wide range of views, including mainstream members of the Church of England. His writings advocated educational reform and tolerance for different religious views, so long as they were Protestant. In ''The Nature of Truth'' published in 1640, Greville argued while truth required a belief in God, it could take a variety of forms and no one should be compelled to worship against their conscience or reason. This was the derivation of his opposition to the concept of an
established church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...
. In a speech made in February 1643, Greville anticipated Cromwell in urging Parliament to resist hiring mercenaries or professionals in favour of those who "fought for the sake of the cause". Those recruited into his own regiment included Levellers like
John Lilburne John Lilburne (c. 161429 August 1657), also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after the English Civil Wars 1642–1650. He coined the term "'' freeborn rights''", defining them as rights with which eve ...
and Alex Tulidah, as well as radical republican and
regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
John Okey Colonel John Okey (24 August 1606 – 19 April 1662) was a political and religious radical who served in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A regicide who approved the Execution of Charles I in 1649, he escaped to ...
.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, Robert Greville, 2nd Baron 1607 births 1643 deaths 2 English military personnel killed in action Lord-Lieutenants of Warwickshire English MPs 1628–1629 Military personnel from Lincolnshire
Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
People killed in the English Civil War Deaths by firearm in England Parliamentarian military personnel of the English Civil War Alumni of the University of Cambridge People from North Kesteven District