Francis Windebank
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Sir Francis Windebank (1582 – 1 September 1646) was an English politician who was Secretary of State under
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.


Biography

Francis was the only son of Sir Thomas Windebank of Hougham,
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, who owed his advancement to the Cecil family, Francis entered
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, in 1599, coming there under the influence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. After a few years of continental travel (1605–1608), he settled at Haines Hill at Hurst in Berkshire and was employed for many years in minor public offices, eventually becoming clerk of the council. In June 1632, he was appointed by King Charles I as Secretary of State in succession to Lord Dorchester, his senior colleague being Sir
John Coke Sir John Coke (5 March 1563 – 8 September 1644) was an English civil servant and naval administrator, described by one commentator as "the Samuel Pepys of his day". He was MP for various constituencies in the House of Commons between 1621 and ...
, and he was knighted. His appointment was mainly due to his Spanish and
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sympathies. The first Earl of Portland, Francis, Lord Cottington, and Windebank formed an inner group in the council, and with their aid the king carried on various secret negotiations, especially with Spain. In December 1634 Windebank was appointed to discuss with the papal agent Gregorio Panzani the possibility of a union between the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
and Roman Churches, and expressed the opinion that the
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
opposition might be crippled by sending their leaders to the war in the
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. Windebank's efforts as treasury commissioner in 1635 to shield some of those guilty of corruption led to a breach with Archbishop Laud. In the same year Windebank was one of the promoters of the
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, and the next year he was for a time disgraced for issuing an order for the conveyance of Spanish money to pay the Spanish troops in the Netherlands. In July 1638 he urged the king to make war with the Scots, and in 1640, when trouble was breaking out in England, he sent an appeal from Queen Henrietta Maria to the pope for money and men. He was elected in March 1640 to the
Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Af ...
, as member for
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, and he entered the
Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septe ...
in October as member for Corfe Castle. In December the House learnt that he had signed letters of grace to recusant priests and
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s, and summoned him to answer the charge, but the king allowed him to escape to France. From
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, he wrote to Christopher Hatton, defending his integrity, and affirming his belief that the
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was the purest and nearest the primitive Church. He remained in Paris until his death, shortly after he had been received into the Roman communion.


Family

Windebank married and had a large family. William Laud referred in 1630 to his "many sons". He had five at least, and four survived him: #
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(born c. 1612), was M.P. for Wootton Bassett and supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. He was made a
baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
in 1645. He was
Clerk of the Signet The Clerks of the Signet were English officials who played an intermediate role in the passage of letters patent through the seals. For most of the history of the position, four clerks were in office simultaneously. Letters patent prepared by the ...
from 1641 until 1645 and again (after the Interregnum) from 1660 to 1674. #
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...
(died 1645), supported the Royalist cause during the
English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
. He was court-martialled and shot for failing to defend Bletchingdon House, near Oxford. #
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(born 1615), was an Englishman who lived in Madrid and worked as guide and interpreter for English ambassadors. # — #
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(1618–1704), a physician who was admitted an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1680 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Of Windebank's daughters: *Margaret married Thomas Turner (1591–1672), and was mother of Thomas Turner (1645–1714), president of
Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...
, and of Francis Turner,
bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nor ...
, one of the seven Bishops who, refusing to accept James II's
Declaration of Indulgence The Declaration of Indulgence, also called Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, was a pair of proclamations made by James II of England and Ireland and VII of Scotland in 1687. The Indulgence was first issued for Scotland on 12 February and ...
, were imprisoned in the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
. *Frances married Sir Edward Hales on 12 July 1669. cites Chester, ''Marr. Lic. col.'' 605. *One other died unmarried at Paris about 1650. *Two others became nuns of the Calvary at the Église Sainte-Marie-des-Anges, Paris.


Notes


References

* * ;Attribution * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Windebank, Francis 1582 births 1646 deaths Secretaries of State of the Kingdom of England Alumni of St John's College, Oxford People from Westminster People from Hurst, Berkshire People from Lincolnshire English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 Members of the pre-1707 Parliament of England for the University of Oxford Lords of the Admiralty