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-37-

power by his charm and wits. He became the first Earl of Holland and was at one time or another knight of the Bath, knight of the Garter, gentleman of the bedchamber. Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, High Steward to the Queen, Lord-Lieutenant of Middlesex and Berkshire, Groom of the Stole, Master of the Seal Office, Royal Exchanger, privy councillor-and holder of countless other offices.

The relationship of these two powerful men to the Court, to Parliament, to the growth of the American colonies, and to the Puritan revolution are examined in significant detail.

p 8 "Their mother was the beautiful, enchanting daughter of the Earl of Essex, Penelope Devereaux, whose open affair with Charles Blount, Lord Montjoy, led to the divorce, but not until she had some seven children by Lord Rich and five others by her lover'.

p 81 "In the eleven or so years before the opening of the momentous parliaments of the 1640's there was little the historical Puritans could do to resist the projects of the King, Archbishop Laud or even the Policy of Thorough being elaborated by Wentworth". They could fight or flee the country-but to fight meant a commitment to the future that no one at the time was willing to accept; to flee was to abandon England for the uncertain future in the new world. Many accepted the latter and the exodus to Massachusetts was on. Most stayed behind, including the prime movers in the emigration". "In this there was nothing particularly new to the experience of the Earl of Warwick. He had a relatively long history of activity in the field of colonization and overseas adventure".

p 82 "To a large extent the Earl of Warwick had acted as a sort of a patron saint to the Pilgrims in 1620, when he tried to get the little Separatist group to settle in Virginia (a colony and company with which he had been personally and financially directly involved since 1612 and which his friends and associates had promoted from the beginning). Warwick had kept in close contact with the band of expatriates during their stay in Holland, and when they failed in their effort to land in Virginia, it was the Earl of Warwick who got them the grant from the King for the land where they had settled. To one historian, 'It is a striking fact in Warwick's career that he was the only person of high rank and influence connected with all the bodies with whom the Leyden pilgrims negotiated before they could secure a home for themselves in the New World. The Puritans, again under the primary aegis of the Earl of Warwick...were subjected to some persuasion to settle in the West Indies because of the difficulties the Pilgrims had undergone in the early years of the 1620's".

p 83 "The major (for the Earl of Warwick in time, effort, and money) were the Massachusetts Bay Company (etc)..."


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© 2009 Raymond M Freeman