Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche

2025-04-04T17:41:16Z

218.102.67.122: /* Career */ publicly

{{Short description|English diplomat (1556–1625)}}
{{about|the diplomat|the contemporary courtier and masque actor|Edward Zouch}}
{{use British English|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Lord Zouche
| image = 11thLordZouche.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| office = [[Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports]]
| predecessor =[[Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset|The Earl of Somerset]]
| term_start= 1615
| term_end = 1625
| successor = [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham|The Duke of Buckingham]]
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 6 June 1556
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1625|8|18|1556|6|6}}
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| spouse = Eleanor Zouche <Br> Sarah Harrington
| children =
| parents = [[George la Zouche, 10th Baron Zouche]]
}}

'''Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche''' (6 June 1556 – 18 August 1625) was an English diplomat. He is remembered chiefly for his lone vote against the condemnation of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], and for organising the stag hunt where his guest, the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], accidentally killed a man.

==Early life==
Zouche was the son of [[George la Zouche, 10th Baron Zouche]], of the noble Breton-origin [[Baron Zouche|Zouche dynasty]], and his wife Margaret, ''née'' Welby. He was a royal ward from 1570, under the care of [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]]. In a letter to Cecil written in 1596, Zouche confessed that he spent his patrimony as a youth, having indulged in "little searching for knowledge".<ref>''HMC Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House'', vol. 6 (London, 1895), p. 195, 24 May 1596.</ref>

==Marriage==
In or around 1578, Zouche married his cousin Eleanor Zouche, daughter of Sir John Zouche and Eleanor, ''née'' Whalley. They had two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, but, shortly after Mary's birth in 1582, Zouche left Eleanor and they lived apart until her death in 1611. Eleanor wrote to [[William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter|Lord Burghley]], from her lodging in the Strand on 19 May 1593, following her father's death, still hoping to be reconciled with Zouche.<ref>'Original Letters of the Zouch family', ''The Gentleman's Magazine, Or Monthly Intelligencer'', vol. 25 (London, 1828), pp. 303-4, printed from [[British Library]] Lansdown MSS.</ref> [[John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare|Sir John Holles]] wrote to Sir Edward Phillips describing her treatment; {{blockquote|text=My Lord {{Sic|Souche}} put away this his lady twenty-nine years ago and refusing her all allowance was by law sentenced there-unto, which he not performing was excommunicate; from which he went beyond sea and returning was ordered to pay her 50s the week, from which poor allowance with a small addition from her friends hath this Baron's wife...ever since lived. She was oft dangerously sick that physic was chargeable. He never disbursed a penny, and now dead she might have rotted in her chamber ere he would have buried her.<ref>''HMC Report on the Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Portland, Preserved at Welbeck Abbey'', vol. 9 (London, 1923), pp. 83-4.</ref>}}

Within a year of Eleanor's death, Zouche married again, to [[Sarah Harington]] (1565–1629), daughter of Sir [[James Harington (lawyer)|James Harington]]. There were no children of this marriage.<ref name="Harris p. 110">Donald F. Harris, PhD. ''The Mayflower Descendant'' (July 1994) vol. 44 no. 2 p. 110</ref> Sarah Harington had been twice widowed, having been previously married to [[Francis Hastings, Lord Hastings]], who would have been [[Earl of Huntingdon]] but predeceased his father, and Sir George Kingsmill. With the death of Zouche, Sarah married Sir [[Thomas Edmondes]]. Her portrait was painted by [[Isaac Oliver]] and by [[Cornelius Johnson (artist)|Cornelius Johnson]].<ref>[http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1166138 Portrait of Lady Edmondes, by Cornelius Johnson, NT Hatchlands], and [https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/10517/portrait-of-sarah-harington-lady-edmondes Portrait of Lady Edmondes, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas].</ref> The portraits by Johnson show her aged 63 wearing a large miniature case referring to [[Frederick V of the Palatinate]] with the Greek letter "phi". A similar miniature case was described in an inventory of a Scottish soldier.<ref>Athol Murray, 'Jewels Associated with the Queen of Bohemia', ''Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland'', 131 (2001), pp. 328, 343.</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Portrait etching of Lord Zouche published 29 May 1777.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Portrait etching of Lord Zouche published 29 May 1777]]
Zouche matriculated from [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] in Easter 1570, M.A. 1571;<ref>{{acad|id=ZC570EL|name=Zouche, Edward La}}</ref> and was admitted to [[Gray's Inn]], 1575, though he was not admitted to the bar.

Zouche was appointed a Commissioner for the trial of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], at [[Fotheringhay]]. He was the only Commissioner to offer any dissent against her judgement and subsequent sentence of death.<ref>''Mary Queen of Scots'' by [[Antonia Fraser]] – Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1969 p. 563</ref>

In later years he served as Ambassador to Scotland, Lord [[Council of Wales and the Marches|President of the Council of Wales]] and [[Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports]]. He was a [[Privy council|Privy Counsellor]] from 1603.<ref name="Harris p. 110"/>

Zouche was ambassador in Scotland from 5 January to 6 April 1594, at the time of the birth of [[Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales|Prince Henry]]. [[Sir Robert Cecil]] complained that he had not received updates from Zouche, and he was very displeased to hear that Zouche and the diplomat [[Robert Bowes (diplomat)|Robert Bowes]] had lent money to [[Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell]] on the security of a jewel and some silver plate. They had sent the jewel to London. Cecil wanted Zouche to make the loan seem a private transaction, a purchase of a jewel, and not to be known as an action of Queen Elizabeth to fund and support Bothwell, who was suspect in Scotland.<ref>[[Annie Cameron]], ''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 280, 283, 285-7.</ref>

Zouche showed an interest in the New World, and was a Commissioner of the [[Virginia Company]] from 1608. He was also interested in horticulture; his house in Hackney included a physic garden and he employed [[Matthias de l'Obel|Matthias L'Obel]] as his gardener.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of British Gardening|first=Miles|last=Hadfield|date=1969|publisher=Hamlyn|page=60}}</ref>

The house in Hackney lay on the north side of Homerton High Street, probably on the site of the present Dean Close. The herbalist, John Gerard, visited Hackney and was given foreign seeds from Zouche's garden. Zouche ceased to be a Hackney resident before his death in 1625 and it is likely his house was sold in 1620, to [[Julius Caesar (judge)|Sir Julius Caesar]], [[Master of the Rolls]].

In 1605, Zouche purchased the manor of [[Bramshill]] in Hampshire and almost immediately began to build [[Bramshill House|the mansion]] that currently stands on the site. [[James VI and I|James I]] stayed at Bramshill in 1620 and the next year [[George Abbot (bishop)|George Abbot]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], went down to Bramshill to consecrate a chapel for Lord Zouche.<ref>Victorian County History – Hampshire 'Parishes: Eversley', A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 32–41</ref> The visit had disastrous consequences for the Archbishop when he accepted Zouche's invitation to a stag-hunt, where Abbot unintentionally killed a gamekeeper who strayed into his line of fire. Although all the witnesses, including Zouche, agreed that the gamekeeper's death was a tragic accident, Abbot's reputation never recovered from the incident. He remains the only Archbishop of Canterbury ever to be publicly known to have killed a man.<ref>Trevor-Roper, Hugh ''Archbishop Laud'' Phoenix Press reissue 2000 p. 58</ref>

Bramshill was used as the UK [[Police Staff College, Bramshill|Police Staff College]] from 1960 to 2015.

==Connection with More children on the ''Mayflower''==

In 1620, Lord Zouche provided counsel and other help in an incident involving him and his longtime secretary [[Samuel More]], who was in his employ at the time of Zouche's death in 1625.<ref>Anthony R. Wagner. "The Children in the Mayflower" ''The London Times'' 30 June 1959 p. 11</ref><ref>Donald F. Harris, PhD. ''The Mayflower Descendant'' vol. 44 no. 2 p. 1</ref> More was the eldest son of a respected parliamentarian from Shropshire, [[Richard More (Parliamentarian)|Richard More]]. He had married in 1610/11 to a cousin [[Katherine More]],<ref>Shipton Parish Register Shropshire archive</ref> and by 1616 was charging that she had committed adultery with a longtime lover, conceiving four children by him: Elinor, Jasper, [[Richard More (Mayflower passenger)|Richard]] and Mary.<ref>Donald F. Harris, PhD. ''The Mayflower Descendant'' (Pub. Jan. 1994) vol. 44 no. 2 pp. 14, 18</ref> Four rancorous years and twelve court appearances followed, culminating in 1620 with the four children being sent without their mother's knowledge<ref name="Anthony R. Wagner 1960 p. 164-168">Anthony R. Wagner "The Origin of the Mayflower Children: Jasper, Richard and Ellen More". ''The New England Historical and Genealogical Register'' (July 1960) vol. 114 pp. 164–168</ref> to the [[Plymouth Colony]] on the ship ''[[Mayflower]]'' as [[indentured servants]],<ref name="Anthony R. Wagner 1960 p. 164-168" /> upon the counsel of Lord Zouche, who was a [[New England Council]] commissioner,<ref>Donald F. Harris, PhD. ''The Mayflower Descendant'' (Pub. July 1994) vol. 44 no. 2 p. 112</ref><ref>''The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: With the Names of the Adventurers, Planters, and Governours from Their First Beginning, Ano: 1584. To This Present 1624. With the Proceedings of Those Severall Colonies and the Accidents That Befell Them in All Their Journyes and Discoveries. Also the Maps and Descriptions of All Those Countryes, Their Commodities, People, Government, Customes, and Religion Yet Knowne. Divided into Sixe Bookes. By Captaine Iohn Smith, Sometymes Governour in Those Countryes & Admirall of New England'': p. 128 – electronic version at: http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/smith/smith.html#p21</ref> acting on the request of Samuel More and his father Richard, who were searching for a location far away to which the children could be sent.<ref>Donald F. Harris, PhD. ''The Mayflower Descendant'' (Pub. Jul. 1994) vol. 44 no. 2 pp. 110, 111</ref>

{{Clear}}

==Death==
[[File:BramshillHouse(AndrewSmith)Jun2006.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Lord Zouche's manor, [[Bramshill House]]]]
Zouche died in 1625, after suffering illness for some time. His resting place is unknown. He was not buried in the parish church at Hackney, despite the verses penned by [[Ben Jonson]].
<poem>
:Wherever I die, oh, here may I lie
:Along by my good Lord Zouche,
:That when I am dry, to the tap I may hie,
:And so back again to my couch.
</poem>
On Zouche's death, the Barony of Zouche fell into [[abeyance]] between his daughter Mary (who married in 1610 Thomas Leighton, son of [[Sir Thomas Leighton]] the [[Governor of Guernsey]])<ref>''The Present Peerage of the United Kingdom'' Part 1 (1821), p. 67; [https://books.google.com/books?id=r4E3AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA67 Google Books].</ref> and the heirs of his daughter Elizabeth (died 1617, wife of [[Sir William Tate]]).<ref>[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/tate-william-1559-1617 historyofparliamentonline.org/, ''Tate, William (1559–1617), of Delapré, Northants''.]</ref> The abeyance was terminated in 1815 in favour of [[Cecil Bisshopp, 12th Baron Zouche]], whose grandmother Catherine Tate was Elizabeth's heir-at-law.

==Offices==

*Ambassador to Scotland, January–April 1594
*Ambassador to Denmark, June–July 1598
*Deputy Governor of [[Guernsey]], 1600–01
*Lord President of the Council of [[Wales]], 14 June 1602 – 1607
*[[Privy Counsellor]], 11 May 1603
*Commissioner of Claims for the Coronation of [[James VI and I|James I]], 7 July 1603
*Commissioner for compounding for knighthoods, 17 July 1603
*Commissioner to banish [[Jesuits]], 5 September 1604
*Commissioner to inquire into injuries done by pirates, 16 July 1609
*Councillor for the [[Virginia Company]], beginning on 23 May 1609
*Councillor for [[New England]], 3 Nov 1602
*Commissioner to treat with France, 4 July 1610
*[[List of Lord High Treasurers|Commissioner for the Treasury]], 16 June 1612 – 1614
*Lord Warden of the [[Cinque Ports]] and Constable of [[Dover Castle]] for life, 13 July 1615,
*Commissioner for the rendition of Flushing and Brill, 21 May 1616
*Privy Councillor (Scotland), 29 June 1617
*Commissioner to inquire into abuses in the Treasury, 10 July 1618
*Commissioner of Ecclesiastical Causes, 29 April 1620 and 21 January 1624/5
*Commissioner for defective titles of lands, 4 July 1622 and 26 July 1623.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{NPG name}}
* The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: With the Names of the Adventurers, Planters, and Governours from Their First Beginning, Ano: 1584. To This Present 1624. With the Proceedings of Those Severall Colonies and the Accidents That Befell Them in All Their Journyes and Discoveries. Also the Maps and Descriptions of All Those Countryes, Their Commodities, People, Government, Customes, and Religion Yet Knowne. Divided into Sixe Bookes. By Captaine Iohn Smith, Sometymes Governour in Those Countryes & Admirall of New England: p. 128 – electronic version at: http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/smith/smith.html#p21

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{{succession box | before=[[Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke|The Earl of Pembroke]] | title=[[Lord President of Wales]]<br />[[Lord Lieutenant of Wales]] <br/> (less Glamorgan and Monmouthshire), <br/> [[Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire|Herefordshire]], [[Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire|Shropshire]] and [[Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire|Worcestershire]] | years=1602–1607 | after=[[Ralph Eure, 3rd Baron Eure|The Lord Eure]]}}

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{{succession box |
before=[[Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset|The Earl of Somerset]] |
title=[[Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports]] |
years=1615–1625 |
after=[[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham|The Duke of Buckingham]]}}

{{s-reg|en}}
{{succession box | title=[[Baron Zouche]] | before=[[George la Zouche, 10th Baron Zouche|George la Zouche]] | after=[[Cecil Bisshopp, 12th Baron Zouche|Cecil Bisshopp]] | years=1569–1625}}
{{S-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zouche, Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron}}
[[Category:1556 births]]
[[Category:1625 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:17th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:16th-century English diplomats]]
[[Category:16th-century English judges]]
[[Category:17th-century English judges]]
[[Category:16th-century English lawyers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Barons Zouche]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Herefordshire]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Shropshire]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Wales]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Worcestershire]]
[[Category:Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of England]]
[[Category:Councilmen and Aldermen of the City of London]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England to Denmark]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England to Scotland]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of Scotland]]
[[Category:Court of James VI and I]]
[[Category:Expatriates in Denmark–Norway]]

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Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche