Sir John Donne
Encyclopedia
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
courtier, diplomat and soldier, a notable figure of the Yorkist party. In the 1470s he commissioned the Donne Triptych, an triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
altarpiece by Hans Memling
Hans Memling
Hans Memling was a German-born Early Netherlandish painter.-Life and works:Born in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt in the Middle Rhein region, it is believed that Memling served his apprenticeship at Mainz or Cologne, and later worked in the Netherlands under Rogier van der Weyden...
now in the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
. It contains portraits of him, his wife Elizabeth and a daughter. He may well have been related to the Jacobean poet John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
, although not as a direct ancestor, as he had no Donne grandchildren.
Family and early career
Kidwelly
Kidwelly is a town in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, approximately north-west of the main town of Llanelli.It lies on the River Gwendraeth Fach above Carmarthen Bay. The town is twinned with French village St Jacut de la Mer.-History:...
, Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
were a distinguished family ("Dwnn" in Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
). His father Griffith (Gruffydd) reputedly fought at the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
in 1415 and certainly in many other French campaigns; he was Lieutenant of Cherbourg in 1424. His mother was Joan Scudamore, a grandchild of Owain Glyndŵr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
, the last independent Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, who disappeared into hiding in 1412. John Donne was born in France, "in parts of Picardy
Picardy
This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...
", probably in the 1420s.
Donne was their third son who entered, probably in his late teens, the service of the Duke of York
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
Richard Plantagenêt, 3rd Duke of York, 6th Earl of March, 4th Earl of Cambridge, and 7th Earl of Ulster, conventionally called Richard of York was a leading English magnate, great-grandson of King Edward III...
, father of Edward IV. He may have done so through the patronage of the leading Yorkist in South Wales, William ap Thomas
William ap Thomas
William ap Thomas was a member of the Welsh gentry family that came to be known as the Herbert family through his son William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and is an ancestor of the current Earls of Pembroke....
, also an Agincourt veteran and father of Donne's contemporary William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1423-1469)
William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1423-1469)
William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke KG , known as "Black William", was the son of William ap Thomas founder of Raglan Castle and Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam, and grandson of Dafydd Gam, an adherent of King Henry V of England....
. Donne is recorded as having fought in France for the Duke, which must have been before 1447. It is from this and his apparent age in the Memling that his birth in the 1420s is estimated. He also fought for the Duke in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and in the late 1440s in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Donne married before 1465 Elizabeth Hastings, sister of William, Lord Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings KG was an English nobleman. A follower of the House of York, he became a close friend and the most important courtier of King Edward IV, whom he served as Lord Chamberlain...
, the favourite of Edward IV, who was executed by Edward's brother King Richard III of England
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
in 1483. Hastings had also been in the service of the Duke of York for all his adult life, so he and Donne must have known each other very well. The Donnes' surviving children were first two daughters, Anne and Margaret, then two sons Edward and Griffith (both later knighted). Elizabeth Donne died in 1507–8.
On Edward's accession in 1461 he was made an Usher of the Chamber and started to become wealthy. From 1465–9 he was an Esquire of the Body and he was knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed on the field after the huge Yorkist victory of the Battle of Tewkesbury
Battle of Tewkesbury
The Battle of Tewkesbury, which took place on 4 May 1471, was one of the decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses. The forces loyal to the House of Lancaster were completely defeated by those of the rival House of York under their monarch, King Edward IV...
in 1471 (along with many others). His wife was a damicellae or Lady-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
, of the Queen. In the portrait he and his wife wear lavish Yorkist gold collar chains of suns and roses with the personal livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
of Edward in pendant
Pendant
A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, when the ensemble may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. In modern French "pendant" is the gerund form of “hanging”...
s of his emblem
Emblem
An emblem is a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept — e.g., a moral truth, or an allegory — or that represents a person, such as a king or saint.-Distinction: emblem and symbol:...
, a lion, both in white ronde bosse enamel
Vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...
with gold highlights, clutching a ruby
Ruby
A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires...
in their raised paws. These chains would presumably have been presents from Edward to his close followers.
Calais and the continent
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
in 1468 of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York
Margaret of York
Margaret of York – also by marriage known as Margaret of Burgundy – was Duchess of Burgundy as the third wife of Charles the Bold and acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death. She was a daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the sister of...
, sister of Edward IV. He may well have accompanied Edward in his Burgundian exile in 1470-1, as Hastings did. Much later, he was present when the widowed Margaret (his "true friend") met her brother at what is now Syon House
Syon House
Syon House, with its 200-acre park, is situated in west London, England. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is now his family's London residence...
in 1480.
In 1468 he is described as "out of Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
", England's outpost in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and this connection continued for the rest of his career; Hastings was "lieutenant of Calais" or governor, and his brother-in-law Donne his deputy. He owned a house there, and was a member of the Calais council in 1471, involved in negotiations in 1472, and recorded as there in 1475 and several later years. By 1483 he was Deputy of the Tower of Risban, an outlying fort, and before 1497 Lieutenant of the Castle. It may well have been his main base for much of his career; it remained under Yorkist control throughout Edward IV's exile.
The Donne Triptych by Hans Memling
Hans Memling
Hans Memling was a German-born Early Netherlandish painter.-Life and works:Born in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt in the Middle Rhein region, it is believed that Memling served his apprenticeship at Mainz or Cologne, and later worked in the Netherlands under Rogier van der Weyden...
would presumably have been made in Bruges, and is believed to date from the 1470s. Many sources still date it to 1468, because they were only aware of Donne's visit to Bruges for the wedding in that year, and because when the donor was first identified as Donne in 1840, the writer (JG Nichols) wrongly stated that he was killed in the Battle of Edgecote in 1469. The National Gallery now favours a date in the late 1470s, perhaps 1478, the date on a later copy, which is plausible, and may have been on the lost original frame. The donors are identifiable as the Donnes by their coat-of-arms (Donne impaling
Impalement (heraldry)
In heraldry, impalement is the combination of two coats of arms side-by-side in one shield or escutcheon to denote union, most often that of a husband and wife, but also for ecclesiastical use...
Hastings), which appears several times in the painting.
The portrait of Lady Donne was first painted with a younger, more generalized face, then overpainted, also by Memling, with the present thinner face. This may suggest Memling only saw her when the painting was well underway, and changed his picture to her actual features.
Apart from the Memling, there are two surviving Flemish illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
s commissioned by Donne in the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
, plus a second-hand one that was a gift from the two Duchesses of Burgundy (the widowed Margaret and her stepdaughter Mary) with the inscriptions: "For yet not har that ys on of yor treu frendes Margarete of Yorke" ("Forget not her that is one of your true friends, Margarete of York), and "Prenez moy ajames pour vre bonne amie Marie D. de bourg.ne" ("Take me forever for your good friend, Mary, Duchess of Burgundy"). He commissioned an important manuscript of about 1480, the Louthe Hours, now in Louvain
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, which has a miniature of him kneeling in armour with his guardian angel
Guardian angel
A guardian angel is an angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person or group. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity...
.
Several of Donne's close associates: Edward, Hastings, the two Duchesses of Burgundy and others, were important patrons of Flemish art in various forms, and there a number of indications that Donne supervised the progress of the triptych carefully, and requested changes.
Diplomacy
His formal diplomatic career seems to have begun in February 1477, when he and John Morton, the future Lord ChancellorLord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
and Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, were ambassadors to the French court. In May of the same year he and two others were ambassadors to the other side, the Imperial ambassadors in Burgundy. He was sent on several such missions, and may have been an important figure in diplomacy with Burgundy. The history of Yorkist diplomacy has not been fully explored, and Donne's position in it is currently hard to assess.
Later life
He acquired estates at HorsendenHorsenden
Horsenden is a hamlet in Wycombe district, Buckinghamshire, England and is in the civil parish of Longwick-cum-Ilmer. It is one mile from Princes Risborough and seven miles south of Aylesbury and three miles east of Chinnor in Oxfordshire...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
in 1480, which then became his main British residence. He managed to avoid getting caught in the fall of Hastings in 1483, and was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire
High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. One sheriff was appointed for both counties from 1125 until the end of 1575, after which date separate sheriffs were appointed...
for 1485 under Richard III. After the change of dynasty in 1485, he must have made an accommodation with his fellow-Welshman, Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
, by which point he would have reached an age to retire in any case. Both he and his wife are buried in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, next to Edward IV and Hastings, which is in itself a mark of royal favour.
His descendants include the Earls of Oxford, Cumberland
Earl of Cumberland
The title of Earl of Cumberland was created in the Peerage of England in 1525 for the 11th Baron de Clifford. It became extinct in 1643. See also Duke of Cumberland.The subsidiary title of the first three earls was Baron de Clifford...
, and Burlington
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, 2nd Earl of Cork was Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and a cavalier.-Early years:...
, and the Dukes of Devonshire (the Memling passed through these last three families).
Source
- National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings by Lorne Campbell, 1998, ISBN 185709171X - unless stated