Thomas Belasyse, 1st Earl Fauconberg
Encyclopedia
Privy Council of England
The Privy Council of England, also known as His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England...
(c. 1627 – 31 December 1700) was an English peer. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
drawing close to Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
and married Cromwell's third daughter Mary
Mary Cromwell, Countess Fauconberg
Mary Cromwell, Countess Fauconberg was the third daughter of Oliver Cromwell and his wife Elizabeth Bourchier....
. After the Restoration of the monarchy he was a member of the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
to Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
and was elevated to an earldom by William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
.
Biography
Belasyse was the only son of Henry BelasyseHenry Belasyse
Henry Belasyse , also known as Henry Bellasis was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England variously between 1625 and 1642....
who was the eldest son of Thomas Belasyse, 1st Viscount Fauconberg
Thomas Belasyse, 1st Viscount Fauconberg
Thomas Belasyse, 1st Viscount Fauconberg , was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons and was raised to the peerage in 1627...
. Unlike his Royalist father and grandfather, he supported Parliament in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, and subsequently became a strong adherent of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, whose third daughter, Mary, he married in 1657. His father died in 1647 and he succeeded his grandfather to the viscounty of Fauconberg in the Bishopric of Durham in 1652.
Belasyse again became a Royalist at the Restoration of the monarchy, and was appointed a member of the privy council of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, captain of the guard (in which office he succeeded his uncle Lord Belasyse
John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse
John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse PC was an English nobleman, soldier and Member of Parliament, notable for his role during and after the English Civil War.-Early life:...
), and ambassador in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. He was Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire (1660–1692). He was one of the noblemen who joined in inviting William of Orange
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
to England, and was by that king raised on 9 April 1689 to the rank of Earl.
Fauconberg died in 1700. He had no children and on his death, the earldom became extinct, but his viscountcy passed to his nephew, Thomas Belasyse, 3rd Viscount Fauconberg.
Family
On 3 July 1651 Fauconberg married Mildred, daughter of Nicholas, 2nd Viscount Castleton. She died 8 May 1656. On 18 November 1657, he married Mary Cromwell, the third daughter of Oliver Cromwell. She outlived her husband by thirteen years dying on 14 March 1713.See also
- Green Ribbon ClubGreen Ribbon ClubThe Green Ribbon Club was one of the earliest of the loosely combined associations which met from time to time in London taverns or coffee-houses for political purposes in the 17th century....
A post restoration political club which Fauconberg was a member. The 'Green Ribbon' was the badge of The LevellersLevellersThe Levellers were a political movement during the English Civil Wars which emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance, all of which were expressed in the manifesto "Agreement of the People". They came to prominence at the end of the First...
in the English Civil Wars in which many of the members had fought and was an overt reminder of their radical origins.
Further reading
- Stater, Victor "Belasyse, Thomas, first Earl Fauconberg (1627/8–1700)", Oxford University Press 2004–2008, Bellasis family 1500-1653, pages 5,5. Website of Ingilby History, Retrieved 5 March 2010
- Staff Green Ribbon Club
External links
- Two songs at the marriage of the Lord Fauconberg and the Lady Mary Cromwell, by Andrew MarvellAndrew MarvellAndrew Marvell was an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman . As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert...
.