Transcript

of

Sir Thomas Bodley. In: Devonshire gleanings from Manningham’s Diary.

Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 1875, Vol VII, pp. 376-382.

by

W. Pengelly

Prepared by Michael Steer

The author has provided a biographical excerpt, that he calls a ‘Gleaning’ from the "Diary of John Manningham, of the Middle Temple, and of Bradbourne, Kent, Barrister-atLaw, 1602-1603, His paper was presented at the Association’s 1875 Torrington meeting. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers. [Everything within brackets ids editorial, All else is from the Diary]

I. [Sir Thomas Bodley. Born at Exeter, 2nd March, 1544, died in London, 28th January, 1612.

The "Diary" contains two entries respecting the famous Exonian whose name is borne by the Bodleian library at Oxford, and of whom a biographical notice, prepared by the late Sir John Bowring, appears in our 5th volume. They are as follow]: -

"Mr. Bodly, the author, promoter, [and] the perfecter, of a goodly library in Oxford, wan a riche widdowe by this meanes. Comming to the place where the widdowe was with one whoe is reported to have bin sure of hir, as occasion happened the widdowe was absent; while he was in game, he, finding this opportunity, entreated the surmised assured gent to hold his cardes till he returned. In which tyme he found the widdowe in a garden, courted, and obtained his desyre; soe he played his game, while an other held his cardes. He was at first but the sonne of a merchant, vntill he gave some intelligence of moment to the counsell, whereupon he was thought worthie employment, whereby he rose." p. 63.

[Again]: - "Mr. Bodley which hath made the famous library at Oxeford was the sonne of a merchant of London : was sometymes a factor for the state : after maried a riche widdowe in Devonshire or Cornewall, whose husband grewe to a greate quantity of wealth in a short space, specially by trading for pilchers; nowe himself having noe children lives a pleasing privat life, somewhile at the City, somewhile at the University; he followd the Earl of Essex till his fell." (p. 129.)

[The chief noteworthy points in the foregoing entries are those relating, 1. To Sir Thomas Bodley's father; 2. To his wife; 3. His mode of winning his wife; 4 His employment as a diplomatist; and 5. His connexion with the Earl of Essex.

1. According to Manningham, Bodley "was at first but the sonne of a merchant of London." I have failed, however, to gather from any of the biographers of Sir Thomas that the father was ever engaged in merchandise. Sir T. Bodley himself, in "that history of his life, written by himself," which Prince quotes "in his own excellent words," says "I was born at Exeter in Devon, the 2d of March, in the year 1544, descended by father and mother, of worshipful parentage; by my father, from an antient family of Bodley, of Bodleigh, of Dunscomb by Crediton; and by my mother, from Robert Hone, Esq.; of Ottery St. Mary, nine miles from Exon.

"My father, in the time of Q. Mary, being noted and known to be an enemy to popery, was so cruelly threatned, and so narrowly observed, by those that maliced his religion, that for the safeguard of himself and my mother, (who was wholly affected as my father) he knew no way so secure, as to fly into Germany; where, after he had been awhile, he found means to call over my mother, with all his children and family; whom he settled for a time in Wesell, in Clealand, (for there, as then, were many English, which had left their country for their conscience, and with quietness enjoyed their meetings and preachings) and from thence we removed to the town of Frankford, where was in like sort, another English congregation.

"Howbeit, we made no long tarriance in either of these towns, for that my father had resolved to fix his abode in the city of Geneva; where, as far as I remember, the English church consisted of some hundred persons. I was at that time of twelve years of age, but through my father's cost and care, sufficiently instructed to become an auditor, of Chevalerius in Hebrew, of Beraldus in Greek, of Calvin and Beza in Divinity, and of some other professors in that university, which was then newly erected: Besides my domestical teachers in the house of Philibertus Saracenus, a famous physician in that city, with whom I was boarded, where Kobertus Constantinus, that made the Greek Lexicon, read Homer unto me,

"Thus I remained there two years and more, until such time as our nation was advertised of the death of Q. Mary, and succession of Q. Elizabeth, with the change of religion; which caused my father to hasten into England, where he came with my mother, and all the family within the first of the Queen; and settled their dwelling in the city of London." (* Worthies of Devon," p. 92.)

The life of Sir T. Bodley is followed in Prince by those of his two brothers, Lawrence Bodley, d.d. (pp. 101-2), and Sir Josias Bodley, Et (pp. 102-5), but they are each and all silent respecting the father's profession.

Nevertheless Manningham was correct; the father was a London merchant, as is satisfactorily, though incidentally, proved by Prince, in his biographical sketch of Zachary Bogan, M.A. (pp. 106-9). This sketch concludes with the following paragraph: - "In the North isle of the parish church of Totnes, is a large marble grave-stone, on which were sometime found, inlayed with brass, the effigies of this gentleman's grandfather and grandmother; one of which is torn off: but underneath is still remaining a label of brass, containing these words :

Here lyeth the Body of Walter Bougins,
Of Totnes, merchant, who had to wife, Pro-
thasy the eldest daughter of John Bodley of
London, merchant, by whom he had issue
Biz sons, and five daughters; and departed
this life in the fifteenth day of April,
A.D. 1591." (p. 109.)

On the "Prothasy" of this epitaph, Prince has the following note: - "She was sister to the great Sir Thomas Bodley."

2. With respect to Sir T. Bodley's wife, Manningham's statements are to the effect that she was a rich widow of Devonshire or Cornwall, whose first husband had grown rich mainly by trading in pilchards. According to Mr. R. Dymond, the lady was Ann, widow of Nicholas Ball, of Totnes, and daughter of Cary [or, as some say, Carew] of Bristol (*).  His acquaintance with the lady may perhaps have commenced through his eldest sister, Prothosay, wife of Walter Bougins, also a merchant of Totnes, as stated by Prince. Manningham appears to be the only writer who mentions that the first husband made his money in the pilchard trade, or (3), the diplomatic trick by which Sir Thomas secured the lady.

4. According to Manningham, Bodley "gave some intelligence of moment to the counsel!, whereupon he was thought worthie employment, whereby he rose." The following is briefly Bodley's own statement respecting himself after returning from Geneva, in the first year of Queen Elizabeth: - "I was sent ... to ... the university of Oxford. . . . There . . . I took the degree of Batchelour of Art, ... in the year 1563. Within which year I was chosen probationer of Merton college; and the next year ensuing, admitted fellow. ... In the year 1565. ... I undertook the publick reading of a Greek lecture in the same college-hall In the year . . . 1566, I proceeded Master of Arts, and read for that year, in the schoolstreets, Natural Philosophy. After which, within less than three years space, I was won ... to stand for the proctorship, to which I, and . . . Mr. Bearblock of Exeter-college, were quietly elected in the year 1569 After this for a long time, I supplied the place of university orator: and bestowed my time in the study of sundry faculties, without any inclination to profess any one above the rest: Insomuch, as at last, I waxed desirous to travel beyond the seas, for the attaining to the knowledg of some special modern tongues; and for my increase of experience in managing affairs, being wholly then addicted to employ myself, and all my affairs, in the publick service of the state. My resolution fully taken, I departed out of England, A. 1576, and continued abroad very near four years, and that in sundry parts of Italy, France, and Germany. A good while after my return, I was employed by the Queen to Frederick, father to the present King of Denmark, to Julius, Duke of Brunswick, to William Lantgrave of Hess, and other German Princes. The effect of my message was, to draw them to joyn their forces with hers, for giving assistance to the King of Navar, now Hen. 4th, of France. My next employment was to Hen. 3d, at such time as he was enforced by the Duke of Guise to fly out of Paris : Which I performed in such manner as I had in charge, with extraordinary secresy; not being accompanied with any one servant, (for so much was I commanded) nor with any other letters than such as were written with the Queen's own hand to the King, and some selected persons about him : The effect of that message it is fit that I should conceal; but it tended to the good not only of the King, but all the protestants in France, and the duke's apparent overthrow. It so befel after this, in the year —88, that for the better conduct of her majesty's affairs in the provinces united, I was thought a fit person to reside in those parts, and was sent hereupon to the Hague in Holland." ("Worthies of Devon." pp. 92-3.)

6. "Bodley," says Manningham, "followed the Earl of Essex till his fall." The following, however, is his own account of his connexion with the Earl: "From the very first day I had none more my friend, among the lords of the council, than was the lord treasurer Burleigh. For when any occasion had been offered to declare his conceipt, as touching my service, he would always tell the Queen, (which I received from herself, and some other ear-witnesses) that there was not any man in England so meet as myself, to undergo the secretary's office. And since, his son, the present lord treasurer, hath signified unto me, in private conference, that when his father first intended to advance him to that place, his purpose was withal to make me his colleague. But the case stood thus on my behalf: Before such time as I returned from the Provinces United, which was in the year 1597, and likewise after my return, the Earl then of Essex, did use me so kindly, both by messages and letters, and other great tokens of his inward favour to me; that although I had no meaning but to settle in my mind my chief dependance on my Lord Burleigh, as one that I reputed best able, and therewithal most willing, to work my advancement with the Queen: Yet I know not how, the earl, who sought by all devices to divert her love and liking, both from the father and the son, but from the son in special, to withdraw my affections from the one and the other, and to win me to depend altogether upon himself, did so often take occasion to entertain the Queen with some prodigal speeches of my sufficiency for a secretary, which were ever accompanied with words of disgrace against the present lord treasurer, as neither she, of whose favour before I was throughly assured, took any great pleasure to prefer me the sooner, for she hated his ambition, and would give little countenance to any of his followers, and both the lord treasurer and his son waxed jealous of my courses; as if, underhand, I had been induced, by the cunning and kindness of the Earl of Essex, to oppose myself against their dealings. And tho' in truth they had no solid ground at all of the least alteration in my disposition, towards either of them both, (for I did greatly respect their persons and places, with a settled resolution to do them any service, as also I detested in my heart to be held of any faction whatsoever) yet the now lord treasurer, upon occasion of some talk I have since had with him, of the earl and his actions, hath freely confessed of his own accord to me, that his daily provocations were so bitter and sharp, and his comparisons so odious, when he put us in a ballance, as he thought thereupon, he had very good reason, to use his best means to put any man out of hope of raising his fortune, whom the earl, with such violence, to his extream prejudice, had endeavoured to dignif : And this, as he affirmed, was all the motive he had to set himself against me, in whatsoever might redound to the bettering of my estate, or encreasing my credit and countenance with the Queen. When I had thoroughly bethought myself, first in the earl, of the slender holdfast he had in the Queen's favour, and of an endless opposition of the chiefest of our statesmen, like still to wait upon him; of his perilous, feeble, and uncertain advice, as well in his own, as in cases of all his friends; and moreover, when I had considered, how very untowardly these two counsellors stood affected unto me, (upon whom, in cogitation, I had framed all my future prosperity) how ill it did concur with my nature, to become or be accounted a stickler or partaker in public faction, how well I was able (by God's blessing) to live of myself, if I could be content with a. competent livelihood, how short a time of future life I was to expect, by common course of nature; when I had, I say, in this manner, represented to my thoughts my particular estate, together with the earls, I resolved thereupon to possess my soul in peace all the residue of my days; to take my full farewel of state employments; to satisfy my mind with that mediocrity of worldly living that I have of mine own, and so to retire me from the court, which was the epilogue, and end of all my actions and endeavours* of any important note, till I came to the age of fifty-three years." ("Worthies of Devon." pp. 94-5.)]

Footnote
(*) Trans. Devon. Assoc., 1872, vol. v. p. 331.