Click2Flicks - The Musketeer - Chapter 8

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE MUSKETEER</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 8 - LORD BUCKINGHAM</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3"><a href="http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/r/rubens/41portra/09buckin.jpg" target="_blank"><b>George Villiers</b></a> was a man with a past. A <a href="http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/r/rubens/41portra/09buckin.html" target="_blank"><b>favorite</b></a> of <a href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/palaces/holyrood/img06.htm" target="_blank"><b>James I</b></a> (of England) and VI (of Scotland), his rise to rank and power had been "<a href="http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/lieutenancy/permanent_lieutenants/george_villiers.htm" target="_blank"><b>meteoric</b></a>." Not a few people speculated (and gossiped) about his real relationship with the king (whose mother was the executed Mary, Queen of Scots). Surviving letters from James I/VI to Villiers add credence to such rumors.</p> <p>When the king created a special <a href="http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/OTHERREFERENCE/FORMSOFADDRESS/OrdBritPeer.html" target="_blank"><b>peerage</b></a> for Villiers, conferring on him the new landed title of <a href="http://www.hereditarytitles.com/Page12.html" target="_blank"><b>Duke</b></a> of Buckingham, many people were upset. Near the end of his life, James had effectively given <a href="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herrick/buckingham.htm" target="_blank"><b>Buckingham</b></a> the power to run England. Disregarding the concerns of Parliament, the king alienated his subjects. It is said he was “unlamented” when he died in 1625.</p> <p>After <a href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/images2/history/charles1b.htm" target="_blank"><b>Charles I</b></a> took the throne of England and Scotland, following his father’s death of a stroke, Buckingham’s influence continued. So did problems with Parliament whose members were upset with flagrant royal spending and bad foreign policy. Adding to the trouble was the king’s arranged marriage to <a href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/images2/history/charles1a.htm" target="_blank"><b>Henrietta-Marie</b></a>, the 15-year-old <a href="http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Rulers/bourbon.html" target="_blank"><b>daughter</b></a> of Henri IV and Marie de Medici. A devout French Catholic, the new queen was not a welcome addition at the English court.</p> <p>Buckingham, meanwhile, continued to exert influence (mostly bad) and amass wealth and power (including lands <a href="http://www.four-courts-press.ie/cgi/bookshow.cgi?file=buckingh.xml" target="_blank"><b>in Ireland</b></a>). His <a href="http://www.npg.org.uk/live/room_detail.asp?mkey=mw00882" target="_blank"><b>marriage</b></a> to Lady Katharine Manners (the richest heiress in England) produced a son (George, later the <a href="http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/kinney/medium/duke.jpg" target="_blank"><b>2nd Duke</b></a> of Buckingham) and a daughter (<a href="http://www.marquise.de/1600/pics/1636_2.shtml" target="_blank"><b>Mary</b></a>), but it wasn’t a good match. It is said that Buckingham commissioned a <a href="http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/art-vandyck-scipio.htm" target="_blank"><b>painting</b></a> by Sir Anthony Van Dyck to reflect the sad state of the Villiers’ marriage.</p> <p>When Charles I decided to help the Huguenots of La Rochelle, he sent Buckingham (referred to in Parliament as the "grievance of grievances") to lead the expedition. It was - to put it mildly - a disastrous move.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="the_musketeer_ch7.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="the_musketeer_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="the_musketeer_ch9.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>