Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour, PC (bef. 23 February 1607/828 December 1694) was a Peer of England during the 17th century, and the most famous of the Lords Arundell of Wardour. He served as Lord Privy Seal and Lord High Steward, and was appointed to the Privy Council. During the Popish Plot he suffered a long period of imprisonment, although he was never brought to trial.

Early life

thumb|upright|Lord Arundell's mother, Blanche Somerset

He was baptised on 23 February 1607/8 at St Andrew, Holborn, London. On the death of his father, who had been mortally wounded at the Battle of Stratton, on 19 May 1643 he succeeded to his estates and to his titles, which included that of Count of the Holy Roman Empire. Throughout his life a devoted Roman Catholic, he fought like his father on the side of Charles I in the First English Civil War. In May 1643 the parliamentarians wrested his ancestral home Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, from his mother Lady Blanche Arundell who was defending it. In the following September Arundell laid siege to the castle and its new occupiers and fought in the re-taking from the rebels. By springing a mine and ruining the building, he finally dislodged the enemy under General Edmund Ludlow in March 1644, partly destroying it to prevent it being used as a fortress.

Career

On 13 May 1652 he acted as one of the seconds of his brother-in-law Colonel Henry Compton, in a duel with George Brydges, 6th Baron Chandos. Compton was killed, and a warrant was issued by the council of state to arrest Arundell with others who had taken part. On 17 May 1653, he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to be burned in the hand. In that year Arundell appears to have petitioned Oliver Cromwell for pardon, and in 1656 to have received permission to take refuge in France. At the Restoration of Charles II, Arundell, on paying £35,000, was confirmed in all his family estates, many of which had been sold by the Commonwealth to Humphrey Weld. He regained possession of Wardour, but never had the money to properly rebuild it. On 7 March 1663 he was nominated and held the office of Master of the Horse to the Queen-Mother, Henrietta Maria. Between October 1678 and February 1684 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, along with other "Popish" peers, on the accusation of Titus Oates.

The charges were patently absurd: among other unlikely accusations, Arundell was alleged to have conspired with his fellow Catholic peer, William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford (who was executed in 1680 for his supposed part in the Plot), although it was common knowledge that following a bitter quarrel they had not spoken to each other for some 25 years. Far from having any motive to kill the King, both were well aware of how much they had gained from his policy of religious tolerance. As Stafford sensibly remarked, simple self-interest dictated that the Catholic peerage should remain loyal to Charles ll, who in his later years was an all but open Catholic himself, whereby: "we have no interest but to be quiet". Arundell was friendly with Lord Belasyse, who like Arundell suffered a term of imprisonment as a supposed Plotter, and with the civil servant Edward Colman, an ardent Catholic who was executed for his supposed part in the Plot in December 1678, but there is no reason to think that there was anything sinister about these friendships. During his imprisonment in 1679, Arundell wrote five short religious poems, published in a single folio sheet in 1679, and reissued in A Collection of Eighty-six Loyal Poems in 1685. He became the fourth Lord Arundell of Wardour, and was in the retinue of Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine on his visit to Pope Innocent XI as James II's ambassador.

  1. Hon. Henry Arundell. A settlement for the marriage between him and Mary Scrope was made on 10 February 1675. They had no issue.
  2. Hon. Cicely Arundell, d. 1717, a nun at Rouen, Caux, France. She entered the order of Poor Clares of Rouen in 1662, and died at Rouen on 13 June 1717, at the age of eighty-two.

Ancestry

{| class="wikitable"

|+Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour's ancestors in three generations

|-

|-

| rowspan="8" align="center"| Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour

| rowspan="4" align="center"| Father:<br />Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour

| rowspan="2" align="center"| Paternal Grandfather:<br />Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour

| align="center"| Paternal Great-grandfather:<br />Sir Matthew Arundell, of Wardour Castle

|-

| align="center"| Paternal Great-grandmother:<br />Margaret Willoughby

|-

| rowspan="2" align="center"| Paternal Grandmother:<br />Mary Wriothesley, Baroness Arundell of Wardour

| align="center"| Paternal Great-grandfather:<br />Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton

|-

| align="center"| Paternal Great-grandmother:<br />Mary Browne

|-

| rowspan="4" align="center"| Mother:<br />Blanche Somerset, Baroness Arundell of Wardour

| rowspan="2" align="center"| Maternal Grandfather:<br />Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester

| align="center"| Maternal Great-grandfather:<br />William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester

|-

| align="center"| Maternal Great-grandmother:<br />Christian North

|-

| rowspan="2" align="center"| Maternal Grandmother:<br />Elizabeth Hastings

| align="center"| Maternal Great-grandfather:<br />Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon

|-

| align="center"| Maternal Great-grandmother:<br />Catherine Pole

|}

Notes

References

Attribution

  • The Wikisource article about his grandfather cited here also describes his biography.
  • Article on the first, second and third Lords Arundell of Wardour