John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford

The Earl of Bedford
John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, by Hans Holbein the Younger
Born	c. 1485
Died	14 March 1554/1555
Spouse	Anne Sapcote
Parents	James Russell and Alice Wyse

John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, KG, PC, JP (c. 1485 – 14 March 1554/1555) was an English royal minister in the Tudor era. He served variously as Lord High Admiral and Lord Privy Seal.

Among lands and property he was given by Henry VIII after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, were the Abbey and town of Tavistock, and the area that is now Covent Garden.

Russell is the ancestor of all subsequent Earls and Dukes of Bedford and Earls Russell, including John Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Background

John Russell was born ca. 1485 probably at Berwick-by-Swyre, Dorset, the son of James Russell (d. Nov. 1505) and his first wife Alice Wise, daughter of Thomas Wise of Sidenham, near Tavistock, Devon. James's father was possibly William Russell, but more likely his brother John Russell (d. pre November, 1505) by his wife Alice Froxmere, daughter of John Froxmere of Droitwich, Worcs. John was the son of Henry Russell (d. 1463/4), and Elizabeth Herring, daughter of John Herring of Chaldon Herring. Henry, great-grandfather of the 1st Earl, was a substantial wine merchant and shipper, who represented Weymouth in the House of Commons four times. The Russell pedigree can only be traced back with certainty to Henry Russell's father, Stephen Russell, the evidence being contained in a deed of April 1440 in which Henry Russell made over to his daughter Cristina and her husband Walter Cheverell of Chauntemarle, a tenement in Dorchester to be held of himself and his heirs upon rent of a red rose. In the deed Henry referred to himself as son and heir of Stephen Russell and of Alice his wife. This Alice appears to have been the heir general of the De la Tour family, which had long owned Berwick-by-Swyre, and by whom therefore the manor was brought into the Russell family. Both Henry and Stephen were referred to as Gascoigne as well as Russell, possibly due to their wine trade with France, as in a 1442 pardon under the Privy Seal referring to Henry Russell of Weymouth, merchant, alias Henry Gascoign, gentleman. It was long believed in the noble Russell family, certainly by the 2nd Earl of Bedford, that the family was descended from the ancient family of Russell of Kingston Russell in Dorset, three miles NE of Berwick, which descent was declared unproven by Gladys Scott Thomson, FRHist.Soc., in her Two Centuries of Family History, London (1930), an exhaustive and scholarly work on the early pedigree of the Earls of Bedford. For a disambiguation of the Bedford Russells and the Russells of Kingston Russell, see Kingston Russell.

Biography

Arms of John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford. The 3 scallop shells in-chief may be a reference to the family's trade of carrying pilgrims to Bordeaux, en-route for St James de Compostella

In 1506 John Russell was of service to Philip of Austria and Juana his wife (King and Queen of Castile) when they were shipwrecked off Weymouth, and was introduced to the Court by them. He became Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Henry VII in 1507 and Henry VIII in 1509, who employed him in various military and diplomatic missions during the War of the League of Cambrai. He was at the taking of Thérouanne and Tournai. He was knighted on 2 July 1522 after losing an eye at the taking of Morlaix in Brittany, and he witnessed the Battle of Pavia.

In the spring of 1526, he married Anne Sapcote, widow of John Broughton and of Sir Richard Jerningham, and daughter of Sir Guy Sapcote and his wife Margaret Wolston, and made alterations to Chenies Manor House to reflect his new good fortunes. He now stood in favor with the King and Cardinal Wolsey, though he would not suffer disgrace at the fall of the latter.

He was made Sheriff of Dorset and Somerset in 1528 and served as Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire 1529–1536, retaining the royal favor despite the antipathy of Anne Boleyn. Late in 1536, he was made a Privy Counsellor, and helped to suppress the Pilgrimage of Grace.

The fall and execution of the Marquess of Exeter left a vacuum of power in the southwestern counties of England, which Russell would be called upon to fill. On 9 March 1538/1539 he was created Baron Russell, and appointed Lord President of the Council of the West. In the next month, he was made a Knight of the Garter. In July 1539 he was made High Steward of Cornwall, and Lord Warden of the Stannaries.

The Council of the West proved unsuccessful as an instrument of government, and did not survive the fall of Cromwell. Russell, however, remained a great magnate in the western counties, and obtained the office of Lord High Admiral in 1540. (The previous holder, the Earl of Southampton, replaced Cromwell as Lord Privy Seal.) After Henry VIII met Anne of Cleves at Rochester, the next day he asked Russell if he thought her fair? Russell replied he took her not to be fair, but of a brown complexion. In 1542, Russell himself resigned the Admiralty and succeeded to the Privy Seal on the death of Southampton. He was High Steward of the University of Oxford from 1543 till his death.

During the Italian War of 1542, he unsuccessfully besieged Montreuil in 1544, and was Captain General of the Vanguard of the army for the attack on Boulogne in 1545. He was a close companion of Henry VIII during the last years of his reign. On Henry's death, he was one of the executors of the King's will, and one of sixteen counsellors during the minority of Edward VI.

On 16 June 1553 he was one of the twenty-six Peers who signed the settlement of the crown on Lady Jane Grey. He was sent to attend Philip II into England on his coming from Spain to wed the Queen.

He died 14 March 1554/1555 and was buried at Chenies, Buckinghamshire, in the private Bedford Chapel of the church next to his manor there.

Russell is the ancestor of all subsequent Earls and Dukes of Bedford and Earls Russell, including John Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Properties and titles

On the dissolution of the greater monasteries Henry VIII granted him lands and properties including the Cistercian Abbey at Dunkeswell, Devon, the Abbey of Tavistock, Devon, and the town of Tavistock. He was also granted seven acres (28,000 m²) called "Long Acre", and the kitchen garden of Westminster Abbey, which is now the site of "Covent Garden". He was Lord High Steward for Edward's coronation 20 February 1547. He was created Earl of Bedford on 19 January 1549/1550 for his assistance in carrying out the order of the Council against "images" and for promoting the new religion. In 1552, he was made Lord Lieutenant of Devon.

Sources

• Wiffen, J.H. Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell from the Time of the Norman Conquest, (2 Vols.) Vol.1, London, 1833. Fatally flawed in its erroneous linkage of the Russell Earls of Bedford with the "baronial" Russells of Kingston Russell.
• Round, J. Horace, Studies in Peerage & Family History, London, 1901, vol.2, pp.250-279, "The Origin of the Russells". A severe and detailed critique of the work of Wiffen.
• Gladys Scott Thomson, FRHist.Soc., Two Centuries of Family History, London,1930. (An early pedigree of the Earls of Bedford, building on J. Horace Round's critique of Wiffen)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 48, 2004, pp. 278 et.seq.

External links

• John Russell at Tudor Place
• Stephen Russell at Genealogics
• Chenies Manor House Chenies Manor House

Political offices
Preceded by William Fitzwilliam	Lord High Admiral 1540–1542	Succeeded by Edward Seymour
	Lord Privy Seal 1542–1555	Succeeded by William Paget
Preceded by Sir William Paulet	Comptroller of the Household 1537–1539	Succeeded by Sir William Kingston
Preceded by Unknown	Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall 1552–1554	Succeeded by The Earl of Bath
	Lord Lieutenant of Devon and Dorset 1552–1555
	Lord Lieutenant of Somerset 1552–1555	Succeeded by Unknown
Court offices
Preceded by The Marquess of Exeter	Lord Warden of the Stannaries 1539–1555	Succeeded by The Earl of Bedford
Peerage of England
New title	Earl of Bedford 1551–1555	Succeeded by Francis Russell
	Baron Russell (descended by acceleration) 1539–1553