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Henri Cleutin

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Henri Cleutin, seigneur d'Oisel et de Villeparis (1510 – 20 June 1566), was the representative of France in Scotland from 1546 to 1560, and a Gentleman of the Chamber of the King of France.

Rough Wooing to Reformation

Cleutin was usually known as Monsieur d'Oisel, or d'Oysel, ambassador resident and the King's lieutenant-general in Scotland. In November 1546 d'Oisel teamed up with Adam Otterburn to negotiate peace with Henry VIII of England. The mission was not a success and other ambassadors noticed their bickering.[1] After the defeat at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, d'Oisel and Mary of Guise rode to Stirling Castle, d'Oisel, according to Knox, was as scared as a fox being smoked in his hole.[2] When André de Montalembert sieur d'Esse spoke at the parliament at Haddington on 7 July 1548, proposing the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin, D'Oisel as ambassador accepted the unanimous approval.[3] D'Oisel, not Châtelherault, was left in charge of Scotland when Mary of Guise the Queen Dowager visited France in 1551.[4] At this height of the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland the Emperor's envoy to Edinburgh, Mathieu Strick, reported that d'Oisel wielded almost sovereign authority in matters of state and justice.[5] Unlike other French administrators employed by the Scottish court, such as Yves de Rubay, contemporary sources point to his popularity amongst the Scottish nobility. Even an English observer, Sir Thomas Wharton observed of Guise and d'Oisel, 'all in Scotland obey and lyketh them.'[6] Later Scottish Protestant chronicle writers George Buchanan and Robert Lyndsay of Pitscottie agree on his ability and singular good judgment.[7]

The peace concluded with England, France and Scotland after the war of the Rough Wooing (1543–1551) did not necessarily please Spain and the Empire. In October 1552, some of d'Oisel's correspondence with Mary of Guise and Henry II of France was seized by the Queen Dowager Regent of the Low Countries, including a letter about the arrest of an Irishman, George Paris.[8] When Mary of Guise complained, the Dowager Regent replied that she found her letters to d'Oisel were inappropriate by not showing true and sincere friendship to the Emperor, and in fact expressed joy over the destruction and servitude of her own house (the House of Stewart).[9] When Guise became Regent of Scotland on 12 April 1554, d'Oisel rode with her from Holyroodhouse to the Tolbooth to collect the sword, sceptre and crown from Arran.[10]

The Reformation Crisis

When the Lords of the Congregation rose against the rule of Mary of Guise, d'Oisel commanded the French troops. Pitscottie gives a good account of a stand-off near Coupar, Fife, between the Lords and d'Oisel and Châtelherault in command of a French and Scottish army.[11] D'Oisel signed the Articles of Leith on behalf of Guise on 25 July 1559, these were the terms made for the withdrawal of the Congregation forces from Edinburgh to Stirling. In November 1559, d'Oisel worked with Jacques de la Brosse drawing up charges of treason against the Congregation Lords, Châtelherault, and Arran.[12]

According to John Knox, in January d'Oisel was marching troops towards St Andrews when the English fleet was sighted. William Kirkcaldy destroyed the bridge at Tullibody to cut off their retreat to Edinburgh. To bridge the Devon, a French engineer in his company dismantled the roof of Tullibody Kirk.[13] In February 1560 he came from Stirling to Edinburgh and burnt Kinneil House on the way.[14] On 18 March 1560 he defeated a small Scots force at Glasgow bridge.

When the Chester Herald, William Flower, delivered a message from Norfolk claiming that the English fleet had arrived in the Firth by accident, d'Oisel replied in defiance,"What got Mary Tudor by her last wars?"[15] After Mary of Guise died in 1560 the Siege of Leith continued. d'Oisel vowed to defend the poor of the town who were gathering cockles on the shore from the English, and he was still within the town at the end of the siege. When peace was concluded, Sir Francis Leake and Sir Gervase Clifton came to his lodging for a banquet where no meat or fish was served, except one dish of horse.[16] D'Oisel left Scotland on 18 July 1560 in the English ship, the Minion with 40 companions.[17]

Mary, Queen of Scots, then living in France, sent him to Elizabeth a year later to obtain a passport and safe-conduct for her voyage to Scotland. Elizabeth did not oblige, wishing Mary to ratify the Treaty of Edinburgh which d'Oisel had helped draft, and kept d'Oisel waiting. William Maitland approved of this, but learnt that Mary would sail anyway.[18] Cleutin returned to France and continued to serve Mary. In March 1565, Thomas Randolph heard he was in Rome trying to arrange for Mary to marry the French king.[19]

Henri first married Jeanne de Thouars; they had three children in Scotland. His second wife was Jeanne de Chasteigner.[20]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Merriman, Marcus, The Rough Wooing, Tuckwell (2000), 220.
  2. ^ Knox, John, History of the Reformation, Book 2, e.g., Lennox, Cuthbert ed., (1905), 103.
  3. ^ Thomson, Thomas, ed., Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. 2, (1814), 481.
  4. ^ Ritchie, Pamela, Mary of Guise, Tuckwell (2002), 127-9.
  5. ^ Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 10 (1914), 339.
  6. ^ Ritchie, Pamela, Mary of Guise, (2002), 128 & 128 n.23.
  7. ^ Lindsay, Robert, History of Scotland, vol. 2 Edinburgh (1814), 513: Buchanan, George, History of Scotland, trans. Aikman (1827, 382, bk. 16 cap. 1.
  8. ^ HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 1 (1883), 100.
  9. ^ Calendar State Papers Spain, vol. 10 (1914), 608.
  10. ^ Lindsay, Robert, History of Scotland, vol. 2 Edinburgh (1814), 514.
  11. ^ Lindsay of Pitscottie, Robert, History of Scotland, Edinburgh (1814), 536-545.
  12. ^ Ritchie, Pamela, Mary of Guise, Tuckwell (2002),236-7.
  13. ^ Laing, David, ed., 'John Knox's 'History of the Reformation', Book 3,' The Works of John Knox, vol. 2, Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh (1848), p. 14
  14. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (1898), 313.
  15. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (1898), 322.
  16. ^ "Holinshed, Raphael, Chronicles, (1577)".
  17. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (1898), 426, 449, 455.
  18. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (1898), 413, 538-40, 444.
  19. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (1900), 130.
  20. ^ "Villeparisise Histoire".

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