Robert Carr, 1st and last Earl of Somerset

Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset

Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, (c. 1587 – 17 July 1645), was a politician, and favourite of King James VI and I.

Robert Kerr was born in Wrington, Somerset, England, the younger son of Sir Thomas Kerr (Carr) of Ferniehurst, Scotland, by his second wife, Janet, sister of Walter Scott of Buccleuch.[1] About the year 1601, while an obscure page to George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar, he met Sir Thomas Overbury in Edinburgh. The two became friends and travelled to London together. Overbury soon became secretary to Carr. When the latter embarked on his career at court, Overbury took the position of mentor, secretary and political advisor to his more charismatic friend, becoming the brains behind Carr's steady rise to prominence.

In 1607, Carr happened to break his leg at a tilting match, at which King James VI and I was in attendance. According to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, the king instantly fell in love with the young man, even helping nurse him back to health, all the while teaching him Latin.[2] The king subsequently knighted the young Carr and took him into favour. Sir Walter Raleigh had, through his attainder, forfeited his life-interest in the manor of Sherborne, even though he had previously executed a conveyance by which the property was to pass on his death to his eldest son (a conveyance which helped to codify many aspects of the United Kingdom's use of primogeniture, still in practice even today). Unfortunately for Raleigh, this document was rendered worthless by a flaw that gave the king eventual possession of the property. Acting on his Secretary of State, the Earl of Salisbury’s suggestion, James conferred the manor to Carr. The case was argued at law, and in 1609 judgment was given for the Crown. Apparently Lady Raleigh received some inadequate compensation, and Carr at once entered on possession. Carr's influence became such that in 1610 he was instrumental in persuading the king to dissolve Parliament, which had shown signs of attacking the king's Scottish favourites.[citation needed] On 24 March, 1611 he was bestowed Viscount Rochester, and subsequently a Privy Councillor.[3]

When Salisbury died in 1612, James had the notion of governing in person as his own chief Minister of State, with Carr carrying out many of Salisbury's former duties. But James's inability to attend closely to official business exposed the government to factionalism.[4] The Howard party, consisting of Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton; Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk; his son-in-law William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury; Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, and Sir Thomas Lake, soon took control of much of the government and its patronage. Even the powerful Carr, hardly experienced for the responsibilities thrust upon him and often dependent on his intimate friend Overbury for assistance with government papers,[5] fell into the Howard camp. He had done this after beginning an affair with Frances Howard, Lady Essex, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk.

Overbury mistrusted the Howards and still had Carr's ear, and tried to prevent the marriage. In order to remove him from court, the Howard faction manipulated Overbury into seeming to be disrespectful to the queen. They then persuaded the king to offer Overbury an assignment as ambassador to the court of Michael of Russia, aware that his refusal would be tantamount to treason. The plan worked and Overbury declined, wishing to remain in England and at his friend's side. On 22 April 1613 Overbury was placed in the Tower of London at the king's "request",[6] eventually dying there five months later on 15 September "of natural causes".

On 25 September 1613, and supported by the king, Essex obtained a decree of nullity of marriage against her husband, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex. On 3 November 1613 Carr was advanced to the Earldom of Somerset, on 23 December appointed Treasurer of Scotland. On 26 December, Lady Essex married Carr.

As the years progressed James showered Carr with more gifts, until 1615 when the two men had a falling out and Carr was replaced by George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. James wrote a letter that year detailing a list of complaints he then had against Carr. Carr still retained some favour, and might possibly have remained in power for some time longer but for the discovery in July of the murder of Overbury by poisoning.[7] At the infamous trial Sir Edward Coke and Sir Francis Bacon were set to unravel the plot. After four of the principal agents had been convicted and hanged at Tyburn, Carr and Howard were brought to trial. The latter confessed, and of her guilt there can be no doubt. Carr’s share is far more difficult to uncover, and probably will never be fully known. The evidence against him rested on mere presumption, and he consistently declared himself innocent. Probabilities are on the whole in favour of the hypothesis that he was no more than an accessory after the fact. Fearing Carr might seek to implicate him, James repeatedly sent messages to the Tower pleading with him to admit his guilt in return for a pardon stating, "It is easy to be seen that he would threaten me with laying an aspersion upon me of being, in some sort, accessory to his crime". The king eventually let matters take their course, and both Carr and Howard were found guilty and confined to the Tower. The sentence, however, was not carried into effect against either culprit. Howard was pardoned immediately, but both remained in the Tower until 1622.[3] Carr appears to have refused to buy forgiveness by concessions, and did not obtain his pardon until 1624. He emerged into public view only once more when, in 1630, he was prosecuted in the Star Chamber for communicating a paper recommending the establishment of arbitrary government by Robert Dudley to the Earl of Clare.

Carr died in July 1645, leaving one daughter, Anne, the sole issue of his ill-fated marriage, afterwards wife of the 1st Duke of Bedford.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Carr,_1st_Earl_of_Somerset

__________________

• Robert Carr, 1st and last Earl of Somerset1
• M, #12220, b. circa 1587, d. circa July 1645
• Last Edited=19 May 2011
• Consanguinity Index=0.44%
• Robert Carr, 1st and last Earl of Somerset was born circa 1587.3 He was the son of Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehirst and Janet Scott. He married Lady Frances Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk and Katherine Knyvett, on 26 December 1613.4 He died circa July 1645 at London, England, without male issue.5 He was buried on 17 July 1645.6
• He held the office of Gentleman of teh Bedchamber in 1607.6 He was invested as a Kngiht in 1607.6 In January 1608/9 he was granted the disgraced Sir Walter Ralegh's Sherborne estate in Dorset.6 He was Page of Honour to King James VI.6 In January 1609/10 he was granted the disgraced Lord Maxwell's estates in Scotland.6 He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.) in 1611.6 He held the office of Keeper of Westminster Palace in 1611.6 He was created 1st Viscount Rochester [England] on 25 March 1611.6 In July 1611 he was granted Rochester Castle.6 He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) in 1612.6 He held the office of Acting Secretary of State between 1612 and 1614.6 He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) [Scotland] in 1613.6 He was created 1st Earl of Somerset [England] on 3 November 1613.6 He was created 1st Baron Brancepeth, co. Durham [England] on 3 November 1613.6 He held the office of Lord Chamberlain from 1614 to 1615.6 He held the office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1614 to 1615.6 He held the office of Acting Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from 1614 to 1615.6 In 1616 he was, with his wife, found guilty of murder and imprisoned in teh Tower of London, but was pardoned in 1624.6 He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Biography.7
• Child of Robert Carr, 1st and last Earl of Somerset and Lady Frances Howard
  • Lady Anne Carr+1 b. 9 Dec 1615, d. 10 May 1684
• Citations
• [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume I, page 108. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• [S3409] Caroline Maubois, "re: Penancoet Family," e-mail message to Darryl Roger Lundy, 2 December 2008. Hereinafter cited as "re: Penancoet Family."
• [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume XII/1, page 66.
• [S37] BP2003 volume 2, page 1876. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S37]
• [S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume XII/1, page 68.
• [S37] BP2003. [S37]
• [S18] Matthew H.C.G., editor, Dictionary of National Biography on CD-ROM (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1995), Carr, Robert. Hereinafter cited as Dictionary of National Biography.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p1222.htm#i12220 _________________
• Robert Carr
• Birth: 1587
• Death: 1645
• Favourite courtier of James I until being eclipsed by the Duke of Buckingham. He became Earl of Somerset in 1613. In the same year he married Frances Howard, the Countess of Essex. Three years later, Carr and his wife fell from grace when the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury was revealed to have been arranged by them. They were sentenced to death and spent six years in prison before retiring into obscurity. A daughter of this marriage, Anne Carr, married into the Russell family (Dukes of Bedford), and Robert died living in the Russell-built Covent Garden.
• Family links:
• Spouse:
• Frances Howard (1591 - 1632)*
• Burial: St Paul Churchyard, Covent Garden, London Borough of Camden, Greater London, England
• Plot: unmarked
• Find A Grave Memorial# 14867247
• From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14867247 ____________
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 09
• Carr, Robert (d.1645) by Samuel Rawson Gardiner
• CARR, ROBERT, Earl of Somerset (d. 1645), or Ker, according to the Scottish spelling, was a younger son of Sir Thomas Ker of Ferniehurst, by his second wife, Janet, sister of Sir Walter Scott of Buccleugh. In Douglas's ‘Peerage,’ ii. 134, it is stated that he ‘served King James in the quality of a page, and, attending his majesty into England, was invested with the order of the Bath at his coronation.’ This last statement, though usually adopted, is erroneous. A list of the knights made at the coronation in Howes's continuation of Stow's ‘Chronicle,’ p. 827, gives the name of Sir Robert Carr of Newboth. If, as can hardly be doubted, Newboth is an English corruption of Newbottle, the person knighted was (as stated in Nichols's ‘Progresses,’ i. 222, note 5) the Robert Ker who subsequently became the second earl of Lothian.
• Robert Carr accompanied James to England as a page, but, being discharged soon after his arrival, went into France, where he remained for some time. Soon after his return, being in attendance upon Lord Hay or Lord Dingwall at a tilting match, he was thrown from his horse and broke his arm in the king's presence. James recognised his former page, and, being pleased with the youth's appearance, took him into favour (Wilson, in Kennet, ii. 686) and knighted him on 23 Dec. 1607.
• .... etc.
• In the winter session of 1610, Carr, irritated by the feeling displayed in the commons against Scottish favourites, incited his master against the house, and did his best to procure the dissolution which speedily followed (Correspondence in the Hatfield MS. 134). On 25 March 1611 he was created Viscount Rochester (Patent Rolls, 9 James I, Part 41, No. 14), being the first Scotchman promoted by James to a seat in the English House of Lords, as the right of sitting in parliament had been expressly reserved in the case of Hay.
• In 1612, upon Salisbury's death, Rochester, who had recently been made a privy councillor, was employed by James to conduct his correspondence, without the title of a secretary (cf. Court and Times of James I, 171,173,179). James seems to have thought that a young man with no special political principles would not only be a cheerful companion, but a useful instrument as well, and would gradually learn to model himself upon his master's ideas of statesmanship. He forgot that conduct is often determined by other motives than political principles. The new favourite was already in love with the Countess of Essex, a daughter of the influential Earl of Suffolk, and a great-niece of the still more influential Earl of Northampton, the leader of the political catholics.
• In the beginning of 1613 Lady Essex was thinking of procuring a sentence of nullity of marriage, which would set her free from a husband whom she detested, and enable her to marry Rochester. Her relatives, the chiefs of the Howard family, who had hitherto found Rochester opposed to their interests, grasped at the suggestion, and on 16 May a commission was appointed to try the case. James threw himself on the side of his favourite, and on 25 Sept. the commissioners pronounced, by a majority of seven to five, in favour of the nullity (State Trials, ii. 785).
• When Rochester began his courtship of Lady Essex, he had given his confidence to Sir Thomas Overbury, a man of intelligence and refinement. At first Overbury assisted Rochester in ‘the composition of his love-letters’ (Winwood, Memorials, iii. 478), but afterwards, perhaps when he had discovered that his patron contemplated marriage instead of an intrigue with a lady whose relations were the leaders of the Spanish party in England, Overbury threw all his influence into the opposite scale, and exposed himself to the fatal anger of Lady Essex.
• .... etc.
• Lady Essex's wrath was much more dangerous. She made up her mind that Overbury must be murdered to revenge his personal attack upon her character. She obtained the admission of a certain Weston as the keeper of Overbury in the Tower, and Weston was instructed to poison his prisoner. Weston, it seems, did not actually administer the poison, and Lady Essex is usually supposed—for the whole evidence at this stage is contradictory—to have mixed poison with some tarts and jellies which were sent by Rochester to Overbury as a means of conveying letters to him, the object of which was to assure him that Rochester and Northampton were doing everything in their power to hasten his delivery. Rochester, too, occasionally sent powders to Overbury, the object of which was said to be to give him the appearance of ill-health so that his friends might urge the king to release him. The evidence on the point whether the tarts were eaten by Overbury is again conflicting, but the fact that he did not die at the time seems to show that they remained untasted. Later on poison was administered in another way, and of this Overbury died. Whether Rochester was acquainted with the lady's proceedings can never be ascertained with certainty, though the evidence on the whole points to a favourable conclusion (Gardiner, History of England, ii. 183–6).
• At the time, at all events, no one guessed at the existence of this tragedy. Rochester was created Earl of Somerset on 3 Nov. 1613 (Patent Rolls, James I, Part 5, No. 20, misdated in Nicolas, Hist. Peerage), and on 23 Dec. he received a commission as treasurer of Scotland (Paper Register of the Great Seal, Book I, No. 214, communicated by T. Dickson, esq., chief of the historical department of the Register House, Edinburgh), and on 26 Dec. he was married in state to the murderess. Courtiers vied in making costly presents to the pair.
• .... etc.
• James had no intention of allowing either the earl or the countess to be executed. On 13 July 1615 a pardon was granted to the lady (State Trials, ii. 1005). Somerset was informed that his life would be spared, and a letter is extant (Cabala, i. 1) from the obscure phrases of which it would seem that an offer was made to him of leaving him at least part of his property if he would accept the intercession of a person unnamed, who was probably Villiers. Somerset, however, refused to do this, and strongly reasserted his innocence. Perhaps in consequence of this firmness, both he and his wife were kept in the Tower till January 1622, when they were allowed to exchange their captivity for residence at certain fixed places. At last Somerset received a formal pardon. The statement, often made, that James thought of taking him again into favour when he was displeased with Buckingham's conduct in 1624, is absolutely without foundation.
• In 1630 Somerset once more came before public notice, as being prosecuted in the Star-chamber, together with other more important personages, for having, in the preceding year, passed on to the Earl of Clare a paper written long before by Sir Robert Dudley, recommending James to establish arbitrary government. On 29 May he and the others implicated were told that, in consequence of the birth of the king's son, who was afterwards Charles II, the proceedings would be dropped (State Trials, iii. 396). After this Somerset remained in obscurity till his death, which took place in July 1645.
• [Gardiner's History of England, 1603–42, and the authorities quoted in the text.]
• From: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Carr,_Robert_(d.1645)_(DNB00) _______________________
• Frances HOWARD (C. Essex/C. Somerset)
• Born: 31 May 1589/90
• Died: 23 Aug 1632, Chiswick, Chiswick, England, England
• Buried: 27 Aug 1632, Saffron, Walden, Essex, England
• Notes: See her Biography. http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/FrancesHoward(CEssexCSomerset).htm
• Father: Thomas HOWARD (1° E. Suffolk)
• Mother: Catherine KNYVETT (C. Suffolk)
• Married 1: Robert DEVEREUX (3º E. Essex) 5 Jan 1605 Divorce 1613
• Married 2: Robert CARR (1º E. Somerset) (b. ABT 1587 - d. 17 Jul 1645, London - bur. St. Paul's Covent Garden) (son of Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehurst and Janet Scott) 26 Dec 1613, Chapel Royal, Whitehall Palace, London
• Children:
  • 1. Anne (Elizabeth) CARR (D. Bedford) (b. 9 Dec 1615, London - d. 10 May 1684 Woburn - bur. Chenies) (m. William Russell, 1° D. Bedford)
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/HOWARD4.htm#Frances HOWARD (C. Essex/C. Somerset) ___________________
• Links
• http://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I8155&tree=N...

________________________