Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk

Henry Brandon at the age of 5, miniature by Hans Holbein the Younger , 1541

Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (born September 18, 1535 in Barbican , London , † July 14, 1551 in Buckden near Huntingdon ) was an English nobleman and the eldest son of Charles Brandon, 1. Duke of Suffolk and his fourth wife Katherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby . Through his half-sister Frances Brandon he was the uncle of Queen Jane Gray , the so-called Nine Day Queen .

He is not to be confused with his older half-brother of the same name, Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln .

Life

When his father died in 1545, Henry inherited the Duke of Suffolk title at the age of only nine . As a minor, however, he was not entitled to take part in parliamentary sessions, but only took on ceremonial tasks. In 1547 he carried in the coronation procession of Edward VI. the orb and was struck together with his younger brother Charles as part of the Knight of the Bath celebrations .

His parents tried to ensure as much contact as possible between Henry and the heir to the throne, Edward Tudor, who was only 2 years younger, and so he was brought up at court together with the young Prince of Wales (later Edward VI). But he soon continued his education with his brother at St John's College (Cambridge) , because he "wanted to be among scholars".

When the English sweat broke out in Cambridge in July 1551 , Henry and his brother fled to the village of Buckden to avoid the epidemic, but they both fell ill that evening and Henry died the next day at the age of 15. His brother only survived him by about an hour.

A contemporary report tells how the boy was struck by a premonition of death: "The older one, sitting happily at the table in the evening, said [to his hostess]:" Oh Lord, where will we eat tomorrow night? "Whereupon she, who took care of it, yet said comfortingly, "I am sure, my lord, either here or elsewhere in the house of one of your friends." "No," he replied, "we shall never dine together in this world again, be sure of that." and with that, because he saw that the lady was uncomfortable, he made a joke of it, and spent the rest of dinner happily, and that same night after the twelfth hour, it was the 14th of July, he fell ill and was so the next morning, at the seventh hour brought to God. "

Henry and Charles had evidently been promising students, for Sir Thomas Wilson, their old teacher, wrote a Latin memorandum for them after their death, Vita et obitus duorum fratrum Suffolcensium, and dedicated a laudatory section to them in his book The Arte of Rhetorique . He writes about Henry that he was “in addition to his other intellectual abilities that exceeded those of all others and were almost unbelievable”, an enthusiastic and talented rider and joiner who “was so skillful in lancing, although only 14 years old, that some Soldat even today laments the loss of such an honorable gentleman. "

With the brothers' untimely death, the Brandon house died out in the male line and the title of Duke of Suffolk reverted to the crown. In the same year, however, the title Iure uxoris (by law of the wife) was bestowed on Henry Gray , the husband of her half-sister Frances .

literature

• Hugh Chisholm : The Encyclopædia Britannica : A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information. Volume XXVI, University Press, Cambridge 1911.
• Steven J. Gunn: Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, c. 1484-1545. Blackwell Publishing, Williston 1988, ISBN 0-631-15781-6 ( archive.org , via his father)
• Evelyn Read: My Lady Suffolk, A Portrait of Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk. Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1963, (via his mother).
• David Starkey (Ed.): Rivals in Power: Lives and Letters of the Great Tudor Dynasties. Macmillan, London 1990, ISBN 0-333-51452-1 .
• Thomas Wilson: The Arte of Rhetorique. 1560; edited by GH Mair, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1909 ( archive.org ).
• James Gairdner :  Brandon, Henry and Charles . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 6:  Bottomley - Browell. , MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1886, p. 222 (English).

Web links

• Crypt of the brothers in the churchyard of St. Mary's Church in Buckden
• Portrait and background at The Royal Collection

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Evelyn Read: My Lady Suffolk, A Portrait of Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk. Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1963, p. 63.
2. ^ Steven J. Gunn: Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, c. 1484-1545. Blackwell Publishing, Williston 1988, p. 221.
3. ↑ Brandon, Henry . In: John Venn , John Archibald Venn (eds.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Part 1: From the earliest times to 1751 , volume 1 : Abbas-Cutts . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1922, pp. 206 ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk Textarchiv - Internet Archive ). “ BRANDON, HENRY (Duke of Suffolk) Adm. with Charles (above) at ST JOHN'S, 1549 […] Henry obtained a grace for MA, but died, of the sweating sickness, before inception ”
4. ↑ Thomas Wilson: The Arte of Rhetorique. P. 16 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive “ Afterward coming from the Court, as one that was desirous to be among the learned, he lay in Cambridge together with his brother […] ”
5. ↑ The Shortest Peerage ( Memento of October 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), note on the story on the buckden-village.co.uk website, as of October 30, 2008, on the Internet Archive at archive.org, viewed July 16 2011 (English), also here ( Memento from February 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ Thomas Wilson: The Arte of Rhetorique. P. 68 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ). “ 'The elder, sitting at supper and very merry, said sodainly to that right honest matrone, and godly gentlewoman, that most faithful and long assured servant of yours: Oh Lorde, were shall we sup tomorrow at night?' whereupon she being troubled and yet saying comfortably, 'I trust, my lord, either here or elsewhere at some of your friend's houses.' 'Nay,' quoth he, 'we shall never sup together again in this world be you well assured, and with that, seeing the gentlewoman discomfited, turned it unto mirth and passed the rest of his supper with much joy, and the same night after twelve of the clock, being the fourteenth of July sickened and so was taken the next morning, about seven of the clock to the mercy of God. ' ”
7. ↑ luminarium.org
8. ↑ David Starkey (ed.): Rivals in Power: Lives and Letters of the Great Tudor Dynasties Macmillan, London 1990, p. 176.
9. ↑ Thomas Wilson: The Arte of Rhetorique. S. 14 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ) “ […] (besides his other gifts of the minde, which passed all other, and were almost incredible) […] could dooe so well in charging his Staffe, being but xiiii yeeres of age , that men of warre, even at this howre, mone much the lack of such a worthy gentleman ”

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles Brandon	Duke of Suffolk 1545-1551	Charles Brandon