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| Henry Vane the Younger, 1637 |
So imagine their
surprise when cocky, 24-year-old Henry Vane called a meeting on January 18, 1636,
about the “reconciliation” of Winthrop and Dudley. Among the citizens, factions
were forming for Winthrop and Dudley, said Vane. He was a new arrival to Boston in 1635, and came
with family wealth and royal court connections. He was popular with the people
of Boston and
the magistrates hoped for Vane’s brilliant career in colonial government.
Those present at the meeting were Governor John Haynes,
Reverends John Cotton, John Wilson, Thomas Hooker, and Hugh Peter, as well as
Winthrop and Dudley, of course.
“Vane declared the occasion of this meeting,” wrote Winthrop
in his Journal: “A more firm and friendly uniting of minds, etc.,
especially of the said Mr. Dudley and Mr. Winthrop, as those upon whom the
weight of the affairs did lie, and therefore desired all present to take up a
resolution to deal freely and openly with the parties, and they each with
other, that nothing might be left in their breasts, which might break out to
any jar or difference hereafter.”
After hearing Vane’s concern about the lack of hugs,
affectionate glances, Saturday barbecues, and warm fuzzies, Winthrop and Dudley protested (politely
and wordily) that they’d reconciled and healed their differences long ago, and
that they were “brothers,” and if people complained, that was their problem. Surely
these fiftyish men with dignitas were
annoyed at being called out to a “come to Jesus meeting” by a meddling
twenty-something newcomer. And seriously, wasn’t there some real business to conduct?
Governor Haynes requested that the ministers confer and
create a rule, and that they all should meet the next day. The conclusions of the ministers were that
- there should be “more strictness used in civil government and military discipline;”
- that the magistrates should confer privately, decide cases and deliver their verdicts with a face of unanimity;
- not to discuss cases out of court;
- speak not to the person but to the cause of a case;
- not to make faces or continue to argue against fellow magistrates when disagreeing;
- and that the magistrates should appear “more solemnly in public, with attendance, apparel [a dig at the dandily-dressed Henry Vane], and open notice of their entrance into the court.”
- And further, that the magistrates should be more open and familiar with each other, visit more frequently, and honor the others.
(As for the Massachusetts Bay
governors’ council and their resolution for charity and professional
comportment at the conclusion of Henry Vane’s warm-fuzzy meeting, in the autumn
of 1637, when these magistrates and ministers were trying Anne Hutchinson for
heresy, they made personal attacks on her, and showed open contempt and disdain.
Their emotions ran so high that they seemed to forget the rules of conduct laid
out and agreed to in 1635. When Hutchinson
desired to know how she deserved the banishment sentence, John Winthrop
snapped, “Say no more! The court knows whereof and is satisfied.”)
It’s quite possible that Henry Vane was already well-acquainted with
William Dyer and his former master,
Walter Blackborne, both of whom had lived near the Thames in Westminster and were taxed in the same
parish (St. Martin-in-the-Fields) as Henry’s father had been. Vane and Dyer, who were about four years
apart in age, were admitted to freeman status (voters and members of the church
and community) at the same time.
When Henry Vane first arrived in Boston,
he was admired for his Puritan fervor, his government connections in England,
and his family’s money (rich people were obviously
blessed by God). His father, Henry Vane the Elder, who was an Anglican, had
given his eldest son and heir leave to spend three years in New England, and it
seemed Henry was actually headed to Connecticut, but Boston caught him and
there he stayed. John Winthrop was peeved at Henry’s flamboyance with his
apparel and his attendants (what you might call a posse).
Soon, Henry became a supporter of Anne Hutchinson and her
teachings, along with the Dyers and many other men and women of Boston, and that really infuriated Winthrop. Henry, a single man, lived in the very nice home of Rev. John Cotton, one of the "stars" in the Boston firmament, and many of the Hutchinson teaching sessions revolved around the sermons of her mentor of 20 years, Rev. Cotton. Henry was in the very heart of the biggest thing to come down the turnpike—except that the Massachusetts Turnpike wouldn't be built for 320 years!
In May 1636, the young Henry Vane was elected governor of Massachusetts Bay and directed a military action against
the Pequot natives; within seven months, he attempted resignation in tears, but
was urged to complete his year’s term. In March 1637, he and scores of other
men signed a Remonstrance against the governors’ council in their heavy handling of
the Wheelwright controversy, and that was called sedition by that council (the
council retaliated in November of that year). In May 1637, he was replaced as governor by
John Winthrop’s reelection.
Henry Vane may have been
planning to lead a group of investors and important members of Boston,
to a new “plantation” in Rhode Island.
Members of the Wheelwright faction, who had signed the Remonstrance, were
dissatisfied with the politics and governance of John Winthrop and the deputy
governors and ministers, and were planning a move as early as the summer of 1637, before Anne
Hutchinson’s first trial for heresy, and her exile from Massachusetts. Losing these men’s business
skills and financial assets would be an economic setback to Boston, and they’d be too far away for the
magistrates and ministers to control. The renegades were talking with Roger Williams and
the Narragansett Indians about purchasing Aquidneck Island—which
they did in the early winter of 1638 when it was obvious that Anne Hutchinson and her adherents were being banished, and they were forced to accelerate their plans.
But Henry abruptly sailed back to England in August 1637, a year
early. The same month, the Bay's ministers held a convocation to affirm their belief in salvation (only for the Elect or predestined) confirmed by keeping the Sinai Laws, and decry the Hutchinson teaching of salvation by faith in the grace of God, apart from the law. At the meeting, they set a November date for Anne Hutchinson's heresy trial.
Henry Vane took up naval administration with favorable professional advancement
courtesy of his powerful father. By 1640, he was knighted, married to the daughter of
Parliament’s treasurer, and started a large brood of children. As a Puritan, he
supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War of the 1640s, and was appointed Treasurer of the Navy. He continued to have an important, respected role in Great Britain's relations with its American colonies.
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| An official letter signed by Henry Vane in 1643 (second, centered). |
When Mary Dyer gave birth to her seventh child in 1648, the baby was named Henry—almost certainly in honor of Sir Henry Vane. (Her eighth child, born in 1650, was named after King Charles I, who had been executed the year before.)
During the 1650s, Vane was at times the head of the English
government, when the council presidency rotated around to him. In 1652, he (as one of the Council of State)
commissioned William Dyer as Admiral
in the Anglo-Dutch war. Vane retired to Raby Castle in County Durham
(which his father had bought from the Crown in 1626), with his wife and large family,
and wrote several books that would be criticized for their liberality of
thought, especially as regarded liberty of conscience.
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| Sir Henry Vane the Younger in about 1652. |
When Mary Dyer spent nearly five years in England, from 1652 to 1657, it may be that she enjoyed the hospitality and protection of Henry and Frances Vane at times, even as many Quakers were being beaten and imprisoned around the country. Imagine the spirited discussions they would have held regarding liberty of conscience, grace and works, and the inspiration of what many at the time called "Inner Light." A historian wrote that Henry "presented himself as a 'witness' of
light." (Perhaps that was Mary's influence!) In fact, Quaker founder George Fox met with the Vanes at Raby Castle (see photo) in 1657, after Mary had departed for America in January. When Fox and Vane could not agree on theology, Fox remarked later that Vane was "vaine & high & proude & conceited."
Henry fell out with Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector
of the realm, and was arrested and
imprisoned regarding his publications. He was released to home, and arrested again, spending some
“quality time” in Carisbrooke Castle prison where the high-status political prisoners
were held. In 1662, he was politically betrayed and beheaded for treason on
June 14. He'd done no wrong, but the new king, Charles II, was told that Vane was too dangerous to keep alive. (Similar to modern corporations which sweep out the long-term administrators and employees for new bosses to bring in a new "team.")
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| Raby Castle, purchased by Henry Vane the Elder in the 1630s, has been owned by the Vanes and Neville-Vanes from then until now. |
He made a long speech, many times interrupted by the Sheriff and others there; and they would have taken his paper out of his hand, but he would not let it go. But they caused all the books of those that writ after him to be given the Sheriff; and the trumpets were brought under the scaffold that he might not be heard. Then he prayed, and so fitted himself, and received the blow; but the scaffold was so crowded that we could not see it done....He had a blister, or issue, upon his neck, which he desired them not hurt: he changed not his colour or speech to the last, but died justifying himself and the cause he had stood for; and spoke very confidently of his being presently at the right hand of Christ; and in all things appeared the most resolved man that ever died in that manner, and showed more of heat than cowardize, but yet with all humility and gravity. One asked him why he did not pray for the King. He answered, "Nay," says he, "you shall see I can pray for the King: I pray God bless him!"
For more information about the career of Henry Vane the Younger, who is the ancestor of Raby Castle's current owner, Henry Vane Lord Barnard, click HERE.
*****
Christy K Robinson is author of these sites:
- Discovering Love (inspiration)
- Rooting for Ancestors (history and genealogy)
- William and Mary Barrett Dyer (17th century culture and history of England and New England)
and of these books:
· We Shall Be Changed (2010)
· Mary Dyer Illuminated (2013)
· Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This (2014)
· The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport (2014)
· Effigy Hunter (2015)
· Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)
Thank you so much for your article. I just discovered today (10/21/18) that I am a descendant of Henry The Younger through one of his & Frances Wray's five daughters. I'm very interested now in learning more about him!
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