Nicholas Wotton
(c. 1497 ? 26 January 1567) was an
English
diplomat, cleric and courtier. He served as
Dean of York
and Royal Envoy to
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
.
Life
[
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]
He was a son of Sir Robert Wotton of
Boughton Malherbe
,
Kent
, and a descendant of Sir
Nicholas Wotton
,
Lord Mayor of London
in 1415 and 1430, who was
Member of Parliament
for the
City
from 1406 to 1429.
Soon after ordination Wotton was granted the benefices of Boughton Malherbe and of
Sutton Valence
, and later of
Ivychurch
,
Kent
. Desirous of a more worldly career, he entered the service of
Prince-Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall
, then
Bishop of London
. Having helped to draw up the
Institution of a Christian Man
, Wotton in 1539 went to arrange the marriage between
Henry VIII
and
Anne of Cleves
and the union of Protestant princes which was to be the complement of this union. Wotton crossed over to England with the new royal bride but, unlike
Thomas Cromwell
, he did not lose the royal favour when the
king
repudiated Anne.
In 1541, having already refused the
bishopric of Hereford
, he became the first post-Reformation
Dean of Canterbury
and in 1544
Dean of York
. In 1543 he went on diplomatic business to the
Netherlands
, and for the next year or two he had much intercourse with the
Emperor Charles V
. He helped to conclude the
Treaty of Ardres
between England and France in 1546, and was Ambassador resident in France from 1546 to 1549. Henry VIII made Wotton an executor of his Will and left him £300, and in October 1549, under
Edward VI
the post of
Minister of State
lay vacant; he held the post for about a year until succeeded by the unimpeachable Protestant Sir William Cecil.
In 1550 Wotton was again sent as Royal Envoy to the
Holy Roman Emperor
and as
Ambassador to France
during the reign of
Mary
, doing valuable work in that capacity securing the peace. In January 1555 he described a demonstration of a new kind of cannon made by the Italian designer
Bartolomeo Campi
.
[1]
Wotton left France in 1557, but in 1558 he was again in that kingdom, helping to arrange the preliminaries of the
Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis
. In 1560 he signed the
Treaty of Edinburgh
on behalf of
Elizabeth I
, and he had again visited the
Netherlands
before his death in
London
.
He is buried in the
Trinity Chapel
of
Canterbury Cathedral
.
[2]
Relatives
[
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]
His brother
Sir Edward Wotton
was made
Treasurer of Calais
in 1540, and was one of those who took part in the overthrow of the
Lord Protector Somerset
.
His nephew, Thomas Wotton (1521?1587) was the father of
Sir Henry Wotton
and of
Edward Wotton, 1st Baron Wotton
.
His sister
Margaret
was the mother of
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk
, and the grandmother of
Lady Jane Grey
.
Notes
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
- Hutchinson, John (1892).
"Nicholas Wotton"
.
Men of Kent and Kentishmen
(Subscription ed.). Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. pp. 145?146.
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