BRYDGES, Gray (c.1579-1621)

Brydges was descended from a thirteenth-century Herefordshire landowner, Sir Simon de Brugge. From around 1400, the family accumulated a substantial estate in Gloucestershire, where they became major local figures. Brydges’ great-grandfather, John Brydges^† (later 1st Lord Chandos) entered royal service, for which he was rewarded in 1554 with a grant of Sudeley Castle and the barony of Chandos.23 Collins’ Peerage ed. E. Brydges, vi. 706, 711-12, 720; S. Rudder, Glos. (1779), 717. However, the family was plunged into crisis in 1594, when the 3rd Lord Chandos (Giles Brydges^†) died without a direct male heir. The title passed to his younger brother William^†, but most of the ancestral lands were entailed on the 3rd Lord’s two daughters, Elizabeth and Katherine. An acrimonious, decade-long dispute ensued, as the 4th Lord Chandos fought unsuccessfully to recover these properties, especially Sudeley. Thus, although the latter served as lord lieutenant of Gloucestershire, he was obliged to live at Blunsdon St Andrew, a Wiltshire manor then owned by his mother as part of her jointure.24 C142/309/193; 142/311/101; CSP Dom. 1598-1601, p. 78; HMC Hatfield, viii. 352; Sainty, 21.

Early life, 1597-1604

In 1597 Brydges sat for the Wiltshire borough of Cricklade, where his father, the 4th Lord Chandos, was steward.25 HP Commons, 1558-1603, i. 270-1. A hot-headed young man, he joined the abortive 1601 rebellion led by Robert Devereux^†, 2nd earl of Essex, for which he was imprisoned and heavily fined. In the following year, he was involved in a brawl at a meeting called to resolve the Chandos estates dispute.26 APC, 1600-1, pp. 159, 261, 353; HMC Hatfield, xi. 214; Chamberlain Letters, i. 150. A preliminary agreement between the warring parties was actually reached in June 1602, and four months later it was reported that Brydges would marry his cousin Elizabeth, ‘whereby all suits and quarrels should be ended’. However, this plan was dropped when the 4th Lord Chandos died that November, and the new baron opted for a settlement ‘without marriage’. His reasoning became clear in March 1603, when word got out that Chandos ‘had secretly married the Lady Strange’, eldest daughter and coheir of the late 5th earl of Derby (Ferdinando Stanley^†).27 HMC Hatfield, xii. 204; Chamberlain Letters, i. 166, 174, 190; C142/311/101;

Chandos evidently expected to succeed his father as lord lieutenant of Gloucestershire, but when he approached James I he discovered that he faced competition from another local peer, Henry Berkeley^*, 7th Lord Berkeley. The king initially proposed that they hold the post jointly. However, in July 1603 Chandos found himself under a cloud, briefly suspected of complicity in the Main Plot. While he maintained a low profile ‘until these troubles were passed over’, Berkeley seized his chance, and secured the lieutenancy for himself alone.28 HMC Hatfield, xv. 230-1, 371; CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 21; Sainty, 21. Despite this setback, Chandos was soon restored to favour with James, and accompanied him on a hunting trip in February 1604.29 HMC Hatfield, xvi. 263; HMC Hastings, iv. 1.

Parliamentary service and property disputes, 1604-6

If Chandos attempted to exercise electoral patronage in 1604, he was unsuccessful. His family’s influence at Cricklade had been extinguished two years earlier when the borough stewardship passed to Thomas Howard^*, now 1st earl of Suffolk, while the Gloucestershire election was dominated by his rival, Lord Berkeley.30 HP Commons, 1604-29, ii. 135, 435.

Chandos took his seat in the Lords on the opening day of the 1604 parliamentary session. Present for nearly two-thirds of the sittings, he attended assiduously for the first two months, but absented himself fairly frequently thereafter. Unsurprisingly, he received the bulk of his 19 appointments during the first half of the session. By coincidence, six of his bill committee appointments related to just three measures, on the topics of witchcraft, popish books, and recusancy; each bill was abandoned and replaced with a new draft, Chandos being named to consider both versions.31 LJ, ii. 269a, 275a, 290a, 301b, 314a, 324b. He was also nominated to scrutinize bills on such issues as drunkenness, the export of ordnance, and the excessive use of gold and silver thread in clothing.32 Ibid. 274a, 285a, 299b. Despite his junior status in the Lords, Chandos was appointed to attend four conferences with the Commons. Two of these concerned the proposed Anglo-Scottish Union, a third dealt with the controversy caused by the tract on the Union penned by John Thornborough^*, bishop of Bristol, while the fourth conference addressed efforts to reform purveyance.33 Ibid. 278a, 284a, 290b, 309a. Chandos was nominated on 19 Apr. to attend the king, over the competing claims to the barony of Abergavenny. He was also named to the committee for the controversial bill to restore Charles Paget in blood, and added to the legislative committee concerned with the naturalization of John Erskine, 2nd earl of Mar [S].34 Ibid. 267b, 272b, 283a.

While Parliament sat, efforts continued behind the scenes to achieve a final resolution to the Brydges family dispute. By this stage, Chandos had agreed to buy out his cousins’ interest, but arguments continued over the shape and scale of compensation due. Elizabeth Brydges had recently married a royal favourite, Sir John Kennedy, and, having thereby strengthened her bargaining position, sought to renegotiate the deal.35 Hatfield House, CP146/104, 107, 109; CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 79. In April she was summoned to London for further arbitration by several high-ranking government figures, including Robert Cecil^*, Lord Cecil (later 1st earl of Salisbury), Charles Howard^*, 1st earl of Nottingham, and the lord chancellor, Thomas Egerton^*, Lord Ellesmere (later 1st Viscount Brackley).36 HMC Hatfield, xvi. 49, 53, 444. They at length brokered a compromise, and on 2 July the Lords gave first and second readings to a bill to confirm this deal. Its text does not survive, but the measure was evidently promoted by Chandos himself, for when the committee was appointed he was instructed to provide a copy of the articles of agreement. However, the bill was lost when Parliament was prorogued five days later.37 LJ, ii. 336b.

By the end of the year, Chandos was firmly established at court. Dubbed a knight of the Bath in January 1605, when Prince Charles (Stuart^*, later prince of Wales) was created duke of York, he participated in the Accession Day tilt in the following March. Having attended Henry Howard^*, earl of Northampton at his investiture as a knight of the Garter in May, he accompanied the king to Oxford three months later, receiving a master’s degree during this visit.38 Carleton to Chamberlain ed. M. Lee, 67; HMC Hatfield, xvii. 107; Add. 34218, f. 87; CP, iii. 127. Meanwhile, Chandos attempted to implement the property deal reached in 1604 with his Brydges cousins. By the late spring he had finally taken possession of Sudeley Castle, but still met with some resistance. This presumably prompted a further agreement between the warring parties in June 1605, under which Katherine Brydges finally abandoned her claims in return for £7,000, to be paid over three years.39 HMC Hatfield, xvii. 185; C142/387/103; CJ, i. 291a.

Chandos attended a little over half of the 1605-6 parliamentary session, including two of the opening three sittings. Apart from one extended absence in late April 1606, he rarely missed more than a day or two at a time, but equally he struggled to achieve more than five consecutive appearances in the Lords. His personal priority was undoubtedly a revised bill to settle his estates. Introduced in the upper House on 26 Feb., this measure received three readings in a fortnight, only for doubts to emerge on 15 Mar., when it was too late for the Lords themselves to make further amendments. The sticking point was a peripheral detail. The £7,000 paid by Chandos was to serve as his cousin Katherine’s dowry, but in the short term it was entrusted to her mother. However, the bill provided no guarantee that the money would be transferred to Katherine when she finally married. During the measure’s committee stage in the Commons, a reluctant dowager Lady Chandos finally entered into the necessary bond, and with both Houses now satisfied, the legislation received the Royal Assent at the end of the session.40 LJ, ii. 382b, 386a, 392b, 395a, 402b, 429b, 430b; CJ, i. 290b-1a, 306a; Bowyer Diary, 94-5; PA, HL/PO/PB/1/1605/3J1n32.

While this saga unfolded, Chandos kept relatively busy in the Lords, attracting 24 appointments. With Parliament still reeling in February 1606 from the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, he was named both to the committee for the bill to attaint the plotters, and to a conference with the Commons about new measures to defend the state. When a new attainder bill was introduced, he was again nominated to the committee, and was also appointed to scrutinize three measures against recusants and Catholic propaganda. In addition, he was appointed to a conference on other grievances relating to the Church of England.41 LJ, ii. 367a-b, 380b, 401a, 411a, 419b. Chandos clearly took a close interest in the bill to amend the government of the Welsh Marches, which embraced Gloucestershire. Named on 3 Apr. to the committee, he successfully moved two days later for a meeting with the lawyers representing the interested parties.42 Ibid. 406b, 407b. Having been nominated to the bill committee for reform of purveyance, he was subsequently appointed to confer with the Commons on the same subject.43 Ibid. 407b, 413a; Bowyer Diary, 116-17. Another ten of his legislative committee nominations related to economic issues, from brewing and cloth manufacture, to free trade with Spain, Portugal and France.44 LJ, ii. 390b, 399b, 404b.

‘The king of Cotswold’, 1606-10

With his estate dispute finally resolved, Chandos now owned more than 37,000 acres in Gloucestershire. Some details of the deal struck are unclear, but securing possession had cost him at least £8,000. Not surprisingly, by late 1605 he was selling off minor properties in order to stabilize his finances, a process which continued for at least another two years.45 C142/387/103; C66/1683, 1704, 1706, 1725, 1733. Nevertheless, having obtained a major seat at Sudeley, he began to live in some state, both there and in London. According to the eighteenth-century antiquarian Samuel Rudder, ‘this lord was a noble housekeeper, and by an engaging behaviour, gained so great an interest in Gloucestershire, and had so many attendants with him at court, that he was commonly called “the king of Cotswold”.’46 Rudder, 718. In March 1606 he was again a participant in the Accession Day tilt, while he and his wife were summoned to Whitehall in July that year to help entertain the visiting king of Denmark.47 Chamberlain Letters, i. 218; Add. 11402, f. 113. Chandos also maintained a family tradition of patronising a company of travelling players, who performed in the southern counties and East Anglia as late as 1610.48 Recs. of Early Eng. Drama: Norwich ed. D. Galloway, 123, 125, 134; Som. ed. J. Stokes and R.J. Alexander, ii. 496; Cumb., Westmld., Glos. ed. A. Douglas and P. Greenfield, 259-60; HMC 9th Rep. pt. 1, p. 161.

Chandos’ attendance of the 1606-7 session of Parliament was relatively poor. Prior to Christmas he was present for three-fifths of the sittings. However, after the New Year he missed 52 sittings out of 83, appearing in the Lords just five times in April and May, though without ever requesting leave of absence. Despite this, he still attracted 14 appointments. Nominated to confer with the Commons about the Instrument of Union, he was also named to the committee for the bill to abolish hostile laws between England and Scotland. Two of his other bill committee appointments related to Gloucestershire, specifically Lechlade manor and Northleach grammar school.49 LJ, ii. 453a, 454a, 518a, 520b. Another three concerned properties owned by the London livery companies, new buildings in the capital, and the City’s watermen.50 Ibid. 460b, 479a, 523a. In May 1607 William Compton^*, 2nd Lord Compton (later 1st earl of Northampton) successfully claimed privilege for one of Chandos’ servants, who had been arrested in Middlesex for debt.51 Ibid. 509a, 510a.

Chandos doubtless followed closely the tortuous progress of the bill concerning the estates of William Stanley^*, 6th earl of Derby, his wife’s uncle. This measure was designed to confirm a deal reached in 1600 whereby Derby bought out the interest of his three nieces, who were coheirs to his brother, the 5th earl. The bill went through three drafts, and took over four months to clear both Houses, completing its passage only just in time to receive the Royal Assent in July 1607. In March Chandos fell out with his sisters-in-law over this legislation, prompting the Lords to appoint the earls of Northampton and Salisbury as arbiters, but otherwise he apparently had no direct involvement with it.52 PA, HL/PO/PB/1/1606/4J1n16; B. Coward, The Stanleys, Lords Stanley and earls of Derby, 46-7; LJ, ii. 475b, 482b, 492a, 531a, 534b.

With the bulk of the Stanley estates finally settled by the 1607 Act, there remained just one outstanding issue, the rival claims of Derby and his nieces to the Isle of Man, which at this juncture was in the hands of the crown. Later that year, James I agreed to return the island to the family, but with Salisbury and Northampton as trustees, and all profits divided four ways between the competing heirs. Although the new arrangement quickly proved unsatisfactory, by 1608 Chandos was receiving his wife’s share of this income.53 CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 359; Coward, 48; C66/1750; HMC Hatfield, xx. 269, 277. That same year he also pursued a potential windfall deriving ultimately from some more of his wife’s ancestors, the Brandon dukes of Suffolk. By March 1609 he had reached terms with the other four claimants, this agreement bringing him a one-fifth share of at least £16,600.54 SO3/3, unfol. (8 Feb. 1608); 3/4, unfol. (Mar. 1609); CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 410. In July 1609 Chandos secured a small sinecure, the keepership of Ditton Park in Buckinghamshire. Around the same time, he received another windfall, when Derby bought out his wife’s interest in the Isle of Man. Even so, at the end of that year he once again resorted to selling land, this time disposing of the substantial Gloucestershire manor of Bourton-on-the-Water to the courtier Sir Thomas Edmondes^‡ for £5,000.55 HMC Downshire, ii. 191; Coward, 49; Rudder, 304.

Chandos attended the opening day of the fourth parliamentary session in February 1610, but thereafter appeared only on 4 June, for Prince Henry’s investiture as prince of Wales. He awarded his proxy to the earl of Salisbury. Why he stayed away is not known.56 LJ, ii. 548a; J. Nichols, Progs. of Jas. I, ii. 334. In his absence, Derby secured two further acts, one confirming the new deal over the Isle of Man, the other addressing some technical problems in the 1607 estate bill.57 PA, HL/PO/PB/1/1609/7J1n28-9. By the time Parliament reconvened in the following October, Chandos was abroad, for at about the end of July he accompanied Sir Edward Herbert^* (later 1st Lord Herbert of Chirbury) to Germany, spending the next few weeks as a volunteer in the trenches at the siege of Jülich. From there he travelled to France, where he remained for 12 months, visiting Paris, Blois and Orléans.58 Life of Edward, 1st Ld. Herbert of Cherbury ed. J.M. Shuttleworth, 53; HMC De L’Isle and Dudley, iv. 219; Winwood’s Memorials ed. E. Sawyer, iii. 211, 226; J. Stoye, Eng. Travellers Abroad (2nd edn.), 32; HMC Downshire, ii. 400; iii. 124, 161; Add. 75308, unfol. (30 Oct. 1610); CSP Dom. 1611-18, p. 47. In the spring of 1611 he may also have gone to Geneva, which the duke of Savoy was then expected to besiege.59 Add. 25079, f. 82.

Health problems and political controversy, 1610-14

From this point onwards, Chandos increasingly divided his time between the court and the Continent. In March 1612 he ‘ran a match at the ring’ against Prince Henry, while in April he was sent to meet the visiting Palatine ambassador at Gravesend, in Kent. Later that month the earl of Salisbury spent a night at his house at Ditton, while on his way to take the waters at Bath, in Somerset.60 Chamberlain Letters, i. 340; HMC Downshire, iii. 276; HMC 10th Rep. IV, 12. Chandos’ own health was now troubling him, and in August he sought a cure at Spa, in the principality of Liège. He returned to London by December for Prince Henry’s funeral, and in March 1613 participated once more in the Accession Day tilt at court. However, by the end of May he was again on his way to Spa.61 Harl. 5176, f. 208; Chamberlain Letters, i. 440; HMC Downshire, iv. 117. In his absence he was rebuked by the Privy Council for failing to pay the aid for Princess Elizabeth’s marriage. On his return to London he fell out with the prominent Scottish courtier, James Hay^*, 1st Lord Hay (later 1st earl of Carlisle), prompting a rumour in September that they would fight a duel. Despite this incident, he was included in the festivities to mark the marriage of another Scottish favourite, Robert Carr^*, earl of Somerset, performing in a court masque on New Year’s Day.62 APC, 1613-14, p. 77; Chamberlain Letters, i. 474, 487, 496, 498; E.K. Chambers, Eliz. Stage, iii. 393-4.

In December 1613 Chandos succeeded Lord Berkeley as lord lieutenant of Gloucestershire. However, it was the Berkeley interest which again dominated the county’s election for the 1614 Parliament, and Chandos was merely able to find a seat at Tewkesbury for Sir John Radcliffe, with whom he had quartered at Jülich in 1610.63 HP Commons, 1604-29, ii. 135, 144; HMC De L’Isle and Dudley, iv. 219. Chandos missed the opening weeks of the session, presumably due to ill health, and did not attend the Lords until 3 May, though he was absent for only one more sitting thereafter. On his first day in the House, he was named to a bill committee concerned with the conservation of timber supplies. During the controversy over impositions, Chandos consistently favoured compromising with the Commons. On 23 May he argued that the two Houses should confer on the issue before the Lords consulted the judges about the king’s prerogative rights. The next day, he insisted that the upper House was competent to assess the Commons’ arguments, without James getting involved. After Richard Neile^*, bishop of Lincoln (later archbishop of York), disrupted the discussions by insulting the Commons, Chandos affirmed on 31 May that the lower House was entitled to know what Neile had actually said, whereupon he was named to help draft a message to draw a line under this dispute.64 LJ, ii. 697b, 713b; HMC Hastings, iv. 252, 259, 276.

After the Parliament’s premature dissolution, Chandos contributed £100 2s. to the benevolence requested in lieu of subsidies.65 E351/1950. However, his performance in the Lords had angered the king, and he found it advisable to leave the country again, though not before selling the keepership of Ditton Park to Secretary of State Sir Ralph Winwood^‡ for £1,100.66 HMC Downshire, iv. 426, 441; Chamberlain Letters, i. 551. By mid August Chandos was back in Spa, though within a few weeks he and his travelling companion, Henry Wriothesley^*, 3rd and 1st earl of Southampton, decided instead to survey the latest military stand-off in Jülich. Chandos was almost certainly still in Germany the following month, when the Privy Council instructed him to organize his first general musters in Gloucestershire.67 HMC Downshire, iv. 497, 501; v. 6; APC, 1613-14, p. 555.

Final years, 1615-21

Chandos’ health apparently improved over the next two years, for there were no further recorded visits to Spa until the spring of 1617. In mid 1616 he negotiated to replace Ralph Eure^*, 3rd Lord Eure as president of the council in the Welsh Marches. This bid failed, though he was added to the council a year later.68 SO3/6, unfol. (Mar. 1617); CSP Dom. 1611-18, p. 373; Chamberlain Letters, ii. 10. In July 1617 he proposed changes to the balance of the Gloucestershire militia, with the horse companies being expanded at the expense of the trained bands, but the Privy Council vetoed the idea.69 APC, 1616-17, pp. 305-7.

Chandos spent the following winter at court, in November welcoming the Muscovite ambassadors when they arrived at Whitehall. In February 1618 he was drawn into the latest court scandal, when his sister, the countess of Exeter, was falsely accused of adultery by her kinswoman Lady Ros. As the truth emerged, Chandos personally went to the king to demand justice. A month later, he took the waters at Newnham Mills, Warwickshire, reportedly benefiting more from this treatment than he had at Spa.70 Nichols, iii. 446-7; CSP Dom. 1611-18, pp. 523, 531. By now Chandos was probably spending more time in Gloucestershire, fulfilling his lieutenancy duties, though he attended Anne of Denmark’s funeral in May 1619.71 APC, 1618-19, p. 121; HMC 12th Rep. IX, 473; Harl. 5176, f. 235v. Still sensitive to court politics, in August 1620 he named his new-born son George (Brydges^†, later 6th Lord Chandos) after the current royal favourite, George Villiers^*, marquess (later 1st duke) of Buckingham, whose wife became the boy’s godmother.72 HEHL, HA1097. Surprisingly, given his earlier interest in the Jülich campaigns, he failed to support the loan for the defence of the Palatinate, ingenuously informing the Privy Council in December 1620 that he had never received the letter requesting a contribution.73 APC, 1619-21, p. 293; SP14/117/97; 14/118/44.

The elections to the 1621 Parliament again brought mixed results for Chandos. He exercised no discernible influence over Gloucestershire’s choices, though he was able to place his kinsman Giles Bridges^‡ at Tewkesbury. Even there, he had first to arrange for another local candidate, Sir Baptist Hicks^* (later 1st Viscount Campden) to sit for Tavistock, a deal brokered via his cousin Katherine Brydges, who was now married to the Devon borough’s patron, Francis Russell^*, 2nd Lord Russell (later 4th earl of Bedford). This successful stratagem was then undermined when Bridges was suspended from the Commons on 21 Feb. over his involvement in Sir Giles Mompesson’s^‡ dubious patent for licensing inns.74 HP Commons, 1604-29, ii. 102, 135, 144; iii. 308.

Chandos attended the Lords for just over half of its sittings prior to the summer recess. By 6 Feb. he had fallen ill, on which grounds he was formally excused six times before he returned to the House in mid-March, his cousin Thomas Wentworth^*, 4th Lord Wentworth (later earl of Cleveland) requesting leave for him at least once. It is unclear whether another extended absence in the latter part of May was also due to sickness.75 LJ, iii. 14b, 17a, 25a, 26b, 27b, 38a. Despite these episodes, Chandos’ standing in the Lords had evidently risen, for he was named to the prestigious, newly formed committee for privileges. Indeed, contrary to convention, he was appointed in his absence to scrutinize two bills on ordnance exports and the country’s supply of arms, and to attend a conference with the Commons on the joint petition to the king about the recusancy laws. He was, however, fleetingly present on 15 Feb. when he was nominated to the conference to discuss arrangements for presenting this petition to James.76 Ibid. 10b, 13a, 17a, 18b.

Given that Chandos had still not resumed his seat on 3 Mar., it is unclear why he was appointed to discuss how to apprehend Mompesson, unless his connection via Bridges with the offending patentee was generally known. In that regard, the lengthy parliamentary inquiry into monopolies must have been an uncomfortable experience. Once back in the House, Chandos found himself named to a conference to discuss patent-related grievances, and to the committee to examine Mompesson’s patent in particular. However, his only recorded speech on these issues was a brief procedural motion on 26 Mar., while Mompesson’s punishment was being discussed. In April he was selected to attend the king when the Lords explained their concerns about the implementation by the former attorney general, Sir Henry Yelverton^‡ of the penal clauses in the patent for licensing inns.77 Ibid. 34a, 42b, 46b, 96b; LD 1621, 1625 and 1628, p. 46. As the storm over monopolies engulfed the lord chancellor, Francis Bacon^*, 1st Viscount St. Alban, Chandos was appointed both to check the authenticity of his confession and submission, and to attend the king when James was requested to sequester the great seal. He was also named to a bill committee concerned with the Welsh cloth trade, an issue of some interest to him, given his membership of the council in the Welsh Marches.78 LJ, iii. 101a-b.

On 18 June 1621 Chandos was licensed to travel yet again to Spa. This time the treatment brought no relief, and he died on 10 Aug. at Mons, in the Spanish Netherlands, during his return journey to England. (His inquisition post mortem claims incorrectly that he died at Sudeley.)79 SO3/7, unfol. (18 June 1621); Chamberlain Letters, ii. 397; CSP Dom. 1619-23, p. 286; Add. 36445, f. 221. For his i.p.m., see C142/387/103. As he left no will, administration of his estate was granted in the following March to his widow, who three years later married Mervyn Tuchet^*, 12th Lord Audley and 2nd earl of Castlehaven [I]. Chandos’ title passed to his infant son George, whose wardship was later purchased by his grandmother, the dowager countess of Derby.80 PROB 6/10, f. 169; WARD 9/162, f. 388v.