Edward Chamberlayne
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Edward Chamberlayne (13 December 1616 – May 1703) was an English writer, known as the author of The Present State of England.
Family background
Edward was a grandson of Sir Thomas Chamberlayne, knight, of Prestbury, Gloucestershire (c. 1504-1580), at one time English ambassador in the Low Countries,[1] by his third wife Anne Pierson (died 1588), said to be daughter of Anthony Monck of Potheridge, Devon.[2][3] The family claimed descent from the Tancarville Chamberlains of Normandy.[4] Edward's father Thomas Chamberlayne (c. 1568-1640), who was settled at Oddington, Gloucestershire through descent of the estate from Sir Thomas,[5] was the younger of two Thomases, both of whom were half-brothers of Sir John Chamberlaine of Prestbury (1559-1617),[6][7] of Edmund Chamberlaine of Maugersbury (1560-1634),[8] and of their sister Theophila Hewse (or Hughes, living 1588).[9]
Career
According to his memorial inscription at Oddington, Thomas married Margaret, daughter of Edward Badghott of Prestbury. The eldest of their five sons was born in December 1599: Edward Chamberlaine, the youngest, was born at Oddington on 13 December 1616. They also had five daughters.[10] Edward was first educated at Gloucester, then entered St Edmund Hall, Oxford, at Michaelmas 1634. He subsequently proceeded with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) on 20 April 1638, and a Master of Arts (M.A.) on 6 March 1641.[11] During a part of 1641 he held the office of rhetoric reader at Oxford.[12]
When the First English Civil War broke out he began a long continental tour, visiting France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, Sweden, and the Low Countries. At the Restoration he returned to England. During the 1660s he was building his family of nine children. In 1669 he became secretary to Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, and went to Stockholm to invest Charles XI of Sweden with the Order of the Garter.[12] He was granted the degrees of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) at the University of Cambridge (January 1670 – 1671) and of Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) at Oxford (22 June 1672).[11] About 1679 he became tutor to Charles II's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton, and he was subsequently English tutor to Prince George of Denmark. He was one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society.[12]
Last years
Several of his children died during the 1690s, including his intrepid daughter Anne Chamberlyne, who fought in a naval confrontation with the French in June 1690. In later life Edmund lived at Chelsea, and he died there in May 1703. He was buried on 27 May in a vault in Chelsea churchyard. His friend Walter Harris wrote a long and unusual Latin epitaph,[12][13] which appears to have been the source for many of his biographical details. He requested that he should be buried "after the custom of the ancients, outside the city walls beside the public highway, in a lofty tomb" (More majorum extra urbis pomœria juxta viam publicam, in tumulo editiore heic prope inhumari voluit); and "when he passed away into the land of unknowing, he took such pains to benefit everyone, even those who lived after him, that he ordered certain of his books to be buried with him, cased in wax, sometime perhaps to be for an uncertain posterity" (Tandem in terram oblivionis semigravit, Benefaciendi universis, etiam et posteris, adeo studiosus fuit ut secum condi jusserat libros aliquot suos cera obvolutos feræ forsan posteritati aliquando profuturos).[14] However, when his grave was opened long afterwards they had all turned to dust, only his seal remaining.[13]
