Everything about Christopher Hatton totally explained
Sir
Christopher Hatton (
1540 –
November 20,
1591) was an English politician, the
lord chancellor of
England and, according to speculation, the lover of Queen
Elizabeth I.
Early Days
His father was William Hatton (d. 1546) of
Holdenby,
Northamptonshire and his mother was Alice Saunders. He was educated at
St Mary Hall, Oxford. Known as a handsome and accomplished man, especially distinguished for his elegant dancing, he soon attracted the notice of Queen Elizabeth and became one of her gentlemen pensioners in 1564, and the captain of her bodyguard in 1572. He received valuable estates and offices from the Queen, and this prompted rumours that he was her lover, a charge which was definitely made by
Mary, Queen of Scots in 1584. Hatton had been made vice-chamberlain of the royal household and a member of the
Privy Council in 1578, and had been a
member of parliament since 1571, first representing the borough of
Higham Ferrers and afterwards the county of
Northamptonshire. In 1578 he was
knighted, and became the Queen's spokesman in the
House of Commons. He was an active agent in the prosecutions of
John Stubbs and
William Parry, disputing John Jovey's suggestion to execute the "seditious pair." He was also one of those appointed to arrange a marriage between Elizabeth and
Francois, Duke of Alençon, in 1581.
As a lawyer, he was a member of the court which tried
Anthony Babington in 1586; and was one of the commissioners who found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of treason. He urged Elizabeth not to marry the French prince; but, according to one account, repeatedly assured Mary that he'd fetch her to
London if the English queen died. Whether true or not, Hatton's loyalty was unquestioned; and he brought about a memorable incident seen in the
House of Commons in December 1584, when four hundred kneeling members repeated after him a prayer for Elizabeth's safety.
Having been the constant recipient of substantial marks of the queen's favour, he vigorously denounced Mary Stuart in parliament, and advised
William Davison to forward the warrant for her execution to
Fotheringhay. In the same year (1587) Hatton was made
Lord Chancellor; he was the last
MP to hold this position (barring the strange case of
Charles Yorke) until
Jack Straw, some four hundred and twenty years later. Although he'd no great knowledge of the law, he appears to have acted with sound sense and good judgment in his new position. He is said to have been a
Roman Catholic in all but name, yet he treated religious questions in a moderate and tolerant way. He died in London, and was buried in
St Paul's Cathedral.
Although mention has been made of a secret marriage, Hatton appears to have remained single, and his large and valuable estates descended to his nephew, Sir William Newport, who took the name of Hatton. Sir Christopher was a
Knight of the Garter and chancellor of the
University of Oxford. Elizabeth frequently gave her friend generous gifts. She called him her "mouton", and forced the bishop of
Ely to give him the freehold of Ely Place,
Holborn, which became his residence, his name being perpetuated in the neighbouring
Hatton Garden. Hatton is reported to have been a very mean man, but he patronized men of letters, and among his friends was
Edmund Spenser. He wrote the fourth act of a tragedy,
Tancred and Gismund, and his death occasioned several
panegyrics in both prose and verse.
When Hatton's nephew, Sir William Hatton, died without sons in 1597, his estates passed to a kinsman, another Sir Christopher Hatton (d. 1619), whose son and successor,
Christopher, was created Baron Hatton of Kirby.
Wealth
Hatton became very wealthy as a result of his progressing career and the Queen's fondness of him. So much so that in 1583, Hatton, deciding to further his social status, embarked on the construction of a magnificent house. The house was called
Holdenby House, in Holdenby, Northamptonshire. It was, at the time, the largest privately owned Elizebethan house in England. It contained 123 huge glass windows, in the days when glass was very expensive (indeed, a good show of wealth was how many windows you could afford in your house). It had 2 great courts and was as large as the palace of
Hampton Court. It was 3 storeys high and had 2 large state rooms (one for himself and another for the queen should she ever come and stay) - she never did!.
William Cecil, one of Elizabeth's chief ministers visited the house in his old age and commented that he was immensely impressed with the grand staircase leading from the hall to the staterooms and proclaimed the house was so faultless that he forgot the 'infirmity of his legs' whilst he walked around. No expense was spared and Hatton even paid to move an entire small village because it spoiled his view from one of the windows. The cost of the house drained his purse to such an extent that Hatton was permanently short of money for the rest of his life. To maintain his dwindling wealth, Hatton began investing in some of the voyages of
Francis Drake. He helped fund Drakes circumnavigation of the globe and when Drake reached the
straits of Magellan he renamed his ship 'The Golden Hind' in Honour of Hatton's
coat of Arms - which contained a golden hind. Hatton made a profit of £2300 from this particular expedition, but despite his successes, he died penniless and childless (only a few years after his house was finally completed). All that remains of his magnificent house of Holdenby are old drawing and plans, one room which was later incorporated into a new restoration in the 1870's, part of the pillared doorway and 2 arches with the date 1583 inscribed upon them, which now stand alone in the gardens.
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