BUCKINGHAM, GEORGE VILLIERS, 1ST DUKE OF (in the Villiers line) (1592-1628), English statesman, born on Aug. 20, was a younger son of Sir George Villiers of Brooks by. He could dance well, fence well, and talk a little French, when in August 1614 he was brought before the king's notice in the hope that he would take a fancy to him. The moment was favourable. The king was tiring of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, though for some little time still his pre-eminence was maintained. But on April 23, 1615, Villiers, in spite of Somerset, was promoted to be gentleman of the bedchamber; the charge of murdering Overbury, brought against Somerset in September, completed his downfall, and Villiers at once stepped into the vacant place. Honours were heaped upon him, and on Jan. 5, 1617, he was made earl, and on Jan. I, 1618, marquess of Buckingham. With the ex ception of the earl of Pembroke he was the richest nobleman in England.
On Jan. 19, 161g, James made him lord high admiral of England, hoping that the ardent, energetic youth would reform the fleet which had been almost ruined by the peculation and carelessness of the officials. But Buckingham was too ready to fill up appoint ments with men who flattered him, and too reluctant to dismiss them, if they served their country ill, to effect any permanent change for the better.
At this time all England was talking of the revolution in Bohemia in the year before, and sympathy with the Continental Protestants was increased when it was known that James's son-in-law had accepted the Crown of Bohemia, and that in the summer of 162o a Spanish force was preparing to invade the Palatinate. Bucking ham at first had thrown himself into the popular movement. Be fore the summer of 1620 was at end, incensed by injuries inflicted on English sailors by the Dutch in the East Indies, he had swung round and was in close agreement with Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador. He had now married Lady Katherine Manners, the daughter of the earl of Rutland, who was at heart a Roman Catholic, though she outwardly conformed to the English Church; and this alliance may have had something to do with the change.
The parliament which met in 1621, angry at discovering that no help was to be sent to the Palatinate, broke out into a loud outcry against the system of monopolies, from which Bucking ham's brothers and dependants had drawn a profit, which was believed to be greater than it really was. At a conference of the Commons with the Lords, Buckingham acknowledged that his two brothers had been implicated, but declared that his father had begotten a third who would aid in punishing them. In the im peachment of Bacon which soon followed, Buckingham, who owed much to his wise counsels, gave him that assistance which was possible without injury to himself, but afterwards, when the cry rose louder against the chancellor, joined in the attack, though he sought to mitigate the severity of the charges against him. Nevertheless, he took advantage of Bacon's need of assistance to wring from him the possession of York House.
In the winter of 1621, and the succeeding year, Buckingham was entirely in Gondomar's hands; and it was only with some diffi culty that in May 1622 Laud argued him out of a resolution to declare himself a Roman Catholic. There can be little doubt that when the Spanish ambassador left England the following May he had come to an understanding with Buckingham on the project of the marriage of the prince of Wales to the infanta Maria. Buck ingham and the prince reached Madrid on March 7, 1623. Each party had been the dupe of the other. Charles and Buckingham hoped for the restitution of the Palatinate to James's son-in-law, as a marriage gift to Charles; while the Spaniards counted on the conversion of Charles to Roman Catholicism and other ex treme concessions (see CHARLES I.). The political differences were soon accentuated by personal disputes between Buckingham and Olivares and the grandees, and when the two young men sailed together from Santander in September it was with the final resolution to break entirely with Spain.
In his absence James had raised him to a dukedom. But the splendour which now gathered round Buckingham was not due to James's favour. He had put himself at the head of the popular movement against Spain, and when James, unwillingly convinced that the Palatinate could only be recovered by force, summoned the parliament which met in Feb. 1624, Buckingham, with the help of the heir apparent, took up an independent political position. James was half driven, half persuaded to declare all negotiations with Spain at an end. For the moment Buckingham was the most popular man in England.
The Commons would have been content with sending some assistance to the Dutch, and with entering upon a privateering war with Spain. James believed that the Palatinate could only be recovered by a Continental alliance, in which France took part. Negotiations were therefore opened for a marriage between Charles and the sister of Louis XIII., Henrietta Maria. Bucking ham, impatient to begin the war as soon as possible, persuaded Charles, and the two together persuaded James to throw over the promises to the Commons and to accept the French terms, which included concessions to the English Catholics.
Buckingham now prepared to throw 12,000 Englishmen, under a German adventurer, Count Mansfeld, through France into the Palatinate. The French insisted that he should march through Holland. It mattered little which way he took. Without provi sions, and without money to buy them, the wretched troops sickened and died in the winter frosts. Buckingham's first military enterprise ended in disastrous failure. Buckingham had offered to send aid to Christian IV., king of Denmark, who was proposing to make war in Germany, and had also a plan for sending an English fleet to attack Genoa, the ally of Spain, and a plan for sending an English fleet to attack Spain itself. But bef ore these schemes could be carried into operation James died on March 27, 1625.
The new king and Buckingham were at one in their aims and objects. Buckingham was sent over to Paris to urge upon the French court the importance of converting its alliance into active co-operation. The Huguenots of La Rochelle were in rebellion, and James had promised the aid of English ships to suppress that rebellion. Buckingham desired to save Charles from compromis ing himself with his parliament by the appearance of English ships in an attack upon Protestants. When he returned his main de mands were refused, but hopes were given him that peace would be made with the Huguenots. On his way through France he had the insolence to make love to the queen of France.
Soon after his return parliament was opened. Charles had entered into engagements involving an enormous expenditure, and these engagements involved a war on the Continent, which had never been popular in the House of Commons. The Commons, too, suspected that the marriage treaty contained engagements of which they disapproved. They asked for the full execution of the laws against the Roman Catholics, and voted but little money in return. Before they reassembled at Oxford on Aug. 1, the English ships had found their way into the hands of the French, to be used against La Rochelle. The Commons met in an ill-humour. They had no confidence in Buckingham, and they asked that persons whom they could trust should be admitted to the king's council before they would vote a penny. Charles stood by his minister, and on Aug. he dissolved his first parliament.
Buckingham and his master then threw over their engagements to France on behalf of the English Roman Catholics. On the other hand they sent out a large fleet to attack Cadiz, and to seize the Spanish treasure-ships. Buckingham went to The Hague to raise an immediate supply by pawning the Crown jewels, to place England at the head of a great Protestant alliance, and to enter into fresh obligations to furnish money to the king of Denmark. It all ended in failure. The fleet returned from Cadiz, having effected nothing. The Crown jewels produced but a small sum, and the money for the king of Denmark could only be raised by an appeal to parliament. In the meanwhile the king of France was deeply offended by the treatment of the Roman Catholics, and by the seizure of French vessels on the ground that they were engaged in carrying goods for Spain.
Charles's second parliament, which met on Feb. 6, 1626, im peached Buckingham before the House of Lords on a long string of charges. Many of these charges were exaggerated, and some were untrue. His real crime was his complete failure as the leader of the administration. Charles dissolved his second parliament as he had dissolved his first. Subsequently the Star Chamber declared the duke innocent of the charges. Recourse was had to a forced loan, and men were thrown into prison for refusing to pay it. Disasters had occurred to Charles's allies in Germany. The fleet sent out under Lord Willoughby (earl of Lindsey) against the Spaniards returned home shattered by a storm, and a French war was impending in addition to the Spanish one. The French were roused to reprisals by Charles's persistence in seizing French vessels. Unwilling to leave La Rochelle open to the entrance of an English fleet, Richelieu laid siege to it. On June 27, 1627, Buck ingham sailed from Portsmouth at the head of a numerous fleet, and a considerable land force, to relieve the besieged city.
His first enterprise was the siege of the fort of St. Martin's, on the Isle of Re, which proved more difficult than had been expected. Before the reinforcements requested by Buckingham could arrive the French had thrown a superior force upon the island, and he was driven to retreat on Oct. 29 with heavy loss, only 2,989 troops out of nearly 7,000 returning to England.
In the parliamentary battle, which ended in the concession of the Petition of Right, Buckingham resisted as long as it was possible to resist the demand of the Commons, that the king should abandon his claim to imprison without showing cause. When the first unsatisfactory answer to the petition was made by the king on June 2, the Commons suspected, probably with truth, that it had been dictated by Buckingham. They prepared a remonstrance on the state of the nation, and Coke said, "The duke of Bucks is the cause of all our miseries . . . that man is the grievance of griev ances." Though on June 7 the king granted a satisfactory answer to the petition, the Commons proceeded with their remonstrance, and on the 11th demanded Buckingham's dismissal. Charles re fused to surrender Buckingham, and a few days later he prorogued parliament in anger.
With the clouds gathering round him, Buckingham went down to Portsmouth to take the command of one final expedition for the relief of La Rochelle. For the first time even he was beginning to acknowledge that he had undertaken a task beyond his powers. He entered gladly into a scheme of pacification proposed by the Venetian ambassador. But before he could know whether there was to be peace or war, the knife of an assassin put an end to his career. John Felton, who had served at Re, had been disappointed of promotion, and had not been paid that which was due to him for his services, read the declaration of the Commons that Buck ingham was a public enemy, and eagerly caught at the excuse for revenging his private wrongs under cover of those of his country. Waiting, on the morning of Aug. 23, beside the door of the room in which Buckingham was breakfasting, he stabbed him to the heart as he came out.
Buckingham married Lady Katherine Manners, daughter of Francis, 6th earl of Rutland, by whom he left three sons and one daughter, of whom George, the second son (1628-87), succeeded to the dukedom.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Article in the Dict. of Nat. Biography, by S. R. Bibliography. Article in the Dict. of Nat. Biography, by S. R. Gardiner; Life of Buckingham, by Sir Henry Wotton (1642), reprinted in Harleian Miscellany, viii. 613 ; A Parallel between Robert Earl of Essex and George late Duke of Buckingham, by the same writer in the Thomason Tracts, 164 (20) ; Characters of the same by Edward, earl of Clarendon (17o6) ; Life of George Villiers, Duke of Bucking ham, etc. (174o) ; Historical and Biographical Memoirs of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (1819) ; Letters of the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham (1834) ; Historia Vitae . . . Ricardi II., etc., by Thos. Hearne (1729) ; Documents illustrating the Impeachment of Buckingham, published by the Camden Society and edited by S. R. Gardiner (1889) ; Epistolae Hoelianae (James Howell), 187, 189, 203; Poems and Songs relating to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, ed. by R. W. Fairholt for the Percy Society (1850) ; see also P. Gibbs, The Romance of George Villiers, rst Duke of Buckingham (1908). BUCKINGHAM, GEORGE VILLIERS, 2nd DUKE OF (in the Villiers line) (1628-1687), English statesman, son of the 1st duke, was born on Jan. 3o, 1628. He was brought up, together with his younger brother Francis, by King Charles I. with his own children, and was educated at Trinity college, Cambridge, where he obtained the degree of M.A. in 1642. He fought for the king in the Civil War, and took part in the attack on Lichfield Close in April 1643. Subsequently, under the care of the earl of Northumberland, the two brothers travelled abroad and lived at Florence and Rome. When the second Civil War broke out they joined the earl of Holland in Surrey, in July 1648. Lord Francis was killed near Kingston, and Buckingham and Holland were surprised at St. Neots on the loth, the duke succeeding in escaping to Holland. Charles II. admitted him to his privy council on April 6, 165o. In opposition to Hyde (see CLARENDON, Earl of) he supported the alliance with the Scottish presby terians, accompanied Charles to Scotland in June, and allied himself with Argyll, dissuading Charles from joining the royalist plot of October 165o, and being suspected of betraying the plan to the covenanting leaders. In the following year he was chosen to lead the projected movement in Lancashire and to command the Scottish royalists. He was present with Charles at the battle of Worcester on Sept. 3, 1651, and escaped safely alone to Rotterdam in October. In 1657 he returned to England, and on Sept. 15 married Mary, daughter of Lord Fairfax. Buckingham was soon suspected of organizing a Presbyterian plot against the Government, and in spite of Fairfax's interest with Cromwell an order was issued for his arrest on Oct. 9. He was confined at York House about April 1658, and having broken bounds was rearrested on Aug. 18 and imprisoned in the Tower, where he remained till Feb. 23, On the king's return Buckingham, who met him at his landing at Dover, was at first received coldly; but he was soon again in favour. He accompanied the Princess Henrietta to Paris on her marriage with the duke of Orleans, but made love to her himself with such imprudence that he was recalled. On April 28, 1662, he was admitted to the privy council. The differences between Clarendon and Buckingham debarred the latter from high office. He therefore intrigued for Clarendon's fall, and in 1667 he was imprisoned for a short time in the Tower of London. But he was restored to favour and to his appointments on Sept. 15, and on the fall of Clarendon he became the chief minister, though holding no high office except that of master of the horse, bought from the duke of Albemarle in 1668. He favoured religious toleration, supported a scheme of comprehension in 1668, and advised the declaration of indulgence in 1672. He upheld the original j uris diction of the Lords in Skinner's case. With these exceptions Buckingham's tenure of office was chiefly marked by an amazing series of scandals and intrigues. Arlington, next to Buckingham himself the most powerful member of the Cabal and a favourite of the king, was his serious rival. Buckingham had from the first been an adherent of the French alliance, while Arlington con cluded through Sir William Temple in 1668 the Triple Alliance. But on the complete volte-face and surrender made by Charles to France in 167o, Arlington as a Roman Catholic was entrusted with the first Treaty of Dover of May 20, while Buckingham was sent to France to carry on the sham negotiations which led to the public treaties of Dec. 31, 167o, and Feb. 2, 1672. In June 1672 he accompanied Arlington to The Hague to impose terms on the prince of Orange, and with Arlington arranged the new treaty with Louis. He was disappointed at being passed over for the command of the English forces in favour of Schomberg. He now knew of the secret Treaty of Dover, and towards the end of 1673 his jealousy of Arlington became open hostility. He threatened to impeach him, but in January 1674 an attack was made upon Buckingham himself simultaneously in both houses. In the Lords the trustees of the young earl of Shrewsbury complained that Buckingham continued publicly his intimacy with the countess; in the Com mons he was attacked as the promoter of the French alliance, of "popery" and arbitrary government. Buckingham was dis missed, retired, reformed his ways, attended church with his wife, began to pay his debts, became a "patriot," and was claimed by the country or opposition party as one of their leaders. In the spring of 1675 he was conspicuous for his opposition to the Test oath and for his abuse of the bishops, and on Nov. 16 he intro duced a bill for the relief of the Nonconformists. Buckingham was sent to the Tower for a short time in 1677 with three other lords for refusing an apology for having raised a constitutional question. He was released in July, and immediately entered into intrigues with Barillon, the French ambassador, with the object of hinder ing the grant of supplies to the king; and in 1678 he visited Paris to get the assistance of Louis XIV. for the cause of the opposi tion. He took an active part in the prosecution of those impli cated in the supposed popish plot, and accused the lord chief justice (Sir William Scroggs) in his own court while on circuit of favouring the Roman Catholics. A writ was issued for his apprehension, but it was never served. He promoted the return of Whig candidates to parliament, constituted himself the cham pion of the dissenters, and was admitted a freeman of the city of London. He, however, separated himself from the Whigs on the exclusion question, probably on account of his dislike of Monmouth and Shaftesbury, was absent from the great debate in the Lords on Nov. 15, 168o, and was restored to the king's favour in 1684.
He took no part in public life after James's accession, but returned to his manor of Helmsley in Yorkshire, the cause of his withdrawal being probably exhausted health and exhausted finances. He died on April 16, 1687, from a chill caught while hunting, in the house of a tenant at Kirkby Moorside in Yorkshire, expressing great repentance and feeling himself "de spised by my country and I fear forsaken by my God.''' As he left no legitimate children the title became extinct.
Even Buckingham's critics admit that he was good-natured, generous, an unsurpassed mimic and the leader of fashion; and with his good looks, in spite of his moral faults and even crimes, he was irresistible to his contemporaries. His portrait has been drawn by Burnet, Count Hamilton in the Memoires de Grammont, Dryden, Pope in the Epistle to Lord Bathurst, and Sir Walter Scott in Peveril of the Peak. He is described by Reresby as "the first gentleman of person and wit I think I ever saw," and Burnet bears the same testimony. Racing and hunting were his favourite sports, and his name long survived in the hunting songs of York shire. He was the patron of Cowley, Sprat, Matthew Clifford and Wycherley. He dabbled in chemistry, and for some years, ac cording to Burnet, "he thought he was very near the finding of the philosopher's stone." He set up glass works at Lambeth, the pro ductions of which were praised by Evelyn; and he spent much money, according to his biographer Brian Fairfax, in building insanae substructiones. Dryden described him under the character of Zimri in the celebrated lines in Absalom and Achitophel (to which Buckingham replied in Poetical Reflections on a late Poem . . . by a Person of Honour, 168 2) : A man so various, that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome; Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was everything by starts and nothing long; But in the course of one revolving moon, Was chymist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon . . .
Beggar'd by fools, whom still he found too late, He had his jest, but they had his estate.
Buckingham wrote occasional verses and satires showing un doubted but undeveloped poetical gifts, a collection of which, con taining however many pieces not from his pen, was first pub lished by Tom Brown in 1704; while a few extracts from a com monplace book of Buckingham of some interest are given in an article in the Quarterly Review of Jan. 1898. He was the author of The Rehearsal, an amusing and clever satire on the heroic drama and especially on Dryden (first performed on Dec. 7, 1671, at the Theatre Royal, and first published in 1672), a deservedly popular play which was imitated by Fielding in Tom Thumb the Great, and by Sheridan in the Critic. Buckingham also published two adapted plays, The Chances, altered from Fletcher's play of the same name (1682) and The Restoration or Right will take place, from Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster (pub. 1714); and also The Battle of Sedgmoor and The Militant Couple (pub. 1704) . His works were edited by T. Evans (1775). Another work is named by Wood, A Demonstration of the Deity, of which there is now no trace.