CLARENDON, EnwAR» HYDE, Earl of (1G09 74). An English historian, and Chancellor of Charles 11. The son of Henry Hyde, a private gentleman, he was born at Hinton, Wiltshire, February 18, 1609. Destined for the Church, lie proceeded to Magdalen College. Oxford, where he was graduated Bachelor of Arts, February 14, 1(326. But instead of the clerical profession, he entered the Middle Temple, under his uncle, Chief Justice Sir Nicholas Hyde, treasurer of the society, and was called to the bar November 22, 1633. With a leaning to letters rather than law, his intimate friends were the brilliant literati of the period—Ben Jenson, Waller, Sel den, Carew, Chillingworth, Hales, Falkland, and others. I'o them in after-years lie attributed nannch of his knowledge and worldly experience. Ile was twice married—his first, wife dying after six months—and by both alliances gained pe•u niary and political influence. In 1634 he be came Keeper of the Writs and Rolls of the Com mon Pleas, and by some brilliant defense work acquired an extensive law practice. Ile came into high favor with Laud. and was frequently consulted by him. He entered the 'Short Par liament' of 1640 for Wootton Bassett, and dis: tinguisinql himself as a supporter of the Popular Party. Ile represented Saltash in the 'Long Parliament.' but as an Episcopalian lie eventu ally seceded from the Popular Party on eccle siastical questions, and thereby gained the King's favor. Ile headed tlw Royalist Party in the Commons, and counseled conciliation by a persistent appeal to the 'known laws of the land.' He was the author of most of the King's answers to the Parliamentary manifestoes. At the outbreak of the Civil War he attached him self to the Royal cause, and in 1643 was knighted a nil made Chancellor of the Exchequer and Privy Councilor. After viewing the battle of Edgehill lie joined Prince Charles (Charles II.) in the West, and accompanied lihn in his flight to .Jersey. lie remained in that. island for two years, and began his History of the Rebel lion. In June, 1648, after capture and spolia tion by an Ostend pirate, he rejoined Prince Charles at. The Hague. lie exerted himself to save the life of Charles, 1., and after that mon arch's execution was Feta ined as coll11,e1or by lharles 11.. in 1649. going to Spain on an un successful mission for assistance. At Charles's request lie rejoined him in Paris, and a, the King's most trusted adviser there. as also in Cologne and Bruges, spent the next nine years, frequently ill abject poverty. formally declared him Lord Chancelbir in 1658. Two years later his daughter Anne formed a secret marriage with the Duke of York, afterwards James II., and subsequently became the mother of .Nlary and Anne, the future English queens. The King and Clarendon were wroth; hut larcndon's indignation was somewhat. acted, and excited an after-suspicion that he deliberately proposed the barren Catharine of Braganzo as Charles 11.'s consort, to provide for his posterity's succession to the throne. At the Restoration Charles confirmed his appoint ment as Lord Chancellor, against violent oppo sition, and in November. 1660, created him
Baron Hyde. The same year lie was elected chancellor of Oxford University, and the April following became Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Clarendon. During his Premiership the set tlement of Scotland and Ireland owed much to Lim, and he took a leading part in colonial ex tension. Ile was one of the eight proprietors to whom the first Carolina limner was granted in 1663, the Cape Fear establishment being named 'Clarendon County.' after him. He also helped the Presbyterian Baxter, to whom he offered a bishopric, in the incorporatbm of a company for the propagation of the Gospel in New England. The ill success of the Dutch War and the sale of Dunkirk to the French aroused public indiptation, and lie became ex ceedingly unpopular. In 1663 the Earl of Bris tol unsuccessfully accused him of bribery in the House of Lords, but in 1667 he fell a victim to Court intrigue; and having offended the King by opposing his divorce, that lie might marry Fanny Stewart, whom Clarendon induced the Duke of Richmond to wed, Charles deprived him of his otliees, and indirectly advised him to with draw to Calais. Clarendon sent a vindication to the Lords, which both Houses of Parliament ordered to be burned by the common hangman. After being almost murdered by some English sailors at Evreux, lie lived in exile for six yen rs, sending humble appeals to be allowed to pass his remaining years on English soil. He died in llouen, December 9, 1671, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
In a generally profligate Court he was almost the only moral man, and was distinguished for This unswerving fidelity to the Episcopal Church and his determined maintenance of what lie considered the true and ideal English Consti tution. Ile was a ready debater and pleasing speaker. but it is for his literary productions that he is best remembered. The first edition of his great Historn of the Rebell ion (Oxford. 1702-04) was not printed from the original manuseript, and sonic passages were slightly altered by the editors. A eomplete edition, by Dr. Bandinel. first appeared in 1526: while the Lest edition, in 6 vols., was published at Oxford in ISSS. Ile wrote also a Life of Rthrord Hyde, rend of ( re ndon, with a Con t in uel t ion of flat' History of the (frond Rebellion front the Res torution to His Bunishntent in. 161;7 (1759) ; and a History of the Mc/JO/ion aml War in I•e land (1721) (insult : Aga r- Ellis, Hi.vtoricoi I nil te ry Respect in the rfi r Cr Of ij (I Wfirel 1/de, Of Clarendon (London, 1827) ;. Lis ter, Life and Aden i le lea ra ion of Eel era re/ First (:'aryl of Clan:ado,' (1.1)1idon, IS:37 ; Lewis, Lines of the Fri,ads and t'ontemporaric4 of Cif/rem/on (3 vols., London, 1852) ; ('ainp bell, Lircs of the Lords Fhancyllors, vol. iii. (Lon don. Oldinixon, Cla nib», t sal Whit clorke Com pa reel I2d ed., London. 1787) : and the his tories of Green, Ranke. and Gardiner.