kwebtransPreview
Open in TheBrain

Rupert, Prince

Name: Rupert, Prince of the Palatinate

Nickname/Alias: Rupert of the Rhine

Achievements: First Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company

Born: December 17, 1619; Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic).

Died: November 29, 1682; London, England (Aged 63)

Field & Discipline: Military

Language: German; Dutch; English

Father: Father, Frederick V, Elector Palatine and King Frederick I of Bohemia 

Mother: Elizabeth Stuart (daughter of King James I of England)

Siblings: Seven brothers: Charles Louis; Elector Palatine; Maurice; others. Five sisters: Sophia; Louise; Elizabeth; others

Spouse: None

Children: None

Education: School in Leyden; University of Leyden

Life & Times:

In 1636, when he was seventeen, Rupert visited England, where his elder brother was already at the court of [a pal of] Charles I*.   Rupert, who had studied art at Leyden, was able to appreciate the King’s superb art collection and the King took to him well. 

He met [met] Laud*,  the Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of Oxford University, when he went to Oxford to accept an honorary degree. The archbishop thought he should take the orders and eventually become a Bishop, but Rupert himself dallied with the idea of leading an expedition to colonize Madagascar yet, in the end, it was decided he should be a professional soldier.

He joined the forces fighting against Austria in 1638, leading a cavalry regiment and was captured at Vlotho on the Wester River.  He was imprisoned in the castle of Linz on the Danube for three years as a valuable hostage for the Austrians.  He occupied himself drawing and painting and developed an instrument for drawing in perspective by adapting an invention of [adapted invention of] Durer*.

Charles I obtained Rupert’s release at the end of 1641, and in February 1642, Rupert arrived in England.   Disembarking in Dover, he met the King seeing off his wife, Queen Henrietta,  who was ostensibly accompanying her daughter Mary, just married to William, Prince of Orange, but in reality on a mission to raise money to finance the looming Civil War. 

Rupert eventually joined the court of Charles I just before the Civil War broke out in August 1642.  Although only twenty-three years old, he was given command of the cavalry and when Charles raised his standard at Nottingham, on 22nd August 1642, thus signalling his declaration of war on Parliament, Rupert was there.

Influenced by the innovations made in warfare, during the 17th century, by [influenced by] Gustavus Adolphus* of Sweden and Prince [influenced by] Maurice* of Nassau, Rupert moved away from the idea of set piece battles and gave troops more flexibility and mobility. 

In October 1642, Rupert took Oxford for the King after the battle of Edgehill, but Charles held him back from advancing on Westminster. In July 1643, he took Bristol for the King, but Charles again hesitated over an attempt on the capital.  This hesitation was eventually fatal.

In January 1644, the King made Rupert Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness.  Rupert fought successfully in the north for a time,  but at the battle of Marston Moor in Yorkshire in July 1644, he was heavily defeated by troops led by [defeated by] Oliver Cromwell*.

In May 1645, Rupert seized Leicester, but on 14 June was severely defeated at Naseby, Northamptonshire, a battle which had been fought against Rupert’s wishes.  In September, he was forced to surrender Bristol to the Parliamentary forces and Charles relieved him of his command.  When the King himself surrendered to the Scots in July the following year, Parliament banished Rupert from England.

Rupert was quickly enlisted into the French army, where he was given command of English troops in French pay,  and he fought against the Spaniards in the southern Netherlands.

In 1648, he took over the small Royalist fleet of ten English warships which had mutinied and defected to the Royalist cause. His intention was to rescue the King from the Isle of Wight where Charles had fled on his escape from Hampton Court, but they  harried English ships in the English Channel.  Rupert was then ordered to Ireland by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, in a desperate attempt to raise support for the King, who was being tried at Westminster.

In the autumn of 1649, he was driven by the Parliamentary fleet from Kinsale, County Cork to Lisbon and then into the Mediterranean.  When he was chased out of the Mediterranean, he took his diminishing fleet of ships to the Azores and West Indies.  By the time he returned to Europe in 1653, he had only one ship left.

He went to France where [privy councillor to] Charles II*, son of Charles 1 and heir to the English throne, was holding court in exile but quarrelled with Charles.   He spent the next four years in Frankfurt, Cassel and Mainz where the rulers were his friends and where he made a “rudimentary” revolver and a “primitive” torpedo, experimented with glass and produced some excellent mezzotints, including two of Oliver Cromwell which are in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

At the Restoration in 1660, when Charles II regained the English throne, Rupert returned to England and Charles made him a privy councillor.  In 1662, he settled in England and on Rupert’s initiative, the Company of the Royal Adventurers of England trading into Africa was formed.

In the Dutch Wars of 1665-67 and 1672-74  he  served in the English navy as an admiral.  [criticized by] Pepys*, the diarist and Naval Administrator, who considered Rupert to be bad-tempered and obstinate, complained in 1666 that he had brought the fleet back in a poor condition. 

In 1670, he became the first governor of the [first governor of] Hudson’s Bay Company* when the company received its charter.  The Bay opened up a new route for trade in furs with Canada. 

At the end of the 1650’s, two French fur traders, Medart Chouart des Groseilliers and [supported] Radisson*  had explored as far as Lake Superior and, getting no help or recognition from the French authorities, were looking for support from other countries.  In 1668 they had come to England and met Rupert, who became excited at the idea of the profits to be made from the fur trade.   The project gained the support of Charles II and, in 1669, Radisson reached the Bay and returned with a big cargo and furs and skins. 

Prince Rupert was also involved with the Royal African Company, established in 1672,  and he encouraged the slave trade.   The plantations in the West Indies were in need of cheap labour and the slave trade became the most flourishing part of the West African trade.

In his last years, he was looked after by his mistress and he died, on 29th November 1682, at his house in London.

Extra Connections: [surrendered to by] James Graham, Marquis of Montrose* surrendered to him at Marston Moor.

Barclay R*  ?

[a courtier was] Harrington* joined his court in Holland.

Influenced by [influenced by] De Gheyn*

He was painted by [painted by] Van Dyck*

His family knew [family knew] Wilkins*

Assessment: Prince Rupert’s abilities as a soldier and commander of the Royalist army in the Civil War in England were monumental.  He was also an active promoter of the expansion of trade in the second half of the seventeenth century.

Oneliner: Prince Rupert, first Hudson’s Bay Co. governor

Bibliography:

Wikipedia