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     Sir Francis Willoughby died on 17 August 1597.

     Sir Robert Sidney She was the daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester andDorothy, daughter of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland andDorothy De~reux (the latter being the widow of Sir John Perrot,ancestor of the author).
Sir Robert Sidney was also known as 2nd Earl of Leicester. He was born in 1595 at London, England. He married Dorothy Percy, daughter of Sir Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland and Dorothy De~reux, in 1614 at Penshurst, Kent, England. Sir Robert Sidney died in 1677 at Penshurst, Sussex, England.

     Dorothy Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland and Dorothy De~reux (the latter being the widow of Sir John Perrot). Her married name was Sidney. She was born in 1598 at Alnwick, Northumberland, England. She married Sir Robert Sidney in 1614 at Penshurst, Kent, England. Dorothy Percy died in 1659 at Penshurst, Kent, England.

     Sir Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
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Henry Percy
Earl of Northumberland

Spouse(s) Lady Dorothy Devereux
Issue
Lady Dorothy Percy
Lady Lucy Percy
Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy
Noble family House of Percy
Father Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland
Mother Katherine Neville
Born 27 April 1564
Tynemouth Castle, England
Died 5 November 1632 (1632-11-05) (aged 68)

Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, 3rd Baron Percy, KG (27 April 1564 - 5 November 1632) was an English aristocrat. He was a grandeeand one of the wealthiest peers of the court of Elizabeth 1. Under James 1, Henry was a long-term prisoner in the Tower of London. He isknown for the circles he moved in as well as for his own achievements.He acquired the sobriquet The Wizard Earl (also given to Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare), from his scientific and alchemical experiments, his passion for cartography, and his large library. His mild deafness and slight speech impediment did not prevent him from becoming an important intellectual and cultural figure of hisgeneration.


Early life
He was born at Tynemouth Castle in Northumberland, England, the son ofHenry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, whom he succeeded in 1585. Hewas brought up a Protestant, as his father had been, taking instruction from the vicar of Egremont. This did not preventsuspicions in later life, particularly when he associated with Charles Paget, that he was a crypto-Catholic.[1] Around 1586, he firstemployed the artist Nicolas Hilliard paying 60 shillings for his portrait.

Although his title was from the north of England, Percy also had estates in the south at Petworth House, and also and at Syon House, afew miles north of Richmond-upon-Thames, acquired by his marriage to Dorothy Devereux (sister of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex) in1594. Their daughter, Dorothy, married Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl ofLeicester. Though it did produce a male heir, Algernon, the marriage was not successful, and the couple separated after a time.

The Percy family was still largely Catholic, while Henry was at leastnominally Protestant. When it became clear that the Protestant James VI of Scotland was likely to succeed Elizabeth, Henry sent ThomasPercy, a recent Catholic convert, on a secret mission to James's courtthree times in 1602. He said that English Catholics would accept Jamesas king if he reduced the persecution of Catholics. Henry employed SirThomas Percy as a rent-collector at Syon House. Thomas was thegreat-grandson of the 4th Earl of Northumberland, but was unscrupulous, with 34 charges of dishonesty brought against him. Henrywrote to James 'It were a pity to lose a good Kingdom for not tolerating a mass in a corner'. Through Sir Thomas Percy, Henryreceived loosely-worded assurances of religious tolerance from James.

Shortly before James's accession to the English throne in 1603, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury through Lord Henry Howard particularlywarned the king against Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, Sir Walter Ralegh, and Percy.[5] This theory of the 'diabolical triplicity'rested on innuendo, about the occult interests supposedly cultivated by the intellectual circles led by Percy and Ralegh, and possibly onthe traitorous intent suggested only by rumours from the 1580s thatPercy would marry Arbella Stuart. Brooke led the Main Plotagainst James, and Ralegh soon lost his freedom. Percy, on the otherhand, was appointed to the Privy Council.

Sir Thomas Percy went on to become one of the five conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. When the plot was discovered Sir Thomas fledand was besieged at Holbeache House in Warwickshire. On November 8,1605, a marksman shot dead both Robert Catesby and Sir Thomas with a single bullet. As a result, the Earl of Northumberland was suspectedof being part of the plot and spent the next 17 years as a prisoner inthe Tower of London. He also paid a fine of £30,000.

Large Portrait miniature by Nicholas Hilliard, 1590-95. Still a richman, Percy made himself comfortable in the Tower of London. He took over Martin Tower, and had a covered-over bowling alley installed. Ralegh, who preceded him to the Tower with a death sentence hangingover him, he saw regularly. From 1616 Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset and Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset were inmates, and hewas on social terms with them. Frances promoted the marriage of hissecond daughter Lucy Percy to James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle, while as a father he disapproved and required Lucy to reside with him; but Frances outwitted him.

He met friends while in the Tower[9]; these included Thomas Harriot.With Ralegh they discussed advanced scientific ideas and smokedtobacco.

Intellectual interests and associates
Because of his interest in scientific experiments and his library,Henry acquired the nickname 'The Wizard Earl'. The library was one of the largest in England at the time. He was a patron to Thomas Harriot, Nicholas Hill, Robert Hues, Nathaniel Torporley and Walter Warner. The astrologer John Dee, nearby Syon House at Mortlake,was also a friend of Henry, and their circles overlapped.Harriothad been a navigational tutor to Ralegh and his captains. From 1598(or possibly from 1607) Harriot lived at Syon House. There he used atelescope to make a map of the moon several months before Galileo didthe same. He may have been the first person to observe sunspots.

Percy had also connections to the literati. George Peele wrote a poem The Honour of the Garter, dedicated to Percy and for the occasion ofhis admission to the Order of the Garter, on 26 June 1593. For his efforts Peele was paid £3.[12][13] Christopher Marlowe claimed his acquaintance and certainly moved in the same group. Percy was afriend to John Donne. After Donne's elopement and clandestine marriage in 1601, he had the task of taking a letter for him to the newfather-in-law, Sir George More.
In William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost (1594), there is amention of the 'School of Night'. It has been argued that this refersof a circle of scientific investigators which met at Syon House,though other commentators think the word 'school' is a misprint forsomething like 'shawl.' Thomas Harriot and Marlowe were supposedly members. Frances Yates comments on this hypothetical group, supposedly including also George Chapman as the author of Shadow of Night, asarguably part of Ralegh's circle, to the effect that they would be 'Saturnians' in the sense of her study.[16]

References
Andrew Pyle (editor) (2000), Dictionary of Seventeenth Century BritishPhilosophers
[edit] Notes
1.^ a b s:Percy, Henry (1564-1632) (DNB00)
2.^ Batho, G. R., ed., Household Papers of Henry Percy, 9th Earl ofNorthumberland, Camden Society, (1962), 64-65.
3.^ Alice Hogge, God's Secret Agents (2005), pp. 303-5.
4. Gerald Brenan, William Alexander Lindsay, A History of the Houseof Percy (1902), vol. ii p. 81.
5.^ Christopher Lee, 1603: A Turning Point in British History (2003),p. 101.
6.^ Robert Lacey, Sir Walter Ralegh p. 274.
7.^ Sarah Gristwood, Arbella, England's Lost Queen (2003), p. 109.
8.^ Anne Somerset (1997), Unnatural Murder: Poison at the Court ofKing James I, p. 429 and p. 433.
9.^ Gordon Batho, The Education of a Stuart Nobleman, British Journalof Educational Studies, 1957
10.^ Pyle, pp. 646-8, article Percy, Henry, 9th Earl of Northumberland.
11.^ Peter J. French, John Dee: The World of an Elizabethan Magus(1984), p. 62 and pp. 171-2.
12.^ Millar MacLure, Christopher Marlowe: The Critical Heritage(1995), p. 39.
13.^ Patrick Gerard Cheney, The Cambridge Companion to ChristopherMarlowe (2004), p. 282.
14.^ Park Honan, Christopher Marlowe: Poet and Spy,pp. 235-241 and p.280.
15.^ David L. Edwards (2001), John Donne: Man of Flesh and Spirit, p.255.
16.^ Frances Yates, The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age (2001 edition), p. 169. Sir Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland was also known as 9th Earl of Northumberland. He married Dorothy De~reux. Sir Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland was born in 1564 at Tynemouth, Northumberland, England. He died in 1632 at The Tower of London, London, England.

     Dorothy De~reux married Sir Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, son of Sir Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland and Catherine Neville. Her married name was Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland. Dorothy De~reux was born in 1564 at Chartley, Staffordshire, England. She died on 3 August 1619 at Petworth, Sussex, England.

     Her married name was Spencer. Arabella Cavendish was also known as Lady Arabella Cavendish. She married Prime Minister Charles Spencer 3rd Earl of Sunderland, son of Robert Spencer and Anne Digby, in 1695. Arabella Cavendish died in 1698.

     Caroline Russell.
Her married name was Spencer. Caroline Russell was also known as Lady Caroline Russell. She was born in January 1743 at London, England. She married George Spencer, son of 3rd Duke of Marlborough Charles Spencer and Elizabeth Trevor, on 23 August 1762. Caroline Russell died on 26 November 1811 at age 68.

     4th Duke of Bedford John Russell was born on 30 September 1710 at Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. He married Duchess of Bedford Diana Spencer, daughter of Prime Minister Charles Spencer 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Anne Churchill, on 11 October 1731 at England. 4th Duke of Bedford John Russell died on 15 January 1771 at Bedford House, Bloomsbury, London, England, at age 60.

     Francis Almeric Spencer was born on 26 December 1779 at Forest, Oxfordshire, England. He died on 7 March 1845 at Brighton, Sussex, England, at age 65.

     Amelia Sophia Spencer was born on 8 September 1775 at Northamptonshire, England. She died on 30 January 1829 at age 53.

     Anne Spencer was born on 5 November 1773 at Northamptonshire, England. She died on 7 August 1865 at Richmond, Surrey, England, at age 91.

     Henry John Spencer was born on 20 December 1770 at Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. He died on 3 July 1795 at Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany, at age 24.

     Charlotte Spencer was born on 18 October 1769 at Northamptonshire, England. She died on 10 January 1802 at Kent, England, at age 32.

     George Spencer Churchill 5th Duke of Marlborough We now have a change of surname because their son, George, 5th Duke of Marlborough, took the additional name of Churchill by royal license in1817. The Churchill surname is interesting in its origin and couldperhaps be the subject of another article. Burke’s Peerage gives thefamily origin as coming from Gitto de Leon whose son was Wandril deLeon, Lord of Courcil. The name then changed from 'de Courcil' to 'deChirchil' and ultimately 'Churchill'.

George was born on 6 March 1766 and died at Blenheim on 5 March 1840,having married in 1791 Susan, 2nd daughter of John Stewart, 7th Earlof Galloway. He was born on 6 March 1766 at Blenheim, Oxfordshire, England. He married Susan Stewart, daughter of Countess of Galloway Anne Kirtlington Dashwood Stewart, in 1791. George Spencer Churchill 5th Duke of Marlborough died on 5 March 1840 at Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, at age 73.

     Elizabeth Spencer was born on 20 December 1764 at Northamptonshire, England. She died on 11 December 1812 at Sion Hill, Middlesex, England, at age 47.

     Caroline Spencer was born on 27 October 1763 at Northamptonshire, England. She died on 23 November 1813 at Blenheim, Oxfordshire, England, at age 50.

     Her married name was Spencer Churchill. Susan Stewart was also known as Lady Susan Stewart. She was born on 10 April 1767 at Wormleighton, Warwickshire, England. She married George Spencer Churchill 5th Duke of Marlborough, son of George Spencer and Caroline Russell, in 1791. Susan Stewart died on 2 April 1841 at Park Lane, Middlesex, England, at age 73.

     6th Duke of Marlborough George Spencer Churchill was born on 27 December 1793 at Bill Hill, Hurst, Wokingham, Berkshire, England. He married Jane Stewart, daughter of George Stewart and Lady Jane Paget, on 13 January 1819. 6th Duke of Marlborough George Spencer Churchill married Charlotte Augusta Flower on 10 June 1846 at Wokingham, Berkshire, England. 6th Duke of Marlborough George Spencer Churchill lived in 1851 at 12 Upper Belgrave Street, Middlesex, England. He married Jane Frances Clinton Stewart on 18 October 1851 at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. 6th Duke of Marlborough George Spencer Churchill died on 1 July 1857 at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England, at age 63.

     Her married name was Churchill. Jane Stewart was also known as Lady Jane Stewart. She was born on 29 March 1798 at London, England. She married 6th Duke of Marlborough George Spencer Churchill, son of George Spencer Churchill 5th Duke of Marlborough and Susan Stewart, on 13 January 1819. Jane Stewart died on 12 October 1844 at Blenheim, Oxfordshire, England, at age 46.

     George Stewart Admiral Sir George Stewart, 8th Earl of Galloway was born on 24 March 1768. He was the son of Sir John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway and Anne Dashwood. He married Lady Jane Paget, daughter of Sir Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge and Jane Champagné, on 18 April 1797. He died on 27 March 1834 at age 66.
Admiral Sir George Stewart, 8th Earl of Galloway succeeded to the title of 7th Baronet Stewart, of Corsewell on 13 November 1806. He succeeded to the title of 6th Baronet Stewart, of Burray on 13 November 1806. He succeeded to the title of 8th Earl of Galloway on 13 November 1806. He succeeded to the title of 8th Lord of Garlies on 13 November 1806. He gained the rank of Admiral of the Blue in the service of the Royal Navy. He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Thistle (K.T.) in 1814.
Children of Admiral Sir George Stewart, 8th Earl of Galloway and Lady Jane Paget
Lady Louisa Stewart+ d. 5 Mar 1889
Lady Jane Stewart+ b. 29 Mar 1798, d. 12 Oct 1844
Sir Randolph Stewart, 9th Earl of Galloway+ b. 16 Sep 1800, d. 2 Jan 1873
Admiral Hon. Keith Stewart+ b. 3 Jan 1814, d. 15 Sep 1879. George Stewart was also known as 8th Earl of Galloway George Stewart. He was born on 24 March 1768 at London, England. He married Lady Jane Paget on 18 April 1797 at London, England. George Stewart died on 27 March 1834 at Hampstead, Middlesex, England, at age 66.

     John Winston Spencer Churchill The 7th Duke of Marlborough He married Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane, daughter of Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry and Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest, on 12 July 1843 at St. George's Street, Mayfair, London, England. He died on 5 July 1883 at age 61 at 29 Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, England, from heart disease. He was buried at Chapel, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. His will was probated on 15 September 1883, at above £146,000.
John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough was styled as Earl of Sunderland between 1822 and 1840. He was styled as Marquess of Blandford between 1840 and 1857. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Conservative) for Woodstock between 1844 and 1845. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Conservative) for Woodstock between 1847 and 1857. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Laws (D.C.L.) by Oxford University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, on 7 June 1853. He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire between 1857 and 1883. He succeeded to the title of 9thEarl of Sunderland [E., 1643] on 1 July 1857. He succeeded to the title of 11th Baron Spencer of Wormleighton [E., 1603] on 1 July 1857. He succeeded to the title of 7th Duke of Marlborough [E., 1702] on 1 July 1857. He succeeded to the title of 7th Marquess of Blandford [E.,1702] on 1 July 1857. He succeeded to the title of 7th Baron Churchillof Sandridge, co. Hertford [E., 1685] on 1 July 1857. He succeeded tothe title of 7th Earl of Marlborough, co. Wilts [E., 1689] on 1 July1857. He held the office of Lord Steward of the Household between 1866and 1867. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) on 10 July1866. He held the office of Lord President of the Council between March 1867 and December 1868. He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.) on 23 May 1868. He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland between 1876 and 1880, Viceroy. 'His adminstration of Ireland was popular, and he endeavoured to benefitthe trade of the country.'
He began a series of sales of the family collections which was carried on by his successor. In 1875 'the Marlborough Gems' were sold as one lot by Christies for £10,000, the 'the Sunderland Library' realised £60,000; in 1883 'the Blenheim enamels' fetched above £73,000; whilein 1884-85 eleven pictures were sold, with two (Raphael's 'Madonnadegli Ansidei' for £70,000 and Vandyke's 'Equestrian portraits of Charles I' for £17,500) purchased for the nation.3
Children of John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough and Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane. He was born on 12 July 1843. He married Frances Anne Emily Vane on 12 July 1843 at St. George's Street, Mayfair, London, England.¹ John Winston Spencer Churchill The 7th Duke of Marlborough died on 5 July 1883 at 29 Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, England, at age 39 Heart Disease.¹ He was buried circa 6 July 1883 at Chapel, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England.¹