Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon (24 April 1586 – 14 November 1643), was a prominent English nobleman and literary patron in England during the first half of the seventeenth century.
Henry Hastings was educated at Gray's Inn. In 1595, Henry's father, Francis, died, and Hastings was next to succeed his grandfather, George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon, which on 31 December 1604, he did. In 1607, at the age of 21, Hastings commanded forces in the suppression of the Midland Revolt.[1] Throughout his maturity the 5th Earl served in a wide range of offices in the counties of Leicestershire, Lancashire, and Rutland, including Lord Lieutenant of Leicester and Rutland, 1614–42. He was also a member of the Virginia Company.
The Earls of Huntingdon were traditionally patrons of the town of Leicester and involved in its governance. However, Huntingdon became involved in a lawsuit and in 1606 the town did not send him a customary New Year's gift. The Earl was offended, and in 1607 the townspeople sent his wife a gift of a horse to try to patch things up. The Earl, still offended, asked the Countess to refuse the horse, and the rift continued for a year.[2]
Lady Elizabeth Hastings (born ca. 1605), married Sir Hugh Calverley; died childless.
Patronage
Though a recognized leader of the Puritan movement and a critic of the policies of the House of Stuart, Hastings was also a patron of stage drama, comparable to his contemporaries the Earls of Pembroke—William Herbert, 3rd Earl, and Philip Herbert, 4th Earl. Hastings was known as the most important aristocratic patron of the playwrights Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. (Hastings and Beaumont were distant cousins.) Hastings patronized other dramatists of the era as well, including John Marston, who wrote the masque at Ashby Castle performed in 1607.
