Sir Valentine Browne (died 1589), of Croft, Lincolnshire, was auditor, treasurer and victualler of Berwick-upon-Tweed. He acquired large estates in Ireland during the Plantation of Munster, in particular the seignory of Molahiffe. He lived at Ross Castle near Killarney, County Kerry. He was MP in three English and one Irish parliaments.
Birth and origins
Valentine was probably born in the late 1510s or early 1520s[a] in Croft, Lincolnshire, eldest son of Sir Valentine Browne, knight, of Croft, who died in 1568. His father's family had been established in Totteridge, Hertfordshire, and in Hoxton, Middlesex (now in London), before moving to Lincolnshire. Nothing seems to be known about his mother.
Family tree
Sir Valentine Browne with his two wives, his father, and other selected relatives.[b]
A Valentine Brown of Lincolnshire was knighted by King James I at Belvoir Castle on 23 April 1603, but whether it was his eldest son or the homonym grandson is not sure.[11]
Second marriage and children
Valentine Browne married secondly Thomasine, daughter of Robert Bacon and sister of Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper.[12]
Valentine and Thomasine had two sons:
Nicholas (died 1606), knight of Molahiffe, received most of the Irish lands as appanage[13]
Browne was appointed by Queen Elizabeth in the 1560s to several positions at Berwick-upon-Tweed, an important garrison of the English army on the Scottish border. As victualler and treasurer, he paid the troops and bought food for them.
In 1569 the earls of Westmoreland, and Northumberland rose against Queen Elizabeth supporting the Catholic religion and the claim of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots to the English throne. The rebels occupied Durham on 14 November 1569[19] where mass was celebrated in the cathedral.[20] Lord Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, who had been appointed Lord President of the North by Elizabeth in 1568, assembled an army in York and then marched against the rebels on 13 December. Browne had stayed loyal to Elizabeth and led some troops on this march as we know from a letter he wrote on 16 December 1569 to Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, while approaching Durham.[21] The rebels avoided engaging Sussex's superior forces and fled into Scotland. Lesser landlords involved in the rebellion were pardoned upon paying a fine that was collected by Thomas Gargrave, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, who handed the accounts and the money to Browne, treasurer, in July 1570.[22] Browne was knighted by Sussex in 1570 becoming Sir Valentine of Totteridge (Hertfordshire), Croft (Lincolnshire), and Hoggsden (Middlesex).[23][24]
The records of Cambridge University state that a Valentine Browne matriculated at Trinity College during the easter term of 1570. Although the source suggests that he was the person elected MP for Thetford in 1572, that matriculation date seems too late for the studies of the subject of this article.[25]
Sir Valentine was Governor of Berwick in May 1573.[26] during the "Lang Siege" of Edinburgh Castle during the Marian civil war (1568–1573). After the siege acquired some of the jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots that Sir William Drury brought from Scotland[27] His page Gilbert Edward stole jewels from him including a diamond and ruby studded gold mermaid with a diamond shield or mirror, and a gold chain marked with Sir Valentine's initials "v. b." at the clasp. The costume of the runaway page was described, with yellow doublet, peach-coloured hose, blue stockings, and a grey hat.[28] Sir Valentine's management of finance at Berwick was criticised several times.[29][30]
When Francis Walsingham travelled to Scotland in August 1583, Sir Valentine wrote to him from Hoxton bemoaning the ruinous state of several castles of the north, including Bamborough, Dunstanburgh, Norham, and Etal.[31]
Plantation of Munster
In 1584 Sir Valentine became involved in the Plantation of Munster. The Irish province of Munster had been devastated since 1569 by the Desmond Rebellions which ended on 11 November 1583 when Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, the rebel earl, was killed. The earl's extensive lands were forfeit and the government planned to grant them to English undertakers and repopulate them with English settlers. In July 1584, the government commissioned a survey of these lands. Sir Valentine and Henry Wallop were appointed to manage this task. Arthur Robyns was one of the surveyors.[32] In a letter to William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, Elizabeth's chief adviser, dated 10 October 1584, Sir Valentine wrote that "the work was so difficult as to have extended over three years."[citation needed] He further wrote from Askeaton that he had "travailed hard in superintending the survey, passing through bogs and woods, scaling mountains, and crossing many bridgeless rivers and dangerous waters", waters in which he lost some of his horses, and was twice nearly lost himself; that his son had broken his arm, and that "the service was so severe that many of the men had fallen sick". He described the towns and villages as ruined, and wrote that "not one of thirty persons" was left alive after the famine caused by crop destructions, and "those for the most part starvelings".[33] Desmond's lands, thus nearly void of inhabitants, were, however, "replenished with wood, rivers, and fishings". Sir Valentine's survey divided the escheated lands into 35 seignories.[34]
While living at Ross Castle near Killarney, Sir Valentine was in April 1585 elected MP for County Sligo in the Irish parliament of 1585/1586.[35]
In 1587 Sir Valentine returned to Ireland and applied for one of the seignories. He was granted Currans (in Kerry) in the early 1587 allotment, but this seignory was finally given to Charles Herbert[36] and he was provisionally given the neighbouring seignory of Molahiffe instead. Molahiffe consisted of the territories of Onaght and Coshmaine, which had belonged to two vassals of Donald McCarthy, 1st Earl of Clancare who had sided with the rebels and died in the war.[37] Clancare successfully claimed the lands for himself and then at a meeting with Sir Valentine in London on 28 June 1588 mortgaged them to him for about £600.[38][39] Sir Valentine ended up owning 6,500 acres (26 km2) of land in County Kerry alone, in addition to earlier grants including the village of Hospital, County Limerick. He built a castle near this village, called Kenmare Castle. In 1588 when the Spanish Armada was menacing the coasts, he commanded a company for Ireland's defence.[40]
He was succeeded in England by his eldest son Valentine Browne of Croft and in Ireland by his second son Nicholas and his son Thomas. Nicholas was knighted and thus became Sir Nicholas. He married Sheila (or Julia), a daughter of Eoin the O'Sullivan Beare[43] and probably converted to Catholicism to do so. O'Sullivan had lost his chieftainship to his nephew Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare who had claimed a right to it by primogeniture.
Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
^This family tree is based on genealogies of the baronets Browne (later earls of Kenmare)[2][3][4]
Citations
^McCormack & Clavin 2009, 2nd paragraph. "Their travels [in 1584] through these often wild and inaccessible territories took its toll on Browne, who was described as being over sixty years old and considerably overweight."
^Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1019, right column, line 11. "Valentine, of Crofts, co. Lincoln, knighted 23 April 1603; m. [married] Elizabeth, dau. [daughter] of Sir John Monson, and was ancestor of the Brownes of Crofts."
^Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1019, right column, line 14. "Sir Valentine Browne m. [married] 2ndly, Thomazine, dau. [daughter] of Robert Bacon, and sister of the Lord Keeper (Sir Nicholas) Bacon ..."
^Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1019, right column, line 35. "Sir Nicholas Browne, knt. of Molahiffe, Kerry, being co-patentee with his father of the Kerry estates, m. [married] Sichely Sheela, or Julia, dau. [daughter] of O'Sullivan Beare, and dying 12 Dec. 1606 ..."
^Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1019, right column, line 19. "Thomas, who obtained a grant in 1603 of the manor, lordship and preceptory or hospital of Aney, or St. John of Jerusalem, co. Limerick ... He d. [died] 13 April 1640 ..."
^Allan James Crosby, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1566–1568 (London, 1871), pp. 333–334 no. 1658.
^Fraser 1890, p. 92. "... Valentine Browne afterwards Sir Valentine Browne wrote from Berwick to Cecil that Robert Melville had applied ... to borrow money '..."
^HMC 1877, p. 645. "I Maister Jhone Wood, serviteur and agent for the Lord Regent of Scotland, grantis me to haif resawed from the handis of Maister Valentyn Broun, thesourier of Barwyk, the sowme of thre skour pundis sterling ..."
^Camm 1914, p. 138. "The two earls made a public entry into Durham on the afternoon of the 14th [November 1659] amidst the acclamations of the people."
^Camm 1914, p. 145 . "... and in these [churches] and the cathedral as many Masses as the small number of priests available would permit began now to be celebrated ..."
^Wright 1838a, p. 343. "Wrytten in haste upon our marche this 11th. at night, the 16th of December 1569."
^Black 1936, p. 112. "By July [1570] the fine rolls and the valuation were complete, and Sir Thomas Gargrave placed his accounts with the balance of the money in the hands of Valentine Browne, treasurer of Berwick."
^Wright 1838a, p. 343, footnote. "Valentine Browne was knighted in 1570, by Sussex, on his return from an inroad among the borderers."
^ abVenn & Venn 1922, p. 239, left column"Browne, Valentine. Matric. Fell.-Com. from Trinity, Easter, 1570. One of these names (of Hoxton, Middlesex) M.P. for Thetford 1572 ..."
^Boyd 1905, p. 569. "May 24, 1573 / Henry Killigrew to Sir Valentine Browne"
^Boyd 1905, p. 608. "The 'pecis' which are mentioned to have been delivered to him by 'Maister' Archibald Dowglas are delivered into the hands of my good friend Sir Valentine Browne, knight, 'thesaurar' of Berwick ..."
^Grose & Astle 1807, p. 23. "... the youthe's name is Gilbert Edwodd, and page to Sr Valentine Browne ..."
^Wright 1838b, p. 2. "Your Lordship do well put in mynd for a successor to Sir Valentine Browne. His books of articles and answers have bene now agayn perused by commissioners ..."
^Porrett 1844, p. 161. "... how hardly Sir Valentine brown had dealt with him in takeing an excessive gaine ..."
^ abHouse of Commons 1878, p. 631. "1585 / - April / Sir Valentine Browne, knt. / Rosse Castle, Kerry / Sligo County"
^MacCarthy-Morrogh 1983, p. 398, line 10. Awarded Currans in early 1587 allotment but portion transferred to Charles Herbert(4).
^Clavin 2009, 12th paragraph. "In 1584 the territories Onaght and Coshmaine, formerly held by two of Clancares's more independent vassals who had died in rebellion, were earmarked for plantation and later granted to Sir Valentine Browne."
^MacCarthy-Morrogh 1983, p. 398, line 12. "Brownes provisionally allotted Molahiffe lands but claimed by and restored to Earl of Clancare, who then granted property to Brownes by mortgage 1588;"
^Clavin 2009, 14th paragraph. "There [in London], he came to an arrangement with Browne, whereby he mortgages – in effect, sold - the disputed territories of Onaght and Coshmaine to him for about £600."
^Canny 2001, p. 144. "The other undertakers [in addition to William Herbert] who commanded companies in Munster in 1588 when the threat of the Spanish Armada ... were Sir Valentine Browne ..."
^ abHasler 1981, p. 506, right column, line 18. "He went to Ireland in 1587 as an undertaker for repopulating the wastes of Kerry and Desmond, and died there in 1589, being buried in St. Katherine's church, Dublin, on 19 Feb."
^Cokayne 1900, p. 236. "... s. and h. of Sir Nicholas Browne, of Ross Castle, in that county [i.e. Kerry], by Sheela, or Julia, da. [daughter] of O'Sullivan Bear, of co. Cork;"
^MacCarthy-Morrogh 1983, p. 398. "Sir Valentine previous experience in Ireland as auditor in 1550s."
^Brydges 1817, p. 171. "... who was sworn of the privy council, in Ireland, in 1584 ..."
^Hamilton 1877, p. 314. "... to be sheriff of the counties of Kerry and Desmond; but also shall, jointly with his son Nicholas Browne, now sheriff of the county of Kerry, be general receiver ..."
Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN0-86193-106-8. – (for timeline)
