Rt Hon. Earl Lord Viscount Edward Hyde PC
(1609-1674)

Died aged c. 65

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon PC JP (18 February 1609 – 9 December 1674), was an English statesman, lawyer, diplomat and historian who served as chief advisor to Charles I during the First English Civil War, and Lord Chancellor to Charles II from 1660 to 1667. Hyde largely avoided involvement in the political disputes of the 1630s until elected to the Long Parliament in November 1640. Like many moderates, he felt attempts by Charles to rule without Parliament had gone too far but by 1642 felt its leaders were, in turn, seeking too much power. A devout believer in an Episcopalian Church of England, his opposition to Puritan attempts to reform it drove much of his policy over the next two decades. He joined Charles in York shortly before the First English Civil War began in August 1642, and initially served as his senior political advisor. However, as the war turned against the Royalists, his rejection of attempts to build alliances with Scots Covenanters or Irish Catholics led to a decline in his influence. In 1644, the future Charles II was placed in command of the West Country, with Hyde and his close friend Sir Ralph Hopton as part of his Governing Council. When the Royalists surrendered in June 1646, Hyde went into exile with Charles, who became king after his father's execution in January 1649. He avoided participation in the Second or Third English Civil War, since both involved alliances with Scots and English Presbyterians, instead serving as a diplomat in Paris and Madrid. After The Restoration in 1660, Charles appointed him chancellor, while his daughter Anne married the future James II, making him grandfather of two queens, Mary II and Anne. These links brought him both power and enemies, while Charles became increasingly irritated by his criticism; despite having limited responsibility for the disastrous 1665 to 1667 Second Anglo-Dutch War, he was charged with treason and forced into permanent exile. He lived in Europe until his death in 1674, a period he used to complete The History of the Rebellion, now regarded as one of the most significant histories of the 1642 to 1646 civil war. First written as a defence of Charles I, it was extensively revised after 1667 and became far more critical and frank, particularly in its assessments of his contemporaries.

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