Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 16.djvu/399

 Chamberlain, and others at the Mermaid tavern (, Letters, p. 178). The death of Elizabeth did not interfere with Edmondes's diplomatic work. He was knighted by James I, 20 May 1603; on 13 March 1603–1604 became M.P. for Wilton; and after the conclusion of peace between Spain and England, 18 Aug. 1604, became ambassador to the archduke at Brussels. He left England to take up his office 19 April 1605, after being granted a reversion to the post of clerk of the crown. Edmondes chiefly directed his energies at Brussels to keeping the peace between Spain and the States-General, and found Prince Maurice difficult to deal with. He was recalled in the autumn of 1609. In April 1610 he acted as an assistant-commissioner in the negotiations for a defensive alliance between France and England, and in May following was hastily sent to Paris as English ambassador in order that he might report on the consequences of Henry IV's assassination. The French government did what it could to prevent Edmondes's appointment to Paris. M. de Puisieux, Henry IV's chief minister, complained that he knew too much about France, and Villeroi, a secretary of state, feared ‘his spirit and courage.’ Edmondes was, however, well received. Early in 1611 friends of the elector palatine consulted him as to the reception likely to be accorded in England to the elector's offer of marriage with Princess Elizabeth, and he was soon instructed to open negotiations for the marriage of Prince Henry with Princess Christina, Louis XIII's sister. Prince Henry's death (6 Nov. 1612) brought the proposal to nothing, and on 9 Nov. he received instructions to propose Prince Charles as the Princess Christina's suitor in his dead brother's place. Edmondes deemed this haste indecent, and suppressed the despatch. James I subsequently approved his action, and explained that it had not been intended that Edmondes should open the proposal, but should entertain it if suggested by others. In 1613 some dispute arose as to precedency between him and the Spanish ambassador. Edmondes is said to have privately journeyed to Rome, and obtained proof from the papal archives of England's right to precede Castile (, State Worthies). In December 1613 he applied for his recall, but the request was refused on the ground that he was best fitted to carry on the negotiations for a marriage between Prince Charles and Princess Christina. James I was enthusiastic for the match; his council opposed it. The French court gave no positive indications of its intentions. Edmondes came to England in January 1613–1614, but returned to Paris in the following July, with a view to aiding the marriage scheme, which came to nothing. Edmondes attended the conference between the French protestants and the government at Loudun in 1616, and recommended the former to accept the latter's terms, although his displays of hostility to Roman catholicism had often jeopardised his friendly relations with the French court. At the close of 1616 he was ordered to England, but directed to hold himself in readiness to return to France. On 21 Dec. James I made him controller of his household, and admitted him next day to the privy council. In January 1616–17 he and Winwood arranged with Scarnafissi, the Savoyard envoy, that Raleigh should attack Genoa in the interests of Savoy against Spain; but the scheme broke down, and in 1618 Raleigh, just before his execution, charged Edmondes, among others, with having instigated him to attack Spain on his last voyage. He returned to France in April 1617, but retired from the embassy before the year closed. On 19 Jan. 1617–18 he became treasurer of the royal household, and in 1620 succeeded by reversion to the clerkship of the crown in the king's bench court. He was elected M.P. for both Dorchester and Bewdley in December 1620, and chose to sit for the latter constituency. In February 1623–4 he was elected for Chichester, and for Oxford University on 16 April 1625. He was re-elected at Oxford 23 March 1625–6, but the return was declared void. He was elected for Penryn, Cornwall, on 3 March 1627–8. He spoke frequently in the House of Commons in behalf of the government, and irritated the opposition by his insistence on Charles I's honesty and good intentions. In the third parliament of Charles I he proposed the appointment of Sir John Finch as speaker (March 1628), and in the famous sitting of 2 March 1628–9 tried to protect the speaker from the assaults of the parliamentary leaders. His last official work was to visit Paris in June 1629 as English ambassador to ratify a new peace treaty between France and England. This business ended in September, and after ten years' retirement from public life, he died 20 Sept. 1639, aged about seventy-six.

Edmondes married twice. His first wife, whom he married, according to Chamberlain, in May 1601, was Magdalen, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Wood, clerk of the signet; she was dead on 23 Nov. 1614. His second wife was Sara, daughter of Sir James Harington of Exton, and sister of the first Lord Harington of Exton. She had been twice previously married: first to Francis, lord Hastings, eldest son of George, fourth earl of Huntingdon (d. 1596); secondly to