Sir John Norris

1544 - 1597  (53 years)

• Name	John Norris  [1]
  Prefix	Sir
  Birth	1544	Probably at, Rycote, Oxfordshire   [1]
  Gender	Male
  _FSFTID	KJ4C-SX3
  _FSLINK	https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=KJ4C-SX3
  Death	3 Jul 1597	Mallow, Munster, Ireland   [1]
  Burial	Tattendon Church, Berkshire, England   [1]
  Notes	http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/jnorreys.html Sir John Norreys (1547-1597) Born: 1547 probably at Rycote, Oxfordshire Lord President of Munster Death: 3rd July 1597 at Mallow, Munster, Ireland Sir John, the second son of Henry, Baron Norreys of Rycote, and his wif e, Margery the daughter of John, Lord Williams, was probably born about 15 47. This date agrees with the statement of his servant, Daniel Gyles, as g iven in the contemporary tract entitled 'A Memorable Service of Norre ys in Ireland'. Lord Willoughby, who was born on 12th October 1555, stat ed less probably that Norreys was of the same age as himself'; while the e pitaph on Norreys' monument in Yattendon Church suggests the impossible da te 1529 as the year of his birth. Norreys is said to have spent some time in youth at a university; but a so ldier's life attracted him at a young age and he received his first milita ry training in 1571, when he served as a volunteer under Admiral Colig ny in the civil wars in France. In 1573, he joined, as captain of a compan y, the army of English volunteers that was enlisted by Walter Devereux, 1 st Earl of Essex, in his attempt to colonize Ulster. In the tedious strugg le with the native Irish and their Scottish allies, Norreys displayed mu ch military skill. Almost the last incident in Essex's disastrous enterpri se was the dispatch of Norreys, at the head of 1,150 men, from Carrick Fer gus to the island of Rathlin, with directions to drive thence the Macdonne lls who had taken refuge there. Norreys' little army was transported in th ree frigates, one of which had Francis Drake as commander. The islanders f led before him to the castle; but after four days' siege, between 22nd a nd 26th July 1575, Norreys affected an entrance and massacred the men, wom en and children within its walls. This criminal procedure was approv ed by the English Government, but the easy victory failed to stem Essex 's misfortunes. A useless fort was erected on the island and Norreys evacu ated it. Within three months, he and his troops were recalled to Dublin a nd the colonization of Ulster was abandoned for the time being. But Norre ys had, by then, reached the conclusion, which in later years he often pre ssed upon his superiors, that "Ireland was not to be brought to obedien ce but by force," and that England could only depend on large permanent ga rrisons for the maintenance of her supremacy. In July 1577, Norreys crossed to the Low Countries at the head of anoth er army of English volunteers. Fighting on behalf of the States-Gener al in the revolt against their Spanish rulers, Norreys found himself oppos ed to a far more serious enemy than any he had encountered hitherto; b ut he proved himself equal to the situation. On 1st August 1578, the Dut ch army, with which he was serving, was attacked at Rymenant by the Spani sh commander, Don John of Austria. The Dutch troops broke at the first ons et of the Spanish. But Norreys, with three thousand English soldiers, sto od his ground and, after a fierce engagement in which he had three hors es killed under him, the Spaniards fell back, leaving a thousand dead up on the field. Through 1579, he co-operated in Flanders with the French ar my under Francois de la Noue. On 20th February 1680, Norreys displayed exc eptional prowess in the relief of Steenwyk, which was besieged by the Span iards under the Count von Rennenberg; and, in operations round Meppe l, he proved himself a match for the Spanish general Verdugo. His fa me in England rose rapidly and William Blandie bestowed extravagant eulo gy on him in his 'Castle or Picture of Pollicy' of 1581. Norreys remained in the Netherlands - chiefly in Friesia - until March 158 4; but the war was pursued with less energy in the last two years. Wh en he was again in England, it was reported at court that he was "not to r eturn in haste". In July 1584, he was sent, for a second time, to Irela nd and was conferred with the responsible office of Lord President of Muns ter. He, at once, made his way to his province, but the misery that he fou nd prevailing there he had no means of checking and his soldiers desert ed him in order to serve again in the Low Countries. In September 1584, No rreys accompanied the Lord Deputy Perrot on an expedition against his earl ier opponents, the Scottish settlers in Ulster. With the Earl of Ormond e, he set about clearing the country of cattle, the Scots' chief mea ns of support, and seized fifty thousand beasts around Glenconkein in Lond onderry. No decisive results followed and Norreys returned to Munster to u rge the home government to plant English settlers there. In the followi ng Winter, the Ulster Scots grew more threatening than before and Norre ys was summoned to Dublin by Perrot. He complained that the Lord Deputy wo uld not permit him to go north but, as MP for County Cork, he attended t he Parliament which Perrot opened on 26th April 1685 and distinguished him self by the forcible eloquence with which he supported measures to confi rm the Queen's authority over the country. Norreys' ambition was, however, directed to other fields. He had no wis h, he admitted, "to be drowned in this forgetful corner" and the news th at the Spaniards were besieging Antwerp, and likely to capture it from t he Dutch, aroused all his enthusiasm in behalf of his former allies. He w as anxious that Queen Elizabeth should directly intervene in the strugg le of the Dutch protestants with Spain. Obtaining a commission by which h is office as President of Munster was temporarily transferred to his broth er, Thomas, he hurried to London in May 1585. On 10th August, a treaty w as concluded between Elizabeth and the States-General, whereby four thousa nd foot soldiers and four hundred horse were to be placed at their disposa l. On 12th August, Norreys was appointed to the command of this army and l eft England twelve days later. The Queen, when informing the States-Gener al of his appointment, reminded them of his former achievements in their s ervice. "We hold him dear," she added, "and he deserves also to be de ar to you". Soon after his arrival in Holland, Norreys stormed with conspi cuous gallantry a fort held by the Spaniards near Arnhem; but the Queen, w ho still preferred her old policy of vacillation, resented his activity a nd wrote to him, on 31st October, that he had neglected his instruction s, "her meaning in the action which she had undertaken being to defend a nd not to offend." Nevertheless, Norreys repulsed Alexander of Parma, t he Spanish leader, in another skirmish before Arnhem, on 15th November, a nd threatened Nymegen, which "he found not so flexible as he had hoped." B ut he was without adequate supplies of clothing, food or money, and soon f ound himself in a desperate plight. There was alarming mortality among h is troops and his appeals for aid were disregarded at home. In December, t he Earl of Leicester arrived with a new English army and, accepting the of fice of Governor of the Low Countries, he inaugurated the open allian ce of England with the Dutch, which the Queen had been very reluctant to r ecognise. In February 1586, Norreys left Utrecht to relieve Grave. The city was besi eged by Alexander of Parma and formed almost the only barrier to the advan ce of the Spaniards into the northern provinces of Holland. Norreys was jo ined by native troops under the command of Count Hohenlohe. Three thousa nd men thus formed the attacking force. A desperate encounter follow ed on 15th April and Norreys received a pike-wound in the breast; but he s ucceeded in forcing the Spanish lines and provisioning the town. Leicest er described the engagement as a great victory and knighted Norreys duri ng a great feast he gave at Utrecht on St. George's Day. Owing, howeve r, to the treachery of Count Hemart, the Governor of Grave, the Spaniard s, immediately afterwards, were admitted within its walls. Leicester order ed Hemart to be shot. Norreys urged some milder measure, a course which Le icester warmly resented. Leicester informed Lord Burghley that Norreys w as in love with Hemart's aunt and had allowed his private feelings to infl uence his conduct of affairs. Norreys' real motive was doubtless a desi re to conciliate native sentiment. Meanwhile, Leicester's inexperience as a military commander rendered the E nglish auxiliaries almost helpless and their camp was torn by internal dis sensions. Jealous of Norreys' superior skill, Leicester was readily dra wn into an open quarrel with him and its continuance throughout the campai gn of 1586 was largely responsible for the want of success. Leicester comp lained to Walsingham that Norreys habitually treated him with disrespec t. Norreys "matched," he said, "the late Earl of Sussex," his old ene my at court. "He will so dissemble, so crouch and so cunningly carry his d oings as no man living would imagine that there were half the malice or vi ndicative mind that doth plainly his deeds prove to be.....Since the lo ss of Grave he is as coy and as strange to give any counsel or any advi ce as if he were a mere stranger to us". Leicester surmised that Norreys a spired to his command. Could not Walsingham secure Norreys' recall? Was th ere no need of him in Ireland? Walsingham took seriously these childish gr umblings, which formed the main topic of Leicester's despatches, and he ap pealed to Norreys to treat Leicester in more conciliatory fashion. The Que en, however, understood Norreys' worth and declined to recall him. She ope nly attributed Leicester's complaints to private envy and the Earl fou nd it politic to change his tone. In the August, he wrote home that he h ad always loved Norreys and, at length, found him tractable. In the sig ht of other observers than Leicester, Norreys combined tact with his coura ge. Writing to Burghley, from Arnhem on 24th May, Thomas Doyley commend ed his valour and wisdom, "but above the rest, his especial patience in te mporising, wherein he exceedeth most of his age". Despite his uncongenial environment, Norreys did good service in May 15 86 in driving the Spaniards from Nymegen and the Betwe. But when he was or dered to Utrecht, in August, to protect South Holland, Leicester foolish ly excluded from his control the regiment of Sir William Stanley, who w as in the neighbourhood of Deventer, and thus deprived the operations of t he homogeneity which was essential to success. Immediately afterward s, he received, from home, a commission as Colonel-General of the Infantr y, with powers to nominate all foot captains. On 22nd September, Norreys took a prominent part, jointly with Stanle y, in the skirmish near Zutphen in which Sir Philip Sidney was fatally wou nded. On 6th October, Leicester wrote: "Norreys is a most valiant soldi er surely, and all are now perfect good friends here". But before the e nd of the year Norreys was recalled to England, despite the protests of t he States-General, from whom his many achievements in their service had w on golden opinions. At court, the Queen, despite her previous attitude, tr eated him with some disdain as the enemy of Leicester, but, in the Autu mn of 1587, he was recalled to Holland. Lord Willoughby, who succeeded Lei cester in the command in November 1687, wisely admitted that Norreys was b etter fitted for the post; but he resented the presence of Norreys in a su bordinate capacity on the scene of his former triumphs. Disputes readily a rose between them. The Queen treated Norreys with so much consideration th at Willoughby declared him to be "more happy than a Caesar" and "If I we re sufficient," he argued, "Norreys were superfluous". This view finally p revailed and, at the beginning of 1588, Norreys was at home once mor e. In the April, he was created an MA at Oxford, on the occasion of Essex 's incorporation in that degree. During the Summer, while the arrangemen ts for the resistance of the Spanish Armada were in progress, Norreys w as at Tilbury and acted as marshal of the camp under Leicester. He was al so employed in inspecting the fortifications of Dover and in preparing Ke nt to meet invasion. But his active services were not required. After t he final defeat of the Armada, he strongly recommended an invasion of Spa in and offered to collect troops in Ireland. In the October, he was order ed to the Low Countries in a new capacity, as Ambassador to the States-Gen eral, to thank them for their aid in resisting the Armada, to consider wi th them the further prosecution of the war and to arrange the withdraw al of troops to take part in an expedition to Portugal. Willoughby, sti ll the Commander-in-Chief in Holland, was directed to give Norreys all t he assistance in his power; "but he is so sufficient," Willoughby wrote, " to debate in this cause as my counsels are but drops in the sea." In April 1589, Norreys took command, along with Drake, of the great expedi tion despatched to destroy the shipping on the coasts of Spain and Portuga l, and to place the pretender Antonio on the throne of Portugal. Twenty-th ree thousand men were embarked under the two commanders. The enterprise ex cited in England almost as much enthusiasm as the struggle with the arma da in the preceding year. The dramatist, George Peele, gave expressi on to the confidence popularly placed in Norreys in 'A Farewell. Entitul ed to the famous and fortunate Generalls of our English Forces: Sir Iohn N orreys and Syr Frauncis Drake, Knights, and all theyr brave and resolute f ollowers' (1589). Peele reminded the soldiers, "You follow noble Norrey s, whose renown, won in the fertile fields of Belgia, spreads by the gat es of Europe to the courts of Christian kings and heathen potentates ". On 20th April, Norreys landed near Corunna, surprised and burnt the low er part of the town and beat off, in a smart encounter at Burgos, a Spani sh force, eight thousand strong, under the Conde de Altemira. Putting to s ea again, Norreys directed an attack on Lisbon; but the enemy declined a g eneral engagement and the expedition returned to Plymouth on 2nd July, wit hout having achieved any decisive result. In April 1591, Norreys left Engl and with three thousand foot soldiers to aid in Henry IV of France's campa ign in Brittany against the forces of the League. He landed at St. Ma lo on 5th May and joined the army of Prince Dombes, son of the Duc de Mont pensier. On 24th May, the town of Guingamp surrendered, after a brief sieg e, to Norreys and Dombes, and Henry IV subsequently extolled Norreys' valo ur in a letter to Queen Elizabeth. On 11th June, he defeated a body of Spa nish and French soldiers at Chateau Laudran. Shortly afterwards, six hundr ed of his men were transferred to Normandy, where the Earl of Essex was si milarly engaged about Rouen in fighting with Henry IV's enemies. Thencefor th Norreys' campaign proved indecisive and, at the end of February 159 2, he returned home. In September 1593, Norreys again set foot in Brittany. In November, he a nd the Duc D'Aumont seized the great fortress of Crozon, which the enemy h ad built to protect Brest. The victory was well contested and Norreys w as wounded. In February 1594, he had fourteen hundred well-trained men und er his command who "wanted nothing but a good opportunity to serve upon t he enemy". But there were dissensions in the camp between Norreys and h is French colleagues and, in May 1594, to the regret of King Henry, he w as finally recalled. The next year, Norreys was summoned to Ireland, which he never quitted aga in alive. The Lord Deputy, Sir William Russell, had proved himself unab le to resist the power of O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, in Ulster and, after pr oclaiming him a traitor, had appealed, in April 1595, to the English Gover nment to send him a military commander to exercise unusually wide power s. The Queen's advisers selected Norreys, who was still nominally Lord Pre sident of Munster. Norreys' military reputation stood so high that many be lieved that the native Irish would be reduced to impotency by the terr or of his name. Norreys was under no such delusion. His health was bad a nd he knew, too, that his appointment was unpopular in many circles. Wi th Sir William Russell, he had an old standing quarrel and he had many ene mies in the Queen's councils. The Earl of Essex endeavoured to nominate h is friends to the subordinate offices on Norreys' new staff, and Norrey s' free expressions of resentment increased the antipathy with which Essex 's friends at court regarded him. Norreys arrived at Waterford on 4th May 1595 but, upon disembarking, was d isabled by an attack of ague. After some delay, he arrived in Dublin and s et out on his first campaign in the June. He made Newry his headquarter s. Russell followed closely in his tracks, but Norreys had no desire for R ussell's aid and declined all responsibility as long as Russell was with t he army. In July, however, Russell returned to Dublin, asserting that he l eft Norreys to undertake the conquest of Ulster by whatever means he chos e. But Norreys deemed the task impossible without reinforcements. Scarce ly fifteen hundred men were at his disposal and, in letters to Burghley a nd Cecil, he charged Russell with secretly endeavouring to thwart him a nd with concealing the imperfections of his army from the home governmen t. On the other hand, the Earl of Tyrone recognised in Norreys an oppone nt to be feared and was easily persuaded to forward to him a signed pape r, which he called his submission. But the terms demanded a full acknowled gment of Tyrone's local supremacy and were, at once, rejected by Norrey s, with the approval of the Queen's advisers. Norreys, after making vain efforts to bring Tyrone to an open engagemen t, resolved to winter in Armagh. The place was easily occupied but, whi le engaged in fortifying a neighbouring pass between Newry and Armag h, on 4th September, Norreys was attacked by the Irish and was wound ed in the arm and side. The home government thereupon suggested that Norre ys should reopen negotiations. Norreys, impressed by the defects in his eq uipment, had already suggested that Tyrone should be granted a free pard on on condition that he renounced Spain and the Pope. If further hostiliti es were attempted, it was needful that all the English forces in Ireland s hould be concentrated in Ulster. Meanwhile a truce was arranged with Tyro ne to last until 1st January 1596, and one month longer if the Lord Depu ty desired it. The next year, Norreys was instructed to renew negotiations for a peace a nd a hollow arrangement was patched up at Dundalk. Sir William Russell pla inly recognised that Tyrone was only seeking to gain time until help ca me from Spain and complained, with some justice, that "the knaves" had ove rreached Norreys. But for the moment Ulster was free from disturbance a nd Norreys was ordered to proceed, with Sir Geoffrey Fenton, to Connaug ht in order to arrange terms with the Irish chieftains there. He censur ed the rigorous policy of the Governor, Sir Richard Bingham, who was se nt to Dublin and detained. But his efforts at a pacification of the provin ce proved futile. He remained there from June until the middle of Decembe r, when he returned to Newry; but, as soon as he left the borders of Conna ught, the rebellion blazed out as fiercely as of old. Russell protested th at Norreys' "course of pacification" was not to the advantage of the Queen 's Government and the dissensions between them were openly discussed on bo th sides of St. George's Channel. Each represented, in his official dispat ches, the state of affairs in a different light and Tyrone took every adva ntage of the division in the English ranks. On 22nd October 1596, Antho ny Bacon, whose relations with Essex naturally made him a harsh crit ic of Norreys, informed his mother that "from Ireland there were cross adv ertisements from the Lord Deputy on the one side and Sir John Norreys on t he other, the first, as a good trumpet, sounding continually the alarm aga inst the enemy; the latter serving as a treble viol to invite to dance a nd be merry upon false hopes of a hollow peace," and that these opposite a ccounts made many fear rather the ruin than the reformation of the state u pon that infallible ground "quod omne regnum divisum in se dissipabitur" '. In December 1596, Norreys, in letters to Sir Robert Cecil, begged for h is recall. He complained that all he did had been misrepresented at Whiteh all, his health was failing and the unjust treatment accorded to him was l ikely to "soon make an end of him". Until April 1597, Norreys, who remained at Newry, continued his negotiatio ns with Tyrone, in the absence, he complained, of any definite instructio ns from Dublin; but the chieftain had no intention of surrendering a ny of his pretensions and it was plain that diplomacy was powerless to rem ove the danger that sprang from his predominance. At length, the Queen's p atience was exhausted. She recognised that the war must be resumed. The su ggestion that both Russell and Norreys should be recalled was practical ly adopted. Although Burghley's confidence in Norreys was not wholly dissi pated, Thomas, Lord Borough, was dispatched, in the May, to fill Russell 's place as Lord Deputy and to take the command of the army. The new vicer oy belonged to Essex's party at the English court and had been on bad ter ms with Norreys in Holland. Norreys, although not recalled, was effectual ly humiliated and he felt the degradation keenly. "He had," he declared, " lost more blood in Her Majesty's service than any he knew, of what quali ty soever.....yet was he trodden to the ground with bitter disgrace" owi ng to "a mistaken information" of his enemies. But he met Borough on his a rrival in Dublin with much counterfeit kindness and no rupture took pla ce between them. In the June following, he retired to Munster, where he st ill held the office of president. His health was precarious, no immedia te danger threatened his province and he asked for temporary leave in ord er to recruit his strength. In his absence, the rebels might be easily ke pt in check, he said; and, he added, "I am not envious, though others sha ll reap the fruits of my travail - an ordinary fortune of mine." Before a ny reply was sent to his appeal he died, on 3rd July, in the arms of his b rother, Thomas, at the latter's house in Mallow. The immediate cause of Norreys' death was gangrene, due to unskilful treat ment of his old wounds, but a settled melancholy aggravated his ailment s; and it was generally believed that he died of a broken heart, owi ng to the Queen's disregard of his twenty-six years' service. His body w as embalmed and he is reported to have been buried in the parish chur ch at Yattendon in Berkshire, although there is no entry in the parish reg ister. His father is said to have given him the neighbouring fortified man or house, but he had had little leisure time to spend there. A monument, w ith a long inscription which very incorrectly describes his services, sti ll stands in the church and his helmet hangs above it. His effigy also app ears alongside his siblings upon the great Norreys monument in Westminst er Abbey. The Queen sent to his parents a stately letter of condolence. Sir John was popularly regarded as one of the most skilful and successf ul military officers of the day, and his achievements in Holland and Britt any fully supported his reputation. But his failure in Ireland in later li fe proved him incapable as a diplomatist and prone to dissipate his ener gy in futile wrangling with colleagues whom it was his duty to conciliat e. Edited from Leslie Stephens & Sidney Lee's "Dictionary of National Biograp hy" (1891). Sir John NORREYS Born: ABT 1541/1545/1546 Died: 3 Jul 1597, Mallow, Ireland Buried: Tattendon Church, Berkshire, England Father: Henry NORREYS (1º B. Norreys of Rycote) Mother: Margery WILLIAMS (B. Norreys of Rycote) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ English soldier, was the second son of Henry Norreys, Baron Norreys of Ryc ote, and gained his earliest military experience in the civil wars in Fran ce. In 1573 he went to Ulster with Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex, winni ng fame by his conduct in the guerilla wars against the Irish, and being r esponsible for the massacre on the island of Rathlin in Jul 1575; and in J ul 1577 he crossed over to the Netherlands to assist the Dutch against t he Spaniards. Having added to his reputation by his valour at the batt le of Rymenant, Norreys returned to England in Mar 1584, and in the follow ing Jul he was sent to Ireland as lord president of Munster; he accompani ed the lord deputy, Sir John Perrot, on a campaign in Ulster, and spoke el oquently in the Irish parliament; but ‘he disliked his work' and soon obta ined his recall. In Aug 1585 he was again in the Netherlands, commanding t he English army of 4400 men which Elizabeth had sent to serve against t he Spaniards. During his successful relief of Grave in Apr 1586 he was wou nded, and just after this event he was knighted by the governor-general, t he Earl of Leicester; but he and Leicester were soon at variance, and ma ny complaints of his conduct were sent to England. After taking part in t he battle of Zutphen in Oct 1586 Sir John was recalled to England, b ut in 1587 he went again to the Netherlands and was soon quarrelling wi th his new superior, Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, and wi th Sir William Stanley. In 1588, when the Spanish Armada was expecte d, he was marshal of the camp at Tilbury; later in the same year he serv ed the Queen as ambassador to the Dutch states, and in 1589 he and Sir Fra ncis Drake led the fleet which ravaged the coasts of Spain and Portuga l. In 1591, and again in 1593, he aided Henry IV of France in his strugg le with the League in Brittany. Led 3000 troops to Brittanny in 1591-159 3. Thomas Shirley, Edward Maria Wingfield mentioned. Norreys broke the sie ge of Mechelen. In May 1595 he landed again in Ireland, where he was still lord preside nt of Munster. But this time he was entrusted with more extensive powers a nd was to assist the lord deputy, Sir William Russell, in subjugating Ulst er. He did not, however, work harmoniously with Russell; his health was fa iling and the gigantic task was too much for him. After fighting and negot iating with the O’Neills in Ulster, and warring in Connaught, he asked f or his recall. This was not granted, but be was supplanted in his milita ry command; and he retired to Munster and died at Mallow. His monume nt is in the church of Tattendon, Berkshire. Bibliography J. L. Motley, The United Netherlands, vol. ii. (1904) R. Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors, vol. iii. (1890).
  Person ID	I2484	Glenn Cook Family
  Last Modified	26 Jan 2015

  
  

  Father	Sir Henry Norreys, 1st Baron Norreys of Rycote,   b. Abt 1525, Bray, Berkshire, England d. 27 Jun 1601, Rycote, Oxfordshire, England (Age ~ 76 years)
  Mother	Margaret Williams, Baroness Norreys of Rycote,   b. Abt 1524, Thame, Oxfordshire, England d. Dec 1599 (Age ~ 75 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1542
  Family ID	F434	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		Norris,John(Sir)01_small.jpg
  		Sir John Norriis

  
  

• Sources

  [S49] Berkshire History Biographies see notes.