Sir Henry Vane

The English statesman Sir Henry Vane (1613-1662), who served as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, led the Long Parliament and the English Commonwealth.

The career of Sir Henry, or Harry, Vane the Younger epitomizes the close connection between New England and English life in the mid-17th century. He also illustrates the combination of devout religious belief and utterly realistic political action which characterized the Puritans in both places.

The elder Sir Henry Vane was a self-seeking courtier of Charles I who acted as a diplomat and joined the Privy Council in 1630. The younger Vane was educated at Westminster School and Oxford. In addition, he studied at Geneva and Leiden and was sent to Vienna to acquire further knowledge of European affairs. On his return to England in 1632, the road to preferment at court was open to him. But at age 15 Vane had had a profound religious experience which made him a devout Puritan and an opponent of royal authority over religion. Therefore in 1635 he sailed for New England.

Eight months after Vane's arrival, and at the age of 23, he was elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony because he obviously had the highest social rank. He had already become friendly with the expelled Roger Williams, who aided Vane in pacifying the neighboring Indian tribes. But Vane's support of Anne Hutchinson involved him in a dispute with most of the colony's ministers and conservative lay leaders. They defeated his reelection as governor and so reduced his authority in the colony that he had little choice but to return to England in 1637.

A career at court was still open to Vane, and in 1639 he was named joint treasurer of the navy. His father had become a secretary of state and was a leading organizer of the King's attempt to reduce the Scots to obedience. Both Vanes were returned to the Parliaments of 1640. The younger Vane was an efficient administrator and was influential in maintaining the loyalty of the navy to Parliament. He also rallied the military support of London to Parliament in autumn 1642. Vane first stood out as a leader of Parliament, however, in his mission to the Scots in 1643. Basically, he wanted to negotiate an exclusively political alliance. When the Scots insisted upon religious conditions, Vane secured a saving clause in the treaty whereby the English church settlement should be "according to the Word of God." For the Scots that meant presbytery, but for Vane it meant spiritual liberty or independency. The religious issue was therefore postponed, but the military support of Scotland was obtained for Parliament.

In the summer of 1644 Vane was less successful on his visit to the parliamentary generals outside York. He evidently had secret instructions to win their support for the deposition of Charles I. The generals opposed the move, and a term was thereby set to Vane's leadership of Parliament, to which he had succeeded on the death of John Pym. Vane remained in apparent control until the defeat of Charles at Naseby in 1645; but after the King's flight to the Scots in 1646, the political Presbyterians controlled Parliament until December 1648. Vane's power was eclipsed both because of his opposition to Presbyterianism and because of his indifference to the institution of hereditary monarchy. But he always stood for civilian control of government, so he opposed the growth of army political power in 1647 and 1648. Vane absolutely refused to participate in the army-controlled trial of the King.

Once Charles was executed, however, Vane was willing to continue his service in Parliament. He soon became the leader of the Commonwealth Council of State. Although this government depended upon army support for its power, Vane consistently worked to vindicate its independent and essentially civilian authority. But the army under Oliver Cromwell expelled the Commonwealth government in April 1653. Vane retired to his estate in Lincolnshire. In 1656 the government accused him of fomenting disorder, and he replied in The Healing Question. That pamphlet argued that order would come from a government freely elected by the religious supporters of Parliament, not from military dictatorship. In retaliation he was imprisoned for 4 months.

The death of Oliver Cromwell led Vane to reenter public life. He called on Richard Cromwell to regularize the government by an appeal to popular consent, and he led in the reconstruction of the Commonwealth government in 1659. But the army officers destroyed any possibility of stable government.

After the Restoration, Vane had powerful friends among the restored House of Lords, but the royalists in the Cavalier Parliament brought him to trial because of his leadership in the parliamentary and Commonwealth governments. On the scaffold Vane firmly defended his conduct during the civil war, and he died a martyr to republican government.

Further Reading

The best work on Vane is Violet A. Rowe, Sir Henry Vane, the Younger (1971). On Vane's thought, a brief but well-documented study is Margaret A. Judson, The Political Thought of Sir Henry Vane the Younger (1969). □

Vane, Sir Henry the elder (1589–1655) and Sir Henry the younger (1613–62). Politicians of contrasted character. The father was a worldly minded courtier,bent on accumulating a great landed estate. The son was a radical puritan with mystical leanings, and in middle life a doctrinaire republican.

Through purchase or patronage, the elder acquired a succession of posts in the royal household, won Charles I's confidence, and became a privy counsellor in 1630. Favoured also by the queen, he rose in February 1640 to secretary of state. Gradually he aligned himself with the future parliamentarians, until Charles stripped him of all his offices.

The younger Vane sacrificed a promising career at court in 1635 for the religious liberty of Massachusetts, where within six months he was elected governor. He got deep into religious controversy, clashed seriously with the general court, resigned, and returned home in 1637. In the Long Parliament he rapidly became a leader of the war party, and a close ally of Cromwell. But by 1648 he and Cromwell were parting company, and he held aloof from the king's trial. He was very active, however, in the government of the Commonwealth, and he regarded Cromwell's Protectorate as a betrayal of its republican principles. He was excepted from pardon at the Restoration, and was executed in 1662.

Sir Henry Vane 1589–1655, English courtier; father of the Puritan leader Sir Henry Vane, the younger. He gained the favor of James I, was knighted in 1611, and acquired wealth by the purchase of profitable offices. He served in every Parliament from 1614 to 1640 and was successively made comptroller (1629) and treasurer (1639) of the household and secretary of state (1640). He also served Charles I on diplomatic missions to Holland (1629–30) and to Gustavus Adolphus (1631). Vane's appointment as secretary of state was opposed by the earl of Strafford . In the latter's trial, Vane, with genuine or pretended reluctance, testified that Strafford had advocated the use of the Irish army against Parliament. As a result he lost favor with the king and was dismissed from office. Joining the parliamentary opposition, he served as lord lieutenant of Durham (1642) and as a member of the committee for both kingdoms. He never became important in the new government.

Vane, Sir Henry (1613–62) English statesman. A Puritan, he was briefly governor (1636–37) of Massachusetts, before returning to domestic politics. A proponent of the abolition of episcopacy in the Long Parliament, Charles I dismissed Vane. During the English Civil War, he secured the Solemn League and Covenant (1643) with Scotland. Vane negotiated with Charles I and opposed the King's execution. He was a member of the Commonwealth council of state, but fell out with Oliver Cromwell. After the Restoration (1660), Vane was convicted of treason and executed.