Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland

Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland
Name	Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland
Birth date	c. 1610
Death date	20 September 1643
Occupation	Soldier, Statesman, Author
Nationality	English
Spouse	Lettice Moryson
Parents	Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland; Elizabeth Tanfield

Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland was an English nobleman, soldier, statesman, and writer whose moderate Royalist stance and intellectual salon drew figures from across the early Stuart political and literary worlds. A confidant of King Charles I who served as Secretary of State, he became notable for his mediation efforts during the run-up to the English Civil War and for his death at the Battle of Newbury while leading a Royalist cavalry charge. His essays and letters influenced contemporaries such as Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, John Hales, and the circle around Ben Jonson and John Donne.

Early life and education

Born circa 1610 at Burford, Oxfordshire, he was the eldest surviving son of Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland and Elizabeth Tanfield. His upbringing placed him within the networks of the Court of Charles I and the Plantagenet-linked aristocracy, bringing him into contact with families such as the Villiers family and the Howard family. Educated initially at home by private tutors, he matriculated at Oxford University and later travelled on the Grand Tour through France, Italy, and the Spanish Netherlands, meeting continental thinkers and soldiers linked to the Thirty Years' War and the House of Habsburg. These experiences exposed him to the writings of Michel de Montaigne, the sermons of Lancelot Andrewes, and the political thought circulating at Paris salons and Padua academies.

Political career and public offices

Returning to England, he entered national politics as a member of the House of Lords following his father's death, aligning initially with moderate counsels within the court faction. He served as one of the principal secretaries to King Charles I and was appointed to the Privy Council where he interacted with statesmen including Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, William Laud, and Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon. Falkland participated in key engagements over taxation like the Ship Money controversy and the Short Parliament and Long Parliament disputes, often attempting conciliation between the crown and the Parliamentary leaders such as John Pym, Oliver St John, and Sir Edward Coke-aligned jurists. His offices brought him into negotiations involving the Treaty of Ripon aftermath and the failed efforts to resolve the Root and Branch Petition tensions.

Role in the English Civil War

As tensions escalated into armed conflict, he initially sought to mediate between the Royalist cause of King Charles I and the Parliamentary coalition led by John Pym and Pym's allies. When war became unavoidable, he joined the Royalist military effort and commanded cavalry at major actions including the Battle of Edgehill aftermath and engagements around Newbury. At the First Battle of Newbury on 20 September 1643 he led a gallant cavalry charge, opposing Parliamentary commanders like Earl of Essex (Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex), Sir William Waller, and officers connected to the New Model Army precursors. His death at Newbury removed a moderating voice from Royalist councils and was noted by contemporaries including Edward Hyde and Clarendon in later memoirs.

Writings and intellectual influence

He was the author of a collection of essays and letters often circulated in manuscript and later printed as posthumous folios, showing affinity with Montaigne and the scholastic-moral tradition represented by Francis Bacon and Sir Thomas Browne. His writings emphasized conscience, the limits of power, and the duties of magistrates, attracting the interest of Royalist polemicists like Robert Filmer and critics in the Parliamentary pamphlet culture such as John Lilburne. Falkland's salon in Oxford and his correspondence connected him with poets and theologians including Abraham Cowley, James Shirley, Jeremy Taylor, and natural philosophers in the orbit of Robert Boyle and William Harvey. His essays contributed to the development of seventeenth-century English literature and informed later historians and moralists such as Samuel Pepys and Isaac Walton.

Personal life and family

He married Lettice Moryson, daughter of Sir Richard Moryson, establishing ties with families in the Plantagenet-era gentry and the Irish landholding networks where the Morysons were active. Their household maintained a library that included works by John Calvin, Arminius, and continental humanists, and entertained figures from the Royal Court and the University of Oxford. His siblings and wider kin included connections to the Cary family branches that later intersected with the Jacobite cause and English peerage politics. His son, who succeeded as 3rd Viscount Falkland, and other descendants continued to occupy roles in subsequent parliaments and ecclesiastical patronage networks.

Death and legacy

Killed at the First Battle of Newbury on 20 September 1643, his death was eulogized by Royalists and lamented by moderates on both sides including Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon and John Hales. Monuments and eulogies in Oxfordshire and manuscript memorials preserved his essays and letters, which influenced the historiography of the Civil War era as recorded by Clarendon and later by Thomas Carlyle and S. R. Gardiner. His example as a soldier-statesman who combined letters and arms fed into the Stuart-era ideal of the humane noble found in works by Izaak Walton and the later conduct literature of the Restoration.

Category:17th-century English politicians Category:People of the English Civil War