Sir Harry Vane: His Life and Times (1613-1662)

Book excerpt: “Emissary of Charles the First, second governor of Massachusetts, pillar of the Protectorate, and victim of Charles the Second, servant to a God of his own definition, humble and arrogant, atypical Puritan and passionate lover, Sir Harry Vane was a man of peace who initiated genocide in the New World and found martyrdom in the Old. His life in New and Old England, and on the continent, spanned eras of conformity, revolution and libertinism. His experience reaches from Indian wigwam to royal palace. This is an unparalleled picture of a formative age which is with us yet. Vane served Charles I well, if not wholly faithfully, and yet was one of the leaders of the parliamentary rebellion that led to the king's execution and the establishment of the Protectorate. Then, second only to Cromwell-and there were those who said he was even more powerful-Vane pursued his devious and dangerous path through the years of the Protectorate until he finally acquiesced in the restoration of Charles II. When Vane himself was executed in 1662, clearly the victim of judicial murder, the age of Puritan revolt was over. Sir Harry is one of the most elusive and tantalizing figures ever to have played an important part in both English and American history. He was as much a puzzle to his contemporaries as he has been to historians. Anthony Wood described him as "the Proteus of his Age"; Clarendon, less charitably, declared that "he was chosen to cozen and deceive a whole nation which excelled in craft and cunning"; and a commemorative statue of him in New England calls him "a true friend ...and a man of noble and generous mind." The few threads of consistency in his life emerge as belief in freedom of conscience, personal horror of violence, and loyalty to the integrity of Parliament. Adamson and Folland approach the paradox of Sir Harry face on and, placing their subject against a detailed background of his times, present us with a subtly shaded portrait that is both dramatic and convincing. Sir Harry lived in an age of great intellectual ferment and naked violence, of momentous political upheavals in England and the formation of an American character. By reflecting these turmoils in the life of their subject, the authors do much to resolve the enigma of his career and to rescue from the past one of the most fascinating and imposing figures of his time.”-Publisher.