Marian Regime — Renard Intelligence and Arrest of Protestant Leaders 1554

History & Significance

Simon Renard, Sieur of Bermont and Lieutenant of Aumont or Amont, (1513- 8 August 1573) was a Burgundian diplomat who served as an advisor to Emperor Charles V and his son Philip II of Spain, who were also counts of Burgundy. Renard had the court appointment of Master of Requests in Ordinary of the Emperor's household. He was ambassador of Spain in France and England. As ambassador to England, he acquired an extraordinary degree of influence over Mary I of England, and until her marriage to Philip, which he promoted, he was thought by many to be controlling the English Government.

Simon Renard is generally known as Renard (Fox in English), and was from the town of Vesoul. In May 1549, he was in Paris, reporting on the Anglo-French initiatives and negotiations that would end the war of the Rough Wooing, a French plan to take and fortify Alderney, and the progress of other wars. He recorded the joy of Henry II of France in July 1549 when he received five English banners captured at Inchkeith.

In France in 1549, Renard took information from several informants, three of whom he called Mars, Mercury, and the Captain. The Captain was perhaps Captain Marino who with his brother Ippolito, the Man from Lyons, and Colonel Melun of Cremona, an exile from Milan, who also provided military information to his colleague Jean de Saint Mauris. Marino's intelligence came from his nephew who served with Coligny. Mercury and the Captain offered information on the weaknesses of French and Piedmontese fortifications. Mercury's brother was a soldier in Scotland under d'Esse. The Captain was knowledgeable of Venetian affairs.

Renard joined Jean Scheyfve and his colleagues as ambassadors in London when Edward VI of England was dying. He wrote to Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Bishop of Arras, describing Scheyfve's jealousy of his leading role during audiences with Mary I of England as spokesman and minute-taker. The Emperor recalled the other ambassadors on 14 September 1553 leaving Renard in charge. When he heard of his appointment, on 20 September, Renard wrote to the Emperor, begging for leave to return to Brussels to see his wife and children, and reminding the Emperor that he had organised no secretary or funds, thinking that he would only be spending 40 days in London.

Mary threw a banquet in October 1553 when Renard's colleagues, Scheyfve, Jean de Montmorency, Sieur de Courriéres, and Jacques de Marnix, Sieur de Thoulouse, left England in October 1553, as Mary of Hungary had banqueted her envoy, the Lord Warden, Thomas Cheney. They were entertained with the music of hautboys, cornets, flutes, harps, and dulcimers. Renard noted that Princess Elizabeth, Mary's half-sister, and Lady Lennox, Mary's preferred heir, were seated together in a window above.

The ground they fought on

The site of Marian Regime — Renard Intelligence and Arrest of Protestant Leaders 1554 lies on Thames Group, bedrock that formed in the Eocene. The rock here is clay, silt, sand and gravel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Marian Regime — Renard Intelligence and Arrest of Protestant Leaders 1554

Inner Temple Hall Buttery

Scheduled monument · ~0.5 mi

Inner Temple Hall Buttery is a sixteenth-century service building forming part of the Inner Temple precinct in London. The structure dates from approximately 1570 and served the practical function of storing and dispensing provisions for the Inn of Court. It represents an important example of Tud…

Jim Linwood / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Barnard's Inn Hall (Mercers' School)

Scheduled monument · ~0.7 mi

Barnard's Inn Hall is a timber-framed building of fifteenth-century origin located in Gresham Street, London. The hall formerly served as the principal building of Barnard's Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery that provided legal education and accommodation for trainee lawyers during the medieval an…

Apothecaries' Hall

Scheduled monument · ~0.8 mi

Apothecaries' Hall is a Grade I listed building located in Blackfriars, London, that serves as the headquarters of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London. The hall was constructed in the seventeenth century following the Great Fire of London in 1666, replacing an earlier medieval struct…

Elisa.rolle / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

The Chapter House and Pyx Chamber in the abbey cloisters, Westminster Abbey

Scheduled monument · ~0.8 mi

The Chapter House and Pyx Chamber in the abbey cloisters, Westminster Abbey, is a significant thirteenth-century monastic structure forming part of the claustral complex. Built in the mid-thirteenth century, the octagonal Chapter House served as the meeting place for the monastic community's admi…

Cmao20 / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Stationers' Hall

Scheduled monument · ~0.8 mi

Stationers' Hall is a seventeenth-century building located in London, Middlesex, serving as the headquarters of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. The hall was constructed following the Great Fire of London in 1666 and represents an important example of post-fire City of L…

Katie Chan / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

The Jewel Tower

Scheduled monument · ~0.8 mi

The Jewel Tower is a stone tower standing within the Palace of Westminster complex, dating from the mid-fourteenth century. Built during the reign of Edward III, probably around 1365-1366, it originally served as a secure stronghold for royal treasures and valuables, hence its name. The structure…

No machine-readable author provided. Lonpicman~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Other Tudor Battles

Battles near Marian Regime — Renard Intelligence and Arrest of Protestant Leaders 1554

Explore the landscape around England

Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the UK — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.

• Simon Renard · Wikipedia
• Wyatt's Rebellion · EBSCO Research Starters
• The Wyatt Rebellion of 1554 – History Learning Site · historylearningsite.co.uk