Catholic London: Embassy Chapel
The Spanish Faction
When I took you along for a drink at Ye Olde Mitre,1 dear readers, I entered the premises from the Hatton Garden side. They alley in which the pub is situated continues on to the street which runs parallel to that part of Hatton Garden, just to the east, Ely Place. The alley containing the pub ends rather charmingly, as can be seen above.
Taking a left from there, one finds the second oldest church in England2 which is presently Catholic, St. Ethelred’s:
Built in the 13th century during the reign of Edward I, the chapel originally belonged to the Bishops of Ely. They all went along with the “reformation” and Catholic worship ceased at this site. That is, until 1620 when a lease on the site was sold to Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar, Spanish Ambassador to the Court of England. For the next two years, before he had to leave England, never to return, Catholic worship returned and was attended by the local faithful. This Spanish Embassy chapel would continue and result in my parish church here in London.3
Count Gondomar is a fascinating historical figure. It is said of the Count that the English adjective “Machiavellian” was invented specifically for him. Originally a soldier successfully defending Galicia against the pirate Francis Drake, he progressed at Court due to the patronage of an influential courtier, the Duke of Lerma.
In his first letter reporting back to Spain after his arrival in England, Don Diego, conscious of duties as a Spaniard and a Catholic, nevertheless did not loose sight of his essential Spanish-ness: first things first, eating, then on to work:
At last, Sir, by the grace of God, we are in Great Britain and I have eaten with King James, who truly received me with much pleasure, and both he and the Queen have done me the greatest favor, and, if all the country was like their royals, it would be more tolerable here.4
The Ambassador starts out slowly, realizing the scope of the task before him and his own lack of experience:
I was lazy, with such, about seeing something outside our Spain and about knowing mood of those peoples. So then, I will have to have patience, I will do what can be done, placing all in the hands of God.5
That does not sound Machiavellian at all, does it, esteemed readers? Well, he soon6 got the hang of it. Discussing the exorbitant price of accommodation in London and the South East (no change there), and how such expense is well worth the investment because
. . . I believe that the Ambassador of Spain ought to show himself here to be the first man, since he represents the best and the biggest king in the world, and as the exemplar and lustre of the his (the ambassador’s) person and house ought to be made like unto that, and thus do I obtain, and so it is better to safeguard, authority and repute both with the Catholics and the heretics, giving from my own purse many pensions . . . to persons who promise to serve me; since friends we have few in this country, and those who say that they are conduct themselves with extraordinary modesty, owing to be this way on account of having certain of the pensions which they were paid before stopped.7
Yes, esteemed readers, Don Diego led and orchestrated the Spanish Faction which, unlike the Spanish Inquisition, was expected, suspected and detected by just about everyone in England at the time and for many, many years thereafter. It may be apocryphal, but when the “pensions” got exposed, those who so confidently expected all of the King’s evil advisors to feature on the list were rather taken aback when the King himself appeared prominently. It became something of a bugbear, the whole Spanish thing and for quite some time:
Published a mere 57 years after Don Diego left London, this delightful little pamphlet purports to be an actual account, by those who were present, of all the evil plans for Popish and Spanish domination which had for so long been feared. Some man of good repute, a close associate of the Duke of Staffordshire, had possession of this damning bit of evidence. It then passed to his son who, being somewhat dissolute and a careless character, got involved in the Law Courts whereupon he mixed the manuscript in with legal papers of little consequence. From there, the evidence came to the above mentioned author. The sort of thing which happens all the time.
According to Dugdale, King Philip III commanded Count Gondomor to give account of the progress of his wicked Popish and Spanish plots in England to an assembly of the high and mighty, both secular and religious, from all parts of the parts of Europe under the Romish religion and Papal tyrrany, prior to reporting unto the Catholic King. Early on in his address to the august council, Don Diego let the cat right out of the bolsillo:
As faith is therefore Universal, and the Truth Universal, yet so as they be under our Head the Pope, whose seat is, and must necessarily be, at Rome, where St. Peter sate; so must all men be Subject to Our and Their Catholick King, whose Particular Seat is here in Spain, he is Universal every where, and almost made Natural, so that by a Key of Gold, by Intelligence, or by way of Confession, my Master is able to unlock the Secrets of every Prince, and to withdraw their Subjects Allegiance, as if they knew Themselves more my Masters Subjects in Truth, than theirs, whom Their Birth hath taught to miscall Soveraigns, we see this in France and in England, and especially, where all at once they learn to obey the Church of Rome, as their Mother, to acknowledge the Catholic King, as their Father, and to hate their Own King as an Heretick and Usurper . . .8
The above is of course a bit of a fever dream about Popish domination some decades after the Count left London. The general consensus about the Count’s main mission in London was that he was to keep the English on the sidelines in the 30 years war as well as do what he could for the Catholics. That being said, and having perused his correspondence and learned of his reputation, one does not have to make too much of a leap to believe that the good Count got up to a little more than a trifling bit of fomenting sedition as well as seeking to manipulate the King into doing the bidding of the Spanish King.
I have two more stops left in Catholic London. Next we’re back to the Thames, walking west from St. Dunstan-in-the-East. Until then, dear readers, I remain as ever,
your perambulating Papist,
Peregrinus
Another formerly Church of England church, dating to the 12th century, has become a Catholic Church again. It’s in the north of England and when I find the proper references, this footnote will silently change.
For a much more detailed history, and significantly better photography, please see the parish website here: St. Ethelreda's website
On the day I visited, the crypt was being set up for one of the high-end corporate lunches / events which get put on at St. Ethelreda’s. During the not-Catholic times, the crypt had seen use as a tavern.
For my parish church here in London see: Catholic London American Revolution Edition
Translation mine of: Ya, Señor, á Dios Gracias, estamos en la Gran Bretaña y he comido con el Rey Jacobo, que verdaderamente me ha recibido con mucho agrado, y héchome grandísima merced él y la Reina, y si todo el país fuera como son sus reyes, más tolerable sería lo de aquí.
Corrections welcomed (asked for).
See Books in Reference & Guides: Sarmiento (1869) p. 17
Sarmiento (1869) pp. 17 - 18. . . . holgaba, con tanto, de ver algo fuera de nuestra España y conocer el humor de estas gentes. Así pues, habré de tener paciencia, y haré lo que se pueda, poniéndolo todo en las manos de Dios . .
By the penultimate paragraphy of the self-same letter, during which he updates Spain as to the state of the colony in Virginia, all of England’s foreign policy as well as all sorts of goings on within the Court and Kingdom of England.
Saramiento (1869) pp. 45- 46,
See Books in Reference section of my site: Dugdale (1679) p. 4
Thanks, I have wanted to see St Etheldreda's church!