Neville's Son in France, 1607–08: Symondson, Borlase, Lytton, and Overbury
Neville's Son in France, 1607–08
Why this letter changes the travel narrative
Royal Berkshire Archives D/EN/F6/2/4 is not merely an undated family note from Paris. Controlled against contemporary printed correspondence and a French manuscript catalogue, it becomes the central witness for a precisely dated English educational-travel cluster in France during 1607–08.
William Simondes reports that he and Sir Henry Neville's unnamed son reached Paris on 15 November 1608. Their route had passed through Saumur and Blois. They were managing substantial remittances, taking pension near the English ambassador, and attempting to balance supervision of the young man's expenses and conduct with expenditure intended for the increase of our knowledge. The same letter places William Borlase and William Lytton at Blois and Sir Thomas Overbury at Orleans. Independent sources identify the travelers and confirm the date within days.
Reconstructed chronology
| Date | Documented event |
|---|---|
24 September 1607 | A royal licence permits Sir Henry Neville and his son to travel for three years with William Symondson, Fellow of Merton College. |
20 January 1607/08 | A separate licence permits William Lytton, son of Sir Rowland Lytton, and William Borlase, son of Sir William Borlase, to travel for three years with John Dunstar, Fellow of Magdalen College. |
11 February 1608 | John Chamberlain reports letters from the youthes at Roan; McClure identifies them as Lytton and Borlase. |
before 15 November 1608 | Simondes and Neville's son have been at Saumur, pass through Blois, and leave m^r Burlace and m^r Litton there. |
15 November 1608 | Simondes and Neville's son arrive in Paris. |
24 November 1608 | Simondes writes to Neville at Billingbear about money, supervision, the Paris household, Borlase and Lytton at Blois, Overbury at Orleans, and the Jargeau assembly. |
9 December 1608 | Chamberlain reports that Lytton and Borlase had turned back from La Rochelle to Blois and were stranded there for lack of money; their fathers planned to confer on 19 December. |
The sequence documents at least two formally licensed English travel parties. It does not yet prove that they set out together. Their direct overlap at Blois, however, is no longer conjectural: Simondes names both young men, and Chamberlain independently places both there fifteen days later.
The 1607 Neville licence
The Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, James I, vol. 1, printed p. 371, calendars the licence:
“License to Sir Hen. Neville and his son, to travel for 3 years, with Wm.
Symondson, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford.”
The licence does not name the son. The eldest son, the future Sir Henry Neville, is a strong candidate, but the licence and Paris letter should continue to be quoted as saying only his son and your sonne until an independently naming document is found.
The separate Lytton–Borlase licence
The same calendar, printed p. 396, records the 20 January licence for:
- William Lytton, son of Sir Rowland Lytton of Knebworth;
- William Borlase, son of Sir William Borlase of Bockmer; and
- John Dunstar, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
This was another supervised three-year educational journey, structurally close to the Neville–Symondson licence. It explains why the two young men later appear together and why Chamberlain writes of their fathers jointly managing the crisis.
Simondes's Paris report
The letter says:
“The fifteenth of November we came to Paris”
and explains that Neville's last 200li sent to Saumur had cleared accounts, brought the travelers to Paris, and left about 40li to settle them. Simondes asked Mr Willason for another 100li. His supervisory anxiety is explicit:
“We are nowe at Paris, where there are many daungerous provocations, much
corrupt company”
He asks Neville to have manye eyes upon his son and friends ready to report his behavior. A difficult but important passage contrasts uncontrolled spending with money devoted to the increase of our knowledge. Because several words remain paleographically unresolved, only that controlled phrase should be quoted exactly.
The party lodged:
“en la Rue de Turnon ... a l'ensigne de l'escharpe blanche aux Faubourgs de
s^t Germain”
near my L. Embassadours, whose counsel Simondes wanted Neville to enlist in restraining his son. The British Library catalogue for Stowe MS 170 places Sir George Carew in Paris on both 20 October and 24 November 1608, including a 20 October report about the meeting at Gorgeau. Carew is therefore the ambassador meant here. Simondes says that Carew and his lady treated the party kindly and that they were in pension at 30 crowns.
British Library Stowe MS 170 catalogue
Borlase and Lytton at Blois
Simondes writes:
“In our iourney passing by Bloys, we left m^r Burlace and m^r Litton almost
readye to come for Paris”
McClure's edition of Chamberlain's 9 December 1608 letter supplies the decisive independent identification and context:
“Sir Rowland Lytton and Sir William Borlas appoint to be here upon the 19th of
this present to confer about theyre travaylers”
Chamberlain continues that the travelers:
“went no further then Rochell, but turned short, backe to Blois, where they lie
as yt were at pawne for lacke of monie”
McClure's note identifies them as William Lytton and William Borlase. This is an unusually tight control: the names, location, journey, money problem, and date all converge with Simondes's report.
Source: John Chamberlain to Dudley Carleton, London, 9 December 1608, in Norman Egbert McClure, ed., The Letters of John Chamberlain, vol. 1, pp. 271–273. Internet Archive scan
The elder Sir William Borlase later appears in Neville's estate and will circle. Neville's registered 1615 will calls Sir Robert Killigrew and Sir William Burlace his freindes and leaves each a £10 piece of plate. This makes the Blois encounter part of a continuing family network: the traveler was the son of one of Neville's named friends. It does not prove that the two sons were intimates or that the fathers jointly designed the entire journey.
Source: Sir Henry Neville's registered will, The National Archives, PROB 11/126/63.
Overbury at Orleans before the 1609 Observations
Across the page break, Simondes's current best image-controlled reading is:
“S^r Tho: Overburye, not / being private at Orleans, but much displeased with
the / french langage.”
The inherited reading yet keepes private is rejected by the page images. The sentence remains syntactically difficult, so it should be printed with its line break and not paraphrased into a specific role. What is secure is the name, the place Orleans, and Overbury's displeasure with the French language.
The Folger catalogue describes Overbury's Observations as deriving from his travel in France and the Netherlands in 1609. The Simondes letter now supplies direct evidence that the journey was already under way by 24 November 1608. It does not say that Overbury traveled with Neville's son, acted as his tutor, or belonged to the same household.
Folger MS V.a.536 catalogue record
Jargeau fixes the year
Simondes says that The last moneth a nationall Synode had been held at Gergeau near Orleans. The Catalogue collectif de France describes the acts of the general assembly held there in 1608, beginning on 26 October, in Bibliothèque Inguimbertine MS 1799, fols. 257–264. A note by Peiresc dates the closure to 26 October 1608.
The meeting is more accurately described as the Protestant general or political assembly at Jargeau than as an ecclesiastical national synod. Nationall Synode is Simondes's own wording and should remain in quotation marks when used.
Archival placement and transcription status
The physical wrapper bears D/EN/F6/2/4. Royal Berkshire Archives CALMView exposes its parent as D/EN/F6/2, a nine-document file of miscellaneous Sir Henry Neville correspondence catalogued broadly as c.1600. The exact child placement therefore rests on the physical docket, while the archive catalogue controls the parent file.
Royal Berkshire Archives CALMView parent record
All three manuscript photographs were inspected at original resolution during the current pass. Names, dates, addresses, principal itinerary clauses, and the page-break correction are controlled. Several overwritten financial phrases and one hostage-town spelling remain unresolved and are not used as exact evidence.
Research paths opened by the sequence
- Search Merton and Magdalen College records together for the two tutorial
- Search Sir Rowland Lytton's and Sir William Borlase's papers around
- Identify Mr Willason through merchant, exchange, and Paris remittance records.
- Reconstruct the exact Saumur–Blois–Paris route and determine why Lytton and
- Obtain the Jargeau acts in Carpentras MS
1799; their names and articles may - Search Carew's Stowe correspondence for explicit reference to the Neville
journeys, rather than treating Symondson and Dunstar as unrelated fellows.
December 1608 for remittances, instructions, or the planned 19 December conference.
Borlase attempted La Rochelle while the Neville party continued to Paris.
resolve Simondes's difficult deputy and hostage-town readings.
travelers, their lodging, remittances, or Overbury.
Citations
- Royal Berkshire Archives,
D/EN/F6/2/4, William Simondes to Sir Henry - Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, James I, vol. 1, pp.
371,396. - John Chamberlain to Dudley Carleton, 11 February and 9 December 1608, in
- Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, Carpentras, MS
1799, fols.257–264, CCFr - British Library, Stowe MS
170, catalogue record linked above. - Folger Shakespeare Library, MS
V.a.536, catalogue record linked above. - The National Archives,
PROB 11/126/63, registered will of Sir Henry Neville.
Neville, Paris, 24 November 1608; parent catalogue record linked above.
Norman Egbert McClure, ed., The Letters of John Chamberlain, vol. 1, pp. 254–55, 271–73.
catalogue record linked above.