Piero Hugon

Piero or Pierre Hugon (floruit 1600-1625) was a French servant of Anne of Denmark accused of stealing her jewels.[1]

This article is about the 17th-century courtier. For the engineer, see Pierre Hugon.

Career at the royal court in England

Piero Hugon was the first page of the bedchamber and trusted servant of Anne of Denmark, the wife of King James. He travelled to the Danish court for her in 1618.[2]

He was described as "her creature and favourite", and according to a letter describing the queen's last days, "Pira, and the Dutch woman that serves her" were her closest attendants, excluding other courtiers.[3]

George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham promised to protect the late queen's page

After Anne of Denmark's funeral in May 1619, Piero Hugon and a "Dutch" servant called Anna were accused of theft. This Anna was probably the Danish "Anna Kaas" or "Kroas" who had served the queen since her first days in Scotland.[4][5][6]

The theft was discovered by one of the goldsmiths who supplied jewels to the queen, either William Herrick or George Heriot.[7] Dutch Anna and Piero were taken to the Tower of London and charged with stealing jewels worth £30,000.[8] James Howell heard rumours and wrote, "Q. Anne left a world of brave jewels behind, but one Piero, an outlandish man, who had the keeping of them, embezelled many, and is run away."[9]

Piero Hugon had powerful supporters, soon after the arrest, at Greenwich, the Marquess of Buckingham promised François Juvenal, Marquis de Traisnel, who had come to offer the French king's condolences to James, that he would protect Hugon. The Marquis wrote to Buckingham that Louis XIII was convinced of his innocence.[10] Buckingham and Robert Naunton corresponded with the English ambassador in Paris, Sir Edward Herbert and his brother Henry Herbert.[11]

Another French ambassador François de Bassompierre, Count of Tillières, tried to help Hugon. A draft letter written in answer to Tillières gives more detail of the accusations and proceedings. King James ordered a chest confiscated in Paris from Hugon to be given to Mr (Henry) Herbert, the brother of Sir Edward Herbert, and Hugo was compensated with £500. The missing jewels were worth £60,000. Hugon was also accused of sending the queen's money and some religious items after her death to a nunnery and to some Jesuits to pray for her soul. These accusations were not sent to Tillières, after Hugon was interrogated in the Tower and he made a deal or bargain.[12] Edward Herbert discovered that the brother of Louis Richard, one of the queen's musicians, had carried packages to France for Hugon.

Edward Herbert made an inventory of two chests belonging to Hugon, and the contents were thought to include some of the queen's jewels.[13] He was concerned by various Catholic items he saw. There were many items of jewelry and costume, silverware, a bracelet set with turquoises and diamonds, and two bezoar stones. Attached to a string of pearls was Hugon's note that Anne of Denmark had given them to him on his wedding day with a large diamond, and the pearls should be sold and the proceeds used to say Masses for the queen. Marie de' Medici became involved, who declared via Pierre Brûlart, marquis de Sillery, Viscount Puisieux, that she had always been well-disposed to the service of the late queen Anne. Puisieux believed that Hugon was detained in England by the Spanish-favouring faction at court.[14]

Analysis

Maureen Meikle and Helen M. Payne propose that Hugon had become a significant figure in the queen's household after the departure of Jean Drummond, Countess of Roxburghe. Assuming that many or most of the items in the inventory had belonged to the queen, including Catholic items, they suggest that Anne of Denmark had asked him to take them away to prevent their discovery, although the outcome was the exact opposite. Hugon's confession that money was intended to found a monastery in France ought to be taken as evidence for the queen's Catholic faith.[15] Jemma Field argues from the same evidence that Anne of Denmark maintained a position that was a "middle path" or "via media" in her own religion.[16]

In France
Hugon became the proprietor of Fourchaud

Piero Hugon was ennobled in France in 1618 and became the Sieur de Fourchaud, Givry, le Breuil et la Fouresthile. He had married Anne Rumler, who was probably a sister of Anne of Denmark's German-born apothecary, John Wolfgang Rumler. They were both naturalized as denizens of England on 4 May 1618.[17] Anne attended the funeral of Anne of Denmark, listed as "Mrs Ann Rubellow" with the ladies of the Privy Chamber.[18][19]

Hugon chose an armorial reflecting his service to the queen of England, which can be seen above a fireplace at Fourchaud.[20] He had further dealings with the Richard brothers in 1620.[21]

Anne Hugon died in 1661 aged 85 at Fourchaud and was buried at Besson. Shortly before her death she renounced the Lutheran faith of her birth. Their eldest son and heir was Gaspard Hugon.[22]

Fourchaud now belongs to Prince Charles-Henri de Lobkowicz.

References
  1. Mario M. Rossi, La Vita, Le Opere, I Tempi di Edoardo Herbert di Chirbury, vol. 2 (Florence, 1947), pp. 53-57.
  2. Acts of the Privy Council: 1618-1619 (London, 1929), p. 57.
  3. Miscellany of the Abbotsford Club, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1837), p. 81
  4. Ethel Carleton Williams, Anne of Denmark (London, 1970), p. 203: Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1589-1593, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 373.
  5. John Nichols, Progresses of James First, vol. 3 (London, 1828), p. 531.
  6. Norman Egbert McClure, Letters of John Chamberlain, vol. 2 (Philadelphia, 1939), p. 240.
  7. Maureen M. Meikle & Helen M. Payne, 'From Lutheranism to Catholicism: The Faith of Anna of Denmark (1574-1619)', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 64:1 (2013), p. 66 citing Thomas Birch & Folkestone Williams, Court and Times of James the First, vol. 2 (London, 1849), p. 167, and Norman Egbert McClure, Letters of John Chamberlain, vol. 2 (Philadelphia, 1939), p. 240.
  8. Norman McClure, Letters of John Chamberlain, vol. 2 (Philadelphia, 1939), p. 240: Jemma Field, 'Anna of Denmark and the Politics of Religious Identity' in Northern Studies, 50 (2019), p. 107.
  9. Joseph Jacobs, Epistolae Ho-Elianae: the familiar letters of James Howell, vol. 1 (London, 1892), p. 105.
  10. HMC Duke of Portland, vol. 1 (London, 1891), pp. 23-4
  11. Nigel Bawcutt, 'Evidence and Conjecture in Literary Scholarship: The Case of Sir John Astley Reconsidered', English Literary Renaissance, 22:3 (Autumn 1992), pp. 333-346, 344 quoting BL Harley 1581 f.107.
  12. Historical Manuscripts Commission, 10th Report: Report on the Manuscripts of C S H Drummond Moray (London, 1885), pp. 113-4, this letter is now in National Archives of Scotland GD24/1/825.
  13. Sidney Lee, The Autobiography of Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury (London, 1886), p. 343.
  14. Morris Charles Jones, 'Old Herbert Papers at Powis Castle and the British Museum: Inventory of things found in the two trunks of Pierre Hugon', Collections Historical and Archeological Relating to Montgomeryshire and Its Borders, vol. 20 (London, 1886), pp. 100-1, 106, 226-7, 230-2, 242, 247-9, 251, the inventory is now British Library MS Add. 7082, ff. 46-54.
  15. Maureen M. Meikle & Helen M. Payne, 'From Lutheranism to Catholicism: The Faith of Anna of Denmark (1574-1619)', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 64:1 (2013), pp. 66-9, for a letter describing Hugon's confession, see TNA SP14/110/10.
  16. Jemma Field, 'Anna of Denmark and the Politics of Religious Identity in Jacobean Scotland and England, c. 1592-1619', Northern Studies, 50 (2019), p. 107.
  17. William Arthur Shaw, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland (Lymington, 1911), p. 25, the signet bills dated 28 October 1617
  18. John Nichols, Progresses of James First, vol. 3 (London, 1828), p. 541.
  19. See Helen Margaret Payne, 'Aristocratic Women and the Jacobean Court, 1603-1625 ', Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, PhD (2001), p. 280 for a list of the queen's women. 'Anne Rumler' was a chamberer.
  20. Raymond Colas, Châteaux en Bourbonnais (Moulins, 1983), p. 24.
  21. Documents du Minutier central concernant de la musique, 1600-1650, vol. 1 (Paris, 1968), pp. 271-2.
  22. X. M., 'Les Ancien Seigneurs de Fourchaud', Bulletin de la Société d'émulation du Bourbonnais, 21 (1913), p. 271

Further reading
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