page_title: Henry Bromley (died 1615)
section_title: Restored to favour
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Bromley (died 1615) / Political career / Restored to favour
caption_attribution_description: English: "The pourtraicture of the right gracious Prince Lodovick Duke of Lenox," portrait of Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond, by the British engraver Simon van de Passe. 176 mm x 118 mm. Courtesy of the British Museum, London.
context_page_description: Sir Henry Bromley was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1584 and 1604. He was twice imprisoned for his political activities, the second and most serious occasion in the aftermath of the Essex Rebellion. Restored to favour in the Jacobean period, he was vigorous in suppressing the Gunpowder Plot.
context_section_description: When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, Bromley was one of the first to go north to greet King James. He was seen as one of group of diverse interests that were very influential with the new king because of their sustained loyalty. The diarist John Manningham reported:
  There is a foolishe rime runnes up and downe in the Court of Sir Henry Bromley, Lord Thomas Haward, Lord Cobham, and the Deane of Canterbury, Dr. Nevil, that eache should goe to move the King for what they like.
  "Nevil for the Protestant, Lord Thomas for the Papist, Bromley for the Puritan, and Lord Cobham for the Atheist."
  Bromley was certainly made a gentleman of the privy chamber and thus a confidant of the king, but there is no evidence that he actually had a concrete program of reform to put before James. His influence, exercise partly through connections with Scottish courtiers, was real but limited; he counted for little against the real holders of power in London and Westminster. Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, prevailed on the king to promise Bromley the Receiver Generalship of London, Middlesex, Herefordshire and Essex but the appointment never materialised and the post was given to Michael Hicks, a powerful London merchant and an intimate of Robert Cecil, who kept it for only a few months. A warrant to obtain Crown lands was granted to him in 1604 but almost immediately revoked, and it took the intervention of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, to get the grant restored to Bromley. He had similar problems with Duchy of Lancaster lands: a warrant was issued to grant him parcels of dismembered manors on 19 April 1604 but partially rescinded the very next day. Bromley was out of his depth in dealing with the power-brokers of central government but continued as an effective politician regionally.
caption: Ludovic Stewart 2nd Duke of Lennox, one of Bromley's Scottish allies at court.
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