Sir Henry Vane the Younger

Abstract

For most students of the seventeenth century Sir Henry Vane is a rather obscure figure who drifts in and out of the story of the 1640s. Yet few civilians played a more vital role in securing victory for Parliament in the Civil War and for England in the Anglo-Dutch War of 1652–4. The fact that such an outstandingly able administrator, and such a committed religious Independent, should in 1653 quarrel so bitterly with Oliver Cromwell that he was excluded from all government activity until 1659 tells us something about Cromwell but rather more about the religious fervour which dominated Vane’s life and which so influenced developments in England during this period. Those seekers after truth, those who presumed themselves to be the Elect of God, gave an impetus to the rebellion of the 1640s which as much as almost anything else ensured its success on the battlefield and then helped it to take the totally unexpected path to regicide and republicanism. Vane’s life illustrates the character of these remarkable fanatics, for whom religious truth was always the paramount issue, one which gave them the unshakeable belief in the Tightness of their cause that led to the events of January 1649. Although Vane was not one of the regicides, it is not surprising or illogical that Charles II should have so vindictively insisted on his execution in 1662.