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A substantial archive of autograph letters, on European political matters, largely addressed to William III and his court favourite Lord Albemarle.

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A fascinating archive, covering, among many things, the construction of the new baroque palace and gardens at Hampton Court, the political jostling of the closing years of the reign of William III, and the negotiations towards the Treaty of the Hague in 1701.

From an old Gelderland family, Arnold Joost van Keppel (1669/1700–1718) had accompanied William III to England as a page of honour upon the Glorious Revolution of 1688, coming closer into the King’s circle in the early 1690s, and especially after the death of Queen Mary in 1692. Made Master of the Robes in 1695, and Earl of Albemarle in 1697, he was William’s most trusted adviser, accompanying him closely and occupying adjoining rooms. Albemarle used his influence to secure positions for John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough, and Edward Villiers, Earl of Jersey. ‘Shortly before William III died, and following Louis XIV’s seizure of the barrier fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands, promised to the United Provinces at the treaty of Ryswick (1697), Albemarle was sent to the Netherlands to confer with the States General on future strategy against France. This delicate mission was accomplished with great skill, and Albemarle confirmed his friendship with Marlborough during this period’ (ODNB)

A selection of correspondents is listed below (a full list of the contents is available on request):

King William III (1650–1702). A list in Dutch and French of ‘points donc le Roy a chargé my Lord’ headed ‘The good disposition of England towards Holland’ (trans.), and mentioning treaties with the Danish and Swedish, and the ‘works of the Rhine and Ijssel’. These would have been among the talking points for Albemarle during his negotiations in the Netherlands.

John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), soldier and diplomat, appointed as William III’s deputy in the Southern Netherlands before the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701. Here he writes to William III of the unstable administration (‘I am very confedent there will be indeavours used to find fault with what ever this admiralty shal doe, in order to bring it into the same hands againe’ (4 July 1699); and to Albemarle of the ongoing negotiations towards the Treaty of the Hague (1701), which re-instated the Grand Alliance of England, the United Provinces, and Leopold I against France (August to September 1701). ‘Wee have the nuse [news] this morning of the Mareshall de Villeroys being sent to Italie … methinks this looks, as if they wou’d not begine the Warr so soon on this side’; he has inspected the English troops and sent home those unfit for service, telling his officers they will be punished if they send ‘any boyes or ill men’; he has been with the Emperor’s envoys and hopes we ‘shall finish the treaty tomorrow’; ‘We have at last agreed upon the treaty’, and he requests permission to wait on the King for three or four days before the arrival of Lady Sarah. ‘I have received the Papers from Ld. Godolphin concerning the Pirottes [pirates], and shall bring them with mee’.

Matthew Prior (1664–1721), poet and diplomat, was in Paris in 1698–9 as secretary to the ambassador William Bentinck, Earl of Portland, and then to his successor the Earl of Jersey. ‘Prior had few official duties during his early stay in France, his main responsibility being to report to his superiors in England the activities of those in power in France and of the Jacobites there’ (ODNB). Here he writes to Albemarle (in French) of a supposed plot to burn the English fleet at Portsmouth, reporting news from the court of James II in exile at St Germain (3 July 1698); and passes on a plea for support from the Earl of Galway (Henri de Massue de Ruvigny, a Williamite soldier in Ireland), along with his own lengthy commentary on the political ramifications (17 July 1699).

Richard Jones, Earl of Ranelagh (1641–1712), paymaster general from 1685, retained by William III. A strong interest in architecture led to his appointment in 1699 as ‘Sur-intendent generall of oure Buildings & of our Works in our parks’, with authority over Wren for the construction of the new state rooms at Hampton Court. Here he writes (11 July 1699) that ‘the worke goes on, as fast as hands can worke’. ‘The Cartoon Gallery, will bee first donne, and tho a great many visiters comdemne it as a roome that will be very Darke, yet I believe it will be generally liked when finished’. He describes the royal apartments in detail, making some suggestions to be put before the King, and proposes a pair of stairs down to the canal garden and another to the privy garden. Albemarle’s own lodgings ‘are in great forwardnesse’.

Charles Montagu, Duke of Manchester (1662–1722), diplomat, also reports on Hampton Court to William III (9/19 July 1699): ‘I have been at Windsor to see Mr Verriers [Antonio Verrio] work. He has mended the Altar piece very finely’. As ambassador to France he tells Albemarle (4 July 1701) that ‘what has been long expected & fear’d is now certain. France has obtain’d a League Defensive between them, Spain & Portugall … There are other Articles concerning the West Indes … but what advantages Portugall has obtained is uncertain’; he goes on to analyse the political implications across Europe. To William Blaithwayt, Secretary of War (12 August 1701), he reports on the movements of Prince Eugene of Savoy, who had crossed the Alps into Italy in May/June, and those of his French opponent Nicolas Catinat.

Charles Spencer, 3^rd Earl of Sunderland (1675–1722), who had been raised in the Netherlands, writes to William III (25 May 1700) that ‘If your Armyes can stop the Enemys advancing any farther, it ought to be esteemed a Miracle … The fleet is yet very backward, wanting men and Provisions’; and that (11 June 1700) ‘I am Confident France will never agree to any thing more then what they first proposed’.

Anthonie Heinsius (1641–1720), Grand Pensionary of Holland and a pre-eminent statesman who was the driving force behind the alliances against the French, writes to Albemarle about the French ambassador, the comte d’Avaux, chancellor de Pontchartrain, the Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken, and Ezekiel von Spanheim; and notes that Emperor’s representative, Johann Wenzel Wratislaw, is ‘assez opposé a faire des grands efforts au Rhin’.

In other letters James Butler, 2^nd Duke of Ormonde (1655–1745), passes on his report into a drunken horse-grenadier who rode too close to the King’s carriage: in that condition ‘he does not know what he does being more extravagant … then usually others are’, but his arms were not charged (2 June 1699); Edward Villiers, Earl of Jersey (1655–1711), requires an answer about plans for the Cockpit, the former theatre in Whitehall that survived the 1698 fire and would later house the Treasury (4 July 1699); the government official James Vernon (1646–1727) reports to William III on rumours about the movement of several suspected Jacobites (11 July 1699); Richard Savage, Earl Rivers (1654–1712), laments his financial position and notes that ‘The Duke of Shoumberg has been atack’d by the mob soldiers that were broke, they are grown very insolent’ (18 July 1699); Ernest Friedrich of Saxe-Coburg[?] asks that he might select his own officers in his regiment (12 and 26 March 1701); Carl Rudolf, Duke of Württemberg (1667–1742), writes to both Albemarle and William III (14-15 June 1701) reporting on the death of his brother Ferdinand Wilhelm and pleading for favour (the brothers both fought for William at the Battle of the Boyne); Charles Talbot, Duke of Shrewsbury (1660–1718), laments to William that his ‘unlucky constitution and temper disable me from paying your ma[jes]ty these services which I know my self bound in duty and gratitude to endeavour’ (25 May 1700); Frederick I of Prussia (1657–1713) thanks Albemarle for the part he played in ‘ma nouvelle dignité’ (Frederick crowned himself ‘King in Prussia’ in January 1701); his son Frederick Wilhelm, later Frederick II, then aged 12, sends similar thanks, reporting ‘Je suis dans une extreme impatience, d’être en age, de le pouvoir suivre à la guerre’ – his martial expoits would later earn him the soubriquet of the ‘Soldier King’.

Provenance: from the collection of Michel Hippolyte de Haerne (1868–1938), first judge of the court of appeals at Ghent. From correspondence here (between William Henry James Weale and Ernest Solvyns), it seems that the material came from a house in Ghent, and originally comprised some 433 documents, though that included many copy letters. A nineteenth-century summary in French provides descriptions of items 125 to 351, those included here apparently marked with a cross.

A full list of contents is available on request.