A HISTORY OF SURREY 



manors in Northamptonshire to him as 

 security for the payment of ^^7,500 advanced 

 for the king's service.* Security for a 

 further advance of ^^5,000 was afterw^ards 

 given him.^ About the year 1630 a pro- 

 posal was made to establish the tapestry 

 manufacture in the manor house of Grafton, 

 but nothing seems to have come of it.' 



The success of the tapestry works seems 

 to have given rise to some envious carping on 

 the part of Sir Francis's fellow courtiers. 

 About January 1629-30 a so-called 'dis- 

 covery ' was presented to the king, in which 

 it was made to appear that his Majesty ' had 

 been greatly overcharged for the plain suite 

 of Vulcan and in other arrangements con- 

 nected with the manufacture of tapestry.' 

 It was represented that by four copies of the 

 tapestry of Vulcan and Venus, together with 

 other allowances made by the king, the 

 patentee had made a gain of j^i2,225, be- 

 sides his gain on other copies, some sold in 

 England and others exported.* 



On 9 March 1635-6 Sir Francis Crane 

 was directed to be paid ^2,%'j2 for three 

 pieces of tapestry, namely one of the His- 

 tory of Hero and Leander, containing 284 

 Flemish ells, at £6 the ell, amounting to 

 ;{^i,704 ; a piece of St. Paul and Elymas the 

 sorcerer, containing 83 ells at ^^8 the ell, 

 amounting to £i>i)\ ; and a piece of Diana 

 and Callisto, containing 63 ells, amounting 

 at;{^8theell to j^504.^ On 26 June 1636 

 Sir Francis Crane died after undergoing an 

 operation in Paris, and the tapestry works 

 became vested in his brother Richard, after- 

 wards Sir Richard Crane. On 7 June 1637 

 a warrant to pay Richard the sum of 

 ;^5,8ii lOi. dd., the amount due from the 

 Crown to his brother at his death, was issued. 

 Included in this sum was the ;^2,872 above 

 accounted for. The remainder was for 

 various other pieces of tapestry purchased of 

 Richard Crane as executor of Sir Francis, one 

 being a suite of tapestry called the Suite of 

 the Horses (;^i,204), two pieces on the 

 looms with a tawny border {^26() 13s. bd.), 

 three other pieces on the looms(jr388 ly.^d.), 

 three others also on the looms {^^380 lOj. ^d.), 

 two pieces more of the same suite which were 

 finished (j^334), and sundry silks and yarns 

 (;^362 13J. ^d.y 



Richard Crane for lack of means was 

 unable to carry on the works, and a petition 



' Anderson, op. cit. 8. 



' S.P. Dom. Chas. I. Sign Manuals, xiii. 33, 

 and cp. S.P. Dom. Chas. I. ccb. 1 04. 

 ' Ibid. clxEC. 42. * Ibid. 36-41. 



» Ibid, cccxv. 78. 6 Ibid, ccclxi. 29. 



356 



to the king in 1636 or thereabouts from the 

 workmen reveals the fact that there were at 

 that time 140 persons dependent upon the 

 manufacture. They were owed £$^5 3*- ^''■> 

 and had received nothing for nine months, 

 and then only jCzooJ The works were 

 shortly afterwards sold to the king and became 

 known as the King's Works. On 25 June 

 1638 the king entered into an agreement 

 with six of the principal workmen, all Low 

 Countrymen, namely Philip Hullenberch, 

 Carell Gootens, Carel de Putter, William de 

 Maecht, Jan Ophalfens and Jan Hullenberch, 

 who were employed in the factory. He 

 agreed to pay them an annual subsidy of 

 ;^2,ooo, and they on their part were to take 

 as apprentices either their own children or 

 foundlings. They were to make 600 ells a 

 year of arras and tapestry hangings with good 

 stuff; 150 of these ells were to be of the best 

 and richest stuff and materials of yarn, thread, 

 crewel silk, and gold at the rate of £i^ 6s, dd. 

 the Flemish ell, 200 of the second sort at the 

 rate of ^^3 5^. dd. the ell, and 250 of the 

 third sort at £2 12s. 6d. the ell. Francis 

 Cleyne, described as the designer of all pat- 

 terns used in the work, was to receive a 

 separate salary of ;^250 a year, but out of it 

 was to pay an assistant painter.® 



Sir James Palmer had been appointed 

 governor of the works. On 20 January 

 1637-8 he was ordered to sell to the Earl of 

 Pembroke and Montgomery a suite of the 

 Story of St. Paul containing 306^ ells of 

 Flemish measure for ;^8o4 iii. 3^.* On 

 3 December 1639 he was similarly directed 

 to sell to the Earl of Holland five pieces of 

 hangings of the Story of the Apostles, being 

 of the second sort, for ^^886 i js. bd}" Both 

 of these sums were to be expended on the 

 manufacture in making hangings, buying 

 patterns for the king's service and in neces- 

 sary repairs of the factory. 



It was during the reign of Charles I. that 

 the Mortlake tapestry works attained their 

 greatest activity and success. In addition to 

 Cleyne, the regular painter, the names of 

 those who designed for the manufactory in- 

 cluded the two most illustrious artists of the 

 time. Rubens painted for it six sketches of 

 the Story of Achilles," and of Van Dyck's 

 connection with it we have the evidence of a 

 tapestry which is, or was, at Knole in Kent, 

 containing his portrait together with that of 



' Ibid, ccclii. 70. 



8 Exch. of Receipt, Auditors' Pat. Books, xvi. 

 logd. 

 » S.P. Dom. Docquets. " Ibid. 

 " MUntz, op. cit. 299. 



