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MONK (or MONCK), GEORGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 724 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MONK (or MONCK), See also:GEORGE , Ist See also:DUKE OF See also:ALBEMARLE (16o8–1668), second son of See also:Sir See also:Thomas Monk, a See also:gentleman of See also:good See also:family but in embarrassed circumstances, was See also:born at Potheridge, near See also:Torrington, in See also:Devonshire, on the 6th of See also:December 16o8. Having thrashed the under-See also:sheriff of the See also:county in revenge for a wrong done to his See also:father, he had to leave See also:home, and naturally took to the career of arms. He served as a volunteer in the expedition to See also:Cadiz, and the next See also:year did good service at the Isle of Rile. In 1629 Monk went to the See also:Low Countries, then the school of See also:war, and there he gained a high reputation as a See also:leader and disciplinarian. In 1638 he threw up his See also:commission in consequence of a See also:quarrel with the See also:civil authorities of See also:Dordrecht, and came to See also:England. He obtained the See also:lieutenant-colonelcy of See also:Newport's See also:regiment. During the operations on the Scottish border he showed his skill and coolness in the dispositions by which he saved the See also:English See also:artillery at See also:Newburn, though himself destitute of See also:ammunition. At the outbreak of the Irish See also:rebellion he was appointed See also:colonel of See also:Lord See also:Leicester's regiment. All the qualities for which he was noted through See also:life—his See also:talent of making himself indispensable, his imperturbable See also:temper and his impenetrable secrecy—were fully displayed in this employment. The governorship of See also:Dublin was vacant, and Monk was appointed by Leicester. But See also:Charles I. overruled the See also:appointment in favour of Lord Lambart, and Monk with See also:great shrewdness gave up his claims. See also:Ormonde, however, who viewed him with suspicion as one of the two See also:officers who refused the See also:oath to support the Royal cause in England, sent him under guard to See also:Bristol.

But he justified himself to Charles in See also:

person, and his soldierly criticisms on the conduct of the Irish War impressed the See also:king, who gave him a command in the See also:corps sent over from See also:Ireland during the English Civil War. Monk was, however, soon taken prisoner, at See also:Nantwich (1644), and spent the next two years in the See also:Tower, where he found it difficult to live owing to his want of means. The king himself sent him See also:loo, a See also:gift for which Monk himself was sincerely grateful. He beguiled his imprisonment by See also:writing his Observations on Military and See also:Political Afairs. Monk's Irish experience, however, led to his See also:release and an invitation to take service in the See also:parliament's See also:army against the Irish rebels. Making a distinction like other soldiers of the See also:time between fighting the Irish and taking arms against the king, he accepted the offer and took the See also:covenant. At first as See also:adjutant-See also:general to the See also:Parliamentary lord-lieutenant, his old friend Lord See also:Lisle, and afterwards as See also:governor of See also:Ulster, he rendered great services to his new masters. In See also:conjunction with Colonel See also:Michael See also:Jones, governor of See also:Leinster, he made See also:head against the rebels for two years, but in the third (1649) the Parliamentarians, weakened by defections brought about by the See also:execution of the king, were no longer able to keep the See also:field. Losing one strong See also:place after another, Monk concluded an See also:armistice with the See also:rebel See also:Owen See also:Roe O'See also:Neill upon terms which he knew the parliament would not ratify. The See also:convention was indeed a military expedient to See also:deal with a military See also:necessity, and although most of his army went over to the Royalist cause, he him-self remained faithful to his employers and returned to England. As he expected, parliament " utterly disapproved " of the armistice but exonerated their general. His next service was in See also:Cromwell's army in See also:Scotland.

He commanded a See also:

brigade at the great victory of See also:Dunbar, and afterwards captured a number of small places. When in 1651 Cromwell with the field army hurried southward into England to bring the invading Scots to See also:battle, Monk was See also:left behind to See also:complete thesubjugation of the See also:country. In See also:February 1652 he left Scotland to recruit his broken See also:health at See also:Bath, and in See also:November of the same year he became an See also:admiral, or rather a " general at See also:sea," instead of a soldier. Ten days after hoisting his See also:flag for the first time he was engaged with his colleagues, See also:Blake and See also:Deane, in the battle of See also:Portland (Feb. 18, 1653). In the See also:action of See also:June 2–3 Monk exercised the general command after Deane's See also:death. A third battle followed on the 29th and 3oth of See also:July, which was a decisive victory for the See also:Commonwealth's See also:fleet (see DUTCH See also:WARS). On his return he married See also:Anne Clarges, a woman of low extraction, often supposed to have been his See also:mistress, " ever a See also:plain homely dowdy," says See also:Pepys, who, like other writers who mention her, is usually still less complimentary. Next year he was back in Scotland, methodically beating down a Royalist insurrection in the See also:Highlands, and when this service was over settled down to a steady See also:government of the country for the next five years. The timely See also:discovery of a See also:plot fomented by Overton, his second in command, in 16S4i gave him an excuse for thoroughly purging his army of all See also:Anabaptists, Fifth See also:Monarchy men, and other dangerous enthusiasts. It is improbable that at this time Monk had proposed to himself the restoration of the king, though so astute a diplomatist must have weighed the chances of such an event. His very reticence, however, caused alarm on one See also:side and See also:hope on the other.

In 1655 he received a See also:

letter from Charles II., a copy of which he at once sent to Cromwell, who is said to have written to him in 1659 in the following terms: " There be that tell me that there is a certain cunning See also:fellow in Scotland called George Monk, who is said to See also:lye in wait there to introduce Charles See also:Stuart; I pray you, use your See also:diligence to apprehend him, and send him up to me." Monk's See also:personal relations with Cromwell were those of sincere friendship on both sides. During the confusion which followed Cromwell's death Monk remained silent and watchful at See also:Edinburgh, careful only to secure his hold on his troops. At first he contemplated armed support of See also:Richard Cromwell, but gave up this See also:idea on realizing the See also:young See also:man's incapacity for government, and renewed his waiting policy. In July 1659 See also:direct and tempting proposals were again made to him by the king. His See also:brother See also:Nicholas, a clergyman, was employed by Sir J. Grenvil to bring to him the substance of Charles's letter. No bribe, however, could induce him to See also:act one moment before the right time. He bade his brother go back to his books, and refused to entertain any proposal. But when See also:Booth See also:rose in See also:Cheshire for the king, so tempting did the opportunity seem that he was on the point of joining forces with him, and a manifesto was prepared. His habitual caution, however, induced him to wait until the next See also:post from England, and the next post brought See also:news of Booth's defeat. For a moment he thought of retiring into private life, but soon See also:Fleetwood and Lambart declared against the parliament, and to their surprise Monk not only refused to join them, but (Oct. 23, 1659) at once took See also:measures of active opposition.

Securing his hold on Scotland by a small but trusty corps of occupation, he crossed the border with the See also:

rest of his army. Holding Lambart in See also:play without fighting until his army began to melt away for want of pay, Monk received the commission of See also:commander-in-See also:chief of the parliament's forces (Nov. 24). The See also:navy, some of the English garrisons and the army in Ireland declared for the parliament, and the army from Scotland crossed the See also:Tweed on the 2nd of See also:January 166o. It was inferior in number, but in all other respects See also:superior to Lambart's, and Monk slowly marched on to See also:London, disbanding or taking over on his way the detachments of Lambart's army which he met, and entered the See also:capital on the 3rd of February. In all this his ultimate purpose remained mysterious. At one moment he secretly encouraged the demands of the Royalist See also:City of London, at another he urged submission to the existing parliament, then again he refused to swear an oath abjuring the See also:house of Stuart, and further he hinted to the attenuated See also:Long Parliament the urgent necessity of a See also:dissolution. Lastly, acting as the stern military See also:agent of the infuriated parliament, he took away the See also:gates and portcullises of the city. This angered not only the 'citizens but his own army, and gave him the See also:lever that he desired to enforce the dissolution of parliament, while at the same time enabling him to break up as a See also:matter affecting discipline, the political camarillas that had formed in his own regiments. He was now See also:master of the situation, and though he protested his adherence to republican principles, it was a matter of See also:common knowledge that the new parliament, which Monk was imposing on the remnant of the old, would have a strong Royalist See also:colour. Monk himself was now in communication with Charles II., whose See also:Declaration of See also:Breda was based on Monk's recommendations. The new parliament met on the 25th of See also:April, and on the 1st of May voted the restoration of the monarchy.

With the Restoration the historic See also:

interest of Monk's career ceases. Soldier as he was, he had played the difficult See also:game of See also:diplomacy with incomparable skill, and had won it without firing a shot. That he was See also:victor sine sanguine, as the See also:preamble of his patent of See also:nobility stated, was See also:felt by every one to be the greatest service of all. He was made gentleman of the bedchamber, See also:knight of the Garter, master of the See also:horse and commanderin-chief, raised to the See also:peerage with the titles of See also:Baron Monk, See also:earl of Torrington and duke of Albemarle, and had a See also:pension of £7000 a year allotted to him. As long as the army existed of which he was the idol, and of which the last service was to suppress Venner's revolt, he was a person not to be displeased. But he entirely concurred in its disbandment, and only the regiment of which he was colonel, the See also:Coldstream (See also:Guards), survives to represent the army of the Civil Wars. In 1664 he had See also:charge of the See also:admiralty when See also:James, duke of See also:York, was in command of the fleet, and when in 1665 London was deserted on See also:account of the See also:plague, Monk, with all the readiness of a man accustomed to obey without thinking of See also:risk, remained in charge of the government of the city. Once more, at the end of this year, he was called upon to fight, having a See also:joint commission with See also:Prince See also:Rupert against the Dutch. The whole See also:burden of the preparations See also:fell upon him. On the 23rd of April 1666 the admirals joined the fleet, and on the 1st of June began the great four days' battle, in which Monk showed not only all his old coolness and skill, but also a reckless daring which had seemed hitherto See also:foreign to his See also:character. Later in the same year he maintained See also:order in the city of London during the Great See also:Fire. His last service was in 1667, when the Dutch fleet sailed up the See also:Thames, and Monk, though See also:ill, hastened to See also:Chatham to oppose their farther progress.

From that time he lived much in privacy, and died of See also:

dropsy on the 3rd of January 1670, " like a See also:Roman general with all his officers about him." The dukedom became See also:extinct on the death of his son See also:Christopher, and duke of Albemarle (1653—1688). See the Life of Monk, by Dr Gamble, his See also:chaplain (London, 1671), and the memoir and bibliography by C. H. See also:Firth in the Dict. Nat. Biogr.

End of Article: MONK (or MONCK), GEORGE

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