Henry Vane The Younger - Early Life

Early Life

Henry Vane was baptised on 26 May 1613 at Debden, Essex. He was the eldest child of Sir Henry Vane the Elder, who came from the landed gentry, and Frances Darcy, who came from minor nobility. The elder Vane used the family's money to purchase positions at court, rising by 1629 to be Comptroller of the Household. Vane was educated at Westminster School, where his classmates included Arthur Heselrige and Thomas Scot, two other men who would figure prominently in English politics. Vane's friend and biographer George Sikes wrote that Vane was " of God" and of a temperament that made him "acceptable to those they call good fellows", but that he had a religious awakening at 14 or 15, after which he "and his former jolly company came to a parting blow." Vane then enrolled at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he studied in spite of his refusal to take the necessary matriculation oaths. He then traveled to Europe, where he was reported to be studying at Leiden and possibly in France and at Geneva.

Vane's father had been upset by his open adoption of Puritan views, fearing this would hamper his opportunities for advancement at court. In 1631 he sent the young Vane to Vienna as an assistant to Robert Anstruther, the English ambassador. This was apparently a quite privileged role, for Vane's writings of the time include messages written in French and in cipher. During this trip the elder Vane was sent to negotiate with Swedish King Gustavus for an alliance; King Charles' unwillingness to act in the matter meant the effort was in vain. He was introduced to the king after returning to England, and encouraged by his father to seek a position in the privy chamber. His father engaged in numerous attempts to get him to give up his nonconformist views, without success. In order to worship as he chose, Vane then decided to go the New World, joining the Puritan migration.