A FINE 17TH CENTURY HORN PENKNIFE
£3,250
Auction: 12 August 2015 at 15:00 BST
Description
the shaped handle form of fine translucent horn, with delicately carved intertwined trailing thistle and rose heads emanating from a displayed lion, within foliate border, the hinged steel blade marked ROI with cross above
Dimensions
handle 85mm long, overall 15cm long
Footnote
Provenance:
Personal property of Prince Henry, elder brother of King Charles I, around 1612
Collection of Mrs Egiston Bairns
Note:
Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales, was the elder brother of Charles I, the eldest son of James VI of Scotland and I of England and Anne of Denmark. He was born in 1594 in Stirling Castle and soon after his father had him removed from the care of his mother, for fear of him picking up her Catholic sympathies. While this naturally created a certain amount of animosity between James and Anne, Prince Henry was to remain in the care of John Erskine, Earl of Mar until his father became King of England in 1603 and the family moved south.
It was at the same time that the title of Duke of Cornwall was bestowed on Henry, followed by that of Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in 1610. He was widely considered as a bright young man, very active, taking part in many of the popular sports of the period including hunting, hawking and jousting; and was also keenly interested in the kingly business into which he was to be involved, often disagreeing with his father on matters of state. Naturally this created a certain amount of friction between father and son, particularly when Prince Henry's popularity seemed to be overtaking that of his father.
As a bright and promising heir to the throne, he was also a devout Protestant, so much so that he was said to have strongly opposed his father's suggested French match for him, announcing that he was 'resolved that two religions should not lie in his bed.'
His untimely death came at the age of 18, and while there were rumours of poison, it is widely accepted that he died of typhoid fever. He was greatly mourned by the nation; with esteemed poets such as John Donne and Ben Johnson writing elegies. If he had lived we may have been spared the civil war which followed during his brother's reign, and which ultimately cost Charles his head; and would certainly have prevented the Jacobite uprising.