Here's an interesting ghostly encounter I found in an old eighteenth century book called A Compleat History of Magick, Sorcery and Witchcraft, published in 1715. It concerns James I's favourite courtier, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. Villiers, because of his closeness to the king and his own arrogance, gained a lot of enemies who resented the control and affection he commanded at court. Even though George was married to Catherine Manners, it was said that the affections between him and the king were more than platonic, referring to themselves in romantic and loving terms with one another. As the jealousy built, and Villiers dabbled in dangerous enterprises, it seems that his father, watching from beyond the grave, tried to warn him to change his ways.
The legend shared by Richard Boulton in 1715 and earlier related by Lord Clarendon in the seventeenth century, tells the story of a man named Parker. He was in older age, and known to George's father, also named George Villiers. While at his lodgings at Windsor Castle in Berkshire (Parker served as an officer of the king's wardrobe), the ghost of the older Villiers appeared to him. The account states that six months after Villiers' death he began to visit Parker, but George Villiers senior died in 1606, meaning that he was visiting Parker for over twenty years, something not made clear in the original account which seems as if it is describing a shorter timeframe.
Anyway, the spirit of the older George appeared to Parker 'in the very clothes' that he used to wear, first in silence, and then spoke. Referring to his son, Villiers' spirit said 'Mr. Parker, I know you know me very well to be his Father, old Sir George Villiers of Leicestershire’. The ghost warned him to tell the duke to ‘refrain from the company and counsel’ of those around him or ‘he will come to destruction, and that suddenly’.
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| George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. |
At first, Parker passed off the experience as a symptom of old age and ignored it, but the spirit came again ‘walking quick and furiously in the room’ and appearing angry with him. He berated Parker for failing to speak to the duke on his behalf, ‘for all the friendship that ever was betwixt you and me and the great respect you bear my son’. Parker then promised to talk to Villiers, but said that he was worried the duke wouldn’t believe him. The spirit told him a secret, known only to father and son, and told him not to tell it to another soul. This would show the young George that his father had sent him the message from the spirit world.
A meeting was arranged between George and Parker on Lambeth Bridge in London, while the duke was returning from a hunting trip and preparing to visit his mother, Mary Villiers, at Whitehall. The two men met privately, with the duke’s companions posted far enough away that they could not hear what was being said. The young George ‘heartily laughed’ when Parker told him of the ghost, but when he proved it was his father by sharing the secret, the mood changed and George dismissed it as the work of the devil. George was seen by eyewitnesses on the bridge gesturing and raising his voice angrily.
Later, knowing that his son had not followed his advice, the ghost appeared a final time, thanking Parker for delivering the message but telling him that Villiers would soon die, pulling a ghostly dagger from his gown to show him the cause of his death. The spirit also predicted that Parker too would die, and told him that he should put his affairs in order immediately. Within a month, on 23 August 1628, Villiers died from stab wounds inflicted by his enemies at the Greyhound Inn in Portsmouth, and Parker died from old age. When Villiers’ mother heard the news about her son’s murder, she said she was not surprised, apparently giving the spirit’s words more credence than her son did.
Villiers' murder is described in more detail in an account written to inform the queen of what had happened:
"This day, betwixt nine and ten of the clock in the morning, the Duke of Buckingham, then coming out of a parlour, into a hall, to go to his coach, and so to the king, (who was four miles off) having about him divers lords, colonels, and captains, and many of his own servants, was, by one Felton, (once a lieutenant of this our army) slain at one blow with a dagger knife. In his staggering, he turned about, uttering only this word 'villaine!' and never spake more: but presently, plucking out the knife from himself, before he fell to the ground, he made towards the traitor two or three paces, and then fell against a table, although he were upheld by divers that were near him, that (through the villain's close carriage in the act) could not perceive him hurt at all, but guessed him to be suddenly overswayed with some apoplexy, 'till they saw the blood come gushing from his mouth and the wound so fast, that life and breath at once left his begored body."
I plan to revisit this tale when I have a bit more time and check out if I can find any evidence of this Parker and other details about the story. In the meantime, let me know if you have any information and I'll add it to the post.
You might also like Sir Peter Vanlore: Money Lender, Merchant and Jeweller and A Visit to Lord Leycester's Hospital, Warwick.
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