Daniel Rogers (abt. 1538 - 1591)

Born about 1538 in Wittenberg, Kurfürstentum Sachsen, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Ancestors

Husband of Susan (Yetsworth) Shotbolt — married 23 Sep 1587 in Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, England

Died 11 Jan 1591 at about age 53 in London, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Andy Rogers [send private message]

Biography

Birth and Parentage

Daniel was the eldest son^[1] of John Rogers and Adriana de Weyden.^[1][2][3] He was born in Wittenberg, Germany in about 1538.^[1]

Early Life and Education

He, along with his mother and siblings, witnessed his father’s burning at the stake in 1555.^[4] Afterwards, he and his mother retrieved his father's papers and letters from his prison cell at Newgate, London.^[1]

In 1557 he went to study with his father's close acquaintance, the Lutheran Philip Melanchthon, at Wittenberg. There he established connections with people who became close to Sir Philip Sidney.^[1]

In 1561 he was awarded BA and MA degrees at Oxford University.^[1][5]

Paris

Daniel spent the 1560s in Paris, focusing on the writing of poetry in Latin and of history, and making friends with leading French poets of the Pléiade. Some of his poems were addressed to leading political and literary figures in England and elsewhere. He also corresponded with George Buchanan, tutor to James VI of Scotland (the future James I of England), and was a link between Buchanan and the circle that formed round Sir Philip Sidney. George Buchanan and others of those with whom he was in close contact were humanists. During this period Daniel advocated ecumenism.^[1]

Diplomatic Career

In 1566 Daniel became steward to Henry Norris, the English Ambassador in Paris, and also tutored his children. When Francis Walsingham succeeded Henry Norris as ambassador in 1570, Daniel became one of his agents. He travelled to Ireland and was regularly involved in diplomatic missions in the Low Countries.^[1] By the end of 1574 he was secretary to Sir Thomas Wilson^[1], an English special Ambassador in the Low Countries.^[6] Thomas Wilson recommended that Daniel be rewarded with a bishopric for his work for the government, but this came to nothing; Daniel was anyway a layman.^[1] From 1575 Daniel combined his diplomatic activity with the role of secretary to the Merchant Adventurers, one of the most important trading concerns based in London.^[1]

In 1577 Daniel Rogers and Philip Sidney went on a mission to Protestant princes in Germany.^[1] Around this time his portrait was painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder.^[1]

Three years later, in 1580, Daniel was captured by a Catholic German baron during another mission to Germany. He was held for ransom, partly at the instigation of Philip II of Spain, which is an indication of the importance the king of Spain attached to Daniel’s diplomatic activities. It was not until 1584 that he was freed in return for a ransom of £200, which he was empowered to collect by a levy on the English clergy.^[1][7] Elizabeth I offered him the post of Treasurer of St Paul's Cathedral, London, but, as he was not ordained, this - like the earlier suggestion of a bishopric - came to nothing.^[1]

Literary Activity

In the 1570s and 1580s Daniel, Sir Philip Sidney and others were part of a literary circle whose members came from England and the Low Countries.^[8] In 1575 a volume of verse was compiled to mark the foundation of the University of Leiden: Daniel Rogers was the only foreigner who contributed.^[7]

Antiquarian Pursuits

From his time in Paris in the 1560s, Daniel Rogers sought out information about the early history of Britain and Ireland, and collected manuscripts, coins and other items. He wrote a book called De moribus veterum Britannorum (On the Customs of the Ancient Britons) and embarked on a more general history of ancient Britain which he never completed, though his researches fed into Britannia, published in 1590 by the antiquarian William Camden.

Marriage and Children

In 1587 Daniel married Susan Yetsworth, daughter of Elizabeth I's Secretary for the French Tongue, Nicholas/Nicasius Yetsworth, and Mary Bourchier.^[1][2][9] They had a son and a daughter:

• Francis^[1]
• Posthuma, so called because she was born after his death^[1]

Last Years

From May 1587 until he died Daniel was secretary to Elizabeth I's Privy Council. He was sent on further diplomatic missions, to Germany and to Denmark, in 1589 and 1590.^[1] He was also Member of Parliament for Newport, Cornwall in 1588/9,^[1][7] but there is no record of his being active in Parliament.^[7]

Death and Burial

He died on 11 February 1590/91 (1591 in modern reckoning). He asked in his will to be interred at St Olave's, London.^[10] Alumni Oxonienses, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, his entry in the History of Parliament Online, and the 1634 Visitation of Middlesex all state that, despite this, he appears to have been buried at Sunbury, Middlesex^[1][2][5][7]: but there is a record of burial at St Olave's on 16 February 1591^[11], and Boyd's London Burials says he was buried there.^[12]

Will

Daniel Rogers wrote his will on 10 February 1590/91 and it was proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury the next day, on 11 February 1590/91.^[10] In his will he is described as "Daniell Rogers of Silver streete with in the parishe of St Olaves in the Cittie of London esquier, one of the Clerke of her maj. moste honorable privie counsell". Daniel made a number of bequests (spelling and grammar as in the will):

• ... my bodie to be buried within the parish church of St Olaves
• I give and bequeathe to my brother John Rogers Doctor of the Civile lawe, a peece of my plate
• I bequeath to Ambrose Rogers, my youngeste brother, the somm of Twentie poundes of Lawfull and currant Englishe moneie
• I give and bequeath to Franncis Rogers my sonn and to his heires, all my Landes and Tenementes with th appurtenancs as well suche as I holde from her matie in fee forme, as by Lease within the Countie of Salop, reservinge unto Susan Rogers my wife her estate in the Mannors of Kinnerton and Riton, parte of my saide Landes in the Countie of Salope allreadie assured unto her.
• And for want of heires of my said sonn Franncis and other issue of my bodie, wch yt maie please god to sende me my saide wife beinge at this presente greate with childe: my will and meaninge ys, that the remainder of my saide mannors of Stretchloie and Adeneie, shall descende and come to my saide brother John and Ambrose Rogers and to theire heires, equallie to be divided betwine them: And that the residue of all the yeers of the lease of Kinnerton and Riton aforesaide, for wante of suche issue as aforesaide, to remaine to the saide Susan Rogers my wieffe, and to her executors or assignes
• I doe herebie constitute and appointe my saide wife to be Gardian of my saide sonn, and to receave and take unto her owne use, the commodities and pfittes of all my saide Landes, untill my saide sonn shall come to th age of twentie one yeares
• And because the saide Susan Rogers my wife is nowe with childe, yf she shalbe delivered of a sonn I doe hereby will and ordaine, that out of the revennewes and commodities of my saide Landes, theare shalbe yearelie paide and allowed unto him, after he shalbe of th age of one and twentie yeares, the somm of thirtie poundes of lawefull and currant englishe moneie duringe his naturall life.
• And if yt shall please god that my saide wife shalbe delivered of a daughter I appointe ordaine and bequeathe by thoas present, that my saide wife shall paie unto her the somm of three hundred poundes of like english moneie, at such time as the said child shall attaine unto the yeeres of sixteene or at the daie of her marriage wch shall firste happen
• I doe herebie nominate constitute ordaine and appointe the saide Susan Rogers my wiffe to be full and sole executrix of this my laste will and testamente to dischardge my legacies herein bequethed
• And doe appointe Willm Waade esquire, one of the clerke of her maj privie Counsell, and my saide brother John Rogers to be overseers of this my laste will and testamente

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Rogers, Daniel (c. 1538–1591)', 2004, revised online 2008, available online through some libraries
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Sir George John Armitage (ed.). Middlesex pedigrees as collected by Richard Mundy in Harleian MS No. 1551 (the Visitation of Middlesex, 1634), Harleian Society, Vol. LXV, 1984, pp. 84-85, pedigree for Rogers of Sunbury, Internet Archive
3. ↑ Harleian MS 1563, The Visitation of the County of Warwick, made in Anno 1563, by Robert Cooke, Chester Herald, for William Hervey, Clarenceux: continued and enlarged, with another Visitation of the same County, made in Anno 1619, by Sampson Leonard, Blue Mantle, and Augustine Vincent, Rouge Rose, Officers of Arms and Deputies to William Camden, Clarenceux, folio 19b, cited in Joseph Lemuel Chester, John Rogers: the compiler of the first authorised English Bible ..., London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861, pp. 222-224, Internet Archive
4. ↑ "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", entry for 'Rogers (c. 1500–1555)', print and online 2004, available online via some libraries
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Joseph Foster. "Alumni Oxonienses, Parker and Co, Oxford, England, 1888-1892, Vol. III, p. 1273, Ancestry.co.uk
6. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Wilson, Thomas (1523/4–1581), 2004, revised online 2008, available online through some libraries
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} History of Parliament Online, ROGERS, Daniel (c.1538-91), of Silver Street, St. Olave's, London
8. ↑ Daniela Prögler. English Students at Leiden University, 1575-1650, Routledge, 2016, Google Books
9. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973", Familysearch, 10 February 2018, Daniell Rogers and Susan Yetsweirt, 23 Sep 1587; citing Sunbury On Thames, London, England, reference , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 577,573
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Daniell Rogers, Esquire, of St Olave's, London, will proved 11 February 1590/91, Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers, class PROB 11, piece 77: Sainberbe, Quire Numbers 1-55 (1591), The National Archives, Kew, England; "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 August 2019), Image 102/883 (subscription required).
11. ↑ St Olave Silver Street (City of London, England), Parish Register 1561-1770, folio 104 verso, Daniell Rogers buried 16 February 1590/1; "London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 August 2019); citing P69/OLA3/A/001/MS06534, London Metropolitan Archives; image at Ancestry.co.uk
12. ↑ Boyd's London Burials, FindMyPast

• 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Rogers, Daniel (c. 1538–1591)', 2004, revised online 2008, available online through some libraries
• History of Parliament Online, ROGERS, Daniel (c.1538-91), of Silver Street, St. Olave's, London
• Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. London, England: Smith, Elder & Co., 1909, volume 17 (Robinson - Sheares), p. 116-117, entry for 'Daniel Rogers (1538?-1591)', Internet Archive, accessed 3 August 2019)
• Chester, Joseph Lemuel. (1861) John Rogers: the compiler of the first authorised English Bible ..., London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861, Internet Archive
• Wikipedia: Daniel Rogers (diplomat)

Acknowledgments

This profile derives partly from:

• information input by Katharine Nusbaum
• the import of the following GEDCOMs:
  • mike_walton_2011.ged on Aug 20, 2011 by Mike Walton.
  • HOWE(1).ged on 08 April 2011.
  • Bishop Family Tree.ged on 18 February 2011.
  • DeRiemaecker Family Tree.ged on Aug 3, 2011 by Amanda Smith