| “An Inventory | |
|---|---|
| of such arms as are now remaining in the armoury at Knole belonging to the Rt. Hon. EDWARD EARL of DORSET, | |
| first the horsemen’s arms & necessaries belonging to them:” | |
| Cornets for Horses | 2 |
| Curasiers arms gilt | 2 |
| Curasiers arms plain | 31 |
| White tilting armour | 3 |
| A baryears Armour gorget and gauntlet wanting | 1 |
| Sham front for tilting Run plates for barryers | 1 |
| Plated saddles suitable to the gilt arms and furniture rotten | 2 |
| Old russet saddles trimmed with red leather and furniture defaulting | 12 |
| Old russet and black saddles | 12 |
| Black leather saddles with all furniture bits excepted | 2 |
| Old French pistols, whereof four have locks the other 9 have none and double moulds to them | 13 |
| Swords | 14 |
| Horn flasks | 49 |
| Whereof an old damask one cornered with velvet and many not serviceable Slight arms, back and breast 2 gorgets only to them | 13 |
| Arms and other necessaries for foot men | |
| One engraven target | 1 |
| Partisan rolled with red velvet and nailed with gilt nails and damasked with gold | 1 |
| Partisans Damasked with Silver and the Cat on them [the Cat, i.e. the leopard] | 4 |
| Corslets with back breast cases and headpieces | 138 |
| Spanish picks and English picks with Spanish heads whereof 4 are broken | 151 |
| Comb head pieces | 70 |
| Old Spanish morions | 50 |
| Halberts | 7 |
| Bits | 6 |
| Full muskets complete | 76 |
| Bastard muskets | 56 |
| Muskets imperfect | 4 |
| Noulds to the muskets | 2 |
| New Rests | 64 |
| Old Rests | 7 |
| Bandeliers | 36 |
| Barrels of match wanting 16 bundles | 2 |
| (Signed) DORSET. Jan. 1641 | |
It was not very long before the Parliamentarians got wind of this hoard, and in August 1642 three troops of horse under the command of one Cornell Sandys rode into Kent, invaded Knole, took prisoner a Sir John Sackville whom they found in charge there, did a certain amount of rough damage, and carried off the contents of the armoury to London. The proceedings were thus officially reported:
Some SPECIAL & REMARKABLE PASSAGES
from both houses of PARLIAMENT since Monday 15th of Aug. till Friday the 19th 1642.
Upon Saturday night last, the Lord General having information of a great quantity of Arms of the Earl of Dorset’s at his house at Sevenoaks, in Kent, in the custody of Sir John Sackville, which were to be disposed of by him to arm a great number of the malignant party of that County, to go to York to assist his Majesty; called a Council of War, to consider of the same, and about 12 of the clock at night sent out 3 troops of Horse into Kent to seize upon the said Arms; which they did accordingly on the Sunday following; and on the Monday brought the same to London and Sir John Sackville prisoner, there being complete arms for 500 or 600 men.
Despite the outcry of plaintive indignation which went up from Knole, the House of Lords report proves that their conduct towards Lord Dorset over the incident was fair, lenient, and even generous:
That the Arms of the Earl of Dorset which were at Knole House, are brought to Town, to be kept from being made use of against the Parliament,
and therefore this House ordered,
That such as are rich Arms shall not be made use of, but kept safely for the Earl of Dorset; but such as are fit to be made use of for the service of the Kingdom are to be employed; an Inventory to be taken, and money to be given to the Earl of Dorset in satisfaction thereof.
Thus ran the official reports; but Knole, astonished, aggrieved, and outraged, drew up a fuller list of injuries. It was the first time rude voices had ever echoed within those venerable walls or rude hands rummaged among the sacred possessions, the first time that orders had been issued there by another than the master. The Parliament men had entered with arrogance, spoken with authority, gone beyond their warrant, and ransacked wantonly—for from what motive but wantonness could they have taken the plumes from the bed-tester or the cushions from his Lordship’s own room? or spoilt the oil in the Painter’s Chamber? or, indeed, broken forty locks, unless to overcome such slight resistance in an unnecessarily high-handed manner? No doubt the novelty of the experience turned their heads. Rhetorically they were the representatives of the English Parliament, that sober and tenacious senate, as stubborn now as at Runnymede, but in private life they were men, however insignificant hitherto to Lord Dorset, men who, when he passed with a swagger, murmured dully beneath their reluctant deference. The moment when, cantering up over the crest of the hill, they first saw the grey forbidding walls and drew rein before the massive door, their horses’ bits jingling and the restive hoofs pawing at the gravel, must indeed have been an experience. Likewise, to ring their spurs on the paving-stones of the courtyards, to pass from room to room followed by a protesting and impotent steward, to stare at the pictures, to lounge on the velvet chairs, to set out their ink and paper on the solid table of the parlour and to draw up their indictment. It was August; the rose planted beneath the window of a Stuart King to commemorate his visit was covered with its little white blossoms; the turf was smooth and green; the flowers were bright under the young apple-trees in the orchard; the beeches and chestnuts were deep and heavy with the fullness of summer. The austerity of the Roundheads surely stiffened in the soft summer spaciousness of Knole. The owner was absent: they had only his new portrait to gaze at, with scorn of his brilliant doublet and his curling hair.