later days. Unfortunately,
space makes it impossible to touch on more than a few of the most
striking events in the career of John Russell, first Earl of Bedford, to
whom the Abbey was granted.

On January 11, 1506, the Archduke Philip of Austria was driven by a
violent storm to take shelter at Weymouth, where Sir Thomas Trenchard,
Governor of the Coast, hurried to receive him, and to offer such
entertainment as he could provide. It so happened that there was staying
with Sir Thomas a young cousin lately returned from his travels, who
combined great 'skill in foreign languages ... with his sprightly
conversation and polite address.' The Archduke was enchanted to find
someone better acquainted with his speech and customs than the
stay-at-home squires who surrounded him, and when he set out for Windsor
he would not leave Mr Russell behind. To the King the Archduke praised
his protege in glowing words, and he was given a small post at Court.
Nature had favoured him at the start, for he is said to have been of 'a
moving beauty that ... exacted a liking if not a love from all that saw
him' and to this valuable gift was added that of a 'learned discourse
and generous deportment.'

On the accession of Henry VIII, he won the good-will of the young King
by the zeal with which he threw himself into 'the dance, the Masque, the
pagent, the tourney,' in which Henry himself delighted; and he soon had
a chance for distinguishing himself in serious matters. In 1513 he
accompanied the King in his campaign in France, and on the march an
unusually large cannon was 'overturned in a lagoon.... Impatient to
signalise himself by some intrepid exploit, Mr Russell had the boldness
to attempt its recovery, in the face of ten thousand French,' and 'with
but two hundred and fifty adventurers under him as resolute as himself,
he succeeded in the effort.'

In 1517 Mr Russell was appointed Deputy-Governor of Tournay; in 1532 he
was knighted after taking part in a descent on the coast of Brittany,
and in later years he rose to positions of great and greater importance.
When Henry was supporting the Constable de Bourbon against his
Sovereign, Francis I, Sir John was entrusted with the dangerous mission
of conveying a huge sum of money through a country where many were well
affected to the French King.

One of his first steps was to leave his company at a town on the
frontier with orders to spread the news that he was ill, whilst he
hastened withou