Peregrine Bertie

Sir Peregrine Bertie (c. 1584–1639) was a Jacobean soldier and landowner from Lincolnshire. He represented that county in Parliament in 1614, attended to local land improvements, and took part in several wars on the continent. He and his elder brother Lord Willoughby were frequently at odds with Lord Norreys. Peregrine was the second son of the famous Elizabethan soldier Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby. He was admitted to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1594. He travelled to France in 1599. When his father died in 1601, Peregrine inherited a manor in Norfolk and the reversion of Willoughby House in London. He was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1605. In 1610, Bertie obtained a place as a gentleman of the privy chamber to Prince Henry, and was created a Knight of the Bath on 2 June, when Henry was invested as Prince of Wales. Later that year, he fought a duel with Lord Norreys, an inveterate enemy of Peregrine's brother Lord Willoughby, and in consequence was seriously wounded in the shoulder. By 1611, both brothers had become officers in the Dutch Army. In 1612, Peregrine had become a member of the Virginia Company, and went abroad to Spa that year for his health. Prince Henry died at the end of the year, and in the fall of 1613, Peregrine went abroad again and fought another duel with Lord Norreys, much to the displeasure of King James. In 1614, he contested Lincolnshire with the courtier Sir Thomas Monson and was returned as its junior knight of the shire to the Addled Parliament. No record of his activity there has been preserved. By the end of the year, he was suffering from a dangerous illness and his death was rumored, providing Lord Norreys with an opportunity for reconciliation. However, they were not long composed, as they were quarreling again by the autumn of 1615.