A Jacobite Gazetteer - Rome

Venerabile Collegio Inglese

Arms of King Henry IX and I

The Venerable English College is the residence for English seminarians studying in Rome; it is located at Via Monserrato 45.

In the entrance hall of the college are modern painted versions of the arms of various English cardinals, including those of King Henry IX and I. This rendition of Henry's arms is clearly of modern origin. The cardinal's hat has fifteen tassels on each side (as is usual today); in Henry's time only nine tassels were used on each side. It is interesting to note that the arms are those of Henry as king; they are undifferenced and are surmounted with a royal crown (instead of a ducal coronet).

Portrait of King Charles III

The college owns an oil portrait which some scholars have identified as being of the Prince Regent (later King Charles III); ¹ the protrait is ascribed to Pierre Subleyras. ² It is inscribed "Prince Edward of York of his departure for Scotland"; the young Charles III was frequently called "Prince Edward" particularly in France. The Prince Regent wears the sash and badge of the Order of the Garter. In his right hand he holds the gold baton of a Field Marshall.

At the back of the chapel is the funerary monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, Bt., of Dereham Abbey, Norfolk. On account of his Catholic faith which was proscribed in England, this gentleman was educated in Tuscany where his father's cousin was English envoy. He was a loyal supporter of King James III and VIII. On the base of the funerary monument is a Latin inscription:

D · O · M ·
THOMAS DEREHAM DE DEREHAM
MAGNÆ BRITTANNIÆ BARONETTVS
OB VERÆ RELIGIONIS AMOREM
PATRIA AD CATHOLICOS PROFVGVS
FAMILIÆ SVÆ POSTREMVS
A NVPTIJS ABSTINVIT
NE FIDES IN DEVM AC LEGITMVM REGEM
SANCTE AB IPSO SERVATA
POSTERIS IN DISCRIMEN VENIRET
HANC PIETATIS SVÆ CONSTANTIAM
SEPVLCRALI LAPIDE TESTATAM VOVVIT.
OBIJT VII. FEBRV. A. S. MDCCXXXIX.
VIXIT. AN. LIX. MENSES. X. DIES. XI.

Funerary monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, Bt.

The entrance hall of the college is usually open during the day; if the porter is present, permission should be asked to see the painted arms of the English cardinals.

(Telephone: 39.06.865808).

Notes

¹ Donald Nicholas, The Portraits of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Maidstone: Clout & Baker, 1973): 36-37. The work is not listed in the far more scholarly work by Robin Nicholson, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Making of a Myth: A Study in Portraiture, 1720-1892 (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2002); Nicholson comments on the work of Nicholas in these words: "The lack of clarity is further enhanced by the inclusion of portraits of very uncertain identification." I have not been able to determine the exact location of the portrait in the Venerable English College.

² Pierre Subleyras was born in France in 1699. He won the Prix de Rome in 1727 and arrived at the Académie de France in Rome the next year. He spent the rest of his life in Italy, and died at Rome in 1749. He is best known for his many ecclesiastical paintings, but was also a prolific portraitist; among his subjects were a number of people connected with the Jacobite court in Rome (e.g. Lady Anne Clifford, Countess Mahony; Saint Leonard of Port Maurice).

Image 2 (Portrait of King Charles III): Nicholas, 37.