Rivella: Sorting out the madness

The Lawsuit

The major players are:

• Christopher Monck, 2^nd Duke of Albemarle (Merchant Double)
• The Earl of Bath (Baron Meanwell)
• Elizabeth Monck, later Montagu, nee Cavendish (Merchant Double`s lady) – `the mad duchess`
• Christopher Monck, son of Thomas Monck, introduced into the Monck family by the first Duke of Albemarle`s sister. (Tim Double) – According to Manley, General Monck, the first Duke, found Thomas Monck`s grandmother getting off a boat of refugees and took her home; one of her sons became the gardener, and Thomas got a commission bought for him. Other stories suggest that Thomas Monck was an illegitimate son of the General. Christopher Monck (Tim Double) has no blood relationship to Christopher Monck, 2^nd Duke of Albemarle (Meanwell).
• Ralph Montagu (Lord Crafty) – marries the mad duchess or, if we believe Manley, one of her maids hiding behind a pillow.

So:

• Albemarle (Double) is married to Elizabeth (`the mad duchess`). They have no kids.
• Albemarle makes a will in 1675, leaving most of his estate, minus a very generous maintenance for Elizabeth, to the Earl of Bath (Meanwell).
• For whatever reason, Albemarle (Double) is persuaded to make a new will (Manley says it`s because of Elizabeth, his wife). Before he does, though, he adds a codicil (like a proviso – a statement imposing a condition) to the old will, stating that any new will won`t be valid unless it`s witnessed by five people, and two of them must be peers.
• Albemarle (Double) leaves for Jamaica, and makes a new will in 1687 which is not signed by the requisite peers. Then he kicks the bucket in 1688. The new will names Christopher Monck (Tim Double) as its beneficiary. So the old will ought still to stand, and Bath (Meanwell) ought to get the inheritance. BUT, and here`s where Ralph Montagu (Crafty) gets into the mix, Montagu decides to hook up with Albemarle`s widow, Elizabeth (Mrs. Double). By this point, she`s gone completely bananas. Montagu (Crafty) commences a lawsuit against Bath (Meanwell) on behalf of Christopher Monck (Tim Double) in 1691; the purpose of the lawsuit is to invalidate the codicil to the 1675 will. This is why Manley calls Montagu`s involvement `Champerty and maintenance` – he`s taking part in a lawsuit in which he`s not naturally involved in order to get money out of the result. Montagu (Crafty) has no blood ties or legal relationship to any of the players at this point. Montagu (Crafty) marries Cavendish in 1692.

How is Manley involved in all this, we might ask? What she says is:

• Her cousin and bigamous husband, John Manley, is a lawyer and council to Bath (Meanwell) – so actually, he`s on the right side.
• On the other side, acting as council to Montagu, is John Tilly, also a lawyer and governor of Fleet Prison. In 1696, Tilly`s being investigated by a committee; he`s charged with releasing prisoners for bribes. On the committee is John Manley.
• Catherine Trotter, also a writer and a friend of Manley`s before all this brouhaha, has a badly-disguised thing for Tilly (Cleander), or so Manley says. Trotter comes to Manley, knowing that John Manley (Oswald) is investigating Tilly (Cleander), and asks Delarivier to intercede. Manley gets to know Tilly (Cleander), who`s also involved in the lawsuit, and thus gets involved herself. Also, she`s banging Tilly (Cleander), who`s married.
• So, because Tilly`s (Cleander`s) on Montagu`s (Crafty`s) case, and John Manley`s (Oswald`s) on Bath`s (Meanwell`s), Manley takes it that she`s in a good position to negotiate. Basically, the project is to get Christopher Monck (Tim Double) out of Montagu`s clutches and get him to relinquish his claim to the estate, so that Bath (Meanwell) can have it, and everyone can stop spending money on lawyers. Monck (Tim) finally agrees to relinquish his claim in return for a life-long maintenance (a yearly income) and some other stuff. But he`s had an affair along the way with an actress Manley introduced him to, and so, just as the deeds are about to be executed, he takes off, actress and ill-gotten gains in tow. He ends up, however, in Flanders without either his wife or his mistress, firmly Montagu`s creature.
• The meetings in the carriage and so forth? These are Manley`s attempted intercessions between the Montagu (Crafty) and Christopher Monck (Tim) party, and the Earl of Bath (Meanwell). The reason she`s doing this is that she wants a cut of whatever money is going to change hands. If she persuades Christopher Monck (Tim) to settle the lawsuit, Bath (Meanwell) says he`ll give her some money. She ends up spending so much on maintaining Christopher Monck (Tim), however, that she loses anything she might have gained, and Bath doesn`t get what he wants in the end because Monck blows town.