John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol (February 1580 – 21 January 1653), was an English diplomat and a moderate royalist during the English Civil War. Early career He was the son of Sir George Digby of Coleshill, Warwickshire, and Abigail, daughter of Sir Anthony (not Arthur) Heveningham and educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge and the Inner Temple. He was knighted in 1606. He was briefly the Member of Parliament for Hedon in 1610.On his arrival at Court, his charm, good looks and diplomatic ability quickly gained him the favour of King James I, who sent him to Madrid as his ambassador to Spain during the early 1610s. He was rewarded by being created Baron Digby of Sherborne in 1618 and Earl of Bristol in 1622. Digby was a leading figure in the unsuccessful Spanish Match, the effort to marry Prince Charles to the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain. Digby was made the scapegoat for the failure of the marriage plan, recalled and ordered to reside on his estates. Charles after his accession offered Digby a return to royal favour if he would admit his blame for the failure of the match: Digby, who was a stubborn and hot-tempered man, and could be terrifying in his anger, refused. Charles, infuriated, impeached him and sent him to the Tower of London; Digby, undaunted, made counter-charges against George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, the prime royal favourite. Ominously for the King's reputation, the House of Lords decided to hear Digby in his own defence first. His trial never proceeded, although he remained in the Tower until 1628, and the affair seriously damaged the King's reputation as a man of honour. The murder of the Duke of Buckingham in August 1628 caused Digby to reconsider his opposition to the King: like Strafford and others among the Lords he was alarmed at Parliament's increasing radicalism. He offered his services to Charles and was formally reconciled with him. Charles, however, was slow to trust those who had ever opposed him and Digby had little influence at Court in the 1630s. Civil War As the political crisis of the early 1640s mounted, Digby emerged as a trusted and moderate royal adviser, along with his son George, Lord Digby. At the Council of Peers held at York in September 1640, the King showed an unprecedented willingness to listen to Bristol's criticism of his policy, and agreed to his