Nathaniel Fiennes
1608–1669
Son of Lord Saye and Sele; surrendered Bristol to Rupert in 1643.
Biography
Second son of Viscount Saye and Sele; of New College Oxford and Lincoln's Inn. As Colonel and Governor of Bristol, Fiennes surrendered the city to Prince Rupert on 26 July 1643 after a brief siege — a controversial capitulation for which he was court-martialled and sentenced to death by the Earl of Essex, though the sentence was set aside on appeal. He sat as a lay assessor at the Assembly through the rest of the 1640s, sympathising with the Independents like his father, and served Cromwell as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal (1655-1659). He retired at the Restoration and died in 1669.
Lay Assessor — House of Commons
Parliament seated lay assessors alongside the divines to represent its interest and keep it informed of the Assembly's progress. The ordinance of 1643 named thirty members of the House of Commons as assessors; they could take part in debate but were not among the voting divines, and their attendance was often occasional as the war and parliamentary business pressed on them.