Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Machado, Roger
MACHADO, ROGER (d. 1511?), diplomatist and Clarenceux king of arms, was probably born in the south of France. The employment in his letters of a Spanish patois gives colour to the suggestion. On the other hand his association with Henry of Richmond for some years before he came to the throne has given rise to the conjecture that Machado came from Brittany. He was present at Edward IV's funeral in March 1483, and in the same year was at Calais in the suite of one William Rosse, appointed by Richard III to supervise the victualling of that town. At the time he was Leicester herald (Letters and Papers Richard III and Henry VII, ed. Gairdner, i. 9), but shortly afterwards he entered the service of Thomas Grey, first marquis of Dorset [q. v.], who employed him in various confidential missions, probably with the object of promoting Richmond's interests. After Henry VII's accession, Machado was known as Richmond herald, uniting with this office that of Norroy king of arms (Rerum Brit. Med. Script, ed. Gairdner, pp. xl, xli). Thenceforth he was repeatedly employed on diplomatic missions on the continent. In 1488-9 he went to Spain and Portugal, filling on the occasion a very subordinate position in the embassy. In June and August 1490 he was sent to Brittany with Sir Robert Clifford. On 24 Jan. 1494 he was promoted to be Clarenceux king of arms, and Henry offered to make him Garter king of arms, but Machado declined the dignity on the ground of insufficient acquaintance with the English language, 'for this modesty Henry obliged Sir Thomas Wriothesley (the new Garter king) to give him a pension of twenty marks' (Noble, Hist. College of Arms, p. 111), and continual bickerings between Wriothesley and Machado followed concerning the limits of their respective provinces. On 10 Aug. of the same year (1494) he was despatched to Charles VIII of France on business connected with that monarch's offer of help to Henry in case Maximilian supported Perkin Warbeck; Machado was instructed to say 'in regard to that garcon, the king makes no account of him, nor of all his [intrigues?], because he cannot be hurt or annoyed by him' (Cotton MSS. Calig. D. vi. f. 18). He was at the same time to offer Henry's good offices for a settlement of the dispute between Charles and Ferdinand of Spain with regard to the kingdom of Naples. On 17 Nov. Henry gave Machado and John Meautis, 'secretary of the French language, a grant to empower them to import Gascon wines to any port of France, Spain, or Britain, or the countries of any of the sovereigns in alliance with his majesty, not exceeding a certain quantity.' In this grant he is styled 'Roger Machado, alias dictus Richmond, rex armorum de Clarenceux' (Noble, Hist. College of Arms, p. 111). At the beginning of 1495 Machado was again sent to France to obtain information about the state of affairs there, and was to proceed thence to Florence, Venice, and Rome. On 5 March 1496 he was once more in France, being directed to suggest a marriage between the dauphin and the Princess Margaret, and the repayment of Henry's loan to the French king. In an unpublished memoir of Machado by John Anstis the elder [q. v.] he is said to have visited Denmark on diplomatic affairs in 1502 or 1503. He entertained the French ambassador in London on 9 Jan. 1508 (Andreas, Historia Hen. VII, ed. Gairdner, p. 104), and soon afterwards received an annuity of 10l. from the crown, which was increased in Henry VIII's reign to 20l. Noble (Hist. Coll. Arms) says he died in 1516, but 1510 or 1511 is a more probable date, because Thomas Benolt [q. v.], his successor as Clarenceux king of arms, was appointed early in the latter year.
Machado's journals, which have been published in the 'Rerum Brit. Medisevi Scriptores,' vol. x., describe his travels, but do not afford much information respecting the objects of his missions, and throw little light on the diplomatic history of the time. He was a faithful servant to the king, and Henry held him in high esteem.
[Rerum Britannicarum Mediævi Scriptores, ed. Gairdner, Pref. xxxviii-xlv; Andreas's Historia Hen. VII, p. 104; Machado's Journals; Letters and Papers for the Reigns of Rich. III and Hen. VII, ed. Gairdner, i. 9, 406, 425, ii. 90, 115, 292; Noble's History of College of Arms, pp. 86, 87, 111; Brewer's Letters and Papers of Hen. VIII, pp. 428, 556; Rymer's Fœdera, xii. 566.]