Thomas Somerset

Thomas Somerset (born by 1529, died 6 April 1586[1]) was an English Roman Catholic layman, kept imprisoned for long periods by Elizabeth I of England.

Life

He was the second son of Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester.

He became a servant of Bishop Stephen Gardiner, and was MP for Monmouthshire in 1553 and 1554.[1]

He was committed to the Fleet prison, 10 June 1562, "for translating an oratyon out of Frenche, made by the Cardinall of Lorraine", i.e. Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, Archbishop of Reims, "and putting the same without authority in prynte". On 27 June 1562, he was summoned before the Lords of the Council at Greenwich, who expected "an humble submission, for wante whereof, and for that he seamed to go about to justifye his cause, he was returned to the Flete, there to remaine until he" should "have better considered of himself".

After an imprisonment of close on twenty years he was released on bail, 28 February 1581-82, to attend to legal business in Monmouthshire. On 2 May 1582, he was too ill to travel, and was permitted to remain at liberty till he should recover. By 22 October 1585, suspected of complicity with Mary Queen of Scots,[1] he was in the Tower on a charge of high treason. Being possessed of properties in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, he paid the costs of his imprisonment, and his name therefore is not to be found in the Tower Bills. He died 6 April 1586 in the Tower, and his will was proved on 27 May of the same year.[1]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Thomas Somerset

16. Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset 8. Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset 17. Lady Eleanor Beauchamp 4. Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester 9. Joan Hill 2. Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester 20. William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke 10. William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke 21. Anne Devereux 5. Lady Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert 22. Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers 11. Lady Mary Woodville 23. Jacquetta of Luxembourg 1. Thomas Somerset 24. Sir Richard Browne 12. Sir Thomas Browne 6. Sir Anthony Browne 26. Sir Thomas FitzAlan 13. Eleanor FitzAlan 27. Joan Moyne 3. Elizabeth Browne 28. Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury 14. John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu 29. Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury 7. Lady Lucy Neville 30. Sir Edmund Ingoldsthorpe 15. Isabel Ingoldesthorpe 31. Joan Tiptoft

References

1. "SOMERSET, Thomas (by 1529-86)". History of Parliament. History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 7 June 2016.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Thomas Somerset". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

The entry cites:

• • Catholic Record Society Publications, I (London, 1905, etc.), 49;
  • Dasent, Acts of the Privy Council (London, 1890–1907), VII, 108; XIII, 336, 407;
  • Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1581-90 (London, 1865), 249, 278, 305;
  • Collins, Peerage, I (London, 1779), 201.