Coat of arms of Sir Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, KG

Thomas Radclyffe (or Ratclyffe), 3rd Earl of Sussex KG (c. 15259 June 1583), was

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland. The plural form is ' ...

during the

Tudor period The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began wit ...

of English history, and a leading courtier during the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

Family

He was the eldest son of Henry Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of Sussex, and his first wife Elizabeth Howard. His maternal grandparents were

Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (144321 May 1524), styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1485 and again from 1489 to 1514, was an English nobleman, soldier and statesman who served four monarchs. He was the eldest son of John Howard, 1st D ...

, and his second wife, Agnes Tilney. His maternal uncles included, among others, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Lord Edmund Howard (father of Queen

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the se ...

, Edward Howard, William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham, and

Lord Thomas Howard Lord Thomas Howard (1511 – 31 October 1537) was an English courtier at the court of King Henry VIII. He is chiefly known for his marriage (later invalidated by Henry) to Lady Margaret Douglas (1515–1578), the daughter of Henry VIII's si ...

). His aunt,

Elizabeth Boleyn Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (born Lady Elizabeth Howard; c. 1480 – 3 April 1538) was an English noblewoman, noted for being the mother of Anne Boleyn and as such the maternal grandmother of Elizabeth I of England. The eldest daug ...

, was the mother of Queen

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key f ...

Early life

He was born about 1525, and after his father's succession to the earldom in 1542 was styled Viscount Fitzwalter. After serving in the army abroad, he was employed in 1551 to negotiate a marriage between King

Edward VI of England Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first ...

and a daughter of

Henry II of France Henry II (french: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Duchess Claude of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder bro ...

. Radclyffe's prominence in the kingdom was shown by his inclusion among the signatories to the

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, tit ...

of 16 June 1553 settling the crown on

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey ( 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553. Jane was ...

as Edward's successor; but he nevertheless won favour with Queen Mary, who employed him in arranging her marriage with

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

, and who created him Baron Fitzwalter in August 1553.

Sussex in Ireland

Returning to England from a mission to

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fr ...

, in April 1556, Fitzwalter was appointed

. According to the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the '' Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. S ...

'', the "prevailing anarchy in Ireland, a country which, nominally subject to the English Crown, was torn by feuds among its practically independent native chieftains, rendered the task of the lord deputy one of no ordinary difficulty; a difficulty that was increased by the ignorance of English statesmen con- cerning Ireland and Irish conditions, and by their incapacity to devise or to carry into execution any consistent and thorough- going policy for bringing the half-conquered island under an orderly system of administration." Fitzwalter effected Queen Mary's policy for Ireland: the reversal of the partial attempts that had been made during the short reign of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

to promote

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

there, the "plantation" by English settlers in the midlands and the

shiring Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the begin ...

of King's County and Queen's County in 1556, named after Mary and her husband

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

. But before Fitzwalter could attend to such matters he had to make an expedition into

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

, which was being kept in a constant state of disturbance by the Highland Scots from Kintyre and the Islands who were making settlements along the Antrim coast in the district of the "Glynnes" (now known as the

Glens of Antrim The Glens of Antrim,Logainm.ie
(

Shane O'Neill to dominate more territory in

. Brutal methods were deployed, as Sussex sent the earl of Ormond, Sir Nicholas Bagenal and other captains to Rathlin Island on 3 September 1557. They stayed for three days and hunted down the occupants of the island, and it was noted that they killed 'as many as they might come by or get out of caves, both man, woman, child and beasts'. Having defeated O'Neill and his allies, the MacDonnells, the lord deputy, who by the death of his father in February 1557 became Earl of Sussex, returned to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, where he summoned a parliament in June of that year. Statutes were passed declaring the legitimacy of

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

as Queen of the

Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label= Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...

, reviving the laws for the suppression of heresy and forbidding the immigration of Scots. Having carried this legislation, Sussex endeavoured to give forcible effect to it, first by taking the field against Donough O'Conor, whom he failed to capture, and afterwards against Shane O'Neill, whose lands in Tyrone he ravaged (causing artificial famine by the burning of crops and killing of livestock), restoring to their nominal rights the Earl of Tyrone and his reputed son Matthew O'Neill, Baron of Dungannon. In June of the following year Sussex turned his attention to the west, where the head of the O'Brien clan had ousted his nephew Conor O'Brien, Earl of Thomond, from his possessions, and refused to pay allegiance to the Crown; he forced

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2 ...

to open its gates to him, restored Thomond, and proclaimed The O'Brien a traitor. In the autumn of 1558 the continued inroads of the Scottish islanders in the Antrim glens called for drastic treatment by the lord deputy. Sussex sailed from Dublin in the '' Mary Willoughby'' to Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. He burnt farms and houses including

Saddell Saddell ( gd, Saghadal, ) is a small Scottish village situated on the east side of the Kintyre Peninsula of Argyll and Bute, overlooking the Kilbrannan Sound and the Isle of Arran, from Campbeltown on the B842 road to Carradale. The name S ...

, a castle of James MacDonnell or MacDonald of Dunyvaig and Glynnes (died 1565), and then marched south to burn Dunaverty and Machrimore. He then burnt farms on the islands Arran, Bute, and

Cumbrae Great Cumbrae ( sco, Muckle Cumbrae; gd, Cumaradh Mòr; also known as Great Cumbrae Island, Cumbrae or the Isle of Cumbrae) is the larger of the two islands known as The Cumbraes in the lower Firth of Clyde in western Scotland. The island is ...

.C. S. Knighton & David Loades, ''Navy of Edward VI and Mary I'' (Navy Records Society, 2011), pp. 386-9. Landing at

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest ...

, he fired and plundered the settlements of the Scots on the Antrim coast before returning to Dublin for Christmas. In the metropolis, the news reached him of the queen's death. Crossing to England, he took part in the ceremonial of

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen ...

's coronation in January 1559; and in the following July, he returned to Ireland with a fresh commission, now as lord lieutenant, from the new queen, whose policy required him to come to terms if possible with the troublesome leaders of the O'Neills and the MacDonnells. Shane O'Neill refused to meet Sussex without security for his safety, and having established his power in Ulster he demanded terms of peace which Elizabeth was unwilling to grant. Sussex failed in his efforts to bring Shane to submission, either by open warfare or by subterfuge. He was preparing for a fresh attempt when he was superseded by

Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and ...

, who was commissioned by Elizabeth to open negotiations with O'Neill, the result of which was that the latter repaired to London and made a formal submission to the queen. Shane's conduct on his return to Ireland was no less rebellious than before, and energetic measures against him became more imperative than ever. Having obtained Elizabeth's sanction, Sussex conducted a campaign in the summer of 1563 with

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...

as his temporary headquarters; but except for some indecisive skirmishing and the seizure of many of O'Neill's cattle, the operations led to no result and left O'Neill with his power little diminished. His continued failure to effect a purpose for the accomplishment of which he possessed inadequate resources led Sussex to pray for his recall from Ireland, and his wish was granted in May 1564. His government of Ireland had not, however, been wholly without fruit.

Sussex the politician

Sussex was the first representative of the English Crown who enforced authority to any considerable extent beyond the limits of

the Pale The Pale ( Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast ...

; the policy of planting English settlers in Offaly and Leix was carried out by him in 1562 with a certain measure of success; and although he fell far short of establishing English rule throughout any large part of Ireland, he made its influence felt in remote parts of the island, such as Thomond and the Glynnes of Antrim, where the independence of the native septs had hitherto been subjected not even to nominal interference. His letters from Ireland display a just conception of the problems with which he was confronted, and of the methods by which their solution should be undertaken; and his failure was due, not to lack of statesmanship or of executive capacity on his own part, but to the insufficiency of the resources placed at his command and want of insight and persistence on the part of Elizabeth and her ministers. He also had to contend with the hostility of certain highly placed officials in the Dublin administration, led by John Parker, the Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Parker, a strong Protestant and English by birth, accused Sussex of having

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

sympathies, a charge to which Sussex was clearly vulnerable in light of his loyal service to Queen Mary in her efforts to stamp out heresy in Ireland.

Sussex as courtier

On his return to England, Sussex, who before leaving Ireland had to endure the indignity of an inquiry into his administration instigated by his enemies and led by John Parker, threw himself into opposition to

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was o ...

, especially in regard to the suggested marriage between Leicester and the queen. He does not appear to have incurred Elizabeth's displeasure, for in 1566 and the following year she employed him in negotiations for bringing about a different matrimonial alliance which he warmly supported, the proposal that she should bestow her hand on the Archduke Charles. When this project failed, Sussex returned from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to London in March 1568, and in July he was appointed Lord President of the North, a position which threw on him the responsibility of dealing with the rebellion of the Northern Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland in the following year. The weakness of the force at his disposal rendered necessary at the outset a caution which engendered some suspicion of his loyalty, and this suspicion was increased by the counsel of moderation which he urged upon the queen; but in 1570 he laid waste the border, invaded Scotland, and raided the country round

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from t ...

, reducing the rebel leaders to complete submission. In July 1572 Sussex became

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main c ...

, and he was henceforth in frequent attendance on Queen Elizabeth, both in her progresses through the country and at court, until his death.

Family

He married twice: first to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton; and secondly to Frances, daughter of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst. His second wife was the foundress of

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wif ...

, which she endowed by her will, and whose name commemorates the father and the husband of the countess. The earl left no children, and at his death, his titles passed to his brother Henry.

References

Bibliography

References

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sussex, Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl Of 1520s births 1583 deaths Earls of Sussex (1529 creation) Garter Knights appointed by Mary I Lord-Lieutenants of Norfolk Lord-Lieutenants of Suffolk Lords Lieutenant of Ireland

Radclyffe Radclyffe (real name Dr. Lenora Ruth Barot, born 1950) is an American author of lesbian romance, paranormal romance, erotica, and mystery. She has authored multiple short stories, written fan fiction, and edited numerous anthologies. Radclyffe ...

16th-century English nobility

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Barons FitzWalter Members of Parliament for Norfolk

Family

Early life

Sussex in Ireland

Sussex the politician

Sussex as courtier

Family

See also

References

Bibliography

References