Sir Thomas Tresham

The Most Loyal Catholic

Hi!

Welcome to the latest history blog article published on my Substack, for paying members. I’ve included a free extract from the article, which also appears in my British History Patreon.

Extract from this article

…There is one man in particular whose very existence challenged the state’s narrative, his name was Thomas Tresham.

Thomas Tresham’s time at the Elizabethan court hardly warrants a mention in books on Elizabeth’s reign. In fact, it’s been difficult to find out how much he was at court. One is left wondering if he could have easily slipped into obscurity as an anomaly that didn’t fit easily into the Protestant vs Catholic narrative of many books on the era. There is one primary reason why he is remembered today, the unique buildings he left us, most notably, Rushton Triangular Lodge.

Thomas Tresham was a wealthy landowner, inheriting the Rushton Estate in Northamptonshire from his grandfather at the age of 15, in 1559. He had influence in the local area and became High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1573, a position his grandfather, another Thomas Tresham, had also held. His grandfather, also a Member of Parliament, had proved his loyalty to the Crown during the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536) and Kett’s Rebellion (1549) by helping to suppress the movements. Despite his support for the Crown, he found his Catholicism a barrier to being recalled to Parliament during the reign of Edward VI. His grandson would find the same issues, and, to a greater degree, difficulties when his religion did not align to that of the monarch.

Thomas Tresham was highly intelligent and well read. He collected books all his life, not only for personal education but in a quiet act of defiance and rebellion against the state’s intervention into what he, and many others considered, the private matter of one’s faith. The fact that he also donated books meant he actively contributed to the continued learning of Catholic texts in England. Tresham’s outspoken opposition to State interference into his ability to worship God as he saw fit (and in a way which had been practiced for centuries beforehand) landed him, repeatedly, in hot water…