Thomas Legge (/lɛɡ/; 1535 – 12 July 1607) was an English educator andplaywright, prominently known for his playRichardus Tertius, which is considered to be the first history play written inEngland.

Legge was the second of three sons born to Stephen and Margaret Legge in 1535. Originally fromNorwich, Legge moved toCambridge in 1552 where he matriculated toCorpus Christi College . Soon after he moved again to attendTrinity College, where he received a B.A. in 1556. He then went on to attendOxford in 1566, where he received his master's degree.

In 1568, Legge became a member of the faculty atJesus College, Cambridge, where he was known to be an active tutor and a proponent of the old way of thinking in religious matters.^[1]

On 27 June 1573, Legge was appointed master ofCaius College, taking many students from Jesus College with him when he left. While in office at Caius, Legge stirred up trouble by promoting John Depup, M.A.^[2] to a fellowship, which Dr. Caius disagreed with because of Depup's leanings towards Catholic opinions.^[1] Legge was also accused of treating letters sent from the queen with contempt, and was charged with misappropriating college funds, a charge that was later settled within the administrative officials of the school.

Legge occupied many different positions at Caius, becoming commissary to the university in May 1579, and spent two separate terms, from 1587 to 1588 and from 1592 to 1593, as the vice-chancellor.

Legge died on 12 July 1607 and was buried in Caius College Chapel. In his will, he left money to Caius College, which was used to build up the north side of the front court of the school.

Legge is best known for his three-actLatintragedy ofRichardus Tertius orRichard III, which was performed at St John's College in 1579. This work is alluded to bySir John Harington in hisBrief Apologie of Poetry as a famous tragedy of this time, and is believed to be the play Cambridge men askedLord Burghley's permission to substitute in 1592-1593 for the English comedy the queen had requested.

It is believed that this play was written based on information Legge took fromSir Thomas More's biography of Richard III. Because of this, Legge created a Richard who was not deformed and bitter at the world that rejected him, as with theRichard III made famous byShakespeare, but rather an intelligent man with his own motives and agenda who uses everyone around him to get his way.

This play appears to be the first real history play written in England, and Legge changed the course of English drama by relying onHolinshed's chronicles as background to his play.^[3] Legge is also believed to have written a play about theDestruction of Jerusalem around 1577 that was taken from him before it could be made public.

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• 1535 births
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• 16th-century English dramatists and playwrights
• 16th-century English educators
• 16th-century English male writers
• 17th-century English dramatists and playwrights
• 17th-century English educators
• 17th-century English male writers
• Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
• Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
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• Educators from Norwich
• English male dramatists and playwrights
• English Renaissance dramatists
• Jesus College, Cambridge
• Masters of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
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