Thomas Wentworth, 2nd Baron Wentworth (1525 – 13 January 1584) was an Englishpeer, courtier, administrator and military commander during the reigns ofEdward VI,Mary I andElizabeth I.[1] His reputation suffered through the surrender ofCalais in 1558, which occurred under his command.[2]
The eldest son ofThomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth and Margaret Fortescue, ofNettlestead, Suffolk, Thomas studied atSt John's College, Cambridge.[3] He served with distinction under his relative theLord ProtectorEdward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset at theBattle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547, for which he was knighted at Roxburgh in August 1547.[3] He sat as MP forSuffolk from 1547 to 1553: his father died in 1551, leaving him heir to his title, during the thirdprorogation, and he was replaced by SirThomas Cornwallis before the end of the parliament.[4] He was one of the peers who found Somerset Not Guilty of treason, but Guilty on a capital charge offelony, in 1551.[5][6]
Having signed the Letters Patent for the Limitation of the Crown, intended to favour the succession ofLady Jane Grey, on 21 June 1553,[7] Wentworth was (according to Raphael Holinshed) among the first of the nobility to rally to the cause ofQueen Mary while Queen Jane was being proclaimed in London.[8] It is suggested that his support for Queen Mary arose from a conviction that her title to the Crown was rightful, rather than from a desire to restore Roman Catholicism.[2] In mid-August 1553 he was empanelled to deliberate on the guilt of theDuke of Northumberland, theMarquess of Northampton and theEarl of Warwick, and then upon SirAmbrose Dudley, SirJohn Gates, SirHenry Gates and SirThomas Palmer.[9] Having given satisfaction by assisting in their condemnation, four days later Wentworth made his first appearance as a sworn member of thePrivy Council atRichmond.[10][4]
He was not required to sit in judgement upon Jane Grey in November 1553, but in December Mary appointed himLord Deputy of Calais. Wentworth was the last Englishman to hold this post, for on 7 January 1558 he was compelled tosurrender Calais toFrancis, Duke of Guise, his representations as to the defenceless condition of the fortress having been disregarded by thePrivy Council some years earlier.[6] He was suspected of collusion with the enemy for his ineptitude and indecision during the final crisis, and was indicted for treason.[11] (In fact his passive behaviour was probably owing to his certainty that the cause was hopeless.[citation needed]) His behaviour was unfavourably compared to the gallant defence ofGuisnes, yet Guisnes also surrendered after a few days.[citation needed]
Wentworth was deprived of his manors atStepney andHackney at this time. He remained in France as aprisoner of war for more than a year, a delay which may have spared him the stigma for the loss of Calais. During that time Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, and although he was held in theTower of London on his return toEngland, he was acquitted oftreason in April 1559,[11] and his manors were soon restored to him.Henry Machyn recorded his relief at the acquittal.[12] In 1561, as Wentworth was rehabilitated,John Day published an English translation ofHeinrich Bullinger's collection ofOne Hundred Sermons on the Apocalypse, and dedicated the work to him (as Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk) with a lengthy Epistle dated fromIpswich.[13] Wentworth's religious views were tolerant.
At Ipswich on 30 December 1569, he made his declaration of obedience to the Act of Parliament for the Uniformity of Common Prayer.[14] In 1572 he was among the Lords who sat in judgement at the trial for High Treason ofThomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, convicted and condemned him.[15]
In March 1562/63, two of Wentworth's brothers, James and John, died in the loss of the Queen's shipGreyhound.[16] Wentworth married twice, on both occasions to his kinswomen of other branches of the Wentworth family. The first wife was Mary Wentworth, daughter of Sir John Wentworth ofGosfield, and she died without children at Calais.[17] The second wife, whom he probably married in 1555 or 1556, was Anne, daughter of Henry Wentworth, Esquire, ofMountnessing, Essex.[18] Having become the mother of Wentworth's children, Dame Anne died on 2 September 1571 and was buried inStepney church.[19] Sir Thomas died intestate on 13 January 1584,[6] and was probably buried near her.
Wentworth appears as a minor character in the novelThe Two Dianas byAlexandre Dumas.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "Wentworth s.v. Thomas Wentworth". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 520.Thomas Wentworth, 2nd Baron Wentworth of Nettlestead (1525–1584), was.....
| Peerage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Baron Wentworth 1529–1551 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
