Thomas Brudenell, 1st Earl of Cardigan
Thomas Brudenell, 1st Earl of Cardigan (c. 1583 – 16 September 1663), known as Sir Thomas Brudenell, Bt, between 1611 and 1628 and as The Lord Brudenell between 1628 and 1661, was an English peer and Royalist soldier.
Brudenell was the son of Robert Brudenell, of Doddington,
Like many of his family, and his wife's family, he openly professed the
In 1628 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Brudenell, of Stonton in the County of Leicester. He fought on the Royalist side in the Civil War and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Following the Restoration, he was created Earl of Cardigan in 1661.[3]
The raising of Brudenell to an earldom was done by Charles II personally on 20 April 1661, a couple of days before Charles's coronation on the 23rd. The ennoblement of new peers followed the installation of Knights of the Garter at Windsor Castle and Knights of the Bath at the Palace of Westminster. The ceremony, at Banqueting House, involved Charles investing the newly created earl with a mantle, a sword and belt, and a cap and coronet. Brudenell's mantle was borne by the Earl of Scarsdale, his sword by the Earl of Peterborough, and his coronet by the Earl Rivers. His supporters were the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Earl of Clare. After the earls, Charles invested the new barons.[4]
Lord Cardigan married Mary Tresham, daughter of Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton, Northamptonshire and Muriel Throckmorton, and sister of Francis Tresham, one of the ringleaders of the Gunpowder Plot. They had at least two children, a son Robert, and a daughter Mary, who married firstly John Constable, 2nd Viscount of Dunbar (died 1668), and secondly John Dalton. He died in 1663 and was succeeded in the earldom by his son, Robert. The Countess of Cardigan died in October 1664.[3]
References
- ^ Kenyon, J.P. The Popish Plot Phoenix Press reissue 2000 p.7
- Fraser, Antonia. The Gunpowder Plot -Terror and Faith in 1605 Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1996 p.208
- ^ a b thepeerage.com Thomas Brudenell, 1st Earl of Cardigan
- ^ A Circumstantial Account of the Preparations for the Coronation of His Majesty king Charles the Second, from an original manuscript of the period by Sir Edward Walker (London: T Baker, 1820), pp. 57-61.