Thomas Walsingham (literary patron)

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This article is about the sixteenth-century courtier and literary patron. For the fifteenth-century chronicler of the Peasants' revolt, see Thomas Walsingham.

Sir
Thomas Walsingham
MonarchElizabeth I
Personal details
Bornc. 1561
England (disputed)
Died11 August 1630(1630-08-11) (aged 69)
Scadbury, Kent
Resting placeSt Nicholas's Church, Chislehurst, Kent
SpouseAudrey Walsingham

Sir Thomas Walsingham (c. 1561 – 11 August 1630) was a courtier to

Queen Elizabeth I and literary patron to such poets as Thomas Watson, Thomas Nashe, George Chapman and Christopher Marlowe. He was related to Elizabeth's spymaster Francis Walsingham and the employer of Marlowe's murderer Ingram Frizer. This connection is one of the reasons offered for suggesting that Marlowe's death may have been linked with intelligence work, and not a dispute over a bill for food and accommodation, as in the coroner
's verdict.

Early life

Walsingham was the third son of

King James.[4]

Royal service

Francis Walsingham made use of his young relative as early as October 1580, when he appointed him as one of the trusted couriers between the English court and the queen's ambassador in France.

Member of Parliament for Rochester
. In 1614 he was returned to Parliament as knight of the shire for Kent.[7]

Literary patronage

The first poet to seek Walsingham's patronage was Thomas Watson, an old acquaintance from the time when both men had been engaged on Sir Francis's secret business in France.[8] His timely dedication to Thomas Walsingham, newly come into money through his inheritance, prefaced A Lament for Meliboeus, an elegy on the death of Sir Francis. Watson's venture was based on the family relationship between the dedicatee and the dead statesman, but Thomas Walsingham proved to be a genuine patron of literary endeavour and other poets followed the example. It is probable that Watson introduced Marlowe, a friend from the London literary circle with whom he was arrested for brawling in September 1589,[9] to Thomas Walsingham (although their paths may have crossed earlier, during Marlowe's own service to the late Sir Francis). Walsingham appreciated the dedication, and the introduction, with Marlowe becoming a frequent house-guest at Scadbury. Later dedications from other poets imply familiarity and affection, rather than the subservience and duty more common at the time.[10] Walsingham was a mourner at Marlowe's funeral.[1]

Private life

Walsingham had married Audrey Shelton, the daughter of Sir Ralph Shelton of Shelton, Norfolk. He had a son and a daughter (who predeceased him). Audrey also predeceased him, in 1624.

The Walsinghams continued in royal esteem when

James succeeded Elizabeth. Audrey, who may have been a more influential figure at court than her husband, was in part instrumental in securing James's succession, and they were appointed "keepers of the queen's wardrobe" when Queen Anne joined her husband in London.[11]
Wealth and royal honours rained on the family as a result of Anne's favour and, in defiance his unpromising beginnings as an impoverished third son.

Walsingham was involved in managing the affairs of an aged courtier and landowner Brian Annesley in October 1603 and a dispute between his daughters Grace Wildgose and Cordell Annesley.[12]

When Walsingham died at Scadbury on 11 August 1630 he was a wealthy landowner.[13] Walsingham left some money to the poor in Chislehurst and his servants, but most of the money went to his granddaughter Catherine. He was buried in the family chapel (Scadbury chapel) at St Nicholas's Church, Chislehurst.[1]

His son Thomas succeeded him and also became the MP for Rochester as a Parliamentarian.

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28628. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ISBN 0-8014-3978-7
    .
  3. ^ Kuriyama (2002: 99)
  4. ^
    ISBN 0-19-818695-9
    . ...Frizer saved his master from any trouble in entertaining secret agents
  5. ISBN 0-224-03100-7
    .
  6. ^ Kuriyama (2002: 100)
  7. OCLC 2763972
    .
  8. ^ Nicholl (1992: 182)
  9. ^ Kuriyama (2002: xvi; 99)
  10. ISBN 0-7546-5405-2
    .
  11. ^ Kuriyama (2002: 101)
  12. ^ Donna Woodford, Understanding King Lear: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (Westport, 2004), pp. 7-8.
  13. ^ Honan (2005: 328; 350)
Parliament of England
Preceded by
Sir Edward Sandys
1614 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for Kent
1614
With: Peter Manwood
 Succeeded by
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