Thomas Lucy
Sir Thomas Lucy (* April 24, 1532; † July 7, 1600 in Charlecote ) was a British Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff, which is known for its connections to William Shakespeare.
Thomay Lucy inherited after the death of his father William Lucy in 1552, both the village of Charlecote, the seat of the family, as well as the villages of Sherborne and Hampton Lucy in Warwickshire at Stratford -upon -Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace. In 1558 he left the family home as the first of the great Elizabethan country houses new build. He was raised to the peerage in 1565 and 1573 was Queen Elizabeth I welcome as hosts to Charlecote. He put great emphasis on wealth, employed forty staff and was allegedly concerned up to the malice to protect his lands and living on it Wilds.
He was a passionate Protestant and Puritan; both in his office as justice of the peace, which he held in Stratford, as well as a member of Parliament, he strongly engaged to intimidate and persecute Catholics who refused to participate in the Anglican church. He had carried out in an aggressive manner raids in their homes, especially after the Somerville - stop from 1583rd The following year, he had to settle a dispute between one of his servants and Hamnet Sadler, a friend of Shakespeare. 1586 he was appointed High Sheriff of the county.
There was therefore reason enough, Lucy not at all to like and as anti-Catholic prosecutors to fear even. He let those Jesuits in the area of Stratford assistance rendered, arrest and interrogate. He was responsible for the raids on the houses of the Arden family after the arrest of Edward Arden, and it was one of his followers, who took control in Stratford after the defeat of the northern rebellion.
Shakespeare himself would have had good reasons for Lucy to be regarded as an enemy, a man who pursues after all, some of his relatives to grave and had its shadow over every Old Catholic Family Area thrown. There are also the popular legend, Shakespeare had once poached in the park of Charlecote, then had to flee from Stratford to London and started his career. Even if this story should be fictitious, but the fact remains that the poet in two of his works - The Merry Wives of Windsor the royal drama Henry VI, Part 2 and the comedy -. Leaves occur a justice of the peace Schaal (Shallow ), whose distinctive attributes as its Coat of similarity with Thomas Lucy made obvious at least for contemporaries. And if Shakespeare then in the word game compares pike in the arms of lice in the jacket, then it is not ruled out that he has become so subtle parody down from the stage revenge on Lucy.
Lucy died in 1600 in Charlecote.