Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset
Encyclopedia
Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset (1536 – 19 April 1608) was an English
statesman
, poet, dramatist and Freemason. He was the son of Richard Sackville
, a cousin to Anne Boleyn
. He was a Member of Parliament
and Lord High Treasurer
.
in 1558, followed by election as MP for East Grinstead
in 1559 and Aylesbury
in 1563.
Thomas Sackville was the author, with Thomas Norton
, of the play Gorboduc
(1561), the first English drama
to be written in blank verse
and deals with the consequences of political rivalry. He also contributed to the 1563 edition of Mirror for Magistrates
, with the poem Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham. Sackville's first important work was the poem Induction which describes the poet's journey to the infernal regions, where he encounters figures representing forms of suffering and terror. The poem is noted for the power of its allegory
and for its sombre stateliness of tone.
Travelling in Italy, and being at Rome in 1566, he was detained there a prisoner fourteen days, but whether on account of pecuniary difficulties, or for other reasons, is not clear. The first important employment which Lord Buckhurst had was in the year 1571, when he was sent on a special mission to king Charles IX of France
to congratulate him on his marriage with Elizabeth of Austria, the daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, and also to negotiate the matter of the proposed alliance of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou, brother of the French king.
In the year 1572 he was one of the Peers that sat on the trial of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
. In 1586 he was selected to convey to Mary, Queen of Scots, the sentence of death confirmed by the English Parliament. In 1587 he went as ambassador to the United Provinces
, upon their complaint against the Earl of Leicester
; but, though he performed his trust with integrity, the favourite had sufficient influence to get him recalled; and on his return, he was ordered to confinement in his own house, for nine or ten months. He incurred her displeasure by what she called his shallow judgement in diplomacy.
In the year 1591, Sackville was chosen Chancellor of the University of Oxford
. He succeeded William Cecil, Lord Burghley as Lord Treasurer for life in 1599, and was a capable, if uninspired, financial manager. In 1604 Sackville bought Groombridge Place
in Kent. His houses, Knole House
, at Knole in Kent
, and Michelham Priory
are celebrated.
Sackville was created Baron Buckhurst, of Buckhurst in the County of Sussex, in 1567, and Earl of Dorset in 1604. Sackville acquired a large fortune through his real estate dealings in many counties, as well as his investments in the iron foundry business. He was an advocate of stronger enforcement of the Sumptuary Laws, which regulated the types of clothing allowed to be worn by the various social classes, within the military. Specifically, he dictated that only soldiers holding the rank of Colonel
or above should be permitted to wear silk and velvet, and that Captains and all ranks below should "make do with fustian
and spend the remaining money on their arms." This seemingly petty insistence makes more sense when one considers that Sackville was tasked daily with the duty of allocating funds for the supply of arms, armour and uniforms to England's military, both regular and irregular.
In around 1587, Sackville was granted a royal licence to commission an armour from the Royal Workshops at Greenwich. The finely etched, blued and gilt armour, a garniture for the field, is one of the finest and best-preserved examples of the Greenwich school of armour-making known to exist. It is now part of the Wallace Collection in London. Another, similar armour, featuring the same construction and decorative scheme, which belonged to Sir James Scudamore
, can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York
.
Queen Elizabeth I acquired Bexhill Manor
in 1590 and granted it to Thomas. Thomas was also the last Sackville to be Lord of the Manor of Bergholt Sackville
(named after the Sackville family) and Mount Bures
in Essex
when he sold them in 1578 to Mrs Alice Dister. Both estates had been in the family for 459 years. He was created Earl of Dorset in 1604.
He died suddenly at the council table, having apparently suffered a stroke
, referred to as "a dropsy on the brain". He was buried in Westminster Abbey
. He had married Cicely Baker in 1555. and had seven children, incuding his heir Robert
. He was an ancestor of Vita Sackville-West
, (1892-1962), who was the subject of Virginia Woolf
's 1928 novel Orlando
.
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England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
, poet, dramatist and Freemason. He was the son of Richard Sackville
Richard Sackville (escheator)
Sir Richard Sackville of Ashburnham and Buckhurst in Sussex and Westenhanger in Kent; was an English administrator and Member of Parliament.-Career:...
, a cousin to Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
. He was a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and Lord High Treasurer
Lord High Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...
.
Biography
He first entered Parliament as MP for WestmorlandWestmorland (UK Parliament constituency)
Westmorland was a constituency covering the county of Westmorland in the North of England, which returned Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The constituency had two separate periods of existence....
in 1558, followed by election as MP for East Grinstead
East Grinstead (UK Parliament constituency)
East Grinstead was a parliamentary constituency in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. It first existed as a Parliamentary borough from 1307, returning two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons elected by the bloc vote system...
in 1559 and Aylesbury
Aylesbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Aylesbury is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party has held the seat since 1924, and held it at the 2010 general election with a 52.2% share of the vote.-Boundaries:...
in 1563.
Thomas Sackville was the author, with Thomas Norton
Thomas Norton
Thomas Norton was an English lawyer, politician, writer of verse — but not, as has been claimed, the chief interrogator of Queen Elizabeth I.-Official career:...
, of the play Gorboduc
Gorboduc (play)
Gorboduc, also titled Ferrex and Porrex, is an English play from 1561. It was performed before Queen Elizabeth I on 18 January 1562, by the Gentlemen of the Inner Temple...
(1561), the first English drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
to be written in blank verse
Blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
and deals with the consequences of political rivalry. He also contributed to the 1563 edition of Mirror for Magistrates
Mirror for Magistrates
Mirror for Magistrates is a collection of English poems from the Tudor period by various authors which retell the lives and the tragic ends of various historical figures.-Background:...
, with the poem Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham. Sackville's first important work was the poem Induction which describes the poet's journey to the infernal regions, where he encounters figures representing forms of suffering and terror. The poem is noted for the power of its allegory
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
and for its sombre stateliness of tone.
Travelling in Italy, and being at Rome in 1566, he was detained there a prisoner fourteen days, but whether on account of pecuniary difficulties, or for other reasons, is not clear. The first important employment which Lord Buckhurst had was in the year 1571, when he was sent on a special mission to king Charles IX of France
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
to congratulate him on his marriage with Elizabeth of Austria, the daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, and also to negotiate the matter of the proposed alliance of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou, brother of the French king.
In the year 1572 he was one of the Peers that sat on the trial of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...
. In 1586 he was selected to convey to Mary, Queen of Scots, the sentence of death confirmed by the English Parliament. In 1587 he went as ambassador to the United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, upon their complaint against the Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...
; but, though he performed his trust with integrity, the favourite had sufficient influence to get him recalled; and on his return, he was ordered to confinement in his own house, for nine or ten months. He incurred her displeasure by what she called his shallow judgement in diplomacy.
In the year 1591, Sackville was chosen Chancellor of the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. He succeeded William Cecil, Lord Burghley as Lord Treasurer for life in 1599, and was a capable, if uninspired, financial manager. In 1604 Sackville bought Groombridge Place
Groombridge Place
Groombridge Place is a moated Manor house in the village of Groombridge near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. It has become a tourist attraction, noted for its formal gardens, vineyards and a bird of prey sanctuary. -History:...
in Kent. His houses, Knole House
Knole House
Knole is an English country house in the town of Sevenoaks in west Kent, surrounded by a deer park. One of England's largest houses, it is reputed to be a calendar house, having 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards...
, at Knole in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, and Michelham Priory
Michelham Priory
Michelham Priory is the site of a former Augustine Priory near Upper Dicker, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom. It is owned and administered by the Sussex Archaeological Society.-History:...
are celebrated.
Sackville was created Baron Buckhurst, of Buckhurst in the County of Sussex, in 1567, and Earl of Dorset in 1604. Sackville acquired a large fortune through his real estate dealings in many counties, as well as his investments in the iron foundry business. He was an advocate of stronger enforcement of the Sumptuary Laws, which regulated the types of clothing allowed to be worn by the various social classes, within the military. Specifically, he dictated that only soldiers holding the rank of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
or above should be permitted to wear silk and velvet, and that Captains and all ranks below should "make do with fustian
Fustian
Fustian is a term for a variety of heavy woven, mostly cotton fabrics, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare...
and spend the remaining money on their arms." This seemingly petty insistence makes more sense when one considers that Sackville was tasked daily with the duty of allocating funds for the supply of arms, armour and uniforms to England's military, both regular and irregular.
In around 1587, Sackville was granted a royal licence to commission an armour from the Royal Workshops at Greenwich. The finely etched, blued and gilt armour, a garniture for the field, is one of the finest and best-preserved examples of the Greenwich school of armour-making known to exist. It is now part of the Wallace Collection in London. Another, similar armour, featuring the same construction and decorative scheme, which belonged to Sir James Scudamore
Sir James Scudamore
Sir James Scudamore was a gentleman usher at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Born at Holme Lacy, Herefordshire, he was the eldest son of Sir John Scudamore, Custos Rotulorum of Herefordshire and his first wife Eleanor Croft, daughter of former Lord Deputy of Ireland James Croft...
, can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Queen Elizabeth I acquired Bexhill Manor
Bexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill-on-Sea is a town and seaside resort in the county of East Sussex, in the south of England, within the District of Rother. It has a population of approximately 40,000...
in 1590 and granted it to Thomas. Thomas was also the last Sackville to be Lord of the Manor of Bergholt Sackville
West Bergholt
West Bergholt, formerly known as Bergholt Sackville, is a large rural village and civil parish in Essex, England, lying on the border with Suffolk, near to the ancient town of Colchester. With a history going back to medieval times the village is now part of the Colchester Borough Council seat of...
(named after the Sackville family) and Mount Bures
Mount Bures
Mount Bures is a small village on the Essex and Suffolk borders. It takes its name from the mount or motte believed to have been built shortly after the invasion by William the Conqueror in 1066....
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
when he sold them in 1578 to Mrs Alice Dister. Both estates had been in the family for 459 years. He was created Earl of Dorset in 1604.
He died suddenly at the council table, having apparently suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
, referred to as "a dropsy on the brain". He was buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. He had married Cicely Baker in 1555. and had seven children, incuding his heir Robert
Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset
Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset was an English aristocrat and politician, with humanist and commercial interests.-Life:He was the eldest son of Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, by Cecily, daughter of Sir John Baker...
. He was an ancestor of Vita Sackville-West
Vita Sackville-West
The Hon Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, CH , best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author, poet and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933...
, (1892-1962), who was the subject of Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
's 1928 novel Orlando
Orlando: A Biography
Orlando: A Biography is an influential novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. A semi-biographical novel based in part on the life of Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, it is generally considered one of Woolf's most accessible novels...
.
Sources
- Reginald W. Sackville West (editor) (1859), Works.
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