(born Dec. 21, 1505, London, Eng.—died July 30, 1550, London) English politician. He followed his father, a herald, into royal service and became personal secretary to Thomas Cromwell (1533), whom he succeeded as a secretary of state to Henry VIII (1540). Wriothesley became one of Henry's leading councillors and was appointed lord chancellor of England (1544–47). After Henry's death, he was created earl of Southampton (1547) by the duke of Somerset, but he was deprived of the chancellorship. He supported Somerset's overthrow in 1549 but was excluded from the privy council in 1550.

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(born Dec. 21, 1505, London, Eng.—died July 30, 1550, London) English politician. He followed his father, a herald, into royal service and became personal secretary to Thomas Cromwell (1533), whom he succeeded as a secretary of state to Henry VIII (1540). Wriothesley became one of Henry's leading councillors and was appointed lord chancellor of England (1544–47). After Henry's death, he was created earl of Southampton (1547) by the duke of Somerset, but he was deprived of the chancellorship. He supported Somerset's overthrow in 1549 but was excluded from the privy council in 1550.

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(born Oct. 6, 1573, Cowdray, Sussex, Eng.—died Nov. 10, 1624, Bergen op Zoom, Neth.) English nobleman, patron of William Shakespeare. Grandson of the 1st earl of Southampton, he became a favourite of Elizabeth I. He was a liberal patron of writers, including Thomas Nashe. Shakespeare dedicated two long poems to him (1593, 1594), and he has often been identified as the noble youth addressed in most of Shakespeare's sonnets. He accompanied the 2nd earl of Essex on expeditions to Cádiz and the Azores (1596, 1597). For supporting the Essex rebellion (1601), he was imprisoned (1601–03); following James I's accession, he regained his place at court. He became a privy councillor in 1619, but he lost favour by opposing the 1st duke of Buckingham. He and his son volunteered to fight for the United Provinces against Spain, but, soon after landing in the Netherlands, they both died of fever.

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(born Oct. 6, 1573, Cowdray, Sussex, Eng.—died Nov. 10, 1624, Bergen op Zoom, Neth.) English nobleman, patron of William Shakespeare. Grandson of the 1st earl of Southampton, he became a favourite of Elizabeth I. He was a liberal patron of writers, including Thomas Nashe. Shakespeare dedicated two long poems to him (1593, 1594), and he has often been identified as the noble youth addressed in most of Shakespeare's sonnets. He accompanied the 2nd earl of Essex on expeditions to Cádiz and the Azores (1596, 1597). For supporting the Essex rebellion (1601), he was imprisoned (1601–03); following James I's accession, he regained his place at court. He became a privy councillor in 1619, but he lost favour by opposing the 1st duke of Buckingham. He and his son volunteered to fight for the United Provinces against Spain, but, soon after landing in the Netherlands, they both died of fever.

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1. William Wriothesley (born before September 12 1535 and died in August of 1537)
2. Anthony Wriothesley (born & died an infant in 1542)
3. Elizabeth Wriothesley (b. abt. 1536 she died in 1554 and was buried 16 January, 1554 she married Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex before November 1, 1545.
4. Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton (Christened 24 April, 1545 – 4 October, 1581 married Mary Browne

Entering the service of Henry VIII at an early age, Wriothesley soon made himself very useful to his royal master, and he was richly rewarded when the monasteries were dissolved, obtaining extensive lands between Southampton and Winchester.

Having been on errands abroad, he was made one of the king's principal secretaries in 1540, and was knighted in the same year; in spite of the fall of his patron, Thomas Cromwell, he rose higher and higher in the royal favour, and in 1542 it was said that he governed almost everything in England. He sought to bring about an alliance between England and Spain in 1543, and was created Baron Wriothesley of Titchfield in 1544.

Having been Lord Privy Seal for a few months, he became Lord Chancellor in 1544, in which capacity he became notorious for his persecution of Anne Askew; some say that he actually operated himself the rack on which Askew was tortured. Certainly he was one of the executors of Henry's will, and in accordance with the dead king's wishes he was created Earl of Southampton on 16 February, 1547. However, he had been incautious enough to appoint four persons to relieve him of his duties as Lord Chancellor, and advantage was taken of this to deprive him of his office in March, when he also ceased to be a member of the Privy Council.

Later he was readmitted to the Council, and he took a leading part in bringing about the fall of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, but he had not regained his former position when he died. His successor in the earldom was his son, Henry.

References

• tudoplace,com.ar Accessed December 4, 2007
• Burke, John. A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, Extinct, Dormant, and in Abeyance. London: H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1831. googlebooks