Thomas Lucy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Thomas Lucy (24 April 1532 - 7 July 1600) was a magistrate and an evangelical in Charlecote near Stratford-on-Avon who, under Elizabeth I, persecuted recusant Catholic families in the area, including William Shakespeare's maternal relatives, the Ardens and the famous Jesuit, Edmund Campion.

According to a popular legend, Shakespeare launched his famous career in London after fleeing Stratford to escape prosecution for poaching one of Lucy's deer in Charlecote Park. Noted by Edmond Malone, a ballad mocking Lucy and seemingly commemorating such an incident was still being sung in Stratford c. 1687-90 when Joshua Barnes heard it and wrote it down. Shakespeare is thought to have satirised Lucy with the character of Justice Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry VI, Part 2.

John Foxe was briefly a tutor in the Lucy household.