Online Encyclopedia

SIR WILLIAM PETRE (c. 1505-1572)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 315 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR WILLIAM PETRE (c. 1505-1572)  ,
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English politician, was a son of John Petre, a Devon man, and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, afterwards becoming a
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fellow of All Souls' College . He entered the public service in early
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life, owing his introduction therein doubtless to the fact that at Oxford he had been tutor to Anne Boleyn's
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brother, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, and began his official career by serving the English government abroad . In 1536 he was made deputy, or proctor, for the vicar-general, Thomas Cromwell, and as such he presided over the convocation which met in
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June of this
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year . In 1543 Petre was knighted and was appointed a secretary of state; in 1J45 he was sent as ambassador to the emperor Charles V . A very politic man, he retained his position under
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Edward VI. and also under Mary, forsaking the
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protector Somerset at the right moment and winning Mary's
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goodwill byfavouring her
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marriage with Philip II. of Spain . He resigned his secretaryship in 1557, but took some
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part in public business under Elizabeth until his
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death at his residence, Ingatestone, Essex, on the 13th of
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January 1572 . His son John Petre (1549-1613) was created Baron Petre of Writtle in 1603 . The 2nd baron was his son William (1575-1637), whose grandson was William, the 4th baron (c . 1626-1684) . Denounced by Titus Oates as a papist, the last named was arrested with other
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Roman Catholic noblemen in 1678 and remained without trial in the Tower of
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London until his death . His brother John (1629-1684) was the 5th lord, and the latter's
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nephew, Robert (1689-1713), was the 7th lord . It was Robert's
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action in cutting a lock of hair from a lady's head which led Pope to write his poem " The Rape of the Lock." The Petres have been consistently attached to the Roman Catholic faith, William Joseph, the 13th baron (1847-1893), being a priest of the Roman church, and the
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barony is still (1911) in existence .

One of the 1st baron's grandsons was William Petre (1602-1677), who translated the Flos sanctorum of Pedro de

Ribadeneira as Lives of the Saints (St Omer, 1699; London, 1730) . See Genealogical Collections illustrating the
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History of Roman Catholic Families of England, vol. i., edited by J . J . Howard and H . F . Burke .

End of Article: SIR WILLIAM PETRE (c. 1505-1572)
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