PETRE, SIR WILLIAM (c. 1505-1572)

This article appears in Volume V21, Page 315 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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PETRE, SIR WILLIAM (c. 1505-1572) , English politician, was a son of John Petre, a Devon man, and was educated at

Exeter

EXETER
EXETER, EARL, MARQUESS AND DUKE OF

College, Oxford, afterwards becoming a fellow of All Souls' College. He entered the public service in early life, owing his introduction therein doubtless to the fact that at Oxford he had been tutor to Anne Boleyn's brother, George Boleyn, Viscount

Rochford

ROCHFORD
ROCHFORD, EARL OF

, and began his official career by serving the English government abroad. In 1536 he was made deputy, or proctor, for the

vicar

VICAR (Lat. vicarius, substitute)

-general,

Thomas

Cromwell, and as such he presided over the convocation which met in June of this year. In 1543 Petre was knighted and was appointed a secretary of state; in 1J45 he was sent as

ambassador

AMBASSADOR (also EMBASSADOR, the form sometimes still used in America; from the Fr. ambassadeur, with which compare Ital. ambasciatore and Span. embajador, all variants of the Med. Lat. ambassiator, ambassiator, ambasator, &c., derived from Med. Lat. amba

to the emperor Charles V. A very politic man, he retained his position under

Edward

EDWARD

VI. and also under Mary, forsaking the protector Somerset at the right moment and winning Mary's goodwill byfavouring her

marriage

MARRIAGE

with Philip II. of Spain. He resigned his secretaryship in 1557, but took some part in public business under Elizabeth until his death at his residence, Ingatestone, Essex, on the 13th of 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 Roman Catholic noblemen in 1678 and remained without trial in the Tower of London until his death. His brother John (1629-1684) was the 5th lord, and the latter's nephew, Robert (1689-1713), was the 7th lord. It was Robert's action in cutting a lock of

hair

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

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 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 History of Roman Catholic Families of England, vol. i., edited by J. J. Howard and H. F.

Burke

.

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