Dorset, Thomas Sackville, 1st earl of

views updated May 18 2018

Dorset, Thomas Sackville, 1st earl of (c.1536–1608). Thomas Sackville was the son of Sir Richard Sackville, under-treasurer at the Exchequer 1559–66, a wealthy lawyer and administrator, who was Anne Boleyn's first cousin. A member of the Inner Temple, Sackville was returned to Parliament in 1558 when he was just of age. His interests at that time were literary rather than political. In 1559 he wrote the introduction to A Mirror for Magistrates and, with Thomas Norton, was author in 1561 of the tragedy Gorboduc, put on at the Inner Temple. In 1567, soon after his father's death, he was made Baron Buckhurst. He served Elizabeth in a number of ambassadorial posts, was given the Garter in 1589, and from 1599 to his death was lord treasurer. James I advanced him in 1604 to the earldom of Dorset. He died at the council table in April 1608. He was granted the reversion of the estate of Knole in Kent, though he did not gain possession until much later, and in the last years of his life began rebuilding the medieval house.

J. A. Cannon

More From encyclopedia.com