Sir William PETRE

Secretary of State

Born: ABT 1500, Tor Brian, Devonshire, England

Died: 13 Jan 1572

Father: John PETRE

Mother: Alice COLIN

Married 1: Gertrude TYRRELL (dau. of Sir John Tyrrell of Little Warley Hall and Anne Norreys) ABT 1533

Children:

1. John PETRE

2. Dorothy PETRE

3. Elizabeth PETRE

Married 2: Anne BROWNE

Children:

4. Thomasine PETRE

5. Catherine PETRE

6. Edward PETRE (b. 16 Sep 1548 - d. ABT 18 Oct 1548)

7. John PETRE (1° B. Petre of Writtle)

8. William PETRE (b. Aug/Sep 1551 - d. 14 Sep 1551)

9. Anne PETRE (b. 1557)

Sir William Petre 1567

Educated at Exeter College, Oxford. He was tutor to Anne Boleyn's brother, George. William Petre became one of the two Prinicipal Secretaries to King Henry VIII and a member of the Privy Council on or about 21 Jan 1544. Remarkably he was to serve in this capacity almost all of the Tudor line, that is Edward VI, then Mary Tudor and finally for a short while Elizabeth. A parvenu or 'new man', Sir William Petre, (he was knighted on taking office as Councillor and Secretary of State), personifies many of the significant trends of Tudor times. From humble origins in Devon, probably Tor Bryan, he had emerged in the service of Thomas Cromwell following degrees at Oxford University in both canon and civil law, (canon law was the law of the church). A Visitor of Monasteries he administered the closure of many religious houses for the King, but yet managed to win sufficient gratitude from the Papacy later to earn him in Nov 1555 a Papal Bull absolving him from every excommunication, suspension and interdict and other ecclesiastical censures and penalties for having acquired land which formerly belonged to the church. His later years were probably more orthodox; his widow, the patroness of the martyr John Payne, was certainly a loyal Catholic. His son, John, was created a baron by James I.

Sir William Petre aged 40

Anne Browne, Lady Petre 1567

Sir William Petre 1567

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