Thomas Paget ca.1544-1590

Thomas PAGET, 4th Baron Paget ca.1544-1590

Biographical Note

Younger son of William Paget, 1st Baron Paget; he inherited the title and family estates after the death of his elder brother Henry in 1568. He matriculated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1559, but did not graduate, and was admitted at the Middle Temple in 1561. He became an increasingly active supporter of Roman Catholicism and encouraged Jesuit missionaries; in 1583 he fled to France, having been involved in the Throckmorton Plot. He was convicted of treason and remained in exile in Europe, travelling around various countries before dying in Brussels.

Books

A number of lists of books bought or owned by Paget survive in the State Papers, from the 1580s, running to over 80 titles; these are transcribed and edited in Anderson's article. The subjects include theology, law, classics, history and literature, mostly in Latin or English. Paget's goods were confiscated after his condemnation and it is not certain what happened to these books (or how many more he may have had), but they may have become part of the library of his son William, who became the 5th Baron and was restored to favour under James I.

Sources

• Anderson, Andrew, The books of Thomas, Lord Paget, (c.1544-1590), Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 6 (1972-76), 226-51.
• Holmes, Peter. "Paget, Thomas, fourth Baron Paget (c. 1544–1590), Roman Catholic layman and exile." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.