and Thomas Nashe, The Isle of Dogs, which upset the authorities so badly. Fortunately for Jonson, by then Topcliffe's general commission had been withdrawn, and his power much curtailed, though he never lost favour with the Queen and the Cecils. It is possible, though unlikely, that he initiated the inquiry. The Fitzherberts Topcliffe, who was engaged in a long-running attempt to destroy the Catholic Fitzherberts of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, persuaded Sir Thomas Fitzherbert's heir, also Thomas, to assist him. He entered into a bond under which Thomas Fitzherbert would pay him £3,000 for bringing about the deaths of his uncle Sir Thomas, his father John, and a cousin, William Bassett. The uncle and the father died in prison, and the cousin remained alive. When Fitzherbert refused to pay up, Topcliffe sued him in Chancery for the money. Scandalised, the Privy Council intervened. Topcliffe insulted them, and they put him in prison. The Queen released him after a couple of weeks in response to his personal letters to her. He did not get the money, but he had succeeded in tricking Thomas into deeding an estate in Padley, Derbyshire, to him. Under King James I, though, the 7th Earl of Shrewsbury ejected him, and the Fitzherberts recovered the property. Death Topcliffe died in November or December 1604 at the age of about 73. His heir, Charles, succeeded to a heavily encumbered estate. Like Walsingham, Topcliffe impoverished himself by his service to the crown. Depictions Richard Topcliffe was portrayed by Brian Wilde in the 1971 British television mini-series Elizabeth R. Topcliffe is featured in Rory Clements' "John Shakespeare" murder mystery novel series as a sadistic torturer. Topcliffe is also portrayed as a torturer and persecutor of Catholics in the Sir Robert Carey and James Enys novels by P.F. Chisholm/Patricia Finney. Topcliffe is portrayed by Ewen Bremner in the 2017 American television series Will, a fictional look at the life of young William Shakespeare. In the series, Shakespeare bases the scheming title character of Richard III on Topcliffe. Topcliffe is the master villain in the latter half of Robert Hugh Benson's 1912 novel, Come Rack! Come Rope!, in which the Topcliffe character pursues and ultimately executes several priests, including Edmund Campion and the protagonist of the novel, Robin Audrey. Topcliffe is fictionalised as the malevolent Pursuíveant Elias Creepe in Liam Mac Cóil's 2014 prizewinning novel I dTír Strainséartha (In a Strange Land). Quote