Sir Thomas Lucy (24 April 15327 July 1600) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1571 and 1585. He was a magistrate in Warwickshire, but is best known for his links to William Shakespeare. As a Protestant activist, he came into conflict with Shakespeare's Catholic relatives, and there are stories that the young Shakespeare himself had clashes with him. Early life Thomas Lucy was the eldest son and heir of William Lucy (died 1551) of Charlecote near Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, and Anne Fermer, the daughter of Richard Fermer of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire. His paternal grandparents were Sir Thomas Lucy (died 1525) and Elizabeth Empson, the daughter of Richard Empson, one of Henry VII's chief ministers. The family were descended from the Anglo-Norman de Lucy family. On his father's death, Lucy inherited Sherborne and Hampton Lucy in addition to the house of Charlecote Park, which was rebuilt for him in red brick by John of Padua, known as John Thorpe, about 1558. Through his marriage he also inherited Sutton Park in Worcestershire. In 1565, he was knighted by the queen's favourite, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, at the queen's behest. In 1571, Lucy was elected Member of Parliament for Warwickshire. Queen Elizabeth herself visited Charlecote Park in 1572. Protestant activist Lucy was a loyal supporter of Queen Elizabeth and an ardent Protestant. John Foxe, who had witnessed the persecution of Protestants under Queen Mary, had been briefly a tutor in the Lucy household in around 1547. Following the plot by John Somerville against the life of Queen Elizabeth in 1582, and the arrest of Edward Arden as a conspirator, Lucy raided homes of the Arden family to whom Shakespeare was related. Lucy also arrested and interrogated Catholic families in the area after the missionary activities of the Jesuit, Edmund Campion. In 1584, there was a dispute between Ananias Nason, one of Lucy's servants, and Hamnet Sadler, a friend of Shakespeare. Lucy arbitrated in the matter. Lucy was re-elected MP for Warwickshire in 1585, and in 1586 he became high sheriff of the county. He often appeared at Stratford-upon-Avon as justice of the peace and as commissioner of musters for the county. As a justice of the peace, he showed great zeal against Catholics and took his share in the arrest of Edward Arden in 1583. Shakespeare According to tradition, the young Shakespeare wrote a lampoon of