Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour (c. 15607 November 1639) was the eldest son of Sir Matthew Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire (ca. 1532/1534 – 24 December 1598), and Margaret Willoughby, the daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby, of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, and wife Margaret Markham. He distinguished himself in battle against the Ottoman Turks in the service of the Emperor Rudolf II, and was created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. His assumption of the title displeased Queen Elizabeth, who refused to recognize it, and imprisoned him in the Fleet Prison. In 1605 Arundell was created 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour. In the same year, he was briefly suspected of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. Life Sir Thomas Arundell (c. 15607 November 1639) was the eldest son of Sir Matthew Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire (ca. 1532/1534 – 24 December 1598), a member of the ancient family of Arundell of Cornwall, and Margaret Willoughby, the daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby, of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, and wife Margaret Markham. His father inherited extensive former monastic lands, and served in a number of administrative capacities, including high sheriff, custos rotulorum, and Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset. In her youth his mother served for several years in the household of Princess Elizabeth at Hatfield. Arundell's paternal grandparents were Sir Thomas Arundell (executed on 26 February 1552) and Margaret Howard (ca. 1515 – 10 October 1571), sister of Queen Catherine Howard. In 1580 Arundell was imprisoned for his fervent Roman Catholicism. By licence dated 18 June 1585 he married Mary (c. 1567 – 1607), the daughter of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and Mary, the daughter of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montague. Arundell's wife was the sister of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Arundell was fond of Southampton as a youth, writing to Lord Burghley when Southampton was 15 that 'Your Lordship doth love him', and that 'My [own] love and care of this young Earl enticeth me'. Although a Roman Catholic throughout his life, Arundell demonstrated his loyalty to the Crown in 1588 by subscribing £100 towards the defeat of the Spanish Armada. According to Akrigg, Arundell was 'gifted and scholarly', but by the time he had reached his 30s had failed to find any outlet for his talents and had 'sunk into a melancholic existence', living a 'studious solitary life' at the Wriothesley estates in Hampshire or in the