Thomas Brudenell , of Deene. Created a Baron in 1623 and 1st Earl of Cardigan in 166?, Thomas was also a graduate of Cambridge University, and legally trained at the Inns of Court. Owner of estates in eight counties, his vast fortune was somewhat decimated when his 18 year old son and heir Robert, sent abroad to complete his education, was captured at sea, by Spanish privateers, and eventually jailed in Spain where a £5,000 ransom was demanded, an enormous sum in those days. The money was eventually raised, and Robert returned to England after 2 years in captivity. Thomas supported the royalist cause, and was convicted, by Cromwell's Parliament of High Treason. Committed to the Tower of London on January 22nd 1646. While incarcerated he learned of the death of his brother John in Newgate goal where he had lanquished since being taken prisoner during the storming of Burghley House by Gromwell in 1643. Thomas was released sometime in l648, and later that year received a personal letter from King Charles I offering him an earldom if he would help to finance a plot for an uprising against the parliamentarians. King Charles was at that time a prisoner at Carisbrook Castle on the Isle of Wight. Sir Thomas, at great risk, advanced £1,000 but within a few months King Charles had been executed at Whitehall. However, the earldom was honoured shortly after the restoration of King Charles II and personally received at the hands of the King - Earl and. Lady Cardigan attending the coronation in Westminster Abbey.
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