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RANDOLPH, THOMAS (1523-1590)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 887 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RANDOLPH, See also:THOMAS (1523-1590) , See also:English diplomatist, son of Avery Randolph, a Kentish See also:gentleman, was educated at See also:Christ See also:Church, See also:Oxford, and in 1549 became See also:principal of See also:Pembroke See also:College, Oxford, then known as Broadgates See also:Hall. During 'In 1754 the Burgesses sent him to See also:London to argue against the See also:governor's demand for a See also:fee of one See also:pistole on every See also:land patent; his plea was successful, but the governor superseded him with See also:George Wythe, who resigned in Randolph's favour upon his return from See also:England. The Burgesses voted Randolph £2500 with the See also:grant of £20,000 to Governor See also:Dinwiddie for See also:Indian warfare; the governor would not approve this See also:appropriation, however, until Randolph apologized for leaving his See also:office without the governor's permission.the reign of See also:Mary, Randolph, who was a -zealous See also:Protestant, sought See also:refuge in See also:Paris, where he cultivated the society of scholars. Returning to England after the See also:accession of See also:Elizabeth, he was soon employed as a confidential See also:diplomatic See also:agent of the English See also:queen in See also:Scotland. Here he succeeded in gaining the confidence of the Protestant party, with whom he became a See also:person of See also:great See also:influence. Randolph's despatches from Scotland between 156o and 1585 See also:supply important materials for the See also:history of the See also:political intrigues of that See also:period. Randolph, who had hitherto remained ostensibly on terms of friendship with Mary Queen of Scots, exerted his influence on instructions from Elizabeth to prevent Mary's See also:marriage with See also:Darnley; but in 1566 he was driven from Scotland on the See also:charge of having fomented See also:Murray's See also:rebellion, and he then obtained See also:government employment of secondary importance in England. In 1568 he undertook a See also:mission to See also:Russia which resulted in the concession by See also:Ivan the Terrible of certain privileges to English merchants; and in 1570 he returned to Scotland, where, after the See also:murder of the See also:regent Murray in See also:January of that See also:year, he " succeeded," says See also:Andrew See also:Lang, " in making See also:civil See also:war inevitable; he himself was in high See also:spirits, as always when See also:mischief was in See also:hand." After carrying through certain diplomatic business in See also:France in 1573 and 1576, Randolph returned in January 1581 to Scotland, where the See also:earl of See also:Morton, the regent, had been arrested a few days previously. Randolph, acting on Elizabeth's instructions, intrigued with See also:Angus and the Douglases in favour of a See also:plot to seize the person of the See also:young See also:King See also:James, and to See also:save Morton by laying violent hands on the earl of See also:Lennox. See also:Douglas of See also:Whittingham, who was employed in the intrigue, on being arrested made revelations which imperilled Randolph, and the latter prudently withdrew to See also:Berwick before the See also:execution of Morton in See also:June 1581. In 1585, when he next visited Scotland,. he was more successful, being instrumental in arranging a treaty between England and Scotland. For the next four years he was See also:chancellor of the See also:exchequer in England, and he died in London in June 1590.

Randolph married, in 1571, See also:

Anne, daughter of Thomas See also:Walsingham. He was a See also:personal friend of George See also:Buchanan, in whose History of Scotland he took a lively See also:interest, and he has been credited, though on doubtful See also:evidence, with the authorship of a See also:Life of the historian in Latin. See J. A. See also:Froude, History of England (12 vols., London, 1881); Andrew Lang, History of Scotland, vol. ii. (4 vols., London, 1902–7) ; See also:Calendar of See also:State Papers See also:relating to Scotland (1509–1603), edited by M. J. See also:Thorpe (2 vols.) ; Calendar of State Papers, See also:Foreign See also:Series of the Reign of Elizabeth; See also:Anthony b. See also:Wood, Athenae Oxonienses and See also:Fasti, edited by P. See also:Bliss (4 vols., London, 1813-20).

End of Article: RANDOLPH, THOMAS (1523-1590)

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