Portrait of Thomas Legge LLD by Sylvester Harding

Thomas Legge (; 1535 – 12 July 1607) was an English

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, prominently known for his play ''

Richardus Tertius '' Richardus Tertius'' is a play written in Latin about King Richard III by Thomas Legge. The play was acted by the students of St. John's College, Cambridge in 1579. It was possibly seen by two of the University Wits in Cambridge at the time: C ...

'', which is considered to be the first history play written in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Biography

Legge was the second of three sons born to Stephen and Margaret Legge in 1535. Originally from

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

, Legge moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 1552 where he matriculated to Corpus Christi College . Soon after he moved again to attend

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, where he received a B.A. in 1556. He then went on to attend

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1566, where he received his master's degree. In 1568 Legge became a member of the faculty at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes ...

, where he was known to be an active tutor and a proponent of the old way of thinking in religious matters. On 27 June 1573 Legge was appointed master of

Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

, taking many students from Jesus College with him when he left. While in office at Caius, Legge stirred up trouble by promoting John Depup, M.A. to a fellowship, which Dr. Caius disagreed with because of Depup's leanings towards Catholic opinions. Legge was also accused of treating letters sent from the queen with contempt, and was charged with misappropriating college funds, a charge that was later settled within the administrative officials of the school. Legge occupied many different positions at Caius, becoming commissary to the university in May 1579, and spent two separate terms, from 1587 to 1588 and 1592–1593, as the vice-chancellor. Legge died on 12 July 1607 and was buried in Caius College Chapel. In his will he left money to Caius College, which was used to build up the north side of the front court of the school.

Plays

Legge is best known for his three-act

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

of ''

'' or ''Richard III,'' which was performed at St John's College in 1579. This work is alluded to by Sir John Harington in his ''Brief Apologie of Poetry'' as a famous tragedy of this time, and is believed to be the play Cambridge men asked

Lord Burghley William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (13 September 15204 August 1598) was an English statesman, the chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State (1550–1553 and 1558–1572) and Lord High Treasurer from 1 ...

's permission to substitute in 1592-1593 for the English comedy the queen had requested. It is believed that this play was written based on information Legge took from

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lor ...

's biography of Richard III. Because of this, Legge created a Richard who was not deformed and bitter at the world that rejected him, as with the ''Richard III'' made famous by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, but rather an intelligent man with his own motives and agenda who uses everyone around him to get his way. This play appears to be the first real history play written in England, and Legge changed the course of English drama by relying on

Holinshed Raphael Holinshed ( – before 24 April 1582) was an English chronicler, who was most famous for his work on ''The Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande'', commonly known as ''Holinshed's Chronicles''. It was the "first complete printe ...

's chronicles as background to his play.Churchill, George B., PhD, Richard the Third up to Shakespeare, Alan Sutton, Rowman & Littlefield, 1976. Legge is also believed to have written a play about the ''Destruction of Jerusalem'' around 1577 that was taken from him before it could be made public.

References

External links

Complete Works

Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legge, Thomas 1535 births 1607 deaths 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers English drama English Renaissance dramatists Masters of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Theatre in England 16th-century English dramatists and playwrights 17th-century English dramatists and playwrights Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English male dramatists and playwrights