Ralph Brooke

He described himself as the son of Geoffrey Brooke (by his wife Jane Hyde) a son of William Brooke of Lancashire, who was a cadet of the family of Brooke seated at Norton in Cheshire. However the records of the Merchant Taylors' School, where he was admitted on 3 July 1564, simply records the fact that his father was Geoffrey, a shoemaker.

He was appointed Rouge Croix Pursuivant in 1580 and York Herald in 1593. As York Herald, he bore the helm and crest in the funeral procession of Elizabeth I.[http://www.newberry.org/elizabeth/exhibit/legacylegend/6.03.html Annotated drawing of the funeral procession of Elizabeth I, from the British Library]

In 1597, Brooke published A Discoverie of Certaine Errours Published in Print in the Much Commended 'Britannia' 1594, which occasioned a bitter controversy with Britannia's author, the antiquarian William Camden.Rockett 2000

Brooke also challenged the work of other heralds; in 1602 he prepared charges against Sir William Dethick, Garter King of Arms 1586–1606, and Camden for improperly granting arms to 23 "mean" men, including John Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, the father of playwright William Shakespeare.Evans 1997, p. 1954 He complained in 1614 that Robert Cooke, Clarenceux King of Arms 1566–1593, had granted more than 500 new coats of arms and that Sir Gilbert Dethick, (Garter 1550–1584), and his son Sir William had exceeded these numbers. Such bitter infighting among the heralds was common; Sir William Segar (Garter 1606–1633) also objected that Cooke made numberless grants to "base and unworthy persons for his private gaine onely."Wagner 1967, p. 207

In December 1616 Brooke tricked Segar into confirming foreign royal arms to Gregory Brandon, a common hangman of London who was masquerading as a gentleman.Wagner 1967, p. 219-220 Brooke then reported Segar to James I, who imprisoned both Brooke and Segar in Marshalsea. They were released a few days later and the Lord Chamberlain hoped that the experience would make Brooke more honest and Segar more wise.

Brooke's Catalogue and Succession of the Kings, Princes, Dukes, Marquesses, Earles and Viscounts of this Realme of England since the Norman Conquest was published in 1619. A revised edition of the Discoverie "...to which is added, the learned Mr. Camden's answer to this book, and Mr. Brooke's reply" was issued in 1622, as was an expanded edition of the Catalogue and Succession..., as Catalogue and Succession of the Kings, Princes, Dukes, Marquesses, Earles and Viscounts of this Realme of England since the Norman Conquest, to this present year 1622.[https://openlibrary.org/a/OL5440437A/Ralph-Brooke Open Library list of works by Ralph Brooke]

Brooke died on 16 October 1625 and was buried inside St Mary's Church, Reculver, where he was commemorated by a black marble tablet on the south wall of the chancel, showing him dressed in his herald's tabard.Duncombe 1784, pp. 73, 89, Plate 2

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Duncombe|first=J.|editor-last=Nichols|editor-first=J.|editor-link=John Nichols (printer)|chapter=The history and antiquities of the two parishes of Reculver and Herne, in the county of Kent|title=Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica|volume=18|year=1784|publisher=Nichols|pages=65–161|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FY1bAAAAQAAJ|oclc=475730544}}
• {{cite book|title=The Riverside Shakespeare|editor=Evans, G. Blakemore|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=1997|volume=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oj2QJpxXkuwC|access-date=24 August 2009 | isbn=978-0-395-85822-6}}
• {{cite DNB |wstitle= Brooke, Ralph |volume= 06 |last= Robinson |first= Charles John |author-link= |page=431|year=1886 |short= }}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101003552/|author=Oxford University Press|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "Ralph Brooke"|year=2004|access-date=23 August 2009}}
• {{cite journal|last=Rockett|first=William|date=22 June 2000|title=Britannia, Ralph Brooke, and the Representation of Privilege in Elizabethan England|journal=Renaissance Quarterly|volume=53|issue=2|pages=474–499|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Britannia,+Ralph+Brooke,+and+the+Representation+of+Privilege+in...-a065285980|access-date=23 August 2009|doi=10.2307/2901876|jstor=2901876|s2cid=163852592|url-access=subscription}}
• {{cite book|authorlink=Anthony Wagner|last=Wagner|first=Anthony|title=Heralds of England: A History of the Office and College of Arms|publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London|year=1967}}

• {{cite book|last=Brooke|first=Ralph|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnvRAAAAMAAJ&q=Ralph+Brooke+herald|title=A Discoverie of Certaine Errours Published in Print in the Much Commended 'Britannia' 1594 | year=1724 | publisher=printed for James Woodman and David Lyon}}

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{{s-bef|before=Thomas Dawes}}

{{s-ttl|title=Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms|years=1580–1592}}

{{s-aft|after=Thomas Knight}}

{{s-bef|before=Humphry Hales}}

{{s-ttl|title=York Herald of Arms|years=1593–1625}}

{{s-aft|after=William Le Neve}}

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Category:1553 births

Category:1625 deaths

Category:English officers of arms

Category:16th-century English writers

Category:16th-century English male writers

Category:17th-century English writers

Category:17th-century English male writers