John Williams Baron Williams of Thame 1500 - 1559

He closed scores of monasteries; he helped crush a national rebellion and meted out cruel revenge on local rebels who had ravaged his estates; he personally arrested the Lord Protector of England; he supervised the burning alive of three bishops and he even managed to irritate Philip II of Spain. Having cleverly made his way through the mine-field of Tudor politics at a time when three queens, four ministers of the Crown and several notable churchmen were beheaded, John Williams, founder of...