Ralph Brooke

Origins 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.

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.

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. 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.

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. Brooke then reported Segar to James I, who imprisoned both Brooke and Segar in Marshalsea.

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.