Tobie Matthew

Sir Tobie Matthew (also sometimes spelt Mathew; 3 October 157713 October 1655), born in Salisbury, was an English member of parliament and courtier who converted to Roman Catholicism and became a priest. He was sent to Spain to promote the proposed Spanish Match between Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Spanish Infanta, Maria Anna of Spain, for which mission he was knighted. He left England after being accused of leading Catholics in 1641 and retired to Ghent.

Life Matthew was the son of the benefactor Frances and Tobias Matthew, then Dean of Christ Church, later Bishop of Durham, and finally Archbishop of York, by his marriage to Frances, a daughter of William Barlow, Bishop of Chichester. Matthew matriculated from Christ Church on 13 March 1589/90 where he began his close friendship with Francis Bacon.

Two years later, Matthew was elected as Member of Parliament for Newport, in Cornwall. During this time, he was a frequent visitor to the court of Elizabeth I. In 1604, shortly after the accession of James I, Matthew was elected again to the House of Commons, this time by St Alban's (succeeding Bacon), and joined James's court. He also received a large grant from the Crown which provided for his future.

Having always desired to travel, Matthew left England in November 1604 and travelled through France to Florence, even though he had promised his father he would not go to Italy.

In 1617, James allowed Matthew to return to England and he stayed for some time with Bacon. During this time he wrote an introduction to the Italian translation of his friend's Essays. Matthew was exiled again from 1619 to 1622 for refusing to take the oath of allegiance, he laboured diligently for the Roman Catholic cause there. At the time of Anne Blount, Countess of Newport's conversion to his faith (which was considered scandalous), he was falsely accused of converting her, but others had actually assisted her. Matthew absented himself from the court.

When his father died in 1628 he left all his wealth to his wife Frances and when she died in 1629 she left Tobie a single diamond ring and the rest went in a large number of cash bequests and shares to her grandchildren, nieces and nephews. that was later published in 1931. He died at the English College in Ghent, and was buried there.

Works Matthew's translations include: Augustine's Confessions (1620) the Autobiography of Teresa of Ávila (1623) Francisco Arias's Treatise of Patience (1650)

Matthew himself authored: A Relation of the death of Troilo Severe, Baron of Rome (1620) A Missive of Consolation sent from Flanders to the Catholics of England (1647) A True Historical Relation of the Conversion of Sir Tobie Matthew to the Holie Catholic Faith (first published in 1904)

A number of Matthew's unpublished manuscripts also survive. His letters were edited by John Donne the Younger in 1660.