Home > Carew Castle > Elizabethan Period > Sir John Perrot

• Born in November 1528 --> OTHER SOURCES SAY 1530, late Elizabethan period
• Parents: Mary Berkely, wife of "prominent Pembrokeshire landowner and courtier" Sir Thomas Perrot of Haroldston who was possibly and illegitimate son of Henry VII
• Introduced to the Court in the autumn of 1549 and knighted
• Good relationship with courts of Henry VIII and Edward VI
• Claimed to be an illegitimate son of Henry VIII
• Protestant during the reign of Queen Mary (1553-58) and briefly imprisoned by her for "sheltering Protestant heretics"
• Left the country, joined a military expedition in France to evade more trouble
• Mary granted Perrot Carew Castle and lordship
• Built wing of Carew Castle that extends the full length of the North side and included great windows and a 150 ft long gallery
• Had road re-routed and tenants moved so that the Castle's view would not be ruined
• Worked closely with Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) when Mary died
• Divided time between court and Pembrokeshire (using Carew as his country house) but created enemies at both
• Appointed first lord of Munster in 1571 by Elizabeth
• Returned in 1573, after two years in Ireland and developed his estates in Pembrokeshire
• Appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1584 --> OTHER SOURCE SAYS 1589
• Returned in 1588 from Ireland, a brutal but wealthy man, enemies conspired against him
• Arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London in March 1591
• Sentenced to death for high treason on 27 April 1592 because of "indiscreet remarks about the Queen"
• Died of poor health (poisoned?) on 3 November, though Queen may have considered pardoning him because he was her supposed half-brother

Sources: http://www.carewcastle.com, http://www.castlewales.com/perrot.html