Sir Thomas Bodley, Founder of the Bodleian Library

A portrait of Sir Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Library, for R. Ackermann's A History of the University of Oxford, Its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings, (R. Ackermann, 1814). 

Sir Thomas Bodley, (1545-1613), was born in Exeter to John Bodley, an English noble who fled the country upon the accession of Queen Mary I in 1553, due to his Protestant leanings. Thomas Bodley thus grew up in the Duchy of Cleves, Frankfurt, and then Geneva, where he studied at John Calvin's new Academy. In 1558, following the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, the family returned to England and Thomas entered Magdalen College, Oxford. He began lecturing at Merton College in 1565 as the college's first lecturer in Ancient Greek. In 1576 he left Oxford for a tour of France, Italy, and the Holy Roman Empire. He later returned again to England, first serving as a gentleman usher for Queen Elizabeth, then as a member of the House of Commons. In 1588 was sent as a minister to the Hague, but on his final return to England he retired from public life and became inspired to restore Duke Humfrey's Library at Oxford, an endeavour to which he devoted the remainder of his life. The library was later named the Bodleian Library in Thomas Bodley's honour.

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