<\/p>
Richard Rich, Baron Rich, is certainly enigmatic. We can not confirm where or when he was born, but his actions as an adult show him to be a cunning, if Machiavellian<\/a>, character.<\/p>\n He rose to power as a lawyer until 1533, when he was made Solicitor General. In that role, he worked alongside King Henry VIII<\/a>\u2019s right-hand man, Thomas Cromwell<\/a>, and helped prosecute Thomas More<\/a> and Bishop John Fisher, before turning on Cromwell following his downfall and giving evidence against him.<\/p>\n He went on to preside over the sale of the monastic lands seized by Henry, ensuring that a sizeable portion fell into his own hands.<\/p>\n Under Edward VI<\/a>, he became a baron and loudly supported Edward Seymour<\/a>, Duke of Somerset, in the Protestant reforms of the later 1540s, going as far as prosecuting bishops who did not support reforms.<\/p>\n Yet in 1551, he was an important figure in the trial of Somerset, then switched back to Catholicism when Mary I<\/a> came to the throne and joined her Privy Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n When Mary died and her sister came to the throne as Elizabeth I<\/a>, Rich somehow retained a position of influence, despite the huge political shift.<\/p>\n How a man so deeply mired in corruption, treachery and perjury managed to flourish through so many different regimes is unclear. It makes it difficult to question his skills as a lawyer as his services must have made up for his shortcomings.<\/p>\nWhat happened to Richard Rich after Henry VIII\u2019s death?<\/h2>\n