Colonel Thomas Blood, Crown-stealer, 1618-1680

In Short

This biography investigates the life of Colonel Thomas Blood, an Irish adventurer who became the seventeenth century’s most notorious political outlaw. By anchoring his narrative in archival records rather than folklore, the author reconstructs how a former Cromwellian officer survived the Restoration to orchestrate the attempted theft of the Crown Jewels. The work endures because it captures the chaotic, shifting allegiances of a nation caught between the death of a king and the rise of a modern, bureaucratic state, all centered around a man who seemed to embody the era’s lawless spirit.

The Story

Thomas Blood enters history as a man of shifting loyalties. Born in the early seventeenth century, he initially serves as a Royalist soldier, though he soon pivots, rising to the rank of lieutenant within Oliver Cromwell’s army. Following the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the tide turns against the former Commonwealth men. Stripped of his land and status, and facing a government that systematically disenfranchises dissenters, Blood becomes an irreconcilable enemy of the new regime. He retreats into the shadows, emerging as a primary architect of a wide-reaching conspiracy meant to destabilize the state, capture high-ranking officials, and perhaps force a return to republican governance.

His career is marked by a series of near-misses and spectacular acts of defiance. In 1667, he organizes a daring ambush in Yorkshire to rescue a comrade, Captain John Mason, from a military guard, effectively engaging in open battle with the King’s men. Later, he orchestrates a violent attempt on the life of the Duke of Ormond, a powerful pillar of the establishment. Yet, it is his 1671 attempt to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London that secures his infamy. Disguised as a parson, Blood and his conspirators infiltrate the Tower, disable the keeper, and manage to abscond with the regalia before they are apprehended in a desperate struggle.

The aftermath is the most curious chapter of his life. Instead of facing the gallows, Blood is granted a private audience with King Charles II. Through a combination of brazen wit, mysterious threats, and the protection of powerful court figures—most notably the Duke of Buckingham—he not only avoids execution but is effectively co-opted by the Crown. He spends his remaining years as a shadowy informant, prowling the coffee houses of London to sniff out other plots against the King he once sought to topple.

He dies in 1680, a man still surrounded by rumors and suspicion. Even his burial does not provide closure; the government, fearing he might have faked his death to escape further retribution, insists on exhuming his body. The coroner identifies the remains through a physical deformity—a thumb of unusual size—that had marked the man throughout his life. He leaves behind a legacy of total paradox: a revolutionary who ended his days as a state-sanctioned spy, and a criminal whose sheer audacity earned him the begrudging respect of the monarch he defied.

How It Unfolds

The partisan transition The narrative establishes Blood’s early life as a Royalist soldier and his subsequent, pragmatic conversion to the Cromwellian cause. This shift sets the stage for the deep-seated political instability that defines the era.

The descent into conspiracy Following the 1660 Restoration, the author details the systematic dismantling of Puritan influence. Blood emerges as a central figure in the underground networks linking Ireland, Scotland, and London, all united by a common desire to overturn the new regime.

The rescue of Mason The book shifts to a gripping account of a daylight ambush in a Yorkshire lane. Here, the author uses primary sources to describe the clash between a small band of rebels and a military escort, marking the first time Blood’s flair for spectacular violence captures national attention.

The theft of the regalia The focus tightens on the Tower of London heist, detailing the infiltration, the brutal assault on the keeper, and the eventual capture of the conspirators. The narrative expertly manages the public hysteria and the government’s desperate scramble to understand the motive behind such a sacrilegious crime.

The royal pardon The final act details the bizarre, high-stakes negotiation between a captured outlaw and his King. The author examines why a monarch would choose to employ a man who had attempted to steal his crown and assassinate his closest advisor, concluding with Blood’s final days as an intelligence operative.

The People

Thomas Blood is the central, elusive figure: a man defined by shifting sides, immense courage, and a genius for survival. He is motivated by the loss of his status and property, but his actions often transcend simple greed, reflecting the broader, desperate politics of the excluded.

Charles II serves as the ironic antagonist-turned-patron. A master of the political long game, the King recognizes in Blood a utility that outweighs the impulse for vengeance. His decision to pardon the outlaw demonstrates the cynical, pragmatic nature of Restoration governance.

James Butler, the Duke of Ormond, stands as the representative of the "old regime." A man of immense wealth and rigid virtue, he is the primary target of Blood’s violence. His survival and subsequent grudging forgiveness of his attacker highlight the profound, often confusing honor codes of the era.

The Duke of Buckingham acts as the shadowy orchestrator, an ambitious member of the King's cabinet who likely uses Blood as a pawn to undermine his rival, Ormond. He represents the court’s internal rot, where nobles play with dangerous men to settle petty scores.

In Its Own Voice

Regarding the strange, almost fantastical nature of his subject’s life, the author notes the challenge of relying on dry documentation:

The dullest and most sedate of official publications, Parliamentary reports, memoranda of ministers, warrants to and from officers and gaolers... these would seem to offer little promise of human interest.

The author highlights the wit and supreme confidence Blood used to navigate his final, life-saving interaction with the King:

"I pray no words of this confession, but know your friends. Not else but am your Majesty's prisoner and if life spared your dutiful subject whose name is Blood, which I hope is not that your Majesty seeks after."

What It's Really About

The book is a study of power and the fluidity of treason in a fractured society. The author argues that Blood was not merely a rogue, but a symptom of a nation where the line between "patriot" and "criminal" was erased by the trauma of civil war. It questions the stability of political institutions when they operate through exclusion and persecution. Ultimately, the book explores how the state, in its own hunger for self-preservation, will often co-opt the very forces it deems dangerous. It is a cynical, clear-eyed look at the mechanisms of government, suggesting that the most successful "lawbreakers" are often those who prove most useful to the men sitting on the throne.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate a rigorous, well-documented approach to historical mystery will find much to admire here. The writing is precise and avoids the sensationalism often found in books about outlaws. It feels like an act of historical detective work; the author constantly weighs the conflicting accounts of seventeenth-century gossips against the sober records of the state.

However, the reader should be prepared for the book's age. Written in 1910, the prose carries the formal, slightly academic weight of a different era. The author assumes a reader already possesses a strong grasp of seventeenth-century British political factions, which can make the early chapters feel dense. There is a notable lack of modern psychological probing; the author prefers to let the actions of the participants speak for themselves rather than speculating on their inner lives.

What lingers after closing the book is the unsettling portrait of the "spy." The realization that the man who once fought to change the world ended his life as a petty informant for the very establishment he despised is a haunting conclusion. It is a challenging, thoughtful read for those who prefer their history to be as messy, violent, and morally ambiguous as the real world.