Thomas Nevile was an English clergyman and academic who was Dean of Peterborough (1591–1597) and Dean of Canterbury

Dean of Canterbury

The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The office of dean originated after the English Reformation, and its precursor office was the prior of the cathedral-monastery...

 (1597–1615), Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge (1582–1593), and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

 (1593–1615).

A member of the historic Nevile family, he originally came to Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 to study at Pembroke

Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...

. During a long and distinguished career he held a succession of prestigious ecclesiastical posts including the Deanery of both Peterborough and Canterbury, that allowed him to build substantial personal wealth. Within Cambridge, his popularity in the Court of Queen Elizabeth

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 meant he found similar success there, both as Master of Magdalene College and as Vice Chancellor of the University in 1588. Then, in February 1593 Elizabeth appointed him to succeed John Still

John Still

John Still , bishop of Bath and Wells enjoyed considerable fame as a preacher and disputant. He was formerly reputed to be the author of the early English comedy drama Gammer Gurton's Needle .-Career:...

 to the Mastership of Trinity, and it is for his mastership of Trinity that he is now best remembered.

The college he inherited was little more than the architectural remains of the colleges that had united to form Trinity, and he set about using both his personal wealth and influence to create a setting unrivalled in academic England. To quote Trevelyan, "If Henry VIII founded Trinity, Nevile built it".

Over the next decade he razed a number of existing buildings to clear the space for the area now known as Great Court

Trinity Great Court

Great Court is the main court of Trinity College, Cambridge, and reputed to be the largest enclosed court in Europe.The court was completed by Thomas Nevile, master of the college, in the early years of the 17th century, when he rearranged the existing buildings to form a single...

. This included moving Great Gate, the entrance gate to the college, 20 metres east brick by brick, and resulted in one of the largest enclosed courts in Europe.

In his final years he built an additional court, Nevile's Court

Nevile's Court, Trinity College, Cambridge

Nevile's Court is a court in Trinity College, Cambridge, England, created by a bequest by the college's master, Thomas Nevile.The east side is dominated by the college's Hall, and the north and south sides house college rooms for fellows raised above the cloisters...

, paid for entirely by himself.