Nicholas Arnold (lord justice)

Sir Nicholas Arnold (1507–1580) was an English courtier and politician, who held office as lord justice of Ireland.

He had already seen service in Ireland as member of a commission of inquiry into the conduct of the previous viceroy, Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, which dragged on for two years but ended inconclusively.

[4] As Lord Justice, he was regarded as a failure, being described as "quarrelsome, arbitrary and credulous", and within a year he was replaced by Sir Henry Sidney.

On his return, a vengeful Earl of Sussex brought articles of impeachment against him, but these were ignored; in later years his interest in politics was mainly local.

He was an exceptionally devout Protestant and, although he outwardly welcomed the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary, was suspected of involvement with Wyatt's Rebellion.

The informer William Thomas claimed that he had discussed Mary's assassination with Arnold, but at Wyatt's trial the Crown accepted that the conspirators has aimed only at preventing the Queen's marriage to Philip II of Spain, and had not planned to kill her.