Robert Brudenell, 2nd Earl of Cardigan

Like most of his family, both Brudenells and Treshams, he was an adherent of Roman Catholicism.

His father's devotion to that faith was so open that he was prosecuted regularly for recusancy.

In 1613 the local justices of the peace remarked that only their personal regard for the Brudenell family had saved fourteen of them, including Robert's parents, from prison.

[1] Robert himself and his eldest son Francis, as two of the most influential members of the Catholic nobility, inevitably became the target of informers, particularly William Bedloe, during the Popish Plot:[2] Robert retired to France for a time, while his son spent a year in prison.

[3] He married twice: He died in July 1703, aged 96, and was succeeded in the earldom by his grandson George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan.