fbpx
Wikipedia

John Tregonwell

Sir John Tregonwell (died 1565) was a Cornish jurist, a principal agent of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He served as Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1524 to 1536.[1][2][3][4][5]

Tomb of Sir John Tregonwell

Early life edit

He was born in Cornwall, the second son of his family: he also had a sister named Alice, who married William Southcott of Chudleigh, Devon, and was the mother of the jurist John Southcote (born c. 1510).[6] Tregonwell was educated at Oxford, initially at Broadgates Hall. He obtained a Bachelor of Civil Law on 30 June 1516, and Doctor of Civil Law on 23 June 1522.[7] Before leaving Oxford he became principal of Vine Hall.[8] A record exists that he was constituted a Judge in the Admiralty Courts in the time of Lord High Admiral William Fitzwilliam, giving a date of about 1524.[9]

Career edit

In December 1527 Tregonwell, LL.D., was named to a commission to inquire into and punish treasons, murders and piracies at sea, within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, a commission renewed in January 1530/31.[10] In 1528 as juris civilis doctor and judex curie Admirallitatis he issued a precept for an arrest as from the Admiralty Court.[11] In 1528-1529 he assisted Rowland Lee in the visitation of Thetford Priory,[12] and in a letter of March 1529 the Abbot of Briwerne thanked Thomas Cromwell for the trouble taken on his behalf, as Dr Tregonwell and John Wadham had informed him. In May and June 1532 he and Dr William Knight (Archdeacon of Richmond) were engaged in diplomatic negotiations in the Netherlands, settling disputes between the Flemish merchants and the English Merchant Adventurers. After various threats to dissolve the diet,[13] the Notarial instrument was signed at Dunkirk in their presence on 30 May.[14] On 11 July 1532, in a consultation concerning sea business, he appears as "Master John Tregonwell, Doctor of Laws, Official commissary, or Judge, of the High Court of Admiralty", with Thomas Bagard, Doctor of Laws, as his Surrogate in that court.[15] He became principal judge or commissary-general, and acted in various Admiralty commissions.[16]

He was introduced to the Privy Council as early as October 1532;[17] and with the appointment of Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury in March 1533, Tregonwell rapidly became a useful figure in affairs of state. With Thomas Bedyll, John Cockes and Richard Gwent, he was one of the four witnesses summoned by Cranmer in March 1533 to hear his private protestation on the eve of his Consecration.[18][19][20] At the Convocation of April 1533, Dr Tregonwell appeared as proctor for the King in the matter of the royal divorce, to require that their decisions concerning two questions should be brought into written form and published.[21][22] On 8 May Cranmer held court in the Lady Chapel of Dunstable Priory, with the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester and with several doctors of law, Dr Tregonwell among them, as counsellors in the law for the King's part. Lady Katherine was called but did not appear, and was held to be contumacious: examination of the evidence and witnesses proceeded.[23][24] On 23 May at Dunstable, Cranmer declared the marriage dissolved, and Tregonwell's short message went at once to Cromwell at Westminster.[25][26] He was soon afterwards granted an annuity of £40 for life.[27]

With Chancellor Audeley, Secretary Cromwell, Almoner Fox and Richard Gwent, he signed the two treaties of peace of 1534 with Scotland on behalf of King Henry.[28][29] He also took part in the proceedings against the London Carthusians,[30] against Sir Thomas More,[31][32] and against Anne Boleyn.[33] He became a Master in Chancery by 1536, and was appointed to receive petitions in the Lords in parliaments commencing in 1536, and in that year held a commission to receive and examine rolls.

Tregonwell's great business was, however, his agency in the dissolution of the monasteries. His main part lay in taking surrenders. His correspondence, of which there is less than of some of the other visitors, gives a more favourable impression of him than of Legh or Layton, and he adopts a firmer tone in writing to Cromwell.[34] He visited Oxford University in 1535;[35] otherwise his work lay mainly in the south and west of England.[36][37][38] With Dr Layton, Dr Legh and Dr Petre he was active in the interrogations of prisoners taken in the Pilgrimage of Grace,[39] including George Lumley[40] and Nicholas Tempest,[41] and he was important enough for Cromwell to talk about him as a possible Master of the Rolls.[42] He became a master in chancery in 1539, was chancellor of Wells Cathedral from 1541 to January 1543, a commissioner in chancery in 1544, and a commissioner of the great seal in 1550.

Honours and recognition edit

In Queen Mary's accession, in 1553, she appointed judges led by Tregonwell, with William Roper, David Pole, Anthony Draycot and others, to examine the claim of Edmund Bonner that his deprivation (under Edward VI) as Bishop of London had been invalid. In the reversal of religious policy, the reinstatement of the deprived Catholic bishops was for Mary an important component in her reform. Dr Tregonwell himself pronounced the definitive sentence in Bonner's favour, resulting in his restitution, on 5 September 1553, thereby overturning the former sentence of Cranmer, and laying the fault of the injustice upon the distinguished judges who had approved it.[43] Tregonwell was knighted on 2 October 1553.

He was Member of Parliament for Scarborough in the parliament of October 1553, and, though he held a prebend, there was no objection to his return, doubtless because he was a layman. Alexander Nowell was ejected from parliament, and Tregonwell was one of the committee which sat to consider his case. In 1555 he was a commissioner on imprisoned preachers.

Death and burial edit

Sir John Tregonwell died on 8 or 13 January 1564/65 at Milton Abbas, Dorset (for which, after the Dissolution, he paid £1,000). His will was proved on 30 May 1565.[44]

Monument and heraldry edit

He was buried, and his monument was raised, in the presbytery north of the sanctuary (now forming the north aisle) in the magnificent surroundings of Milton Abbey church. The monument is an altar tomb of Purbeck marble, the chest, with quatrefoil panels enclosing plain shields, supported on a moulded plinth. Over this, supported forward on two barley-twist columns which rise into octagonal corner turrets, is a stone canopy with a frieze of quatrefoils with pierced foliate cresting above. The underside of the canopy is carved with ornamental tracery, with two pendants (as from a pendant vault) from which the finials are missing.[4][45]

The wall panel at the back of the tomb has a complete group of six latten insets. Sir John, who has a full pointed beard, appears centrally (turning three-quarters to his right) in armour and tabard, kneeling at a prayer desk with an open book lying on an armorial cloth: tabard and cloth bear the arms of Tregonwell. He wears a neck chain, and his helm and gauntlets are placed in front of the desk. From his mouth proceeds a prayer scroll or label inscribed "Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce D'ni nostri Jesu Christi" (We ought rather to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ) in black letter. Below this scene is a rectangular plate with this black-letter inscription:

"Here lyeth buried Syr John Tregonwell knyghte doctor of the Cyvill Lawes, & one of the maisters of the Chauncerye who died the xiiith day of Januarye in the yere . of our Lorde . 1565 . of whose soule God have m[er]cy."[4][45]

 
Detail of tomb, showing heraldry (right of picture) for marriage to Newce of Oxford, and (left) for marriage to Kelloway of Rockbourne.

The remainder of the group consists of three armorial plates, one raised above and a little to Sir John's right (away from which his prayer scroll ascends, as if in repudiation of worldly honours), and two shield-shaped escutcheons, one to Sir John's left and one to his right. The first, above, represents the arms of Tregonwell on a shield with the crested helm in mantling above (bracketed tinctures not shown on the brass):

  • (Tregonwell): [Argent] three pellets in fess cotised [sable] between three Cornish choughs proper. Crest: A Cornish chough proper holding in the beak a chaplet [ermine and sable].[46]

The two shield-shaped plates are heraldic impalements representing Sir John's two marriages. The first marriage (to his left side), to an heiress named Newce,[47] is the impalement of Tregonwell with Newce or Newes of Oxford:

  • (Newes): Gyronny of four [gules and or], as many chaplets counterchanged.[48][49]

The second marriage (to his right side), to Elizabeth Kelloway, is the impalement of Tregonwell with (in the sinister pale) a quartering for Kelloway, embodying the Kelloway connection with the former lords of Rockbourne, Hampshire:[50]

  • (1. Kelloway): [Argent], two grosing irons in saltire [sable] between four Kelway pears proper within a bordure engrailed [of the second].[51]
  • (2. Bysset): [Azure], ten bezants 4, 3, 2, 1.[52]
  • (3. attributed to Bingham):[45] Ermine, three lions rampant on a chief [sable].[4][53]
  • (4. attributed to Romsey):[45] [Argent], a fess [gules], under a label of five points.[4][54]

A long elegiac poem for Tregonwell was published by George Turbervile in his Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs and Sonnetts of 1567.[55]

Family edit

There has been much confusion about Tregonwell's wives.[56][57]

Tregonwell married first an heiress Newce,[47] of Oxfordshire[58][48] by whom he had issue:

Sir John's second wife was Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Kellaway (died 1547) of Rockbourne, Hampshire,[50] and his wife Anne (daughter of Henry) Strangways.[62] At her marriage to Tregonwell, which occurred at Puddletown on 15 June 1549, Elizabeth was the widow of Robert Martyn (died 1548)[63][64] of Athelhampton, Dorset,[65] by whom she had six sons and three daughters. (The terms of her first, then forthcoming, marriage to Robert are outlined by Christopher Martyn of Puddletown in his will of 1525).[66] There were no children of her second marriage.

Aftermath edit

Following John Tregonwell's death, there was a dispute between Dame Elizabeth Tregonwell (née Kellaway) and her step-grandson John Tregonwell (son of Elizabeth Newce's son Thomas).[67] This involved a fight over a barn, which left one of her step-grandson's men dead and another pinned to the wall by a sheaf of arrows.[68] Dame Elizabeth was also found to be keeping under her protection a young Roman Catholic called Thomas Sherwood. Her own son by her first marriage, George Martin, gave Sherwood up to the authorities. This led to Sherwood's execution in 1579 and Elizabeth Tregonwell's examination for recusancy in 1580.[69][70] She got off lightly, being required only to pay maintenance on Milton Abbey Church.[68] Elizabeth's recusancy charges must have stood in stark contrast to her husband's reputation as a leading figure in implementing and profiting from the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Dame Elizabeth Tregonwell, Sir John's widow, made her will on 8 September 1576 and it was proved on 15 May 1584: she states in as many words that Robert Martyn had been her first husband.[64]

References edit

  1. ^ A. Davidson, 'Tregonwell, Sir John (by 1498-1565), of Milton Abbas, Dorset', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament Online.
  2. ^ A.N. Shaw, 'Tregonwell, Sir John (c. 1498–1565)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP 2004), online version 2008.
  3. ^ W.A.J. Archbold, 'Tregonwell, Sir John (d. 1565), civilian', Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1900).
  4. ^ a b c d e C.S. Gilbert, An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall, to which is added a complete Heraldry, 2 vols (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London 1820), II, pp. 284-87 (Google).
  5. ^ J.H. Bettey, 'Sir John Tregonwell of Milton Abbey', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society, XC for 1968 (1969), pp. 295-302.
  6. ^ R.J.W. Swales, 'Southcote, John II (1510/11-85), of London and Witham, Essex', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament Online.
  7. ^ 'Tregonwell, (Sir) John', in J. Foster (ed.), Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (University Press, Oxford 1891), pp. 1501-1528 (British History Online).
  8. ^ 'Doctors of Civil Law: John Tregonwell', in A. à Wood, ed. P. Bliss, Fasti Oxonienses, or Annals of the University of Oxford, New Edition (F.C. and J. Rivington, London 1815), I: 1500-1640, p. 60 (Google).
  9. ^ 'Sir John Tregonwell, D.C. L.', in W. Senior, 'The Judges of the High Court of Admiralty', The Mariner's Mirror, Society for Nautical Research, XIII Part 4 (January 1927), p. 335; citing British Library, Add. MS 30222.1: COLLECTION Out of the records of the Court of Admiralty, mostly transcribed by Henry Rooke, Clerk of the Rolls, circ. 1750- 1760: Part 1, List of High Admirals of England, with an abstract of their patents; 1307-1709, fols 4-12. British Library Catalogue.
  10. ^ '3747. Grants in December 1527, no. 2', in J.S. Brewer (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, IV: 1524-1530 (HMSO, London 1875), p. 1671; and see '35. Pirates. January 22 Henry VIII', in V: 1531-1532, p. 14 (British History Online).
  11. ^ R.G. Marsden (ed.), Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty, (2 vols), Vol. I: The Court of the Admiralty of the West, and The High Court of Admiralty, 1527-1545; Vol. II: 1547-1602, Selden Society Vols VI and XI (1892, 1897), I, pp. 33-34 and p. 177 (Google).
  12. ^ D. MacCulloch, Thomas Cromwell: A Life (Allen Lane, 2018), p. clxviij.
  13. ^ '1056. The Low Countries' and '1090. Knight and Tregonwell to Hackett', in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, V: 1531-1532 (HMSO 1880), p. 478, 31 May and p. 492 (British History Online).
  14. ^ 'Notarial Instrument', in J.P. Cooper, Appendices to a Report on Thomas Rymer's Foedera (Commissioners/M.R. Romilly/P.R.O., London 1869), p. 172 (Google).
  15. ^ 'Concerning sea business', in J.Exton, The Maritime Dicæologie, or, Sea-jurisdiction of England, in Three Books (Lawbook Exchange Ltd., New Jersey 2004), pp.361-62 (Google); Original edition (Richard Hodgkinson, London 1664), pp. 234-36.
  16. ^ N.H. Nicolas (ed.), Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1837), VII, p. 429 (Google).
  17. ^ 'Letter from the Council to the King, dated 14 October (1532)', in N.H. Nicolas (ed.), Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, VII: 1540-1542 (Commissioners, 1837), pp. 343-44 (Google).
  18. ^ H. Jenkins, The Remains of Thomas Cranmer, 4 vols (Oxford University Press 1833), IV, pp. 247-51.
  19. ^ J. Strype, Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, 3 vols, Ecclesiastical History Society (Oxford 1848), I, pp. 491-97 (Google).
  20. ^ N.P. Wiseman, 'Review: Lingard's "History of England"', The Dublin Review, XII, February and May 1842 (C. Dolman, London 1842), pp. 295-362, at pp. 337-41 (Google).
  21. ^ 'Determinationis Praelatorum et Cleri de Cantuariensi Provincia, in Convocatione, Duabus Quaestionibus, Instrumentum Publicum', in T. Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Literae, et Cujusque Generis Acta (etc.), Vol. XIV (By Command/A. & J. Churchill, London 1712), pp. 454-55 (Google).
  22. ^ '317. Convocation of Canterbury (8 April 1533)', in J. Gairdner (ed), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VI: 1533 (HMSO 1882), p. 148 (British History Online).
  23. ^ Strype, Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, I, Appendix III, pp. 324-28 (Google).
  24. ^ 'CXIV. Letter of Archbishop Cranmer to Archdeacon Hawkyns', in H. Ellis, Original Letters Illustrative of English History, First Series, vol II, 4th Edition (Harding, Triphook and Lepard, London 1824), pp. 33-40 (Internet Archive).
  25. ^ '525. John Tregonwell to Cromwell (23 May 1533), in Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VI: 1533, p. 230 (British History Online).
  26. ^ 'CCXVII: Dr Tregonwell to Thomas Cromwell', in H. Ellis, Original Letters Illustrative of English History, Third Series, II (Richard Bentley, London 1846), p. 276 (Google).
  27. ^ '578. Grants in May 1533, no. 10', in Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VI: 1533, p. 258 (British History Online).
  28. ^ 'Indentura Tractatus Pacis Scotiae', and 'Indentura de Redeliberando Castro sive Fortalitio de Edryngtone vocato Cawmill', in T. Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Literae, et Cujusque Generis Acta (etc.), Vol. XIV (By Command/A. & J. Churchill, London 1712), pp. 529-537, and pp. 538-43 (Google).
  29. ^ '647. Scotland' and '1032. Scotland' in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VII: 1534 (HMSO 1883), p. 249 no. 647 and p. 403 no. 1032 (British History Online).
  30. ^ J. Chappell, Perilous Passages: The Book of Margery Kempe, 1534–1934 (Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2013), Pt 75 (Google).
  31. ^ '974. Trial of Sir Thomas More (vi) Report of the sessions', in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, Vol. VIII: January to July 1535 (HMSO 1885), pp. 384-86 (British History Online).
  32. ^ '20. To Margaret Roper, Tower of London, 2 or 3 May 1535', in A. de Silva, The Last Letters of Thomas More (William B. Eerdemans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge UK 2000), p. 112 ff. (Google).
  33. ^ 'Sententia diffinitiva in causa nullitatis matrimonii', in D. Wilkins, Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae, ab Anno MCCCL ad Annum MDXLV, 4 Vols. (R. Gosling, London 1737), III, pp. 803-04 (Hathi Trust).
  34. ^ 'Letter CCLXVII: John Tregonwell to Secretary Cromwell', in H. Ellis, Original Letters Illustrative of English History, 3rd Series volume III (Richard Bentley, London 1846), pp. 31-40, at pp. 37-40 (Google).
  35. ^ F.D. Logan, 'The First Royal Visitation of the English Universities', English Historicl Review CVI no. 421 (October 1991), pp. 861-88.
  36. ^ De Scripto Archiepiscopo Cantuariensis Richardo Ryche', in T. Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Literae, et Cujusque Generis Acta (etc.), Vol. XIV (By Command/A. & J. Churchill, London 1712), pp. 603-39, at pp. 629-637.
  37. ^ A.L. Rowse, Tudor Cornwall: Portrait of a Society (Jonathan Cape, London 1943), pp. 187-91.
  38. ^ For an investigation of Tregonwell's itinerary, see A.N. Shaw, 'The Compendium Compertorium and the Making of the Suppression Act of 1536', Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Warwick (April 2003), pp. 136-150 and 435-38 University of Warwick, Publications Service and WRAP - pdf.
  39. ^ M.H. Dodds and R. Dodds, The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536-1537 and The Exeter Conspiracy 1538, 2 vols (Cambridge University Press 1915), II, pp. 199, 204.
  40. ^ (George Lumley), in E. Milner, ed. E. Benham, Records of the Lumleys of Lumley Castle (George Bell and Sons 1904), pp. 32-45 (Internet Archive).
  41. ^ A.C. Tempest (Mrs), 'Nicholas Tempest, a sufferer in the Pilgrimage of Grace', Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal XI (1891), pp. 247-78, at p. 251 ff. (Google).
  42. ^ '743. John Tregonwell to Cromwell (31 May 1534)', in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VII: 1534 (HMSO 1883), p. 286 (British History Online).
  43. ^ J. Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, Volume IV (Samuel Bagster, London 1816), Chapter II, pp. 35-37 (Google).
  44. ^ Will of Sir John Tregonwell of Milton, Dorset (P.C.C. 1565, Crymes and Morrisson quire).
  45. ^ a b c d 'Milton Abbas', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Vol. 3: Central (HMSO, London 1970), pp. 182-200 (British History Online).
  46. ^ B. Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales (Harrison, London 1884), p. 1026 (Internet Archive).
  47. ^ a b Called "Elizabeth" by old sources, from the misapprehension that she was the second wife (whose name was Elizabeth).
  48. ^ a b '4. Wreaths: Newce of Oxford', in J.W. Papworth, ed. A.W. Morant, An Ordinary of British Armorials, 2 vols (T. Richards, London 1874), II, p. 1125 (Internet Archive).
  49. ^ B. Burke, Armory (1884), p. 729 (Internet Archive).
  50. ^ a b See as "Keilway" in 'Parishes: Rockbourne, Manor of Rockbourne', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Hampshire, Vol. 4 (V.C.H., London 1911), pp. 581-86 (British History Online).
  51. ^ B. Burke, Armory (1884), p. 556 (Internet Archive).
  52. ^ B. Burke, Armory (1884), p. 85 (Internet Archive).
  53. ^ Note: if the chief were azure, this would be a blazon for Savage: but the reserved field in the brass should signify sable.
  54. ^ B. Burke, Armoury (1884), p. 868 (Internet Archive).
  55. ^ 'Turbervile's Poems: An Epitaph and Woful Verse of the Death of Sir Iohn Tregonwell, Knight', in S. Johnson and A. Chalmers (eds), The Works of the English Poets, 21 volumes (J. Johnson et al., London 1810), II: Gower, Skelton, Howard, Wyat, Gascoigne, Turbervile, at pp. 600-01 (Google).
  56. ^ e.g. (citing older sources), J.B. Wainewright, 'Sir John Tregonwell's second wife (2 Nov 1912)', Notes and Queries Series 11 Vol. VI (1912), pp. 347-48; A.R. Bayley, (reply, 7 Dec 1912), p. 454 (Internet Archive).
  57. ^ a b 'Tregonwell, of Anderson', in J. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland 2 vols (Henry Colburn by Richard Bentley, London 1836), II, at p. 404 (Google). Burke reverses the marriages and calls the second wife Elizabeth Bruce.
  58. ^ Frequently mis-stated as Bruce, but shown by her heraldry to be a Newce of Oxfordshire.
  59. ^ 'Melcombe Horsey', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Vol. 3: Central (London 1970), pp. 161-75 (British History Online).
  60. ^ Sir John Tregonwell is appointed principal Overseer in the Will of Sir George Delalyne of Winterborne Clenston, Dorset (P.C.C. 1556, Ketchyn quire), who married Anne, daughter of Sir William Goryng.
  61. ^ Other sources read De le Hyde, a family of the Lords Chancellors of Ireland.
  62. ^ 'Kelloway', in W.H. Rylands (ed.), Pedigrees from the Visitation of Hampshire made by Thomas Benolte (&c.)', Harleian Society LXIV (London 1913), p. 27 (Internet Archive).
  63. ^ Will of Robert Martyn of Athelhampton (P.C.C. 1548, Populwell quire).
  64. ^ a b Will of Dame Elizabeth Tregonwell, widow of Milton, Dorset (P.C.C. 1584). See talk page.
  65. ^ 'Martin', in J.P. Rylands (ed.), The Visitation of the County of Dorset, 1623 (&c.), Harleian Society XX (1885), p. 66 (Internet Archive).
  66. ^ Will of Christopher Martyn of Puddletown, Dorset (P.C.C. 1525, Bodfelde quire).
  67. ^ R. Lloyd, Dorset Elizabethans at Home and Abroad (John Murray, London 1967), pp. 138-140.
  68. ^ a b 'Dorset Editor' (Herbert Pentin, Vicar of Milton Abbey), Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, Vol. XVII (1921), p. 68, reciting Tregonwell v Martyn, The National Archives (UK), Star Chamber Proceedings 1582, ref. STAC 5/T20/9 (Discovery Catalogue), and see also Martyn v. Tregonwell, ref. STAC 5/M46/7.
  69. ^ 'Chapter I: Blessed Thomas Sherwood', in J.H. Pollen (S.J.), Acts of English Martyrs Hitherto Unpublished (Burns and Oates, London 1891), pp. 1-20 (Google).
  70. ^ J.R. Dasent (ed.), Acts of the Privy Council of England, Vol. 12: 1580-1581 (London 1896), p. 59 and pp. 132-33 (British History Online).
  •   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain"Tregonwell, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

john, tregonwell, member, parliament, corfe, castle, died, 1682, died, 1565, cornish, jurist, principal, agent, henry, viii, thomas, cromwell, dissolution, monasteries, served, judge, high, court, admiralty, from, 1524, 1536, tomb, contents, early, life, caree. For the member of parliament for Corfe Castle see John Tregonwell died 1682 Sir John Tregonwell died 1565 was a Cornish jurist a principal agent of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries He served as Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1524 to 1536 1 2 3 4 5 Tomb of Sir John Tregonwell Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Honours and recognition 4 Death and burial 4 1 Monument and heraldry 5 Family 5 1 Aftermath 6 ReferencesEarly life editHe was born in Cornwall the second son of his family he also had a sister named Alice who married William Southcott of Chudleigh Devon and was the mother of the jurist John Southcote born c 1510 6 Tregonwell was educated at Oxford initially at Broadgates Hall He obtained a Bachelor of Civil Law on 30 June 1516 and Doctor of Civil Law on 23 June 1522 7 Before leaving Oxford he became principal of Vine Hall 8 A record exists that he was constituted a Judge in the Admiralty Courts in the time of Lord High Admiral William Fitzwilliam giving a date of about 1524 9 Career editIn December 1527 Tregonwell LL D was named to a commission to inquire into and punish treasons murders and piracies at sea within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty a commission renewed in January 1530 31 10 In 1528 as juris civilis doctor and judex curie Admirallitatis he issued a precept for an arrest as from the Admiralty Court 11 In 1528 1529 he assisted Rowland Lee in the visitation of Thetford Priory 12 and in a letter of March 1529 the Abbot of Briwerne thanked Thomas Cromwell for the trouble taken on his behalf as Dr Tregonwell and John Wadham had informed him In May and June 1532 he and Dr William Knight Archdeacon of Richmond were engaged in diplomatic negotiations in the Netherlands settling disputes between the Flemish merchants and the English Merchant Adventurers After various threats to dissolve the diet 13 the Notarial instrument was signed at Dunkirk in their presence on 30 May 14 On 11 July 1532 in a consultation concerning sea business he appears as Master John Tregonwell Doctor of Laws Official commissary or Judge of the High Court of Admiralty with Thomas Bagard Doctor of Laws as his Surrogate in that court 15 He became principal judge or commissary general and acted in various Admiralty commissions 16 He was introduced to the Privy Council as early as October 1532 17 and with the appointment of Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury in March 1533 Tregonwell rapidly became a useful figure in affairs of state With Thomas Bedyll John Cockes and Richard Gwent he was one of the four witnesses summoned by Cranmer in March 1533 to hear his private protestation on the eve of his Consecration 18 19 20 At the Convocation of April 1533 Dr Tregonwell appeared as proctor for the King in the matter of the royal divorce to require that their decisions concerning two questions should be brought into written form and published 21 22 On 8 May Cranmer held court in the Lady Chapel of Dunstable Priory with the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester and with several doctors of law Dr Tregonwell among them as counsellors in the law for the King s part Lady Katherine was called but did not appear and was held to be contumacious examination of the evidence and witnesses proceeded 23 24 On 23 May at Dunstable Cranmer declared the marriage dissolved and Tregonwell s short message went at once to Cromwell at Westminster 25 26 He was soon afterwards granted an annuity of 40 for life 27 With Chancellor Audeley Secretary Cromwell Almoner Fox and Richard Gwent he signed the two treaties of peace of 1534 with Scotland on behalf of King Henry 28 29 He also took part in the proceedings against the London Carthusians 30 against Sir Thomas More 31 32 and against Anne Boleyn 33 He became a Master in Chancery by 1536 and was appointed to receive petitions in the Lords in parliaments commencing in 1536 and in that year held a commission to receive and examine rolls Tregonwell s great business was however his agency in the dissolution of the monasteries His main part lay in taking surrenders His correspondence of which there is less than of some of the other visitors gives a more favourable impression of him than of Legh or Layton and he adopts a firmer tone in writing to Cromwell 34 He visited Oxford University in 1535 35 otherwise his work lay mainly in the south and west of England 36 37 38 With Dr Layton Dr Legh and Dr Petre he was active in the interrogations of prisoners taken in the Pilgrimage of Grace 39 including George Lumley 40 and Nicholas Tempest 41 and he was important enough for Cromwell to talk about him as a possible Master of the Rolls 42 He became a master in chancery in 1539 was chancellor of Wells Cathedral from 1541 to January 1543 a commissioner in chancery in 1544 and a commissioner of the great seal in 1550 Honours and recognition editIn Queen Mary s accession in 1553 she appointed judges led by Tregonwell with William Roper David Pole Anthony Draycot and others to examine the claim of Edmund Bonner that his deprivation under Edward VI as Bishop of London had been invalid In the reversal of religious policy the reinstatement of the deprived Catholic bishops was for Mary an important component in her reform Dr Tregonwell himself pronounced the definitive sentence in Bonner s favour resulting in his restitution on 5 September 1553 thereby overturning the former sentence of Cranmer and laying the fault of the injustice upon the distinguished judges who had approved it 43 Tregonwell was knighted on 2 October 1553 He was Member of Parliament for Scarborough in the parliament of October 1553 and though he held a prebend there was no objection to his return doubtless because he was a layman Alexander Nowell was ejected from parliament and Tregonwell was one of the committee which sat to consider his case In 1555 he was a commissioner on imprisoned preachers Death and burial editSir John Tregonwell died on 8 or 13 January 1564 65 at Milton Abbas Dorset for which after the Dissolution he paid 1 000 His will was proved on 30 May 1565 44 Monument and heraldry edit He was buried and his monument was raised in the presbytery north of the sanctuary now forming the north aisle in the magnificent surroundings of Milton Abbey church The monument is an altar tomb of Purbeck marble the chest with quatrefoil panels enclosing plain shields supported on a moulded plinth Over this supported forward on two barley twist columns which rise into octagonal corner turrets is a stone canopy with a frieze of quatrefoils with pierced foliate cresting above The underside of the canopy is carved with ornamental tracery with two pendants as from a pendant vault from which the finials are missing 4 45 The wall panel at the back of the tomb has a complete group of six latten insets Sir John who has a full pointed beard appears centrally turning three quarters to his right in armour and tabard kneeling at a prayer desk with an open book lying on an armorial cloth tabard and cloth bear the arms of Tregonwell He wears a neck chain and his helm and gauntlets are placed in front of the desk From his mouth proceeds a prayer scroll or label inscribed Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce D ni nostri Jesu Christi We ought rather to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in black letter Below this scene is a rectangular plate with this black letter inscription Here lyeth buried Syr John Tregonwell knyghte doctor of the Cyvill Lawes amp one of the maisters of the Chauncerye who died the xiiith day of Januarye in the yere of our Lorde 1565 of whose soule God have m er cy 4 45 nbsp Detail of tomb showing heraldry right of picture for marriage to Newce of Oxford and left for marriage to Kelloway of Rockbourne The remainder of the group consists of three armorial plates one raised above and a little to Sir John s right away from which his prayer scroll ascends as if in repudiation of worldly honours and two shield shaped escutcheons one to Sir John s left and one to his right The first above represents the arms of Tregonwell on a shield with the crested helm in mantling above bracketed tinctures not shown on the brass Tregonwell Argent three pellets in fess cotised sable between three Cornish choughs proper Crest A Cornish chough proper holding in the beak a chaplet ermine and sable 46 The two shield shaped plates are heraldic impalements representing Sir John s two marriages The first marriage to his left side to an heiress named Newce 47 is the impalement of Tregonwell with Newce or Newes of Oxford Newes Gyronny of four gules and or as many chaplets counterchanged 48 49 The second marriage to his right side to Elizabeth Kelloway is the impalement of Tregonwell with in the sinister pale a quartering for Kelloway embodying the Kelloway connection with the former lords of Rockbourne Hampshire 50 1 Kelloway Argent two grosing irons in saltire sable between four Kelway pears proper within a bordure engrailed of the second 51 2 Bysset Azure ten bezants 4 3 2 1 52 3 attributed to Bingham 45 Ermine three lions rampant on a chief sable 4 53 4 attributed to Romsey 45 Argent a fess gules under a label of five points 4 54 A long elegiac poem for Tregonwell was published by George Turbervile in his Epitaphs Epigrams Songs and Sonnetts of 1567 55 Family editThere has been much confusion about Tregonwell s wives 56 57 Tregonwell married first an heiress Newce 47 of Oxfordshire 58 48 by whom he had issue Thomas Tregonwell who married 1 Lady Villars and 2 his own step sister Ann Martyn He died during his father s lifetime whereupon his son John Tregonwell fell heir to Sir John s property Anne Tregonwell married Richard Reade Lord Chancellor of Ireland Mary Tregonwell according to John Burke married a De la Lynde 57 a family associated with the Binghams of Melcombe Bingham 59 60 61 Sir John s second wife was Elizabeth the daughter of Sir John Kellaway died 1547 of Rockbourne Hampshire 50 and his wife Anne daughter of Henry Strangways 62 At her marriage to Tregonwell which occurred at Puddletown on 15 June 1549 Elizabeth was the widow of Robert Martyn died 1548 63 64 of Athelhampton Dorset 65 by whom she had six sons and three daughters The terms of her first then forthcoming marriage to Robert are outlined by Christopher Martyn of Puddletown in his will of 1525 66 There were no children of her second marriage Aftermath edit Following John Tregonwell s death there was a dispute between Dame Elizabeth Tregonwell nee Kellaway and her step grandson John Tregonwell son of Elizabeth Newce s son Thomas 67 This involved a fight over a barn which left one of her step grandson s men dead and another pinned to the wall by a sheaf of arrows 68 Dame Elizabeth was also found to be keeping under her protection a young Roman Catholic called Thomas Sherwood Her own son by her first marriage George Martin gave Sherwood up to the authorities This led to Sherwood s execution in 1579 and Elizabeth Tregonwell s examination for recusancy in 1580 69 70 She got off lightly being required only to pay maintenance on Milton Abbey Church 68 Elizabeth s recusancy charges must have stood in stark contrast to her husband s reputation as a leading figure in implementing and profiting from the Dissolution of the Monasteries Dame Elizabeth Tregonwell Sir John s widow made her will on 8 September 1576 and it was proved on 15 May 1584 she states in as many words that Robert Martyn had been her first husband 64 References edit A Davidson Tregonwell Sir John by 1498 1565 of Milton Abbas Dorset in S T Bindoff ed The History of Parliament the House of Commons 1509 1558 from Boydell and Brewer 1982 History of Parliament Online A N Shaw Tregonwell Sir John c 1498 1565 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography OUP 2004 online version 2008 W A J Archbold Tregonwell Sir John d 1565 civilian Dictionary of National Biography 1885 1900 a b c d e C S Gilbert An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall to which is added a complete Heraldry 2 vols Longman Hurst Rees Orme and Brown London 1820 II pp 284 87 Google J H Bettey Sir John Tregonwell of Milton Abbey Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society XC for 1968 1969 pp 295 302 R J W Swales Southcote John II 1510 11 85 of London and Witham Essex in S T Bindoff ed The History of Parliament the House of Commons 1509 1558 from Boydell and Brewer 1982 History of Parliament Online Tregonwell Sir John in J Foster ed Alumni Oxonienses 1500 1714 University Press Oxford 1891 pp 1501 1528 British History Online Doctors of Civil Law John Tregonwell in A a Wood ed P Bliss Fasti Oxonienses or Annals of the University of Oxford New Edition F C and J Rivington London 1815 I 1500 1640 p 60 Google Sir John Tregonwell D C L in W Senior The Judges of the High Court of Admiralty The Mariner s Mirror Society for Nautical Research XIII Part 4 January 1927 p 335 citing British Library Add MS 30222 1 COLLECTION Out of the records of the Court of Admiralty mostly transcribed by Henry Rooke Clerk of the Rolls circ 1750 1760 Part 1 List of High Admirals of England with an abstract of their patents 1307 1709 fols 4 12 British Library Catalogue 3747 Grants in December 1527 no 2 in J S Brewer ed Letters and Papers Henry VIII IV 1524 1530 HMSO London 1875 p 1671 and see 35 Pirates January 22 Henry VIII in V 1531 1532 p 14 British History Online R G Marsden ed Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty 2 vols Vol I The Court of the Admiralty of the West and The High Court of Admiralty 1527 1545 Vol II 1547 1602 Selden Society Vols VI and XI 1892 1897 I pp 33 34 and p 177 Google D MacCulloch Thomas Cromwell A Life Allen Lane 2018 p clxviij 1056 The Low Countries and 1090 Knight and Tregonwell to Hackett in J Gairdner ed Letters and Papers Henry VIII V 1531 1532 HMSO 1880 p 478 31 May and p 492 British History Online Notarial Instrument in J P Cooper Appendices to a Report on Thomas Rymer s Foedera Commissioners M R Romilly P R O London 1869 p 172 Google Concerning sea business in J Exton The Maritime Dicaeologie or Sea jurisdiction of England in Three Books Lawbook Exchange Ltd New Jersey 2004 pp 361 62 Google Original edition Richard Hodgkinson London 1664 pp 234 36 N H Nicolas ed Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England Eyre and Spottiswoode London 1837 VII p 429 Google Letter from the Council to the King dated 14 October 1532 in N H Nicolas ed Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England VII 1540 1542 Commissioners 1837 pp 343 44 Google H Jenkins The Remains of Thomas Cranmer 4 vols Oxford University Press 1833 IV pp 247 51 J Strype Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer 3 vols Ecclesiastical History Society Oxford 1848 I pp 491 97 Google N P Wiseman Review Lingard s History of England The Dublin Review XII February and May 1842 C Dolman London 1842 pp 295 362 at pp 337 41 Google Determinationis Praelatorum et Cleri de Cantuariensi Provincia in Convocatione Duabus Quaestionibus Instrumentum Publicum in T Rymer Foedera Conventiones Literae et Cujusque Generis Acta etc Vol XIV By Command A amp J Churchill London 1712 pp 454 55 Google 317 Convocation of Canterbury 8 April 1533 in J Gairdner ed Letters and Papers Henry VIII VI 1533 HMSO 1882 p 148 British History Online Strype Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer I Appendix III pp 324 28 Google CXIV Letter of Archbishop Cranmer to Archdeacon Hawkyns in H Ellis Original Letters Illustrative of English History First Series vol II 4th Edition Harding Triphook and Lepard London 1824 pp 33 40 Internet Archive 525 John Tregonwell to Cromwell 23 May 1533 in Letters and Papers Henry VIII VI 1533 p 230 British History Online CCXVII Dr Tregonwell to Thomas Cromwell in H Ellis Original Letters Illustrative of English History Third Series II Richard Bentley London 1846 p 276 Google 578 Grants in May 1533 no 10 in Letters and Papers Henry VIII VI 1533 p 258 British History Online Indentura Tractatus Pacis Scotiae and Indentura de Redeliberando Castro sive Fortalitio de Edryngtone vocato Cawmill in T Rymer Foedera Conventiones Literae et Cujusque Generis Acta etc Vol XIV By Command A amp J Churchill London 1712 pp 529 537 and pp 538 43 Google 647 Scotland and 1032 Scotland in J Gairdner ed Letters and Papers Henry VIII VII 1534 HMSO 1883 p 249 no 647 and p 403 no 1032 British History Online J Chappell Perilous Passages The Book of Margery Kempe 1534 1934 Palgrave Macmillan New York 2013 Pt 75 Google 974 Trial of Sir Thomas More vi Report of the sessions in J Gairdner ed Letters and Papers Henry VIII Vol VIII January to July 1535 HMSO 1885 pp 384 86 British History Online 20 To Margaret Roper Tower of London 2 or 3 May 1535 in A de Silva The Last Letters of Thomas More William B Eerdemans Publishing Company Grand Rapids Michigan Cambridge UK 2000 p 112 ff Google Sententia diffinitiva in causa nullitatis matrimonii in D Wilkins Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae ab Anno MCCCL ad Annum MDXLV 4 Vols R Gosling London 1737 III pp 803 04 Hathi Trust Letter CCLXVII John Tregonwell to Secretary Cromwell in H Ellis Original Letters Illustrative of English History 3rd Series volume III Richard Bentley London 1846 pp 31 40 at pp 37 40 Google F D Logan The First Royal Visitation of the English Universities English Historicl Review CVI no 421 October 1991 pp 861 88 De Scripto Archiepiscopo Cantuariensis Richardo Ryche in T Rymer Foedera Conventiones Literae et Cujusque Generis Acta etc Vol XIV By Command A amp J Churchill London 1712 pp 603 39 at pp 629 637 A L Rowse Tudor Cornwall Portrait of a Society Jonathan Cape London 1943 pp 187 91 For an investigation of Tregonwell s itinerary see A N Shaw The Compendium Compertorium and the Making of the Suppression Act of 1536 Ph D Dissertation University of Warwick April 2003 pp 136 150 and 435 38 University of Warwick Publications Service and WRAP pdf M H Dodds and R Dodds The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536 1537 and The Exeter Conspiracy 1538 2 vols Cambridge University Press 1915 II pp 199 204 George Lumley in E Milner ed E Benham Records of the Lumleys of Lumley Castle George Bell and Sons 1904 pp 32 45 Internet Archive A C Tempest Mrs Nicholas Tempest a sufferer in the Pilgrimage of Grace Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal XI 1891 pp 247 78 at p 251 ff Google 743 John Tregonwell to Cromwell 31 May 1534 in J Gairdner ed Letters and Papers Henry VIII VII 1534 HMSO 1883 p 286 British History Online J Strype Ecclesiastical Memorials Volume IV Samuel Bagster London 1816 Chapter II pp 35 37 Google Will of Sir John Tregonwell of Milton Dorset P C C 1565 Crymes and Morrisson quire a b c d Milton Abbas in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset Vol 3 Central HMSO London 1970 pp 182 200 British History Online B Burke The General Armory of England Scotland Ireland and Wales Harrison London 1884 p 1026 Internet Archive a b Called Elizabeth by old sources from the misapprehension that she was the second wife whose name was Elizabeth a b 4 Wreaths Newce of Oxford in J W Papworth ed A W Morant An Ordinary of British Armorials 2 vols T Richards London 1874 II p 1125 Internet Archive B Burke Armory 1884 p 729 Internet Archive a b See as Keilway in Parishes Rockbourne Manor of Rockbourne in W Page ed A History of the County of Hampshire Vol 4 V C H London 1911 pp 581 86 British History Online B Burke Armory 1884 p 556 Internet Archive B Burke Armory 1884 p 85 Internet Archive Note if the chief were azure this would be a blazon for Savage but the reserved field in the brass should signify sable B Burke Armoury 1884 p 868 Internet Archive Turbervile s Poems An Epitaph and Woful Verse of the Death of Sir Iohn Tregonwell Knight in S Johnson and A Chalmers eds The Works of the English Poets 21 volumes J Johnson et al London 1810 II Gower Skelton Howard Wyat Gascoigne Turbervile at pp 600 01 Google e g citing older sources J B Wainewright Sir John Tregonwell s second wife 2 Nov 1912 Notes and Queries Series 11 Vol VI 1912 pp 347 48 A R Bayley reply 7 Dec 1912 p 454 Internet Archive a b Tregonwell of Anderson in J Burke A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland 2 vols Henry Colburn by Richard Bentley London 1836 II at p 404 Google Burke reverses the marriages and calls the second wife Elizabeth Bruce Frequently mis stated as Bruce but shown by her heraldry to be a Newce of Oxfordshire Melcombe Horsey in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset Vol 3 Central London 1970 pp 161 75 British History Online Sir John Tregonwell is appointed principal Overseer in the Will of Sir George Delalyne of Winterborne Clenston Dorset P C C 1556 Ketchyn quire who married Anne daughter of Sir William Goryng Other sources read De le Hyde a family of the Lords Chancellors of Ireland Kelloway in W H Rylands ed Pedigrees from the Visitation of Hampshire made by Thomas Benolte amp c Harleian Society LXIV London 1913 p 27 Internet Archive Will of Robert Martyn of Athelhampton P C C 1548 Populwell quire a b Will of Dame Elizabeth Tregonwell widow of Milton Dorset P C C 1584 See talk page Martin in J P Rylands ed The Visitation of the County of Dorset 1623 amp c Harleian Society XX 1885 p 66 Internet Archive Will of Christopher Martyn of Puddletown Dorset P C C 1525 Bodfelde quire R Lloyd Dorset Elizabethans at Home and Abroad John Murray London 1967 pp 138 140 a b Dorset Editor Herbert Pentin Vicar of Milton Abbey Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries Vol XVII 1921 p 68 reciting Tregonwell v Martyn The National Archives UK Star Chamber Proceedings 1582 ref STAC 5 T20 9 Discovery Catalogue and see also Martyn v Tregonwell ref STAC 5 M46 7 Chapter I Blessed Thomas Sherwood in J H Pollen S J Acts of English Martyrs Hitherto Unpublished Burns and Oates London 1891 pp 1 20 Google J R Dasent ed Acts of the Privy Council of England Vol 12 1580 1581 London 1896 p 59 and pp 132 33 British History Online nbsp This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain Tregonwell John Dictionary of National Biography London Smith Elder amp Co 1885 1900 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John Tregonwell amp oldid 1168319517, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.