William Trussell (politician, † before 1347)

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William Trussell coat of arms

Sir William Trussell († 1346 or 1347) was an English knight, politician and diplomat.

Origin and youth

William Trussell's activity is difficult to distinguish from several contemporaries of the same name, including his own son. William Trussell was a knight and landowner from Peatling Magna in Leicestershire . Edmund Trussell was one of his siblings . Together with the heir to the throne Edward and numerous other young nobles, William Trussell was beaten to Knight of the Bath on May 22, 1306 .

Served as vassal of the Earl of Lancaster

From 1307 at the latest, Trussell was a vassal of Thomas of Lancaster, 2nd Earl of Lancaster . In 1310 he was one of the knights whom Lancaster sent to Scotland to take part in the king's campaign in his place . As a retainer of Lancaster, he was pardoned in 1313 after the execution of Piers Gaveston and in 1318 after the conclusion of the Treaty of Leake by King Edward II. During Parliament of September 1314, he served as Knight of the Shire for Leicester and 1316 for Leicester and Warwick . After Lancaster had gained considerable influence over the government in the fall of 1314, he filled most of the sheriff's offices . Trussell became part of Warwickshire and Leicestershire in November 1314 and held this office until November 1316. Lancaster rewarded Trussell's services by paying him £ 10 annually from 1314 on from the income from Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire . In 1315 Lancaster asked Chancellor John Sandale , among other things, Trussell to commission the investigation into the death of his servant John Swinnerton . From 1321 Trussell supported the open rebellion of Lancaster against Edward II. In January 1322 Trussell raised a posse in Leicestershire to support Lancaster. By the time he and these troops reached Tutbury in February , Lancaster had fled further north and the soldiers were being released. After Lancaster was decisively defeated and captured in the Battle of Boroughbridge in March 1322 , he was executed as a traitor.

Role in the fall of Edward II.

Trussell's possessions were also confiscated, but he may have escaped abroad. In March 1323 he attacked together with his son William and with Ralph and Roger Zouche goods of the Earl of Winchester in the Midlands , where they caused severe damage. Then Trussell fled to France, where he later joined Queen Isabelle . Eduard II's wife had remained in exile in France after a diplomatic mission in opposition to the influence of the Despensers on the king. Trussell was part of the army with which the Queen landed in southeast England in September 1326 to overthrow the Despensers. After the conquest of Bristol , on October 27th, Trussell was the presiding judge of the court that sentenced the Earl of Winchester to death. A few weeks later he was one of the judges who sentenced the younger Despenser to death in Hereford on November 24th . At the beginning of 1327 he was a member of the delegation that moved the imprisoned Edward II in Kenilworth Castle to abdicate. Probably on January 21, Trussell, on behalf of Parliament, revoked the oath of allegiance of the prelates, magnates and gentz to the king. After the delegation returned to Westminster , Edward , the son of the abdicated king, was recognized as the new king. Because of this role, Trussell is sometimes considered the first speaker of the Commons. However, this is not tenable as its role during the previous Parliament is completely unclear. He was not an elected Member of Parliament and probably belonged to the delegation primarily as a vassal of Henry of Lancaster, Lord of Kenilworth. Since the Commons never paid homage to the king, Trussell could only speak on behalf of the prelates, earls and barons.

Activity during the reign of Roger Mortimer

The new government rewarded Trussell with the transfer of several goods. On February 28, 1327 he was commissioned to apply for the canonization of Thomas of Lancaster, to which he served as administrator of fallen crown fiefs south of the Trent . To this end, he entered the service of Henry of Lancaster, 3rd Earl of Lancaster , brother and heir to Thomas of Lancaster. In March 1328 he again served as the English envoy abroad, but after an armed conflict between Henry of Lancaster and the actual ruler Roger Mortimer loomed in October 1328 , Trussell was in England. On December 21, he was present at the reading of the statement in the Guildhall in London , with which the government called for peace. The declaration was intended to deter Londoners from giving their support to Lancaster. The supporters of Henry of Lancaster then sent a reply to the royal court in Worcester . On January 2, 1329, the Lancastrians swore an oath of mutual support at St Paul's Cathedral . The government then asked the Lancastrians to submit and offered them an amnesty. Trussell, along with Thomas Roscelyn , Henry de Beaumont and Thomas Wyther, were specifically excluded from this amnesty . A little later the revolt of the Lancastrians collapsed. During Parliament in Winchester in March 1330, Trussell surrendered to government and was pardoned. From May 1330 he served again as the English envoy. He should try to negotiate an alliance with the kings of Aragon , Portugal and Mallorca . To do this, he was supposed to marry Prince Pedro of Aragón and Eleonore , a sister of Edward III. arrange. However, both projects failed.

Further diplomatic and political activity under Eduard III.

After the young Edward III. in October 1330 Roger Mortimer had plunged, Trussell belonged in January 1331 a twelve-member jury , which Thomas de Berkeley of the responsibility for the death of Edward II. acquitted. Trussell was again given the office of administrator of fallen crown fiefs, and in the summer of 1331 he received 100 marks as reimbursement for his expenses incurred in the service of the crown. In the summer of 1331 he traveled with John Darcy to France, where they failed to find a marriage between the heir to the throne Edward of Woodstock and Johanna , a daughter of the French king Philip VI. negotiated. For his services Trussell received the Bergues rule in Flanders. In 1332 he traveled with his son William as envoy to the Curia in Avignon. In 1337 he served Henry of Lancaster as administrator of his holdings in Northamptonshire. In 1342 Trussell was invited to a royal council by Writ of Summons , but not to a parliament, which is why he is sometimes incorrectly referred to as Baron Trussell .

Between 1333 and 1345 a William Trussell belonged to numerous embassies, although it cannot be determined whether Trussell senior or his son made the trips. The aim of the missions was the papal court in Avignon, as well as France, the Netherlands and Austria. A William Trussell sat with the king on his campaign against France across the English Channel in 1340 , and after the Battle of Sluis Trussell was sent back to England to report the English victory to Parliament. The same William Trussell gave his approval for an armistice with France in April 1343 at Westminster Palace as representative of the Commons . Whether he was also the William Trussell who served as judge of the Scottish John Graham, Earl of Menteith and Fife after the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346 cannot be determined.

death

The elder William Trussell died in 1346 or 1347 when the sacristan of Westminster Abbey received a donation from Trussell's executors. It is believed that Trussell was buried in the east aisle of the north transept, later St Michael's Chapel , of Westminster Abbey.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 113.
  2. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 165
  3. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 46
  4. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 308
  5. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 60
  6. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 151
  7. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , p. 503
  8. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 513
  9. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 516
  10. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 535
  11. ↑ John Smith Roskell: The Commons and Their speakers in English Parliaments, 1376-1523. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1965, p. 6
  12. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 537
  13. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 199
  14. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 208
  15. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 222
  16. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 573
  17. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 60
  18. ↑ Westminster Abbey: Sir William Trussell. Retrieved October 7, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Trussell, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Trussell, Sir William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English knight, politician and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH 1346 or 1347