Sir Robert Rede KS (died 7 or 8 January 1519) was an English

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the other ...

. Rede was the son of William Rede of

Wrangle, Lincolnshire Wrangle is a village in the Boston Borough of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately north-east from the town of Boston. The population of Wrangle civil parish in 2001 was 1,265, increasing to 1,397 at the 2011 census. Wrangle is ...

, a

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

merchant, and his wife Joan. He was admitted to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1467, (although he may have previously been a member of

Clement's Inn The Inns of Chancery or ''Hospida Cancellarie'' were a group of buildings and legal institutions in London initially attached to the Inns of Court and used as offices for the clerks of chancery, from which they drew their name. Existing from a ...

) and gave his first reading there in 1481. In 1486 he was made a

Serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

, followed by a promotion in 1494 to

King's Serjeant A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

, and an appointment in 1495 as a justice of the

Court of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

, where he sat for 10 years under Sir John Fineux, and was knighted for his services in 1501. He was transferred to the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

in 1506 and promoted to Chief Justice, a position he held until his death. Rede also served as one of the executors of King Henry VII's will.The National Archives Prob 11/40, ff.289-91.
/ref> Rede married the daughter of John Alfegh (or Alphay), a fellow member of Lincoln's Inn, and under the terms of his marriage settlement acquired lands in Hoo. Alfegh had built Bore Place in

Chiddingstone Chiddingstone is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the River Eden between Tonbridge and Edenbridge. The village of Chiddingstone Causeway and the hamlet Chiddingstone Hoath are also ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, and this property later came to Rede and his wife in 1489 under the terms of Alfegh's will. Rede died on 7 or 8 January 1519. He left a £4 annual stipend to finance three lectureships at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, one for logic, one for moral philosophy and one for the humanities. Although these positions had been provided since 1480, the stipend helped secure the position. From 1858 the fund was used to support a single annual lecture, known as the

Rede Lecture The Sir Robert Rede's Lecturer is an annual appointment to give a public lecture, the Sir Robert Rede's Lecture (usually Rede Lecture) at the University of Cambridge. It is named for Sir Robert Rede, who was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in th ...

, a practice that has continued to this day.

Marriage and issue

In the 1470s Rede married Margaret Alfegh, daughter of John Alphegh, by whom he had two sons and five daughters: *Edmund Rede (d.1501), who predeceased his father. *John Rede, who became a member of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

, and predeceased his father. *Mary Rede, who married Sir William Barantyne. *Jane Rede, who married John Caryll (d.1523),

. *Bridget Rede (d.1558), who married Thomas Willoughby (d.1545) of Lincoln's Inn,

Justice of the Common Pleas Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas ...

. She inherited Bore Place under her father's will. *Dorothy Rede, who married Edward Wotton (d.1551) of Lincoln's Inn. She inherited a house in St Sepulchre's, London, under her father's will. *Elizabeth Rede, a nun at

West Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...

Notes

References

* *

External links

Will of Sir Robert Rede, Chief Justice of the Pleas, proved 24 January 1519, PROB 11/19/190, National Archives
Retrieved 10 October 2013

Retrieved 10 October 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rede, Robert Chief Justices of the Common Pleas Knights Bachelor Justices of the King's Bench Serjeants-at-law (England) People from Wiltshire 15th-century births Year of birth missing 1519 deaths 15th-century English people 16th-century English judges 16th-century English lawyers People from the Borough of Boston People from Chiddingstone