Thomas Trahern (died 25 November 1542) was

Somerset Herald Somerset Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. In the year 1448 Somerset Herald is known to have served the Duke of Somerset, but by the time of the coronation of King Henry VII in 1485 his successor a ...

, an English

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state; * to conserve a ...

. His murder in Scotland, which may have been related to the

Pilgrimage of Grace The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most ...

rebellion, was a setback to Anglo-Scottish relations.

Somerset Herald

Trahern was made Somerset Herald in 1536. One of his early missions was to interview Thomas Darcy, who was implicated in the pro-Catholic rebellion called the

. He met Darcy at Templehurst, near

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...

on 14 November 1536 accompanied by Henry Ray,

Berwick Pursuivant Berwick Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary was an English office of arms created around 1460 for service on the Scottish Marches based at Berwick-upon-Tweed. In the 16th century there was also a Herald or Pursuivant based at Carlisle on the west bord ...

. Though this meeting was conciliatory, Darcy was subsequently executed. With the other heralds and pursuivants, Trahern attended the funeral of

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

on Monday 12 November 1537. In August 1538 he was at the assize at York that condemned Thomas Millar or Milner, former

Lancaster Herald Lancaster Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an English officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. The title of Lancaster Herald first occurs in 1347 at Calais, and to begin with this officer was a servant to the noble house of Lancaster. As ...

. Millar's crime was his submission to Robert Aske, leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace, at

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wak ...

on 13 October 1536.

Death and legacy

On 12 November 1542, the

Earl of Hertford Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

sent Trahern to

James V of Scotland James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, and du ...

from Sir Robert Tyrwhitt's house at Kettleby in Lincolnshire. Trahern was killed near

Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...

while returning to England from Edinburgh on 25 November 1542. He was accompanied by Henry Ray and the Scottish

Dingwall Pursuivant Dingwall Pursuivant of Arms is a current Scottish pursuivant of arms of the Court of the Lord Lyon. Dingwall Pursuivant was formerly a private officer of arms in the service of the Lord of the Isles, but along with Kintyre Pursuivant, Ross Hera ...

. Although Ray stated the murderers were three English fugitives, John Prestman, William Leech of

Fulletby Fulletby is a village and a civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is in the Lincolnshire Wolds, and north-east from Horncastle, south from Louth, and north-west from Spilsby. The parish covers approximately ...

, bailiff of

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

, and his brother Edward, veterans of the Pilgrimage of Grace, Henry VIII treated his death in Scotland as a diplomatic incident and blamed James V of Scotland. Henry Ray provided a statement;

And then there came riding two men of horsbakk, and oon on fote with them, and overrode me the said Barwik and Scottishe pursivaunte, and ranne to Somersett, withoute speaking anye oon worde unto hyme. And oon of thies strange men ranne the said Somersett thorowe with a launce staff by hynd him, and oon other did strike hym to the harte with a dagger, and the thirde stroke the said Somersettis boye on the face with his sword.

Trahern was buried in the parish church of Dunbar by Sir James Hamilton of Innerwick. Cardinal

David Beaton David Beaton (also Beton or Bethune; 29 May 1546) was Archbishop of St Andrews and the last Scottish cardinal prior to the Reformation. Career Cardinal Beaton was the sixth and youngest son of eleven children of John Beaton (Bethune) of Bal ...

sent a surgeon from Haddington to Dunbar to heal the wounds of the servant or "boy". Prestman and Leech sought

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

, but were imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle and on 28 February 1543 sent to London for execution. William Leech was hanged at

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern O ...

on 8 May 1543, and his two companions were executed on 12 June. A later 16th-century English chronicle suggested that the distress caused by Trahern's murder contributed to the final illness of James V of Scotland. Thomas Traherne's own

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

, including a

chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock ...

and three black herons, shows that he was a member of a Glamorgan family.Burke, Bernard, ''A General Armory'', (1878).

Footnotes

External links

William Leech and the Rebellion in Lincolnshire on Horncastle discovered
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trahern, Thomas 1542 deaths English officers of arms Court of James V of Scotland England–Scotland relations English people murdered abroad 1542 in Scotland 1536 in England Year of birth unknown 16th-century English people People murdered in Scotland