Execution of Robert Tresilian in medieval miniature

Sir Robert Tresilian (died 19 February 1388) was a Cornish lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench between 1381 and 1387. He was born in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, and held land in Tresillian, near

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

. Tresilian was deeply involved in the struggles between King Richard II and the

Lords Appellant The Lords Appellant were a group of nobles in the reign of King Richard II, who, in 1388, sought to impeach some five of the King's favourites in order to restrain what was seen as tyrannical and capricious rule. The word ''appellant'' — still ...

, and was eventually executed for his loyalty to the king.

Early career and the Peasants' Revolt

Tresilian appears in the records for the first time in 1354. His early career took place in Oxfordshire and Berkshire; in 1367 he was a Justice of the Peace (JP) in Berkshire and in 1368 in Oxfordshire. He also worked in his home county; in 1369 he was recorded as acting counsel in a Cornish assizes case, was also returned to that year's

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

as a

Knight of the Shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

for the same county, and in 1370 was a JP for Cornwall. In the 1370s he began working in royal administration, and in 1378 he was made a

Justice of the King's Bench Justice of the King's Bench, or Justice of the Queen's Bench during the reign of a female monarch, was a puisne judicial position within the Court of King's Bench, under the Chief Justice. The King's Bench was a court of common law which modern ...

. Shortly after he was also knighted. When Chief Justice Sir John Cavendish was killed in the

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...

in 1381, Tresilian was appointed to take over the position. After the rebellion was over, Tresilian was put in charge of punishing the rebels and did so extremely harshly. He followed King Richard II into

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, where he led what was described as a 'bloody assize' against the rebels. He pressured jurors into giving up names of suspects, and to maximise sentences, contrived to have charges presented as

felonies A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

rather than

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, woundi ...

es. All in all nineteen men were hanged, while another twelve were hanged and drawn. There was a widespread belief in the localities that royal retribution had gone too far, and that reform of government was necessary as well as punishing the rebels, to prevent further uprisings.

Political involvement and death

In the following years, Tresilian became increasingly involved in politics, as a loyal follower of the king. In November 1386 Parliament appointed a commission to review and control royal finances. The king resented this infringement of his

royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...

and, in the so-called 'questions to the judges', he received legal backing for the position that the commission was unlawful. It is largely assumed that it was Tresilian who drafted the 'questions', and thereby turned a political controversy into a legal dispute. The king's opponents went on the counterattack. On 17 November 1387 Tresilian was among a number of royal loyalists who were charged with treason by the group of noblemen known as the

. When Tresilian's case came up for trial, he had gone into hiding and was not to be found, and was sentenced ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

''. On 19 February 1388 he was discovered hiding in

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 ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. He was dragged into court with cries of 'We have him!' from the mob and, as he was already convicted, was summarily executed, being hanged naked before his throat was cut.

Reputation and family

The charges against Tresilian had consisted of more than simply treason. He was a highly unpopular judge, and among his crimes was also corruption. Several cases were presented from Cornwall and

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, where the judge had abused his powers to advance his own fortune. Tresilian and his wife Emmaline (Emma) had a son, John, and at least two daughters. Through his marriage, but also through corrupt dealings, he acquired great tracts of land in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Cornwall. His land was forfeited at his death but, his son's objections notwithstanding, much of it was regained by John Hawley the elder, a merchant and

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

from Dartmouth who purchased the estates from the Crown. Tresilian's widow Emma married John Colshull of Cornwall MP.''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386–1421'', ed. J. S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993 Ch(COLSHULL, John I (d.1413), of Friday Street, London and HAWLEY, John I (d. 1408), of Dartmouth, Devon) – published online at https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421 In the 1720s,

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dubl ...

, in his vehement attack on William Whitshed,

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

, cited Tresilian and

William Scroggs Sir William Scroggs (c. 162325 October 1683) was Lord Chief Justice of England from 1678 to 1681. He is best remembered for presiding over the Popish Plot trials, where he was accused of showing bias against the accused. Youth and early career S ...

as equivalent examples of judicial corruption.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tresilian, Robert 14th-century births 1388 deaths Justices of the King's Bench Lord chief justices of England and Wales Medieval Cornish people Executed Cornish people English politicians convicted of crimes 14th-century English politicians English MPs 1369 Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Cornwall People executed under the Plantagenets by decapitation English justices of the peace Knights Bachelor