Thomas Trahern

Last updated

Thomas Trahern (died 25 November 1542) was Somerset Herald, an English officer of arms. His murder in Scotland, which may have been related to the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion, was a setback to Anglo-Scottish relations.

Contents

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 Pilgrimage of Grace. He met Darcy at Templehurst, near Selby on 14 November 1536 accompanied by Henry Ray, Berwick Pursuivant. [1] Though this meeting was conciliatory, Darcy was subsequently executed. With the other heralds and pursuivants, Trahern attended the funeral of Jane Seymour on Monday 12 November 1537. [2] In August 1538 he was at the assize at York that condemned Thomas Millar or Milner, former Lancaster Herald. [3] Millar's crime was his submission to Robert Aske, leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace, at Pontefract on 13 October 1536. [4]

Death and legacy

On 12 November 1542, the Earl of Hertford sent Trahern to James V of Scotland from Sir Robert Tyrwhitt's house at Kettleby in Lincolnshire. [5] Trahern was killed near Dunbar while returning to England from Edinburgh on 25 November 1542. He was accompanied by Henry Ray and the Scottish Dingwall Pursuivant. Although Ray stated the murderers were three English fugitives, John Prestman, William Leech of Fulletby, bailiff of Louth, and his brother Edward, veterans of the Pilgrimage of Grace, [6] Henry VIII treated his death in Scotland as a diplomatic incident and blamed James V of Scotland. [7] 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. [8]

Trahern was buried in the parish church of Dunbar by Sir James Hamilton of Innerwick. Cardinal David Beaton sent a surgeon from Haddington to Dunbar to heal the wounds of the servant or "boy". [9]

Prestman and Leech sought sanctuary, but were imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle and on 28 February 1543 sent to London for execution. William Leech was hanged at Tyburn on 8 May 1543, and his two companions were executed on 12 June. [10] 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. [11]

Thomas Traherne's own coat of arms, including a chevron and three black herons, shows that he was a member of a Glamorgan family. [12]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Letters and Papers Henry VIII, vol. 11, (1888), no. 1086". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
  2. ↑ Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 12 part 2, (1891), no. 1060.
  3. ↑ Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 13 part 2, (1893), no. 42.
  4. ↑ State Papers Henry VIII, vol. 1, part 1 & 2, John Murray (1831), 462 fn.
  5. ↑ Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 17 (London, 1900), nos. 1084, 1085.
  6. ↑ James, Mervyn, Society, Politics and Culture: Studies in Early Modern England (CUP, 1986), p. 216.
  7. ↑ "Letters & Papers Henry VIII, 1542, no. 1140 (2)". British-history.ac.uk. 2003-06-22. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
  8. ↑ State Papers Henry VIII, vol. 5, part 4 cont., (London, 1836), 225-232.
  9. ↑ Robert Kerr Hannay, Rentale Sancti Andree (Edinburgh: SHS, 1913), p. 139.
  10. ↑ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 8, 170.
  11. ↑ Grafton, Richard, Chronicle at Large, vol. 2 (London, 1809), p. 88.
  12. ↑ Burke, Bernard, A General Armory, (1878).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James V</span> King of Scotland from 1513 to 1542

James V 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, daughter of Henry VII of England. During his childhood Scotland was governed by regents, firstly by his mother until she remarried, and then by his first cousin once removed, John Stewart, Duke of Albany. James's personal rule began in 1528 when he finally escaped the custody of his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. His first action was to exile Angus and confiscate the lands of the Douglases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary of Guise</span> Queen of Scotland from 1538 to 1542

Mary of Guise, also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lyndsay</span> Scottish herald and poet

Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount was a Scottish knight, poet, and herald who gained the highest heraldic office of Lyon King of Arms. He remains a well regarded poet whose works reflect the spirit of the Renaissance, specifically as a makar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Solway Moss</span> English victory over Scotland, 1542

The Battle of Solway Moss took place on Solway Moss near the River Esk on the English side of the Anglo-Scottish border in November 1542 between English and Scottish forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pilgrimage of Grace</span> 1536 uprising against Henry VIII in England

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, Durham and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most serious of all Tudor period rebellions", it was a protest against Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church, the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, and the policies of the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, as well as other specific political, social, and economic grievances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stewart, Duke of Albany</span> Scottish Prince and regent

John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany was the regent of the Kingdom of Scotland and the count of Auvergne and Lauraguais in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys</span> English diplomat

William Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys, KG, of The Vyne in the parish of Sherborne St John, Hampshire, was an English diplomat, and a favourite of King Henry VIII, whom he served as Lord Chamberlain. In the 1520s he built a palatial Tudor-style mansion at "The Vyne", which survives in a reduced and classicised form as a possession of the National Trust.

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 border.

Lady Margaret Erskine was a mistress of King James V of Scotland and mother of Regent Moray.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Innerwick Castle</span> Ruined castle in East Lothian, Scotland

Innerwick Castle is a ruined castle in East Lothian, Scotland, near the village of Innerwick, 5 miles (8.0 km) from Dunbar, on the Thornton Burn, and overlooking Thornton Glen.

Bigod's rebellion of January 1537 was an armed rebellion by English Catholics in Cumberland and Westmorland against King Henry VIII of England and the English Parliament. It was led by Sir Francis Bigod, of Settrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rough Wooing</span> 16th century war between Scotland and England

The Rough Wooing, also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following its break with the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the Auld Alliance and prevent Scotland being used as a springboard for future invasion by France, partly to weaken Scotland, and partly to force the Scottish Parliament to confirm the existing marriage alliance between Mary, Queen of Scots, and the English heir apparent Edward, son of King Henry VIII, under the terms of the Treaty of Greenwich of July 1543. An invasion of France was also contemplated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary of Bourbon</span>

Mary of Bourbon or Marie de Bourbon was a daughter of Charles, Duke of Vendôme, and Françoise d'Alençon, daughter of René, Duke of Alençon. Mary was the subject of marriage negotiations of James V of Scotland. He visited her in France, but subsequently married Madeleine of Valois. Mary died two years later.

John Drummond of Milnab was a 16th-century Scottish carpenter in charge of the woodwork of the palaces, castles and guns of James IV of Scotland and James V of Scotland.

Hugh Somerville, 5th Lord Somerville was a lord of the Parliament of Scotland. He is sometimes reckoned to be the 4th Lord Somerville. He succeeded his brother, John Somerville, 4th Lord Somerville. Hugh and John were sons of William Somerville, Master of Somerville, and Marjory Montgomerie.

Sir Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, also known as Greysteil, was a Scottish nobleman and courtier, who served as Treasurer of Scotland, and was three times Provost of Edinburgh.

Alexander Crichton of Brunstane,, was a Scottish Protestant laird who advocated the murder of Cardinal David Beaton and supported the plan for the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Prince Edward of England. In contemporary letters and documents Alexander is known by variant spellings of "Brunstane," his territorial designation. The original House of Brunstane was near Penicuik, and another Crichton estate at Gilberstoun near Portobello, Edinburgh later became known as Brunstane.

Thomas Bellenden or Bannatyne of Auchnoule, courtier of James V of Scotland, Judge from 1535, Director of Chancery from 1538, Lord Justice Clerk from 1539, member of the royal council, ambassador to England, and Protestant sympathizer. Bellenden was a graduate of the University of Paris, and early in his career used the title "Master."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Leyburn</span> 16th-century English politician

Sir James Leyburn, also Laybourne, Labourn, etc., was a senior representative of one of the powerful families within the Barony of Kendal. He was at different times a Justice of the Peace for Westmorland, Escheator for Cumberland and Westmorland, and Commissioner for the survey of the monasteries of Lancashire. He was caught up in the troubles at Kendal during the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536-1537). As an assistant to Sir Thomas Wharton, Deputy Warden of the West March, he took an important part in the Battle of Solway Moss (1542). He was one of the two MPs for Westmorland in 1542 and 1545.

James, Duke of Rothesay was the first of the two sons and three children born to King James V of Scotland and his second wife, Mary of Guise. From the moment of his birth James was Duke of Rothesay and heir apparent to the Scottish throne.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.