Family and Education

er. bro. of Michael Trereise*. m. Joan. ?1s.

Offices Held

Commr. of inquiry, Cornw. July 1404 (concealments).

Biography

John was probably related to William Trereise of East Stonehouse, Cornwall, who held a reversionary interest in the manors of Lanhadron and Langoron, which was to take effect after the deaths of Sir William Lambourne* and his first wife, and either he or an older kinsman of the same name stood surety for Lambourne at the shire elections to the second Parliament of 1383. But his own landed holdings were located mainly in west Cornwall: by 1402 he had acquired various properties situated near St. Michael’s Mount, including moieties of the hamlets of Retallack and ‘Tregosoll’ and lands across the Bay at Trereise, Tredaroe, Mousehole, Trewarveneth and Marazion. Through marriage he acquired property in Truro and Penryn, and he also possessed land at Kylmargh in St. Kew, near Padstow.1

In its earlier stages, Trereise’s career as a lawyer was no doubt furthered by his connexion with the Cornish judge, John Penrose, and it was in Penrose’s court, the King’s bench, that he built up his practice. He witnessed several deeds for Penrose both in Cornwall and London between 1388 and 1391, on one occasion being described as ‘clerk’, but he managed to avoid involvement in the misdemeanours for which the judge became notorious. However, in 1397, when he was said to be dwelling in London, at the ‘New Inn’ on the Strand, he himself was indicted for a trespass. On 2 Apr. that year, just after the dissolution of his second Parliament, a writ of supersedeas was issued by the Chancery in his favour after bail had been provided by two fellow Members of the Commons, Thomas Bere of Bodmin and John Kedwelly of Bridgwater, and nothing more is heard of the matter. In June 1399 Trereise was nominated by Sir John Cornwall (who, a year later, was to marry a sister of Henry IV) to act as his attorney in England during his absence abroad.2

After the turn of the century Trereise evidently devoted most of his time to purely local affairs. At the shire elections for Cornwall held in 1422 he stood surety for John But*, one of the burgesses-elect for Truro, while his brother, Ralph, acted similarly for Robert Treage* who was to represent Lostwithiel. In 1428 he witnessed the indenture for the foundation, by (Sir) John Arundell I*, of a chantry chapel at St. Columb Major, being then curiously described as ‘John Trereise, knight’.3 But this ascription of knighthood was no doubt an error; certainly he did not himself claim to be a knight when he made his will. A brief document drawn up on 25 Jan. 1431, it provides only one additional piece of information of any interest: that one of Trereise’s executors was to be Robert Frampton, the newly appointed baron of the Exchequer. Probate was granted on 3 Feb. following. Six years earlier the MP had made arrangements for his lands in west Cornwall to be held by James Trereise, clerk (perhaps his son), for 20 years, after which they were to go to his two nieces, both of whom were called Joan.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. Reg. Brantingham ed. Hingeston-Randolph, 374, 456; Cornw. Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1914), 673; ibid. (1950), 695; C219/8/9; CAD, iv. A10044; Feudal Aids, i. 229; E40/14678.
• 2. CCR, 1389-92, pp. 88, 289, 351, 357, 537; 1396-9, p. 117; KB27/538 m. 12; CPR, 1396-9, p. 559.
• 3. C219/13/1; CCR, 1429-35, pp. 36-37.
• 4. PCC 15 Luffenham; E40/14678.