CHAP. II. Sir John Sir John de Cavendish. memorable. Then came the famous Sir John Knyvet, who afterwards held the Great Seal, and of whom I have already told all that I know.* Next we come to a Chief Justice whose career excites considerable interest: Sir John de Cavendish, the ancestor of the Duke of Devonshire. The original name of the family His origin. was Gernon, or Gernum; and they changed it on marrying the heiress of the manor of Cavendish, in the county of Suffolk. This, however, was only a small possession; and John, the son of the marriage, being of an aspiring nature, and seeing that in peaceable times promotion was to be gained by civil rather than military service, studied the law, was called to the bar, and soon gained the first-rate practice as an advocate. Such was his reputation, that, in the year 1366, Edward III., after the peace of Bretigni, being desirous of making himself popular by good judicial appointments, raised John de Cavendish to the office of Chief Justice of the King's Bench, although he had not filled the office of Attorney or Solicitor General, or even reached the dignity of the coif. The appointment gave universal satisfaction; and, with De Cavendish presiding over the common law, and Knyvet over equity, it was admitted that justice had never been so satisfactorily administered in Westminster Hall. A.D. 1966. He is made Chief Justice of the King's A.D. 1382. He is put to death in Wat Tyler's rebellion. Lord Chief Justice Cavendish held his office sixteen years, being reappointed on the accession of Richard II. with an advance in his salary to 100 marks a year. At last he fell a victim to the brutality of the populace in Wat Tyler's insurrection. After that rebel chief had been killed in Smithfield by Sir William Walworth, there was a rising in Norfolk and Suffolk, under the conduct of a leader much more ferocious, who called himself Jack Straw, and incited his followers to more frightful devastations than any ever committed before or since in a jacquerie movement in England, where, in the worst times, some respect has been shown to the influence of station and the dictates of humanity. A band of them, near 50,000 strong, as infuriated as the canaille of Paris or the peasants of Gallicia in the crisis of a revolution, marched to * Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i. p. 266. II. A.D. 1382. the Chief Justice's mansion at Cavendish, which they plun- CHAP. dered and burned. The venerable Judge made his escape, but was taken in a cottage in the neighbourhood. Unmoved by his grey hairs, they carried him in procession to Bury St. Edmund's, as if to open the assizes, and, after he had been subjected to a mock trial in the market-place, he was sentenced to die; Jack Straw's Chief Justice magnanimously declaring, "that, in respect of the office of dignity which his brother Cavendish had so long filled, instead of being hanged, he should be beheaded." It was resolved, however, that he should be treated with insult as well as with cruelty; for his head being immediately struck off, it was placed in the pillory amidst the savage yells and execrations of the bystanders.* scendants. He seems to have been moderate in his accumulation of wealth; for he added very little to his landed estates, and his posterity for some generations remained in obscurity. The His denext eminent Cavendish we read of was Sir William, lineally descended from the Chief Justice's eldest son, John. This individual, at starting, was not very high in office, being only gentleman-usher to Cardinal Wolsey. But he will ever be remembered with honour for his affectionate fidelity to his master, and for his inimitable Life of him, the earliest and one of the very best specimens of English biography. After Wolsey's fall, he was taken into favour by Henry VIII., and became auditor of the Court of Augmentations, Treasurer of the Chamber, and a Privy Councillor. Taking the side of the Reformation, he received under Edward VI. large grants of abbey lands in the county of Derby. His son was ennobled in the reign of James I. by the title of Baron Cavendish. In a subsequent generation, there were two dukedoms in the family: Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, still flourishing; and Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, which became extinct. * Walsingham. CHAPTER III. CHIEF JUSTICES TILL THE DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM GASCOYNE. CHAP. III. Sir Robert He is made a Puisne Judge of the Com mon Pleas. Chief Jus tice of the King's Bench. We next come to a Chief Justice of the King's Bench who actually suffered the last penalty of the law and deservedly - in the regular administration of retributive justice, — Sir Robert Tresilian, — hanged at Tyburn. I can find nothing respecting his origin or education, except a doubtful statement that he was of a Cornish family, and that he was elected a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, in 1354.* As far as I know, he is the first and last of his name to be found in our judicial or historical records. The earliest authentic notice of him is at the commencement of the reign of Richard II., when he was made a serjeant at law, and appointed a Puisne Judge of the Court of King's Bench.† The probability is, that he had raised himself from obscurity by a mixture of good and evil arts. He showed learning and diligence in the discharge of his judicial duties; but, instead of confining himself to them, he mixed deeply in politics, and showed a determination, by intrigue, to reach power and distinction. He devoted himself to De Vere, the favourite of the young King, who, to the great annoyance of the princes of the blood, and the body of the nobility, was created Duke of Ireland, was vested for life with the sovereignty of that island, and had the distribution of all patronage at home. By the influence of this minion, Tresilian, soon after the melancholy end of Sir John Cavendish, was appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench; and he was sent into Essex to try the rebels. The King accom * Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Ixiv. p. 325. I suspect that he is assigned to Cornwall only on the authority of "the CHAP. panied him. It is said that, as they were journeying, "the Essex men, in a body of about 500, addressed themselves barefoot to the King for mercy, and had it granted upon A.D. 1382. condition that they should deliver up to justice the chief instruments of stirring up the rebellion; which being accordingly done, they were immediately tried and hanged, ten or twelve on a beam, at Chelmsford, because they were too many to be executed after the usual manner, which was by beheading." Tresilian now gained the good graces of Michael de la Pole, the Lord Chancellor, and was one of the principal advisers of the measures of the Government, being ever ready for any dirty work that might be assigned to him. In the year 1385, it was hoped that he might have got rid, by an illegal sentence, of John of Gaunt, who had become very obnoxious to the King's favourites. "For these cunning flatterers, having, by forged crimes and accusations, incensed the King against him, contrived to have him suddenly arrested, and tried before Judge Tresilian, who, being perfectly framed to their interests, would be ready enough, upon such evidence as they should produce, to condemn him."† But the plot got wind, and the Duke, flying to Pontefract Castle, fortified himself there till his retainers came to his rescue. II. to triumph over the Barons. In the following year, when there was a change of ministry according to the fashion of those times, Tresilian was in great danger of being included in the impeachment which proved the ruin of the Chancellor; but he escaped by an intrigue enable His plan to with the victorious party, and he was suspected of having Richard secretly suggested the commission signed by Richard, and confirmed by Parliament, under which the whole power of the state was transferred to a commission of fourteen Barons. He remained very quiet for a twelvemonth, till he thought that he perceived the new ministers falling into unpopularity, and he then advised that a bold effort should be made to crush them. Meeting with encouragement, he secretly left London, and, being joined by the Duke of Ireland, went to the King, who was at Nottingham in a progress through the † Ib. 253. VOL. I. * Kennet, i. 248. H III. 25th Aug. 1387. CHAP. midland counties. He then undertook, through the instrumentality of his brother Judges, to break the commission, and to restore the King and the favourite to the authority of which it had deprived them. His plan was immediately adopted, and the Judges, who had just returned from the summer assizes, were all summoned in the King's name to Nottingham. The opinion of the Judges on the privileges of Parlia ment. On their arrival, they found not only a string of questions, but answers, prepared by Tresilian. These he himself had signed, and he required them to sign. Belknappe, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and the others, demurred, seeing the peril to which they might be exposed; but, by promises and threats, they were induced to acquiesce. The following record was accordingly drawn up, that copies of it might be distributed all over England: "Be it remembered, that on the 25th of Aug., in the 11th year of the reign of K. Rich. II., at the Castle of Nottingham, before our said lord the King, Rob. Tresilian, chief justice of England, and Rob. Belknappe, chief justice of the common bench of our said lord the King, John Holt, Roger Fulthorp, and Wm. de Burgh, knights, justices, &c. and John de Lokton, the King's serjeant-at-law, in the presence of the lords and other witnesses underwritten, were personally required by our said lord the King, on the faith and allegiance wherein to him the said King they are bound, to answer faithfully unto certain questions here under specified, and to them then and there truly recited, and upon the same to declare the law according to their discretion, viz.: "1. It was demanded of them, 'Whether that new statute, ordinance, and commission, made and published in the last parl. held at Westm. be not derogatory to the royalty and prerogative of our said lord the King?' To which they unanimously answered that the same are derogatory thereunto, especially because they were against his will. "2. "How those are to be punished who procured that statute and commission ?'-A. That they were to be punished with death, except the King would pardon them. "3. How those are to be punished who moved the King to consent to the making of the said statute?'-A. That they ought to lose their lives unless his Maj. would pardon them. "4. "What punishment they deserved who compelled, straightened, or necessitated the King to consent to the making of the said |