Paternal Family Tree: William Tresham
William Tresham was born to Thomas Tresham of Sywell at Northamptonshire.
In 1415 William Tresham reviewed the accounts of the King's officials in southern Wales.
Before 1420 William Tresham and Isabel Vaux [aged 17] were married.
Around 1420 [his son] Thomas Tresham was born to William Tresham and [his wife] Isabel Vaux [aged 18]. He married before 1460 Margaret Zouche, daughter of William Zouche 5th Baron Zouche Harringworth and Alice St Maur Baroness Zouche Harringworth, and had issue.
In 1424 William Tresham was appointed Justice of the Peace Northamptonshire.
In 1439 William Tresham bought manor of Westhall, in Rushton St Peter, in which Rushton Hall, Rushton would later be built.
On 26th September 1439 William Tresham was appointed Speaker of the House of Commons.
On 3rd December 1441 William Tresham was appointed Speaker of the House of Commons.
On 3rd July 1442 William Tresham was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
On 14th December 1446 William Tresham was appointed Speaker of the House of Commons.
On 23rd September 1450 William Tresham was killed while travelling to meet Richard Plantagenet 3rd Duke of York [aged 39] by a group of men as a result of a propery dispute before he was tried for treason. His son Thomas Tresham [aged 30] escaped albeit severly injured.
Chronicle of Gregory. 23rd September 1450. Ande that same year was slayne Tresham, the man of lawe, that was Speker of the Parlymentt, and his son [Thomas Tresham [aged 30]] was soore woundyde in Northehampton schyre. And by the King and his counselle a Parlyment was ordaynyde to be-gyn on Syn Leonarde is day nexte folowynge. In the mene tyme many strange and woundyrfulle bylle were sete in dyvers placys, some at the kyngys owne chambyr doore at Westemyster, in his palysse, and some at the halle dore at Westemyster, ande some at Poulys chyrche dore, and in many othyr dyvers placys of London.
This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
23rd September 1450. [his wife] Isabel Vaux [aged 48] presented in the first session of the Parliament which met on 6 November 1450. WilliamTresham's death, she claimed, was the result of a conspiracy headed by a local gentleman, Simon Norwich. On the evening of 22 September, the conspirators, having discovered that Tresham had been summoned by Richard, duke of York [aged 39], sent a servant to visit him at his manor of Sywell, a few miles from Northampton, to find out his proposed route and time of travel. Armed with this knowledge, they ambushed him at six on the following morning at Moulton as he travelled from Sywell to meet the duke (Leland, clearly drawing upon a family tradition, erroneously has him travelling from Northampton to Sywell). There one Evan Aprice 'with a Launcegay, smote [him] thorough the body a fote and more, wherof he died'.