Sir John Tregonwell (died 1565) was a Cornish jurist, a principal agent of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He served as Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1524 to 1536.A. Davidson, 'Tregonwell, Sir John (by 1498-1565), of Milton Abbas, Dorset', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament Online.A.N. Shaw, 'Tregonwell, Sir John (c. 1498–1565)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP 2004), online version 2008.W.A.J. Archbold, 'Tregonwell, Sir John (d. 1565), civilian', Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1900).C.S. Gilbert, An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall, to which is added a complete Heraldry, 2 vols (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London 1820), II, pp. 284-87 (Google).J.H. Bettey, 'Sir John Tregonwell of Milton Abbey', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society, XC for 1968 (1969), pp. 295-302.
Early life He was born in Cornwall, the second son of his family: he also had a sister named Alice, who married William Southcott of Chudleigh, Devon, and was the mother of the jurist John Southcote (born c. 1510).R.J.W. Swales, 'Southcote, John II (1510/11-85), of London and Witham, Essex', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 (from Boydell and Brewer 1982), History of Parliament Online. Tregonwell was educated at Oxford, initially at Broadgates Hall. He obtained a Bachelor of Civil Law on 30 June 1516, and Doctor of Civil Law on 23 June 1522.'Tregonwell, (Sir) John', in J. Foster (ed.), Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (University Press, Oxford 1891), pp. 1501-1528 (British History Online). Before leaving Oxford he became principal of Vine Hall.'Doctors of Civil Law: John Tregonwell', in A. à Wood, ed. P. Bliss, Fasti Oxonienses, or Annals of the University of Oxford, New Edition (F.C. and J. Rivington, London 1815), I: 1500-1640, p. 60 (Google). A record exists that he was constituted a Judge in the Admiralty Courts in the time of Lord High Admiral William Fitzwilliam, giving a date of about 1524.'Sir John Tregonwell, D.C. L.', in W. Senior, 'The Judges of the High Court of Admiralty', The Mariner's Mirror, Society for Nautical Research, XIII Part 4 (January 1927), p. 335; citing British Library, Add. MS 30222.1: COLLECTION Out of the records of the Court of Admiralty, mostly transcribed by Henry Rooke, Clerk of the Rolls, circ. 1750- 1760: Part 1, List of High Admirals of England, with an abstract of their patents; 1307-1709, fols 4-12. British Library Catalogue.
Career In December 1527 Tregonwell, LL.D., was named to a commission to inquire into and punish treasons, murders and piracies at sea, within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, a commission renewed in January 1530/31.'3747. Grants in December 1527, no. 2', in J.S. Brewer (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, IV: 1524-1530 (HMSO, London 1875), p. 1671; and see '35. Pirates. January 22 Henry VIII', in V: 1531-1532, p. 14 (British History Online). In 1528 as juris civilis doctor and judex curie Admirallitatis he issued a precept for an arrest as from the Admiralty Court.R.G. Marsden (ed.), Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty, (2 vols), Vol. I: The Court of the Admiralty of the West, and The High Court of Admiralty, 1527-1545; Vol. II: 1547-1602, Selden Society Vols VI and XI (1892, 1897), I, pp. 33-34 and p. 177 (Google). In 1528-1529 he assisted Rowland Lee in the visitation of Thetford Priory,D. MacCulloch, Thomas Cromwell: A Life (Allen Lane, 2018), p. clxviij. and in a letter of March 1529 the Abbot of Briwerne thanked Thomas Cromwell for the trouble taken on his behalf, as Dr Tregonwell and John Wadham had informed him. In May and June 1532 he and Dr William Knight (Archdeacon of Richmond) were engaged in diplomatic negotiations in the Netherlands, settling disputes between the Flemish merchants and the English Merchant Adventurers. After various threats to dissolve the diet,'1056. The Low Countries' and '1090. Knight and Tregonwell to Hackett', in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, V: 1531-1532 (HMSO 1880), p. 478, 31 May and p. 492 (British History Online). the Notarial instrument was signed at Dunkirk in their presence on 30 May.'Notarial Instrument', in J.P. Cooper, Appendices to a Report on Thomas Rymer's Foedera (Commissioners/M.R. Romilly/P.R.O., London 1869), p. 172 (Google). On 11 July 1532, in a consultation concerning sea business, he appears as "Master John Tregonwell, Doctor of Laws, Official commissary, or Judge, of the High Court of Admiralty", with Thomas Bagard, Doctor of Laws, as his Surrogate in that court.'Concerning sea business', in J.Exton, The Maritime Dicæologie, or, Sea-jurisdiction of England, in Three Books (Lawbook Exchange Ltd., New Jersey 2004), pp.361-62 (Google); Original edition (Richard Hodgkinson, London 1664), pp. 234-36. He became principal judge or commissary-general, and acted in various Admiralty commissions.N.H. Nicolas (ed.), Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1837), VII, p. 429 (Google).
He was introduced to the Privy Council as early as October 1532;'Letter from the Council to the King, dated 14 October (1532)', in N.H. Nicolas (ed.), Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, VII: 1540-1542 (Commissioners, 1837), pp. 343-44 (Google). and with the appointment of Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury in March 1533, Tregonwell rapidly became a useful figure in affairs of state. With Thomas Bedyll, John Cockes and Richard Gwent, he was one of the four witnesses summoned by Cranmer in March 1533 to hear his private protestation on the eve of his Consecration.H. Jenkins, The Remains of Thomas Cranmer, 4 vols (Oxford University Press 1833), IV, pp. 247-51.J. Strype, Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, 3 vols, Ecclesiastical History Society (Oxford 1848), I, pp. 491-97 (Google).N.P. Wiseman, 'Review: Lingard's "History of England"', The Dublin Review, XII, February and May 1842 (C. Dolman, London 1842), pp. 295-362, at pp. 337-41 (Google). At the Convocation of April 1533, Dr Tregonwell appeared as proctor for the King in the matter of the royal divorce, to require that their decisions concerning two questions should be brought into written form and published.'Determinationis Praelatorum et Cleri de Cantuariensi Provincia, in Convocatione, Duabus Quaestionibus, Instrumentum Publicum', in T. Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Literae, et Cujusque Generis Acta (etc.), Vol. XIV (By Command/A. & J. Churchill, London 1712), pp. 454-55 (Google).'317. Convocation of Canterbury (8 April 1533)', in J. Gairdner (ed), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VI: 1533 (HMSO 1882), p. 148 (British History Online). On 8 May Cranmer held court in the Lady Chapel of Dunstable Priory, with the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester and with several doctors of law, Dr Tregonwell among them, as counsellors in the law for the King's part. Lady Katherine was called but did not appear, and was held to be contumacious: examination of the evidence and witnesses proceeded.Strype, Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, I, Appendix III, pp. 324-28 (Google).'CXIV. Letter of Archbishop Cranmer to Archdeacon Hawkyns', in H. Ellis, Original Letters Illustrative of English History, First Series, vol II, 4th Edition (Harding, Triphook and Lepard, London 1824), pp. 33-40 (Internet Archive). On 23 May at Dunstable, Cranmer declared the marriage dissolved, and Tregonwell's short message went at once to Cromwell at Westminster.'525. John Tregonwell to Cromwell (23 May 1533), in Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VI: 1533, p. 230 (British History Online).'CCXVII: Dr Tregonwell to Thomas Cromwell', in H. Ellis, Original Letters Illustrative of English History, Third Series, II (Richard Bentley, London 1846), p. 276 (Google). He was soon afterwards granted an annuity of £40 for life.'578. Grants in May 1533, no. 10', in Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VI: 1533, p. 258 (British History Online).
With Chancellor Audeley, Secretary Cromwell, Almoner Fox and Richard Gwent, he signed the two treaties of peace of 1534 with Scotland on behalf of King Henry.'Indentura Tractatus Pacis Scotiae', and 'Indentura de Redeliberando Castro sive Fortalitio de Edryngtone vocato Cawmill', in T. Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Literae, et Cujusque Generis Acta (etc.), Vol. XIV (By Command/A. & J. Churchill, London 1712), pp. 529-537, and pp. 538-43 (Google).'647. Scotland' and '1032. Scotland' in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, VII: 1534 (HMSO 1883), p. 249 no. 647 and p. 403 no. 1032 (British History Online). He also took part in the proceedings against the London Carthusians,J. Chappell, Perilous Passages: The Book of Margery Kempe, 1534–1934 (Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2013), Pt 75 (Google). against Sir Thomas More,'974. Trial of Sir Thomas More (vi) Report of the sessions', in J. Gairdner (ed.), Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, Vol. VIII: January to July 1535 (HMSO 1885), pp. 384-86 (British History Online).'20. To Margaret Roper, Tower of London, 2 or 3 May 1535', in A. de Silva, The Last Letters of Thomas More (William B. Eerdemans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge UK 2000), p. 112 ff. (Google). and against Anne Boleyn.'Sententia diffinitiva in causa nullitatis matrimonii', in D. Wilkins, Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae, ab Anno MCCCL ad Annum MDXLV, 4 Vols. (R. Gosling, London 1737), III, pp. 803-04 (HathiTrust). He became a Master in Chancery by 1536, and was appointed to receive petitions in the Lords in parliaments commencing in 1536, and in that year held a commission to receive and examine rolls.