THE CAREER OF SIR THOMAS TRIVET (1330-88)

Limbury held lands in Bedford and Cambridge, presumably on the inheritance of his father Walter.⁹

The inquisition into Trivet's lands after his death gives a detailed picture of the major parts

of his estates.¹⁰ Most of these were situated in Somerset and were granted to Thomas by Sir John Clinton, Sir Matthew Gournay, Richard Mareys and Robert Wrenche. Clinton was his wife's stepfather and Gournay was his uncle by his grandmother's first marriage (see Appendix 1), but I have not been able to establish a connection between Mareys and Wrenche. Among the appointments given jointly to him and his wife, was the manor of Otterhampton in Somerset. The hamlet of Otterhampton had belonged to Trivet's grandfather and had probably reverted to the Gournays after the latter's death in 1316.¹¹ It had been the traditional manorial demesne of the Trivet family at the turn of the fourteenth century and was relatively prosperous with 90 acres of arable land, 30 acres of meadow and 20 acres of pasture, with 8 ‘neifs’ who owed 3 days work in the autumn and about £4 8s worth of rent.¹² At his death, Thomas also held the manor of Puriton and Crandon. The Trivets had held lands in the latter as far back as the late thirteenth century, when Thomas's great great grandfather settled his share of the manor of Crandon on his son William. In turn, William's grandson John was granted ‘free warren’ at Crandon in about 1354¹³ It was then passed onto Thomas Trivet's widow, Elizabeth Limbury, presumably after John's death. She granted Crandon to her late husband's cousin, John Trivet, during her lifetime, although she died in 1433 in possession of the said manor.¹⁴

Among Trivet's other personal or business connections in the 1370s, were a few London vintners. In 1373, he used his manor of Northaston in Oxfordshire as surety for a loan of about £80 obtained from the London vintner, John Clyvelee (who later became an alderman betxveen 1377 and 1384) which he seems to have been unable to pay at the specified time.¹⁵ Trivet also obtained a pardon for John Tonge on the 7th October 1378, who was perhaps the orphaned son of the London vintner, William Tonge.¹⁶ However, the reasons fbr Trivet's particular connections with these London vintners can only be speculated.

One of the most interesting of 'Trivet's connections is his relationship to the celebrated knight, Sir Matthew Gournay. Gournay was Trivet's uncle and half-brother to Trivet's father, John(see Appendix 1)¹⁷ Joan (Trivet's grandmother) had presumably divorced Gournay's father Thomas Gournay before marrying Trivet's grandfather, Thomas Trivet before 1316.¹⁸ Matthew Gournay probably went some way in furthering his nephew's

9 CCR 1302-7, p.322

10 IMP 7-15 Richard II, vol.XVI,pp.297-9(nos. 764-770). See Appendix 2 for a map of his estates

11 IMP Edward II, vol VI,p43(no.57)

12 Dunning, History of Somerset vol.VI,p.107

13 Ibid p.186

14 Ibid

15 R.R. Sharpe ed Calendar of letter-books of the City ofLondon..Letter-Book H, (1907), p.89, CCR
1369-74 p. 559

16 CPR 1377-81, p.393, Sharpe, Calender of letter-books H, p.357

17 Russell, English Intervention. p.270n; Kingsford. DNB. vol XIX, p.1163

18 CPR 1330-34, p.89. Thomas Gournay was embroiled in the death of Edward II and was murdered in custody off the coast of Gascony in 1333 (N. Fryde, The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II 1321-1326, (1979), p.201. p204, & p206}