THE CAREER OF SIR THOMAS TRIVET (.1330-88)

He owed his elevation at court to Richard and there are no examples of Trivet acting against the King's wishes at any other time. Of the actual event in 1387, Knighton states how someone close to the King (which Martin believes must be Trivet), said to him; ‘My lord, let us arise and fall upon your enemies, and pen them like a herd of sheep, and belabour them as though the Devil himself were rending their hides’.¹⁷ Knighton's account is corroborated by the Westminster Chronicler who specifically states that Trivet 'advised the King to take to the field and unfurl his standard against the insurgents’.¹⁸ But neither speak specifically of Trivet's intention of organising an ambush for the Appellants. In reality, the Appellants were delayed on the journey to meet the King at Westminster on the 17th November 1387, because they had been warned of an ambush by the Mews at Charing Cross and by the Archbishop of Canterbury's house.¹⁹ Ultimately, the ambush failed, and Trivet (alongside other Knights of the Household) was imprisoned in the succeeding parliament. However, as Given-Wilson points out, Trivet's actions singled him out alongside de Vere as one of the few loyal individuals to stand by Richard in this time of crisis.²⁰

18 Hector and Harvey. Westminster Chronicle. p.213

19 Martin, Knighton's Chronicle. p.413n

20 Given-Wilson, Royal Household. p.221