THE CAREER OF SIR THOMAS TRIVET (1330-88)

In charting the career of Thomas Trivet, it is clear that he owed much of his success to his abilities as a soldier. He came from a family who were associated with the retinue of the Black Prince (especially his father, John Trivet) and this association perhaps resulted in his close assimilation with the court of Richard II. He enjoyed an illustrious military career, especially in the late 1370s and early 1380s (for example, as Admiral for the West in 1386). As leader of the Navarrese expedition in 1378 and 1379 he failed to further the Anglo-Navarrese alliance, and despite his attempts to stop the Treaty of Briones between Castile and Navarre, the latter was lost as an English stepping stone into the Iberian Peninsula. However personally, he seems to have emerged quite well from this campaign. He had proved himself as a capable soldier, if not a competent diplomat and returned to England to be warmly received by Richard II. Only a few years later, he was to play a part in the Bishop of Norwich's 'crusade' to Flanders as one of 'the best and most sufficient captains of the realm’.¹ though this 'crusade' began well, it soon turned into nothing short of a debacle, with the blame subsequently directed at Despenser and his captains once they had returned to England. As the account of the Westminster Chronicler has shown, anger was particularly fierce in England because the captains (Trivet among them), had received bribes from the French in return for their withdrawal from Flanders.² But as Saul has pointed out, the captains had little choice in the matter against a well-maintained French army.³ The English captains had done what they could under the circumstances.

As Admiral for the West, Trivet again seems to have done his best in unfavourable conditions. He and D’arcy had to contend with a distinct lack of ships at a time when English fears were heightened as a result of the gathering French fleet at Sluys which threatened invasion. In spite of this set back, the two admirals did remarkably well, seizing a small fleet of enemy ships bound for Sluys in the summer of 1386.

He enjoyed a certain 'friendship' with Richard which seems to have stemmed from an intense loyalty to his monarch, as well as a means of furthering his advancement (the grant of £100 from the stannary at Cornwall in 1385, for example, may have stemmed from his closeness to the King).⁴ His presence at court was influential enough for him to be arrested by the Appellants in January 1388, alongside other chamber officials and household knights. But again, his ability to ride out the tide of criticism prevailed and he was released and back at court again by the summer of 1388. It is difficult to judge Thomas Trivet as anything less than a success. He was never as influential at court as Robert de Vere, for instance, but nevertheless he was still a cause for concern for the Appellants in 1388. Finally,if Kingsford's assumption that ‘many people rejoiced at his death’ is to believed, then it suggests that Trivet must have been a success at court and on the battlefield for him to be rewarded with such bitter resentment.⁵

1 Aston, BIHR, (1965), p.128 (taken from Rot. Parl III, pp. 153-4)

2 Hector and Harvey, Westminster Chronicle p.49