TRENERTH, Robert

More may be added to the earlier biography. The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 648-9.

Despite the limited nature of his landholdings in Cornwall, Trenerth appears to have played his part in the county community at least prior to the period of his three returns to Parliament. Thus, his presence is recorded at the shire elections of 1419, when he attested the sheriff’s election indenture. C219/12/3. Around that time he was engaged in litigation against John Fursdon† who in the following year would sit alongside him in Parliament (as one of the Members for Liskeard). The issue at stake was a debt of £36, but Trenerth proved a tenacious opponent: apart from suing a writ in the court of common pleas which led to Fursdon’s outlawry, he also brought a suit before the barons of the Exchequer as a result of which the defendant was arrested and placed in the Fleet prison. E13/134, rot. 14d. The outcome of the matter is unclear, but it may have played a part in the decision of both parties to seek election to the Commons a few months later.