On November 12, 1616, John Bertram, a grave man, about seventy years of age and of a clear reputation (William Camden, Annales ab Anno 1603 ad Annum 1623, 21, printed in the edition of his Epistolae, London, 1691), shot Sir John Tyndal, Master of Chancery, as he was entering his chamber in Lincoln’s Inn. The act was in revenge for a decision rendered by Sir John Tyndal against Bertram, the sum in contention not exceeding £200, yet involving, Bertram claimed, his whole fortune. As complaints were made of the Courts of Chancery the King desired to use the opportunity to inquire into their methods, but the murderer defeated such a purpose by hanging himself in prison on the 17th of November—five days after his deed. Sir Francis Bacon, then Attorney General, under the King’s direction took an interest in the case as the following letters prove. He wrote to the Lord Viscount Villiers, afterwards the Duke of Buckingham, a letter dated Sunday night, the day on which Bertram hanged himself, November 17: “I think his majesty was not only well advised, but well inspired, to give order for this same wicked child of Cain, Bertram, to be examined before he was further proceeded with. And for my part, before I had received his majesty’s pleasure by my Lord Chamberlain [William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke (1580–1630)], went thus far; that I had appointed him to be further examined, and also had taken order with Mr. Solicitor [Sir Henry Yelverton (1566–1629)] that he should be provided to make some declarations at his trial, in some solemn fashion, and not to let such a strange murder pass as if it had been but a horsestealing.

“But upon his majesty’s pleasure signified, I forthwith caused the trial to be stayed, and examined the party according to his majesty’s questions; and also sent for the prin­180cipa counsel in the cause, whereupon Sir John Tyndal’s report was grounded, to discern the justice or iniquity of the said report as his majesty likewise commanded.

“I send therefore the case of Bertram truly stated and collected, and the examination taken before myself and Mr. Solicitor; whereby it will appear to his majesty that Sir John Tyndal (as to this cause) is a kind of martyr; for if ever he made a just report in his life, this was it.

“But the event since all this is, that this Bertram being, as it seemeth, indurate or in despair, hath hanged himself in prison; of which accident, as I am sorry, because he is taken from example and public justice, so yet I would not for any thing it had been before his examination. So that there may be otherwise some occasion taken either by some declaration in the King’s Bench upon the return of the coroner’s inquest, or by some printed book of the fact, or by some other means (whereof I purpose to advise with my Lord Chancellor [Sir Thomas Egerton (1540?–1617), Viscount Brackley?] to have both his majesty’s royal care, and the truth of the fact, with the circumstances manifested and published.” Bacon, Works (London, 1825–34), XII. 236.

Four days later Bacon wrote to the King: “For this wretched murderer, Bertram, now gone to his place, I have, perceiving your majesty’s good liking of what I propounded, taken order, that there shall be a declaration concerning the cause in the king’s bench, by occasion of punishment of the offence of his keeper; and another in Chancery, upon the occasion of moving for an order, according to his just and righteous report. And yet withal, I have set on work a good pen, and myself will overlook it, for making some little pamphlet fit to fly abroad in the country.” Bacon, Works (London, 1825–34), VII. 356.The pamphlet, entered at Stationers’ Hall on November 26, bears the title: A True Relation of the Ground, Occasion, and Circumstances, of that Horrible Murther Committed by J. Bartram upon the Body of Sir J. Tyndal. Written by Way of Letter, from a Gentleman N. T.—i. e., Trott to his Country Friend. Together with the Examination of the said Bartram. 2 pts. B. M., Catalogue of Printed Books, XLVIII. 36; Registers of the Company of Stationers, ed. Arber, III. 598. On December 7 Edward Sherburn sent to Sir Dudley Carleton a “justification of Sir John Tyndall against the accusations of Bertram,” doubtless the same pamphlet. Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1611–1618, 412. Another edition, with somewhat altered title, was issued in the following year. B. M., Catalogue of Printed Books, XCVII. 248; Pollard and Redgrave, Short-Title Catalogue, 313.

Sir John Tyndal was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn December 8, 1562, to the bar in 1570, and to the bench in 1582. In 1588 he was Keeper of the Black Book; in 1590, Treasurer; in 1594, Lent Reader; in 1599, Dean of the Chapel, holding that place until 1611; and served on committees. He was appointed a Master in Chancery in 1598, and was knighted July 23, 1603. Venn, A. C. , IV. 284; Morant, Essex, II. 280–281; Lincoln’s Inn, Black Books, I. 373, 410, 458; II. 10, 17, 38, 59, 136, etc.