Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Monson, Robert
MONSON, ROBERT (d. 1583), judge, was the second son of William Monson of South Carlton, Lincolnshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Tyrwhitt of Kettelby in the same county, of which he was a native. The Monsons, Mounsons, or Munsons, as the name was variously spelt, belonged to an old Lincolnshire family, tracing their descent from one John Monson, living in 1378 at East Reson. Robert studied at Cambridge and entered, 23 Jan. 1545-6, Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar 2 Feb. 1549-1550, elected reader in the autumn of 1565 his reading 'On the Act for the True Payment of Tithes' is extant in Harl. MS. 5265 and again in Lent 1570. In the first parliament of Queen Mary (5 Oct,-5 Dec. 1553) he sat for Dunheved, Cornwall, in the second (2 April-5 May 1554) for Looe in the same county, and in the third (12 Nov. 1554-16 Jan. 1554-5) for Newport-juxta-Launceston. In the parliament of 1557-8 he again represented Dunheved. In the first two parliaments of Elizabeth (1558-9-1566-7) he sat for Lincoln, in the fourth, which met in 1572, for Totnes, Devonshire. In the house he acted with Robert Bell [q. v.], sat on many important committees, and distinguished himself by boldness of speech, particularly in the autumn of 1566, when he offended the queen by the persistence with which he pressed for a direct answer to a petition of both houses praying her to marry and nominate her successor in the event of her death without issue. This, however, did not prevent his being placed on the high court of ecclesiastical commission on its renewal in 1570, and in Michaelmas term 1572 he was called to the degree of serjeant-at-law by special mandate of the queen, and immediately afterwards raised to the bench of the common pleas (31 Oct.)
Monson was a member of a special commission, appointed 11 May 1575, for the examination of suspected anabaptists. Most of the heretics recanted, but two Dutchmen, John Peters and Henry Turnwert, stood firm, and on 22 July were burned at West Smithfield. In December 1577 Monson gave an extra-judicial opinion in favour of the legality of punishing non-attendance at church by fine. For questioning the legality of the sentence passed on John Stubbs [q. v.] for his pamphlet against the French match he was committed to the Fleet in November 1579. He was released in the following
February, and had leave to go down into Lincolnshire; nor did he ever resume his seat on the bench, though fines continue to be recorded as levied before him until the middle of Easter term, when he formally resigned. His successor, William Peryam, however, was not appointed until February 1580-1.
Monson spent the rest of his days on his estate in Lincolnshire, where he died on 23 Sept, 1583. He was buried in Lincoln Cathedral, his tomb being marked by a brass with a quaint Latin inscription (see Collins, Peerage, ed. Bridges, vii. 230. Other versions, given in Peck's 'Desiderata Curiosa,' lib. viii. No, viii. iii., Cooper's ' Athenæ Cantabr.,' and Foss's ' Lives of the Judges,' are in various ways corrupt). Monson married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Dyson, by whom he had no issue. She survived him.
Monson's decisions are reported by Dyer, Coke, and Plowden. Two letters relating to a lawsuit in which he was engaged, both dated in November 1576, and addressed to Walsingham and Burghley respectively, are preserved in Lansd. MS. 23, art. 85, and the State Paper Office (see Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547-80, p. 530).
[Lincoln's Inn Reg.; Dugdale's Orig. pp. 48, 253, and Chron. Ser. pp. 92, 93; Lists of Members of Parliament (Official); Willis's Not. Parl. vol. iii.; Sir Simonds D'Ewes's Journal of the Parliaments of Elizabeth, ed. 1682, pp. 103, 159, 164, 176–90, 207, 220–2; Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. App. (Cal. Cecil MSS.), p. 341; Parker Corresp. (Parker Soc.), pp. 370, 383, 390; Strype's Parker (fol.), ii. 327; Strype's Grindal (fol.), p. 233; Strype's Annals (fol.), i. 530; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, p. 530; Rymer's Fœdera, xv. 740; Fuller's Church Hist. bk. iv. p. 104; Harl. MS. 6992, art. 59; Lodge's Illustr. (4to), ii. 224; Dyer's Reports, p. 310; authorities cited in the text.]