REDMAN, Sir RICHARD (d. 1426), speaker of the House of Commons, was son of Sir Matthew Redman of Levens, Westmoreland, by his wife Joan. His father, probably a son of Sir Matthew Redman who sat for Westmoreland in the parliaments of 1357 and 1358 and died in 1360, served in France and Spain under John of Gaunt in 1373, 1375, and 1380. In 1381 he was warden of Roxburghe, and in 1389 a commissioner to treat with the Scottish envoys (Cal. Doc. relating to Scotland, 1357–1509; Cal. Patent Rolls, 1377–81, passim). He died about 1390, and in 1393 Richard was granted leave to hold a tournament at Carlisle. On 17 March 1399–1400 he received letters of protection for a journey to Ireland with John de Cobham, third lord Cobham [q. v.], and in May was treating for peace with the Scots. In 1405 he was commissioned to exact fines from those who had been concerned in the Percy rising, and in the same year represented Yorkshire in parliament; he was returned for the same constituency in 1414, 1415, 1420, and 1421. In 1408 he was appointed to receive submissions and levy fines on the rebels who had been defeated at Bramham Moor, and in 1409 and 1410 was engaged in negotiating with, and raising forces against, the Scots. In 1415, with John Strange, he took the principal part in mobilising the forces for the French war. In the parliament which met on 4 Nov. he was elected speaker; parliament was in a loyal mood after Agincourt, and, having rapidly voted supplies, was dissolved on 12 Nov. In 1421 Redman was commissioned to raise loans for the French war. He died in 1426, having married Elizabeth (d. 1434), widow of Sir Bryan Stapleton, and daughter of William de Aldburgh, lord of the manor of Harewood, Yorkshire; she brought him Harewood and other manors in Yorkshire (Cal. Inq. post mortem, iv. 108). His son, Matthew Redman, predeceased him in 1419 seised of a moiety of Harewood (ib. iv. 186). Richard Redman (d. 1505) [q. v.], bishop of Ely, was probably Matthew Redman's grandson.
[Rymer's Fœdera, orig. ed. vols. vii. viii. and ix. passim; Rolls of Parl. iv. 63 a; Palgrave's Antient Kal. and Inventories, ii. 55; Cal. of Documents relating to Scotland, passim; Official Ret. Memb. Parl.; Plumpton Corr. (Camden Soc.) passim; Wylie's Henry IV, iii. 158; Manning's Speakers; Miscell. Gen. et Herald. new ser. iii. 441–2.]
REDMAN, RICHARD (d. 1505), bishop of Ely, probably great-grandson of Sir Richard Redman [q. v.], was born in the chapelry of Levens on the borders of Cumberland and Westmoreland. He is said to have been educated at Cambridge, and subsequently to have become one of the regular canons of the Premonstratensian order in the abbey of Shap, of which house he became abbot, and was visitor of the order in 1478. He seems to have held his abbey in commendam with his bishopric of St. Asaph for many years. The abbey was scarcely five miles from Levens, and was an important house with ample revenues. It is probable that family influence contributed to his promotion to this his first preferment. He seems to have been nominated to the see of St. Asaph in 1468, but was not actually consecrated till three years later, a question having arisen as to whether the see was vacant (Le Neve, Fasti, i. 73). In the parliament of 1483 he was appointed one of the triers of petitions from Gascony and the parts beyond sea. He found the cathedral of St. Asaph a heap of ruins, in which state it had lain since Owen Glendower had burnt the place down in 1408. Bishop Redman set himself to restore the church at a great cost, and it remains now substantially as he left it. On 21 Aug. 1474 he took part in the consecration of Thomas Billing, bishop of Hereford, at St. Mary's, Westminster. In 1487 he became somehow compromised in the ‘rebellion’ of Lambert Simmel. A complaint was made to the pope, who adjudicated upon the matter. The bishop recovered his place in the favour of Henry VII, for in 1492 we find him one of the commissioners for treating with the Scots for peace, and next year he was admitted to the privy council. In January 1496 the see of Exeter was vacated by the translation of Oliver King to the bishopric of Bath and Wells, and Redman succeeded him at Exeter. Finally, in September 1501, he was removed to the see of Ely, where his magnificent monument may still be seen. He died at Ely House, Holborn, on 24 Aug. 1505. The bishop must have been a man of very large means, and his profuse liberality was proverbial during his lifetime. In his will, which has been preserved, he made many and large bequests to the religious houses in his diocese, to the cathedral, and to his old abbey of Shap, as well as to the poor, among whom one hundred marks was to be distributed at his funeral.
[Bentham's Ely, p. 183; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr.; Le Neve's Fasti; Rolls of Parl. iv. 63, vi. 196, 238.]
REDMAN, ROBERT (d. 1540), printer, seems to have started in business in London about 1525, in which year he printed an edition of ‘Magna Carta.’ He also printed
