John Estrete

John Estrete, or Strete (died c.1491) was an Irish judge and statesman of the late fifteenth century. He held the offices of King's Serjeant, Deputy Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and Master of the Coinage of Ireland. He was a member of the Privy Council of Ireland. He was a supporter of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, who was almost all-powerful in Ireland for many years, and was prepared to defy the English Crown on occasion. Despite his close FitzGerald connection Estrete in time gained the confidence of the English Crown, and acted as an intermediary between the Crown and Kildare, notably during the rebellion of Lambert Simnel.

The Estrete (or Strete) family were prosperous citizens of fifteenth-century Dublin, who later acquired lands in Louth and Meath. The name is generally thought to be an early form of Street. John was the son of John Estrete senior and his wife Joanna Estrete. He was married and had four sons and two daughters, but by 1488 only two of his children, George and Katherine, were still alive.

He is known to have been practicing in the Irish courts of common law by 1477. In 1478 he went to England, received a royal pardon for an unspecified offence, and was appointed King's Sergeant in Ireland. He probably owed this appointment to the influence of Gerald, the 8th or "Great Earl of Kildare" , who was then beginning his effective control of Irish Government, which he dominated for 35 years.

As King's Serjeant he was notable for running an elementary law school, at a time when members of the Irish bar were required to obtain their formal education at the Inns of Court in London. Sir William Darcy, the Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, recalled in later life that in 1482–83 he and other law students had spent the law terms at Estrete's house in Dublin, studying the crucial English law books, knowledge of which were necessary for law students who intended to qualify at the Bar, and which would prepare them to proceed to the Inns of Court.

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