William Trumbull

William Trumbull (1575?–1635) was an English diplomat, administrator and politician. From 1605 to 1625 Trumbull was secretary and later envoy from James I and then Charles I at the Brussels Court of Archduke Albert of Austria, ruler of the Habsburg Netherlands.

Trumbull also had an interest in music. Around 1595 he compiled a personally prepared collection of lute manuscripts that has become known as the Trumbull lute book, which shows he would have had access to the lute music of English court composers spanning much of the reign of Elizabeth I. Many of the letters were printed in Ralph Winwood's Memorials, and in Dudley Digges's Compleat Ambassador. While at Brussels Trumbull secured the private correspondence between Francisco de Vargas y Mexia and Cardinal Granvelle on the Council of Trent; an English translation was published in 1697 by Michael Geddes, and one in French by Michel Le Vassor in 1700.

Family

By his wife Deborah, daughter of Walter Downes of Beltring, Kent, he left two sons and two daughters. The elder son, William (1594?–1668), was father of Sir William Trumbull.