Jean de Rinel, nephew by marriage of Bishop Cauchon, was notary of the Grand Council and secretary to the King of England. Jean de Rinel is mentioned as present at a dinner offered by the Chapter of Rouen in 1413.

He signed an order of the Duke of Bedford in 1424, and another in 1428. Jean de Rinel received a prebend, by the procureur, Jean d'Estivet, as canon of Beauvais, on May 25, 1437.

On September 3, 1434, he is described as secretary to the King and he received 4 livres a day as his regular salary in the course of a trip he was about to make, from Vire to Savigny, to meet Richard Venables and other men-at-arms and yeomen who were at the abbey of Savigny.

Jean de Rinel accompanied his uncle, Pierre Cauchon in 1439 when they went to England. In 1443 he was said to have been twenty-four years in the King's service and he obtained ten gold nobles to consecrate to pious work.

Jean de Rinel's wife was Jeanne Bidault; sister of Jean Bidault, archdeacon of Auge and the church of Lisieux, canon of Rouen and nephew of Pierre Cauchon. The great house of the Rinels was situated in the rue de la Chaine at Rouen, in the present-day rue des Carmes.

Another Jean de Rinel was notary and secretary of the King in 1446.