ASPECTS OF CROWN ADMINISTRATION AND SOCIETY IN THE COUNTY OF NORTHUMBERLAND, c. 1400- c. 1450. JANETTE GARRETT A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Teesside University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2013 Abstract This is a study of a local society and its interaction with central government observed through routine administrative systems. Although Northumberland has been the focus of detailed investigation during the late middle ages, a gap in scholarship remains for much of the first half of the fifteenth century. As England’s most northerly county, work on the relationship between provincial society, peripheries of the realm and the crown is critical to this study. This research tests assumptions that Northumberland was feudal, lawless, distant and difficult for the crown to administer. The research consists of two parts: the first is an evaluation of social structure; the second explores the administrative machine. It opens with a survey of feudal tenure. Chapter two examines the wealth of resident landholders. Chapter three outlines the genealogies of landed society and their relationship to one another as a ‘county community’. Chapter four expands on family connections to incorporate the bond of spiritual kinship. Chapter five charts the scope of social networks disclosed though the management of property, personal affairs and dispute. Chapter six considers the inquisitions post mortem (IPM) process and the impact of distance. Chapter seven discusses jurors and their place in county society. Original contributions to knowledge are made in a number of areas. The theme of spiritual kinship has not been developed in any county study of this period. Additional information concerning the county return for the 1435 subsidy on land is provided, which has previously been overlooked. The location of a copy of the escheator’s oath created in response to a statute of 1429, which has not been captured in recent studies, resolves the current ambiguity concerning the statutory requirement of an indented inquisition return. i Contents Page Lists of Maps and Tables ii Appendices ii - iii Acknowledgements iv Abbreviations v Introduction 1 1 Feudal Tenure 26 2 Wealth 55 3 Marriage and Family 78 4 Spiritual Kinship 94 5 Witnessing and Dispute Resolution 121 6 Crown Administration 151 7 Jurors 179 Conclusion 191 Bibliography 236 Contents ii List of Maps 1. The County of Northumberland 25 2. The Greater Liberties of North-East England 36 2.1 The Liberty of Redesdale 37 2.2 The Liberty of Tynedale 38 2.3 The Liberty of Hexhamshire 39 2.4 The Liberty of Tynemouthshire 40 2.5 The Liberty of Durham: North Durham, the Parishes of Norhamshire and Islandshire 41 3. Administrative Wards, 1428 47 4. Percy Estates, 1428 51 5. Seats of Lay Taxpayers Assessed in Northumberland at £10 or More, 1436 65 6. Sites Reported Destroyed or Wasted by Scots, 1408-18 72 7. Places of Birth of Heirs to Northumbrian Estates 116 List of Tables 1. Percentage of Knights’ Fees Held by the Crown, Nobility and Gentry, 1428 46 1.1 Percentage of Knights’ Fees Held by Members of the Nobility, 1428 49 1.2 Distribution of Mesne Tenants Holding by Knight’s Fee, 1428 52 2. Northumberland Tax Assessment, 1436 59 2.1 Lay Taxpayers and Liabilities, 1436 62 3. Suits in King’s Bench Originating from the Northern Counties, 1461-85 148 4. Progress of Selected IPMs for Northumberland, 1399-1447 173 4.1 Progress of Selected IPMs for Northumberland and Berkshire, 1399-1447 175 4.2 Progress of Selected IPMs for Northumberland and Berkshire, 1422-30 177 4.3 Progress of Selected IPMs for Northumberland and Berkshire, 1430-47 177 5. IPM Juror Service in Northumberland, 1428-36 187 Appendices 1. Persons Required to Take an Oath to the Crown, 1434 196 2. Subsidy on Lands: Commissioners’ Certificate, 1436 197 3. Subsidy on Lands: Commissioners’ Inquisition Return, 1436 198 4. Subsidy on Lands: Sheriff’s Account, 1436 or Later 202 5. Subsidy on Lands: Exchequer, Enrolled Account, 1440/1 206 6. Subsidy on Lands: Persons Appearing at the Exchequer 210 7. Subsidy on Lands: Cumberland: Sheriff’s Account, 1436 or Later 211 8. Subsidy on Lands: Westmorland: Sheriff’s Account, 1436 or Later 218 9. Selected IPMs for Northumberland during the Reign of H IV, 1399-1413 224 10. Selected IPMs for Northumberland during the Reign of H V, 1413-22 225 11. Selected IPMs for Northumberland during the Reign of H VI, 1422-47 226 12. Selected IPMs for Northumberland, 1422-30 227 13. Selected IPMs for Northumberland, 1430-47 228 Contents iii Appendices (continued) 14. Selected IPMs for Berkshire during the Reign of H IV, 1399-1413 229 15. Selected IPMs for Berkshire during the Reign of H V, 1413-22 230 16. Selected IPMs for Berkshire during the Reign of H VI, 1422-47 231 17. Selected IPMs for Berkshire, 1422-30 233 18. Selected IPMs for Berkshire, 1430-47 234 19. Published Paper 235 iv Acknowledgements Various debts have naturally been incurred in reaching this point. Margaret Hems was instrumental in guiding me toward postgraduate study. Andy King and Jackson Armstrong supplied copies of their theses. Michael Bennett commented on a draft of the material in chapter four, prior to publication. Claire Noble shared her knowledge on the subject of writs. Matthew Holford and Keith Stringer granted permission to use their maps, which saved much toil. Visits to The National Archives were made possible through financial awards received from the Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, Derek Fraser Fund and Royal Historical Society. Staff of the Library and Information Services department at Teesside University and Durham University Library met frequent requests while archivists at various repositories helped me find my feet in a new environment. Others have been a constant source of support. Family and friends were at hand through thick and thin, including Majid Hussain who created the additional maps. The greatest debt of gratitude though is owed to my supervisors, Diana Newton and Tony Pollard. I have gained much from their professional expertise, encouragement, constructive criticism, personal kindness and conversation. Special thanks are also accorded to Tony for his captivating undergraduate introduction to late medieval England, upon which this thesis is founded, and generosity in maintaining a supervisory role in his retirement. That this work materialised at all is entirely due to their patience, that was taxed far too often … and for far too long. v Abbreviations AA Archaeologia Aeliana BIHR Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research CCR Calendar of Close Rolls CDRS Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland CFR Calendar of Fine Rolls CIM Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous CIPM Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls EHR English Historical Review FA Feudal Aids HN A History of Northumberland HOC The History of Parliament: The House of Commons HR Historical Research JMH Journal of Medieval History MS Medieval Studies NCH Northumberland County History NDD Northumberland and Durham Deeds NH Northern History ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography P&P Past and Present PROME The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England SHR The Scottish Historical Review SS Surtees Society TNA: PRO The National Archives: Public Record Office TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society All works are cited in full in the bibliography. 1 Introduction The representation of the fifteenth century as an anarchic period was embedded in the public psyche through the staging of William Shakespeare’s historical cycle of eight plays, which cover the reigns of Richard II to Richard III.1 The cycle carries the theme of civil strife as divine retribution for the deposition of Richard II by Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster. In Richard II the bishop of Carlisle forewarns; ‘the blood of English shall manure the ground/And future ages groan for this foul act’.2 Dynastic conflict between the houses of York and Lancaster caused England to descend into chaos, until it was rescued by the intervention of Henry Tudor. A Lancastrian claimant to the throne, Tudor’s defeat of Richard III at the battle of Bosworth brought the civil war to an end and, as king Henry VII, his marriage to Elizabeth of York united the warring dynasties. Shakespeare’s cycle was, of course, a retrospective interpretation of events for public entertainment. Tudor’s grand-daughter, Elizabeth I, then reigned as queen but the playwright had no need to peddle the political line. The victor’s narrative had already taken hold in early Tudor propaganda and through the writings of Edward Hall, Sir Thomas Smith and Raphael Holinshed. 1 This discussion of the historiography of the fifteenth century is drawn from A.J. Pollard, Late Medieval England 1399-1509 (Harlow, 2000), pp. 1-15; idem, ‘Introduction: Society, Politics and the Wars of the Roses’, in idem (ed.), The Wars of the Roses (Basingstoke, 1995), pp. 1-19; R.H. Britnell and A.J. Pollard, ‘Introduction’, in idem (eds), The McFarlane Legacy: Studies in Late Medieval Politics and Society (Stroud, 1995), pp. xi-xii. 2 Shakespeare, Richard II, Act IV, Sc. I, lines 138-39. Introduction 2 By the mid-nineteenth century perceptions of the past were shaped by the Whig interpretation of history. In this reading, the new middle classes in coalition with the Tudors displaced the old feudal aristocracy and then restored social and political order. It was founded on the belief in an ancient constitution and that the continuity of a limited monarchy, parliament and the rule of the common law, had marked England out a providential place in the world. In the Victorian era, this exalted position was reflected in the dominance of scientific and technological developments and the rule of a vast empire.