This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Pollard, A. J Title: The family of Talbot, Lords Talbot and Earls of Shrewsbury in the Fifteenth Century General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. PARTTHREE THE INFLUENCEAND WEALTHOF JOHN, FIRST EARL OF SHREWSBURY 214 v1 THE AFFINITY OF JOHT1, FIRST EARL OF S'MEWSBURY Most of the problems met in the study of medieval affinities are created by the general paucity of evidence. The haphazard survival of legal and financial records makes an accurate assessment of the influence of an individual lord and the identity of all his permanent followers vir- tually impossible. John, lot Earl of Shrewsbury, is no exception. In co=on with so mazy of the peerage of the fifteenth century not one indenture of retainer between hin (') and any of his servants has survived. It is known, however, that he employed this form of legal contract, for a mandate of 1423 is extant ordering the payment of an annuity to Laurence Merbury, as specified in the terms of an indenture made bet- (2) ween the two. Unfortunately, the evidence for the payment- of annuities and fees is little fuller. In addition to the annuity paid to Merbury, Talbot's will and the estate accounts of B1ac1 ere and Sheffield provide evidence of the payment of (1) cf Richard, Duke of York, and the family of Percy (J. T. Rosenthal, 'The estates and finances of Richard, Duke of York', Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, ii (1965), 189; J. M. Vt. Bean, The Estates of the Percy Family, p95). For the fourteenth century, see G. A. Holmes, The Estates of-the'f the Hip-her Mobility, ch III, passim. (2) Hill Ad Ch 73948. 215 (') only nine fees of any substance. But Talbot is also known to have granted the use of five of his manors, or parts thereof, to dependents, although two were made over to his senior admini- strative officers, one to his brother-in-law and another to a man, Thomas Everinghan, who is also known to have been an (2) annuitant. Excluding his brother-in-law, but including the two senior administrators, this gives a total of thirteen known to be financially tied to Talbot. In the circumstances, there fore, the evidence of trusted servants and councillors employed in the management of his affairs takes on added significance. Appendix III attempts to list the more important of Talbot's known retainers, followers and servants. It does not include many of his purely household, junior administrative or menial staff, some of whose names are revealed in the surviving estate (1) The nahes of these and the details of the fees are listed in Appendix III. Evidence that would be supplied by an Auditor's valor or Receiver's General account is sorely missed but, since Blaclanere and Sheffield provided almost half the landed income, it appears that the estates were not heavily charged with fees and annuities. Those charged to Blaclanere in the 1430s repre- sented a little under, and those to Sheffield in the 1440s a little over, ten per cent of the net income. (2) Tasley was at one time held by his Receiver General, Richard Legett; Weston Turville by Legett and his assistant, Roger Stedman; CredenhilLby his brother-in-law, Richard de la Mare; Painswick by Thomas Everingham and two thirds of Alberbury by Hugh Burgh. Tasley, Weston Turville and Painswick (worth about (£150) could well have been held to use rather than as fees. 216 (') accounts. This study is not concerned with the host of lesser dependents, but with the men of substance who formed the nucleus of his following and influence. It is to this group that the term affinity is here applied. Over a period of fifty years, the size and composition of this affinity is bound to have fluctuated. Since only a handful of men known to have served hin before 1427 are also kno= to have been in his service after 1442, Talbot's affinity has been divided into two chrono- logical sections: one of the followers identifiable before he set out on his long career in France and the other of those associated with him after his elevation to an earldom. On this basis it can be seen that his affinity increased from at least twenty men in his early life to thirty-five or more in his last ten years. If these numbers are compared with the (equally incomplete) knowledge of the followings enjoyed by his much wealthier contemporaries, the Dukes of Buckingham and York and the Earl of Warwick, they would not appear to be much below (1ý It does not include, for example, his servants Bandewyn, Thomas Balthorpe and James French, nor his three chaplains, William Berkesyrell, Thomas More and John "Unchcombe, whoa he made his feoffees in Blaclonere in 1443 (TIM, ii, p351; BP 76/1427-89 1435-6; 82/1427-8; CCR, 1441-7, P155). For his junior household and administrative staff see Ch VIII passim. 217 (l) parity. The careers and attachments of the more prominent of Talbot's followers are outlined below and the influence wielded through his affinity then discussed. Of those who were certainly retainers, the families of Burgh of lattlesborough and Everin ham of Newhall stand out. Hugh Burgh, whose origins are obscure, appears to have come of a Westmorland family attached to Thomas Nevill, Lord Furnival, with whom he came to (2) Shropshire. There he eventually established himself by harrying, before 1413, Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of John de Mouthey, in right of whom he occupied extensive lands in the county, the principal (1) The Duke of Buckingham had 83 annuitants, including household servants and minstrels, in 1448; there were at least 49 men in receipt of annuities from Warwick towards the end of his life and York enjoyed the services of at least 77 retainers and annuitants (T. in c1450 B. Pugh, The Marcher Lordships of South Wales, P159; C. D. Ross, 'The estates and finances of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick', Du, dale Society Occasional Pavers, 12 (1956), p16 and J. T. Rosenthal, loc cit, pp190-1. Rosenthal did not include in his numbers the 15 annaitants and feeholders listed in a valor 1442-3 (PRO, of SC 11/818) nor the 11 additional retainers, 'Esquires of the Duke', who accompanied York to Prance in 1441 (-, E101/53/33)" of Hastings' 67 indentured retainers later in the (w. century R. Dunham, Lord HastinMs' Indentured Retainers, p121). (2) J. B. Blakeway, The Sheriffs of Shropshire, p66. For notes on Burgh's career see also J. S. Roskell, The Commons in the Parli^, ment of 1422, pp158-9. 218 (1) of which was the manor of Wattlesborough. He seems to have first served Talbot as the second in command of the garrison of Montgomery in 1405. He was still with him in 1407(2) and probably continued in his service throughout the pacification of Wales. In 1408 he also becune a feoffee of Ankaret, Lady Talbot, in the lordship of Corfham for the conveyance of the estate to his lord. And in 1411 he performed a similar service as attorney of Griffin Hinton to deliver certain lands (3) in Yorkshire to Maud, Lady Furnival. No record of his receiving fees or annuities has survived, but in (neighbouring 1414 Talbot granted two parts of the manor of Alberbury (4) Wattlesborough) to Burgh's use. In the summer of the same year his son was christened at Alberbury church and Talbot was one of the god- (S) fathers of the boy, who was named in his honour. Talbot had also been appointed Lieutenant of Ireland in 1414 and he secured the appoint- went of Burgh as the Treasurer. Soon after his son's christening, (1) G. T. Bridgeman, 'The Princes of Upper Powys', Powysland Club Collections, i (1858), pp90-8. Elizabeth succeeded in 1414 to her father's estates and a large section of the Corbet inheritance from her mother. In addition to Wattlesborough, this included Wentnor, Shelve, Yockleton, and a quarter part of the forest of Cause. (H. T. Weyman, 'Shropshire MPs', TSAS, 4th Series, xi, Pt i, p12). (2) PRO, E101/44/6,14- (3) CCR, 1413-229 p24; J. B. Blakeway, op cit. (4) T. F. Dukes, The Antiquities of Shropshire, p107. (5) H. T. Wr;yman, be cit, pp22-3. 219 (with therefore, Burgh crossed over to Dublin Laurence Merbury, the new Chancellor) where he was sworn into office on 18 September.