https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4417-1608
![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
This article examines the armigerous gentry (knights and esquires) that operated in and around the county of Hampshire in the late-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century. It finds that whilst there was a core of resident knightly families who identified primarily with Hampshire - some for several centuries - there were many other knightly families who held substantial land in Hampshire but rarely engaged politically or socially, identifying with the southern region rather than the county – and sometimes much further afield. Those who had strong links with Hampshire depended upon lands in neighbouring Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset. Networks crossed not only county but also social boundaries and expressed themselves through ‘affinities’, most vividly the Winchester Bishopric under Wykeham and Beaufort. It was very difficult to gain entry to the highest ranks of the Hampshire elite but there were clearly close ties between upper and lower gentry families as evidenced through a series of deeds surviving in one greater gentry family (Brocas of Beaurepaire) which suggest circles of influence that were primarily local and engaged knightly families who were otherwise silent in the political affairs at county level.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author. This work is entirely theoretical, there is no data underpinning this publication other than published manuscripts and unpublished manuscripts where referenced.
Notes
1 G. Dodd, “County and Community in Medieval England,” English Historical Review 134 (2019): 777–820.
2 G. McKelvie, Bastard Feudalism, English Society and the Law: The Statutes of Livery, 1390-1520 (Boydell Press, 2020), 131.
3 For example, K. S. Naughton, The Gentry of Bedfordshire in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, ’ Leicester University Press, Department of English Local History Occasional Papers, 3rd Series, No. 2 (1976); G. G. Astill, “The Medieval Gentry: A Study in Leicestershire Society, 1350-99” (University of Birmingham PhD Thesis, 1977); N. E. Saul, Knights and Esquires: The Gloucestershire Gentry in the Fourteenth Century (Oxford, 1981); M. J. Bennett, Community, Class and Careerism: Cheshire and Lancashire Society in the Age of Gawain and the Green Knight (Cambridge, 1983); S. M. Wright, The Derbyshire Gentry in the Fifteenth Century (Derbyshire Record Society, viii, 1983); S. J. Payling, Political Society in Lancastrian England: the Greater Gentry of Nottinghamshire (Oxford, 1991); M. C. Carpenter, Locality and Polity: a Study of Warwickshire Landed Society, 1401-1499 (Cambridge, 1992); E. Acheson, A Gentry Community - Leicestershire in the Fifteenth Century, c. 1422-1485 (Cambridge, 1992).
4 C. Carpenter, “Gentry and Community in Medieval England,” Journal of British Studies xxxiii (1994): 340–80; A. Gross, “Regionalism and Revision,” in Regionalism and Revision: The Crown and Its Provinces in England, 1200–1650, eds. P. Fleming, A. Gross, and J. R. Lander (London, 1998): 1–13, cited in Dodd, ibid, 779–782.
5 S. K. Walker, “Communities of the County in Later Medieval England,” in Political Culture in Later Medieval England: Essays by Simon Walker, ed. M. J. Braddick (Manchester, 2006): 68–80, cited in Dodd, ibid, 782–3.
6 S. Reynolds, “The History of the Idea of Incorporation or Legal Responsibility: A Case of Fallacious Teleology,” in Ideas and Solidarities of the Medieval Laity: England and Western Europe (Aldershot, 1995): 1–20, cited by Dodds, ibid, 786.
7 M. Arvanigian, “A County Community or the Politics of the Nation? Border Service and Baronial Influence in the Palatinate of Durham, 1377–1413,” Historical Research, 82, no. 215 (2009): 41–61.
8 C. M. Bovis, “The Gascoigne Family, ca 1309–1592: Gentry and Identity” (PhD, University of York, 2017), 100.
9 A. Polden, “The Social Networks of the Buckinghamshire Gentry in the Thirteenth Century,” Journal of Medieval History 32, no. 4 (2006): 371–94. Horizontal ties and marriage were the constant features; 18/19 marriages contracted with daughters of other gentry families in early-thirteenth century Bucks (p. 387); for everyday purposes, the gentry identified primarily with much smaller areas which might or might not fall into county borders (p. 394).
10 J. Garrett, “Aspects of Crown Administration and Society in the County of Northumberland, c. 1400–c. 1450” (PhD, Teesside University, 2015), 93.
11 S. M. Cogan, Catholic Social Networks in Early Modern England: Kinship, Gender, and Coexistence (Amsterdam University Press, 2021), 39–68.
12 McKelvie, 161.
13 T. Purser, “A ‘Community in the County’? Sir John Sandys and Social Mobility in Later Medieval Hampshire,” Southern History: A Review of the History of Southern England 41 (2019): 45–69.
14 T. Purser, “The County Community of Hampshire, c.1300-c.1530, with Special Reference to the Knights and Esquires (PhD, University of Southampton, 2001), passim.
15 Calendars of Inquisitions Miscellaneous, 1219-1422 (London, 7 vols, 1916–68): hereafter CIPM; vii, No. 244,183 – 187 (John II).
16 CIPM, ix, 37-43 (Edmund); Feudal Aids, vi, 449-458.
17 Careers of MPs in the period 1386-1421 are available online www.historyofparliamentonline.org/ (Sir William Paulet). Basing House was destroyed and thoroughly looted in the famous siege of 1645 which probably resulted in the loss of a rich cache of medieval deeds and documents.
18 T. Purser, “The County Community of Hampshire, c.1300-c.1530, with Special Reference to the Knights and Esquires” (PhD, University of Southampton, 2001), 1–48.
19 McKelvie, 142.
20 English Historical Documents, (1327–1485), iv, ed. Myers, A., (London, 1969), 668–9.
21 H. L. Gray, “Incomes from Land in England in 1436,” English Historical Review, xl (1934), 623.
22 Inquisitions and Assessments Relating to Feudal Aids; with other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office, A. D. 1284-1431 (London, 6 vols, 1899–1920), hereafter Feudal Aids: vi, 449-458 (1412), The National Archives (hereafter TNA) E179/173/92 (1436).
23 Payling, Political Society, 113.
24 Carpenter, Locality and Polity, 138.
25 Wright, Derbyshire Gentry, 3.
26 TNA E179/173/92. The 1436 lists were also incomplete and did not include Sir John Popham (d. 1463) who had a taxable income of £122 in 1436, but he appears on other lists, illustrative not only of the nature of the 1435 subsidy but also of the administrative bias that county lists can draw historians into (TNA E 163/7/31 and E 179/240/269 m 14 (d).
27 Payling, Political Society, 17.
28 List of Sheriffs for England and Wales (PRO Lists and Indexes, ix, 1898), hereafter List of Sheriffs.
29 Return of the Name of Every Member of the Lower House of Parliament, 1213–1874 (London, 1877–8), hereafter Return; List of Sheriffs.
30 Return.
31 Rotuli Parliamentorum, ed. J. Strachey, Record Commission (London, 6 vols, 1767-1783) iii, 588.
32 S. J. Payling, “County Parliamentary Elections in Fifteenth-century England,” Parliamentarv History 18 (1999): 243.
33 TNA C219/13,14.15.
34 Return; TNA E179/173/92.
35 www.historyofparliament.online.org/
(Sir John Lisle of Wootton)
36 K. B. McFarlane, Parliament and ‘Bastard Feudalism’ first published in the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th Series, xxvi (1944), 53–79, reprinted in England in the Fifteenth Century (London, 1981), 1–21.
37 The following analysis of 1412 returns is from Feudal Aids, vi, 449–458.
38 TNA E101/562/17 Sheriffs’ Accounts (8,13 Henry IV) and E101/562/18,19 (2,7 Henry V). Based on 33 individuals with between £40-100 from Hampshire: Feudal Aids vi, 449-458. Due to the paucity of surviving returns from England only the (complete) southern region returns are included here.
39 Feudal Aids, vi, 450.
40 www.historyofparliament.online.org/
(Sir John Berkeley)
41 BL MS Harley 6166 fos. 104–5 (Hampshire).
42 Parliamentary Writs, ed. Palgrave, F., (London, 4 vols, 1827-34), i, 339; CIPM, viii, 101.
43 www.historyofparliamentonline.org
(Sir William Sturmy)
44 Feudal Aids, vi, 449–458.
45 TNA PROB 11/6.
46 Victoria History of the Counties of England (hereafter VCH) 5 Hampshire vols, (London, 1900-12), iii, 366.
47 Feudal Aids, i, 53,109-110; List of MPs.
48 Hampshire Record Office (HRO) 44M69/C/252, 44M69/C/76,106, 44M69/C/279,280,443.
49 Calendar of Close Rolls, 1296 - 1485 (London, 45 vols, 1892-1954), 1335-8, 435,521.
50 VCH, iii, 261, iv, 532; Feudal Aids, ii, 350; TNA E179/173/92.
51 www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
(Richard Wallop)
52 VCH, iv, 7-8; Feudal Aids, ii, 362; TNA E179/173/92.
53 CIPM Hen. III to 6 Hen. IV (London, 18 vols, 1904 -88), vi, 134; TNA E 198/4/21.
54 List of Sheriffs (1423, 1522).
55 P. Bourdieu, The Forms of Capital (Routledge, 2011).
56 R. A. Brown, “Bastard Feudalism and the Bishopric of Winchester c1280–1530” (PhD, University of Winchester, 2003), 161–179 examines in detail the individuals associated with Wykeham.
57 Winchester College Muniments, (hereafter WCM) ii, 270, 617–8; available online by request www.winchestercollegearchives.org/
58 The Will, Codicils and Probate of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, 1403 Jul 24, 1404, Jan 10 and 1404 Oct 9, ff.215r-218r, in Register of Archbishop Thomas Arundel, Part I, Lambeth Palace Library, Reference Register of Archbishop Thomas Arundel; translated and transcribed by Dr Brian Collins (2019). I am grateful to Suzanne Foster, Winchester College archivist for this material and her prompt responses in our correspondence; also, Testamenta Vetusta, ed. N. H. Nicolas (London, 1826) ii. 772.
59 www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
(Henry Popham)
60 Testamenta Vetusta, ii. 772.
61 Register of John of Pontoise, 1282-1304, ed. C. Deedes (Canterbury and York Society, vols. 19, 30 (1915-17) 387,593.
62 www.historyof parliamentonline.org/
(Sir Bernard Brocas)
63 WCM, Kirby’s Register, 26.
64 T. F. Kirby, 177. Annals of Winchester college from its foundation in the year 1382 to the present time, with an appendix containing the charter of foundation, Wykeham’s statutes of 1400, and other documents and an index : Kirby, Thomas Frederick : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
65 www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
(Sir Thomas Wykeham)
66 Purser, ‘A county in the community?’ outlines Sandys’ unique entry into the county gentry.
67 www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
(Sir John Sandys)
68 WCM, ii, 270, 355, 617-8.
69 WCM, ii, 615; List of MPs; Kirby’s Annals, 166; Feudal Aids, vi, 449-458.
70 List of MPs; Feudal Aids, vi, 454; VCH, v, 242.
71 WCM, i, liii.
72 Testamenta Vetusta, ii, 771-2.
73 Testamenta Vetusta, ii, 775; WCM, i, liii.
74 Testamenta Vetusta, ii, 775; www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
(Richard Wallop)
75 R. Oakes, R. (2014) “Mobility and Mortality: How Place of Origin Affected the Life Chances of Late Medieval Scholars at Winchester College and New College Oxford,” in Population, Welfare and Economic Change in Britain, 1290–1834, eds. C. Briggs, P. M. Kitson, and S. J. Thompson (Boydell & Brewer) (People, Markets, Goods: Economies and Societies in History), 79–102.
76 WCM, Kirby’s Register, 26.
77 WCM, Kirby’s Register, 66.
78 Kirby’s Annals, 110; www.historyofparliamentonline.org/ (Henry Popham)
79 WCM, Kirby’s Register, passim; A. B. Emden (ed.), A Biographical Dictionary of the University of Oxford to A. D. 1500 (Oxford 3 vols, 1957–9); 271 (Brocas), 1,921 (Tichbornes), 1,938 (Uvedales).
80 Brown, p.175.
81 Kirby’s Annals, 110–115.
82 Brown, 167.
83 Kirby’s Annals, 180-1.
84 WCM, ii, 157.
85 Return.
86 www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
(Thomas Chaucer)
87 Brown, 223.
88 Fritze suggested that the inclusion of Beaufort on the commissions after 1424 was part of a deliberate policy of placing central officials in the shires; R. H. Fritze, ‘Faith and Faction: Religious Changes, National Politics and the Development of Local Factionalism in Hampshire, 1485–1570” (Unpublished PhD, University of Cambridge, 1981), 7–8.
89 Brown, 232.
90 Brown, 233.
91 TNA KB 9/205/1 - 9/1056; TNA JUST3/61/8.
92 TNA JUST3/61/8,186,192,194,196,198,202,205
94 TNA CP25(1)206/25, no. 57.
95 www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
Sir Bernard Brocas; TNA E 179/173/92; VCH, iv, 165,160.
96 The deeds are in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, printed and discussed by M. Burrows, The Family of Brocas of Beaurepaire and Roche Court (London, 1886), 318–424, hereafter Burrows.
97 Similar for other county studies, for example, G. G. Astill, “The Medieval Gentry: A Study in Leicestershire Society, 1350-99” (PhD, University of Birmingham, 1977), 91.
98 Burrows, 414.
99 Burrows, 340–1.
100 Burrows, 381–392; 396–415; 416–419.
101 www.historyofparliamentonline.org (Sir Bernard Brocas)
102 Feudal Aids, vi, 449–458.
103 Burrows, 381–387; Feudal Aids, vi, 452; VCH, iii, 346.
104 VCH, iv, 53.
105 Burrows, 389, 392.
106 Burrows, 410–413, 416–418.
107 Burrows, 382–389.
108 VCH, iv, 58–9; Return, List of Sheriffs.
109 Feudal Aids, vi, 449–458.
110 Burrows, 388–9,412.
111 BL Add MS 32,101: chartulary and descent to 1432; CIPM, xii, 398; 1412 returns Feudal Aids, vi, 449–458.
112 Feudal Aids, ii, 313, 330; Parl. Writs, I, 339; VCH, iii, 378.
113 VCH, iv, 240.
114 Burrows, 382-6,398-412,416.
115 VCH, iv, 122.
116 Burrows, 377–412.
117 Burrows, 383–389; Feudal Aids, vi, 452.
118 Burrows, 384,386; Feudal Aids, vi, 457.
119 Burrows, 391-2,412-414,419.
120 TNA C219/13/1,13/3.
121 www.historyofparliamentonline.org (Robert Dingley I and II)
122 VCH, iv, 224,271; BL Add. Ch. 24698-24701, where Joan, wife of Edward St. John granted Hugh Craan of Winchester the manor of Wolverton at a rent of 10m and where Hugh Craan granted the manor to Robert Dingley and his wife to rent.
123 TNA E 179/173/92; Feudal Aids, ii, 372.
124 Burrows, 383-391,392,393,415,418.
125 TNA C219/14/2,15/1,15/2.
126 Feudal Aids, vi, 454.
127 Feudal Aids, ii, 360,374,362.
128 TNA E 179/ 173/92.
129 VCH, iv, 271,224,351 (Dingley).
130 R. Mundy and W. H. Rylands, The visitation of Hampshire, 1634 (Harleian Society, vol. 64, London, 1913); BL MS Harl. 6166, fos. 104-5 for Hampshire knights, esquires and gentlemen. Sandys and Paulet were ennobled in the sixteenth century.
131 See Purser, ‘A community in the county?’ 64-67 for a detailed discussion of the Hampshire gentry family descents into the sixteenth century.
132 E. Noble, The World of the Stonors: A Gentry Society (Boydell & Brewer 2009), 194–5.
133 J. W. Kirby, “Survival and Betterment: The Aspirations of Four Medieval Gentry Families as Revealed in their Letters,” Family & Community History 15, no. 2 (2012), 95.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Toby Purser
Toby Purser is Senior Lecturer at the University of Northampton and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is author of several history books, most recently The Making of England: from Rome to Reformation (Amberley 2022). Toby specialised in Anglo-Norman and Late Medieval England postgraduate research and teaches History of Childhood, Heritage, and History of Education. Toby is engaged on various research projects including an evaluation of the teaching of medieval history in secondary schools and the impact of drama in developing understanding of the Holocaust in schools - as well as further research on the late medieval gentry of England. Email: [email protected]