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ABSTRACT
Studies of Cornwall, and the role of its governing officials in the fifteenth century, are still at a rudimentary stage. A cursory search of the British Library’s vast online catalogue, or the index of the ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography’, exemplifies this point – with scholarly interest, for the most part, concentrated to the major landowning families of the region. This is not altogether surprising, given the collection of family documentation and the ongoing efforts of archivists to collate and arrange access to data across the county. However, it is clear that Cornwall was home to a large number of lesser known, yet equally important, political operators – individuals that executed law and order in their environs, and who heralded from lesser, ‘middle of the road’, stock. Thise following article examines the career of one such figurenotable figure of this description– John Glynn – who came to head several branches of government before falling in the most spectacular of circumstances.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 This study is based, primarily, on materials found at Cornwall Record Office, the Courtney Library, and the National Archives. I am indebted to the staff of all three repositories for their assistance. I would also like to thank my father, Michael, for providing feedback on early drafts.
2 J. Chynoweth, Tudor Cornwall (Stroud, 2002); A. L. Rowse, Tudor Cornwall: Portrait of a Society (London, 1969); J. Whetter, The Bodrugans, A Study of a Cornish Medieval Knightly Family (Gorran, 1995); O. Padel (ed.), The Cornish lands of the Arundells of Lanherne: Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries (Exeter, 2000); D. Yorath, ‘Disorder and Rebellion in Fifteenth Century England: A Cornish Case Study’, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, 3rd Ser., 12 (2016). For publications examining the wider South West and its political figures, see: M. Mercer, ‘Lancastrian Loyalism in the South West’, Southern History, 19 (1997), 42–60; R.E. Stansfield, Political Elites in South-West England, 1450-1500 (New York, 2009); 7); B.H. Williams, Ancient Westcountry Families (Penzance, 1916), 6–12, 207–214, 253–259.
3 Prominent studies, which treat on societal changes at this time, include: C. Carpenter, Locality and Polity: A Study of Warwickshire Landed Society, 1401-1499 (Cambridge, 1992); K.B. McFarlane, The Nobility of Later Medieval England (Oxford, 1973); M. Mercer, Power, Leadership and Choice during the Wars of the Roses (London, 2010); S.J. Payling, Political Society in Lancastrian England: The Greater Gentry of Nottinghamshire (Oxford, 1991); N. Saul, Knights and Esquires: The Gloucestershire Gentry in the Fourteenth Century (Oxford, 1981).
4 This was not always the case. For, in Cornwall, matters were sometimes such that the Crown had no choice but to rely on men that were the biggest criminals of their area. Henry Bodrugan and his son, John Beaumont, are examples in this regard. For further information, see Yorath, ‘Disorder and Rebellion in Fifteenth Century England: A Cornish Case Study’.
5 Morval lies two miles north of Looe and has to its west the settlements of Looe and Duloe; to its north, St. Keyne and Liskeard; to its east, St. German’s, and to its south, St. Martin’s. Nearby there are two small hamlets, Penearth and Sandplace.
6 J. Maclean, The Parochial and Family History of the Deanery of Trigg Minor, in the County of Cornwall: Vol. II (London, 1876), 60.
7 A short pedigree of each is found in the Herald’s Visitation of 1530. The Glynn family was initially based around Cardinham, about four miles west of Bodmin, and first entered royal service in 1284, during the reign of King Edward I. Subsequent branches moved south eastwards, and set up bases around Liskeard and the coastal town of Looe. The earliest surviving record for the Clickers, meanwhile, is dated 1329 and pertains their holding of estate near Liskeard. For further details, see: W. Hals, The Complete History of Cornwall (Truro, 1750), 51; The Visitations of Cornwall, ed. J.L. Vivian (Exeter, 1887), 160; The Cartulary of St Michael’s Mount, ed. P.L. Hull, D[evon and] C[ornwall] R[ecord] S[ociety], Vol. 5 (1962), 20; J. Hatcher, Rural Economy and Society in the Duchy of Cornwall (Cambridge, 2008), 253; W.M.M. Picken, ‘Trezance, Lahays and the Manor of Cardinham’, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, Vol. 26 (1954–1955), 203–208.
8 For heirs, like John, training, particularly in the law, was a useful adornment for forthcoming private and public roles. Other members of the Glynn family appear to have received schooling at a chapel, belonging to the Priory of SS. Mary and Petroc, near Lanhydrock, and at an Augustinian priory at St Germans, so it is possible that John followed suit.
9 He represented individual including Richard Wellington, of Totnes, Devon, during this time. TNA, C 131/78/1. Details of Glynn’s expenses are found in the Mayoral Accounts of Liskeard – History of the Borough of Liskeard and Its Vicinity, ed. J. Allen (Liskeard, 1856), 228–229.
10 There is some evidence that he also held the office of under-sheriff, in south east Cornwall, as early as 1450 – although, given the inconsistencies of this source, this cannot be verified. J.C. Wedgwood (ed.), Biographies of the Members of the Commons House 1439–1509, 380–381.
11 TNA, CP 40/759; CPR, 1446-1452, 226. Moreys later served as a reeve in Liskeard. C[ornwall] R[ecord] O[ffice], AR/2/653. Whether Glynn, himself, served in this campaign is not known, although it seems unlikely, given his appearances in the Westcountry later in the year and in 1450. There is some evidence that held the office of under-sheriff, in south east Cornwall, as early as 1450, too – although, given the inconsistencies of this source, this cannot be verified.
12 It could be that Glynn also served. The Medieval Soldier Database (http://www.medievalsoldier.org/dbsearch/) shows that, from the Gascon Rolls of November 1450, there is reference to a ‘John Glyn’ receiving letters of protection to travel to Aquitaine with Sir Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers.
13 The Nicholl family’s roots in Cornwall can be traced back to the thirteenth century. Abstract of Glasney Cartulary: A Quarto MS., Containing 96 Leaves of Parchment, ed. J.A.C. Vincent (Truro, 1879), 52.
14 Morval House was built in the fifteenth century by Glynn’s father, Thomas. It has had several additions since this time, and remains, to this day, in private hands.
15 His second son, John, followed in his footsteps. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1470, and would go on to serve as a receiver at the town of Bodmin and frequent the King’s Bench during the reigns of Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII. The Bodmin Register, ed. J. Wallis (Bodmin, 1827), 33–35, 289; Wedgwood, Biographies, 380–381; Stansfield, Political Elites, 255, 399. He also served, spasmodically, as a commissioner of the peace in Cornwall during the early 1500s. C[alendar of] I[quisitions] P[ost] M[ortem], 5 Henry VIII, no.117. Thomas Glynn, meanwhile, led a less notable existence. Like his brother and father, he featured on several royal commissions for the county, but looks to have been troubled by debts. For details, see: CRO, P110/25/26; CRO, ME/516; TNA, E[xchequer] 210/2606.
16 By the 1460s, the Glynns’s estae was such that it was near comparable to the Bodrugans, who were dominant in-and-around Falmouth and Gorran Haven, as well as the Edgecumbes, whose estate ran eastwards along the Rame Peninsula towards Saltash. This presented opportunity to contribute to the direction of local government, as well as nearby industries, such as at Looe and Fowey, which were key ports of this time. In the latter town, in particular, the Glynn family developed good relations with the leading resident, Thomas Treffry, and Richard ‘the Kingmaker’, Neville, earl of Warwick, who was based in the area. Togethger, they worked on several building projects in the town – including the erection of the Fowey’s blockhouses and ‘Lady Chapel’, and the re-cultivation of swathes of land of land, around the Treffry residence of Place House, in 1468, to which Glynn would subsequently benefit. T. Moule, Heraldry of Fish: Notices of the Principal Families Bearing Fish in Their Arms (London, 1842), 131; A. Rideout, The Treffry Family (Chichester, 1984), 24. For details of Glynn’s land disputes here, see: CRO, R/2199.
17 Glynn also appeared as a surety at this time to a bond concerning John Treworgy. C[alendar of] C[lose] R[olls], 1447-1454, 263; C[alendar of] F[ine] R[olls], 1445-1452, 241, 251; CFR, 1452-1461, 27, 50.
18 CFR, 1452-1461, 3; CPR, 1452-1461, 25.
19 Wedgwood, Biographies, 809, 866.
20 CRO, AR/17/66.
21 CFR, 1452-1461, 27, 35.
22 CRO, BLIS/134; TNA, C 1/24/196. For other appearances, see: CRO, R/2199.
23 TNA, C 1/167/27.
24 It appears he faced several claims and threats of attacks, consequent from this mix of responsibilities, between 1442 and 1459. Some of these were directly linked to his holding certain posts, while others may have been brought about in the course of his acquisition of certain lands, near Looe and Liskeard.
25 TNA, C 131/78/2; TNA, C 241/236/38.
26 C[ornwall] F[eet of] F[ines], Volume II: Richard II-Henry VI, 1377-1461, ed. J.H. Rowe (Topsham, 1950), 127; CCR, 1454-1461, 251.
27 CCR, 1454-1461, 392-393.
28 T. Brendon, The history of Cotehele, Edgcumbe and Brendon Families of St Dominick Parish, Cornwall (Illfracombe, 2013), 27
29 CPR, 1452-1461, 561.
30 CPR, 1452-1461, 100.
31 Stansfield, Political Elites, 213–214; Wedgwood, Biographies, 66.
32 H. Kleineke, Edward IV (London, 2009), 65. For Dynham lands and offices in the region, see: CRO, AR/1/558; CRO, AR/37/23. And for a Devon case-study, pertaining Edward IV’s treatment of defeated rebels, see: J.A.F. Thomson, ‘The Courtenay Family in the Yorkist Period’, Historical Research, 45, 112 (1972), 230–246.
33 Stansfield, Political Elites, 213
34 CPR, 1452-1461, 171, 663; CPR, 1461-1467, 28, 378; J.P. Collier, ‘Trevelyan Papers: Prior to A.D. 1558’, Camden Society (1857), 48; Stansfield, Political Elites, 178–179, 215–216.
35 Wedgwood, Biographies, 873–874.
36 TNA, C 1/27/262.
37 A.B. Steel, The Receipt of the Exchequer, 1377-1485 (Cambridge, 1954), 343. This was a huge sum – indeed, it was the single largest contribution from Cornwall – and suggests Glynn had landed interests and wealth beyond what survives in record.
38 Stansfield, Political Elites, 216
39 Activity in these parts, through the 1460s, can be difficult to distinguish with some crimes and claims, in record, listing the subject of their work as ‘piracy’. Studies of some of these depredations have been examined in detail by Stella Campbell, Jane Eddison, John Keast and Maryanne Kowaleski and do not require lengthy repetition here, other than to note that they involved French and Breton merchants.
40 From the beginning of the French wars in the fourteenth century, Fowey, Padstow, Falmouth, Looe, Saltash and other county ports, played a big part in seaborne operations. At the siege of Calais, these ports were said to have contributed dozens of ships, and Fowey was the largest contributor in the kingdom save Great Yarmouth. For more on their roles and contributions, see: R. Pearse, The Ports and Harbours of Cornwall (St Austell, 1963).
41 T. Moule, Heraldry of Fish: Notices of the Principal Families Bearing Fish in Their Arms (London, 1842), 131; A. Rideout, The Treffry Family (Chichester, 1984), 24. For details of Glynn’s land disputes here, see: CRO, R/2199. This work, we may suspect, could well have opened up the opportunity for Glynn to acquire large swathes of land around the Treffry residence of Place House in 1468
42 H. Kleineke, ‘’The Kynges Cite’: Exeter in the Wars of the Roses’, in The Fifteenth Century, ed. L. Clark (Woodbridge, 2007), 145.
43 Between 1446 and 1449, on a case concerning an indented bill, totalling £8 7s 8;[43] and, in October and November of the same year, serving, jointly with fellow Cornish attorney, John Trenowith, on a defence panel for the notoriously ill-behaved landowner, and aforementioned Yorkist stalwart, Henry Bodrugan, on a claim pertaining the desecration of a tin mine near St Austell
44 CRO, ME/571
45 Glynn secured 200 acres of land in one transaction alone, when, on 3 November 1465, John Talgragan, as a gift, granted him lands in Trenans, Maule and Crukmure, Padstow. TNA CP, 25/1/34/44, r.10.
46 TNA, CP 25/1/34/44, no. 12; CCR, 1468-1476, nos. 85, 183, 371, 397. Glynn’s service for Bodrugan was spasmodic, and looks to have sought only when another leading county attorney, John Trenowith (c.1427-1497), was unavailable. Trenowith was a close associate of the Arundell family, to whom Bodrugan was related.
47 Examples are the agreements struck with Robert Grubbs, pertaining lands at Combe, Rame and Oliver Tregesowe in Twydreath. For further details, and Glynn’s attainment of lands of lands near Liskeard, Looe and Hessenford,see: CRO, R/2201; CRO, V/T/1/5; CRO, V/T/1/60
48 TNA, CP 25/1/34/44, no. 11
49 CRO, V/T/1/31; CCR, 1461-1468, 393; CPR, 1461-1467, 505. Also see: A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds: Volume 4, ed. H C Maxwell Lyte (London, 1902), no. 10185
50 Legal proceedings, here, appear to have been lengthy, with the matter being considered, over three years (1467–1470). Curiously, the case is disclosed in: C[alendars of the] P[roceedings in] C[hancery ], Queen Elizabeth, I, lxxxix
51 CRO, V/T/1/59; TNA, C 241/258/104
52 Rot. Parl. VI, 35; CPR, 1467-1477, 610. A short and somewhat erroneous account of the dispute is found in Rowse, Tudor Cornwall, 107.
53 Clemens, like Glynn, came from a legal background and had defended numerous persons of the area at the Court of Common Pleas during the 1460s. It could be that he was removed from office in 1468 for his failure to pay several debts and render reasonable accounts during his time as a crown-appointed receiver. For his legal service and appearances on royal commissions in the 1460s, see D[uchy of] C[ornwall] O[ffice], 210/8; TNA, E 101/461, nos.20-23; TNA, CP 40/824, no. 301, TNA, CP 25/1/34/44, no. 8; CPR, 1461-1467, 11, 14, 204, 206, 561, CFR, 1461-1471, 100, 104. And, for record of certain transgressions: TNA, CP 40/829, no. 153.
54 Clemens was not the only offender among the Cornish gentry. Feuds, usually over property or office, were commonplace. Indeed, at about the same time as Clemens’ persecution of Glynn, a quarrel broke out on the Lizard Peninsula between Thomas Trethewyen of Reskymer and the aforementioned John Vyvyan of Trelowarren, over the rights of the latter to his manor of Trelowarren. Henry Bodrugan of Gorran Haven, in south Cornwall, was often on the wrong side of the law, as well. Rot. Parl. V, 52; L. Elliott-Binns, Medieval Cornwall (London, 1955), 244.
55 H. Kleinke, ‘Why the West was Wild: Law and Disorder in Fifteenth-Century Cornwall and Devon’ in The Fifteenth Century, ed. L. Clark (Woodbridge, 2003); A.L. Rowse, ‘The Turbulent Career of Sir Henry Bodrugan’, History, 29, 109 (1944).
56 The following [transcript] enumeration of goods seized gives an idea of the stock of Glynn’s home:
‘Fourteen oxen; 10 kien; a bull; 8 hors; 60 bolokis; 400 shepe’ 10 swyne; 6 flikkes of bacon; 300 weight of woll; 3 brasynpannes, everych conteynyng 60 gallons; 16 payre of blankets; 12 payre of shetes; 4 matres; 3 fether beddes; 10 coverletys; 12 pilowes of feders; 4 long gounes; 6 short gownes; 4 women gounes; 2 draught beddes; a hanging for a chamber; 3 dozen of peauter vessel; 2 basons conterfet of latyn; 2 other basons of latyn; 2 dozen of sylver spoones; a saltsaler of sylver; 2 basons of peauter; 2 saltsalers of peauter; 3 pipes of Gascoyn wine; a hoggeshede of swete wyne; 2 pipes of sider; 4 hoggeshedes of bere; 400 balons of ale; 3 foldyng tabules; 2 feyre long London tables; 4 peyre of trestwell; a pipefull of salt beef; a hundred of milwell and lyng drye; a quarter of mersau’te lynge; a hundred-weight of talowe; 40 pounds of candell; 200 hopes; ten barrel; five large pypes; 8 kevis; ten pottes of brasse; 14 pannes of brasse; 4 pettys of yron; 4 andyeris; 2 knedyng fates; 100 galons of oyle; 6 galons of grese; 300 pounds of hopes; 200 bushell of malt; 40 bushell of barly; 60 busheell of otys; 4 harwyis; 10 oxen tices; 2 plowes; 10 yokk; 12 London stolys; 4 pruse coffers, and 3 London coffers, within the same, conteyned 4 staning cuppes covered, whereof oon gilt’. Lyson, Magna Britannia, Vol 3, 241.
57 TNA, C 1/1/144. There is also a [transcript] record of the attack noted in the Parliamentary Rolls. The entry reads: ‘The said Riottours [rioters], toke [took] the said John Glynn and ymprisoned [imprisoned] hym [him], and in the Castell [castle], in prisone [prison] hym kept by the space of v [five] oures [hours], aud [and] more, so that noon [none] of his frendes [friends] might [might] come where he was to releve [relieve] hym [him] with drynk [drink], or staunche his bloode … ’. Rot. Parl. VI, 35.
58 Rowse, Tudor Cornwall, 108–109
59 CCR, 1468-1476, no. 656
60 Ibid, no.797. TNA, C 131/248/5
61 CRO, BLIS/92; TNA, C 131/82/43; CPR, 1467-1477, 609–610. Glynn and his son and namesake also served as sureties for the lawless outlaw, Henry Bodrugan, whom was a neighbor. CCR, 1468-1476, 93; G. Davis, The Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, Vol. II (London, 1836), 161.
62 TNA, SC 8/29/1439; Rot. Parl. VI, 36.
63 History of the Borough of Liskeard and Its Vicinity, ed. J. Allen, 52. Also see: A. Black and C. Black (eds.), Guide to the Duchy of Cornwall (Edinburgh, 1871), 279; D. Lyson and S. Lyson, Magna Britannia: A General and Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, Vol. 3 (London, 1814), 241.
64 Glynn’s youngest son, Thomas, subsequently took action against those ordered to apprehend Thomas Clements. This suggests they failed in their objective. For details, see: TNA, C 1/59/107.
65 CRO, BLIS/80; CFR, 1471-1485, 38; CPR, 1467-1477, 573; Rowse, Tudor Cornwall, 108.
66 TNA, C 1/48/121.
67 Trethewyn, like Clemens, had form. Three years earlier, he and his elder brother, Robert (c.1420-c.1480), were charged with 'setting their servants' upon a neighbouring landholder, John Vivian. They, like the Glynns, had considerable landed interests in Looe, so this may explain their later raid on Morval. For details of their attack on Vivian, see: TNA, SC 8/29/1445; TNA, SC 8/145/7221B, and for record of their estate in south Cornwall, see: C.A. Walmisley (ed.), An Index of Persons named in Early Chancery Proceedings: Richard II to Edward IV (London, 1928), 58/197.
68 TNA, SC 8/345/E1340; TNA, SC 8/345/E1343, TNA, SC 8/345/E1344.
69 TNA, SC 8/345/E1345. the original document reference mentioned in the Walmisley index quoted is TNA, C 1/58/197.
70 Instead, the Glynn brothers threatened two of Trethweyn’s servants, William Pluck and Edward Glegge, and this, reportedly, led to them, and other household servants, abandoning Trethweyn’s service. TNA, SC 8/345/E1344
71 CRO, AR/2/347/1; CRO, BLIS/80; TNA, C 1/1/144; TNA, C 131/244/28; TNA, C 241/254/83.
72 TNA, C 142/8, no. 67.
73 Certainly there were outstanding debts. For example, Glynn’s 1454 commitment to Thomas Tregiethen remained, despite another debtor, Richard Wellington’s attempts to cancel it. TNA, C 131/244/1; TNA, C 131/78/1.
74 CCR, 1468-1476, nos. 552, 604; CFR, 1471-1485, 37.
75 Black Book of Lincoln’s Inn (1837), 53
76 R[oyal] I[nstitition of] C[ornwall], TAM/1/3/52/42.
77 CPR, 1467-1477, 575.
78 Katherine was the daughter of Humphrey Fulford. For their pedigree, see: Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, ed. H. Pirie-Gordon (London, 1937), 847–8.
79 Immediately after his father's death, proceedings were taken against John Glyn junior, by Alice, the wife of William Benaluna, for the recovery of the third part of three ‘messuages’ in Penquite Hole in the parish of Liskeard. In January, 1473-1474, action was taken by John Mark of Liskeard against the family to recover a debt of 10 marks, and, three years later, John, junior was, again, called upon to answer a debt, this time to Thomas Trevarthian.
80 These cases, dated March 1478, relate to joint debts owed to a John Mark of Liskeard and Buttokside of London. TNA, C 241/254/139.
81 British Library Harleian Manuscript 433: Vol. I, eds. R. Horrox and P. Hammond (Upminster, 1979), 235; Leland’s Itinerary: Vol. I, ed. L.T. Smith (London, 1907), 208; The History of Cornwall: Vol. II, ed. S. Drew (Helston, 1824), 499.
82 TNA, C 131/248/5; TNA, STAC 2/21/123; RIC TAM/1/3/52, nos. 46, 47.
83 The History of Cornwall: From the Earliest Records and Traditions, to the Present Time: Vol. II, eds. F. Hitchens and S. Drew (Penaluna, 1824), 148. For details of the parcels of estates lost and other attacks upon the family, see: TNA, C 1/1124/21; TNA, C 1/313/50; TNA, C 1/412/32; TNA, C 1/512/66; CRO, R/4822 and P. Beachman and N. Pevsner, Cornwall (London, 2014), 359. Thomas Glynn, in particular, looks to have fared poorly in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII, being subject to several robberies, attacks and land disputes – the most detailed surviving record being: TNA, STAC 2/14, fol.98. A short summary of the wider family decline is detailed in D. Glynn, The Glynns of Cornwall (Truro, 2011), 38–39.
84 Like many other persons of the area, John Glynn (junior) was bound during the reign of Henry VII. Details of this obligation are laconic, although it’s value, 200 marks, is noted. CCR, 1500-1509, no. 418. For his other troubles under Henry VII, see: TNA, STAC 2/16. And, for his appointment as Member of Parliament, in 1478: Wedgwood, Biographies, 380. Like his older brother, it also appears that experienced some financial troubles. For example, in 1493 he was called before the Court of Common Pleas to answer a debt, for 100 marks, to Margaret Trenowith. And, again, in 1509, he was charged with failing to pay an annual rent, for lands near Lanhydrock, which were owned by John Arundell. TNA, SC 8/345/E11343; TNA, STAC 2/22/194
85 I am grateful to Maggie Willmott of St Wenna’s Church, Morval, for information concerning the Glynn family vault. For those interested in the history of the Church, Keith Hamylton-Jones’ pamphlet, ‘St Wenna’s Church’, is an excellent start point.