BAYEN, Thomas

It has been suggested that the future clerk of the Commons was the Thomas Bayen who in July 1450 obtained ratification of his estate as parson of the parish church of Ewhurst in Sussex, a few miles away from Rye.5 CPR, 1446-52, p. 333. Given his uncommon name and the fact that it was not unusual for the Commons’ clerk to have a background of ecclesiastical preferment (such had been the case with John Scarburgh†, a predecessor in the late fourteenth century), this supposition is plausible. However, the clerk is known to have had at least one son, so even if he once intended to pursue a career in the Church, presumably he was never ordained priest and forsook an ecclesiastical career in favour of a secular path and a family. There is no doubt that his mentor was John Faukes, a master in Chancery and his superior as clerk of the Parliaments (an office Faukes held from 1447 to 1470), with whom he came to be associated by the spring of 1453. The connexion may originally have been a local one, for Faukes was dean of the royal free chapel in Hastings castle and warden of St. Bartholomew’s hospital at Rye, but it soon developed professionally and relations between the two men eventually became sufficiently close for Faukes to trust Bayen with the executorship of his will.6 PCC 2 Wattys (PROB11/6, ff. 11v-12). The two men were linked in the early 1450s both as recipients of the goods and chattels of John Cantelowe, a London mercer, and as co-feoffees of certain properties in Hastings and elsewhere belonging to Sir John Passhele.7 CCR, 1447-54, p. 430; C54/324, m. 9d (calendared incorrectly in CCR, 1468-76, no. 1013). The date of the enfeoffment is not given, but Passhele died in June 1453: C139/149/26.

Bayen’s involvement in the affairs of Rye began at about the same time and was to continue for over 40 years. That same summer of 1453 he purchased the freedom of the Port on payment of half a mark,8 Rye mss, 60/2, f. 35. and within a short while he became one of the more prosperous householders there, assessed to contribute 3s. 4d. to the half-scot levied in the town in 1459. Jurats dined at his house when they met together to do business,9 Ibid. ff. 64, 73v. and the barons of Rye grew to depend on his advice and his skill as a negotiator. In the course of the nine years following his admission as a freeman they sent him as a deputy to Brodhulls at New Romney no fewer than 19 times,10 Ibid. ff. 36v, 43, 48v, 68v; White and Black Bks. 32, 33, 35, 37-40, 42, 43, 45, 48. and on their behalf he did useful work ‘devysyng’ the indenture drawn up to end disagreements between the Port and its member of Tenterden.11 Rye mss, 60/2, ff. 42v, 43. Nor was it long before the other Cinque Ports came to appreciate his abilities. April 1454 marked the first of Bayen’s many assignments authorized at the Brodhull on behalf of the Ports as a body. He was asked to join John Chenew* of New Romney in ‘labouring’ at the Exchequer for the exemption of the Ports’ advocants from parliamentary subsidies. The two men were each to receive 1s. 8d. a day, even though Chenew was then also being paid as an MP, and in July it was reported that they had spent 32 days on this business, which they were to continue pursuing at the same rate of pay. In the following April the Brodhull authorized payment to them of £10 to cover their costs at the Exchequer.12 Ibid. ff. 42v, 43v, 48v, 53, 59; White and Black Bks. 32-34.

Despite his activities on behalf of the Cinque Ports, it was not one of those constituencies which elected Bayen to his first Parliament, which was summoned to assemble on 9 July 1455. Rather, it was Poole in Dorset, a borough which had only in the previous Parliament resumed its representation after an hiatus of 85 years. Bayen had no known connexion with the place or its inhabitants, and it is very unlikely that he fulfilled the residential qualification, for shortly after the end of the first session he was described as a ‘gentleman of London’ when he appeared at the Exchequer as a surety, and during the second session, in December, he was called ‘of Rye’ when he witnessed a deed for Master Faukes in the latter’s capacity as chancellor of the diocese of Chichester.13 CFR, xix. 134; Chichester Cart. (Suss. Rec. Soc. xlvi), no. 1113. It may be speculated that the names of Bayen and his fellow MP for Poole (John Skelton III*) were added to the sheriff’s return for the boroughs of Dorset after it had reached Chancery at the start of the Parliament. Although there is now no evidence that this practice took place, what arouses suspicion is that the composite indenture recording the elections of the Dorset knights of the shire and the burgesses returned from the county does not mention Poole at all; those who represented this borough are recorded only on the schedule which accompanied the indenture to Westminster, and Poole is listed last.14 C219/16/3. The names of the MPs for Poole are now illegible on the return, but were transcribed in W. Prynne, Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, iv. 1087. Furthermore, both Bayen and Skelton were clerks of the Chancery (the latter holding the office of spigurnel there).

Meanwhile, Bayen had continued acting for the Ports in the suit for tax allowances for the advocants, a matter which kept him busy over many years. In July 1457 the Ports agreed to find £10 to be used in the suit, and Bayen himself was to receive five marks from each of the Ports for his own remuneration, a sum which included 20s. for his assistant. Nevertheless, he encountered some difficulties over receiving his dues and in July 1459 payment of £10 7s. 4d. was deferred. However, at the same time his position was regularized. For his activities as the Ports’ ‘solicitor’ regarding the allowances, it was agreed that he should take 13s. 4d. ‘for his wagis termely’, an order which marks his permanent employment by the Ports. In this period Bayen was also given responsibility for bills brought by the Ports in the Exchequer against the bailiffs of Great Yarmouth, for wrongs done to their representatives at the annual herring fair. It was perhaps with such suits in mind that the Ports had sent Bayen to Yarmouth as one of their bailiffs in the previous year.15 White and Black Bks. 35, 38-41. Rye had frequently engaged him on its business, for instance paying him 13s. 4d. ‘to speke wt lordes to hafe some eyde for þe towne’, as well as asking him to obtain copies of Exchequer processes and writs regarding lawsuits.16 Rye mss, 60/2, ff. 60, 73v, 74v, 87v.

Election as one of the 12 jurats of Rye in 1458 was followed a year later by Bayen’s return as one of that Port’s representatives in the Parliament summoned to Coventry on 20 Nov. 1459. However, for his services in the Commons he appears to have been paid just 40s. (only about 1s. 3d. a day), although his companion, Babylon Grantford*, received an additional 44s.17 Ibid. ff. 80v, 87v. The Parliament enforced Lancastrian rule by bringing acts of attainder against the Yorkist leaders. By the time Bayen’s next Parliament met, in October 1460, the tables had been turned, and the followers of the duke of York were victorious. In August that year Bayen had been in London, having been asked by the Cinque Ports to solicit learned counsel with regard to the ‘reformacion and renovacion’ of their charter, for which he was to make suit to the King and lords, so again it is surprising that he was not representing one of the Ports in the Parliament: once more he sat for Poole.18 White and Black Bks. 42-43. As before, Poole was excluded from the composite indenture for the shire and boroughs of Dorset, and appeared last on the schedule listing the names of MPs.19 C219/16/6. Again, the suspicion arises that Bayen’s name was added after the return reached the Chancery.

It seems likely that Bayen assisted John Faukes in the business of running this Parliament, which sat until February 1461, although perhaps not yet in the official role of Faukes’s under clerk. The date of the death or resignation of his predecessor as clerk of the Commons is not known, but, described as ‘of the Chancery’, on 15 Sept. 1461 he was formally granted the office of under clerk of the Parliaments, with a salary of £5 p.a. from the issues of Surrey and Sussex, backdated to the previous Easter.20 CCR, 1461-8, p. 370; CPR, 1461-7, p. 47. That he was to retain the post for at least 36 years, and quite possibly until his death, is a measure of his competence in office as well as of an ability to disassociate himself from dramatic political upheavals. He was exempted from the Acts of Resumption of Edward IV’s reign, with respect to his salary.21 PROME, xiii. 135, 261-2.

Despite his commitments at Westminster, Bayen’s work for Rye in particular and the Cinque Ports in general continued for many years. In the spring of 1461 he was at Winchelsea on Rye’s legal business, and he was again there for a Guestling in the autumn, while at the Brodhull in July he had been one of three men instructed to negotiate for the confirmation of the Ports’ charters by the new King, being paid wages and given money to spend ‘in frenship makyng and counceyll gettyng’. This last matter preoccupied him for some time: in the following year it was decided that if a Parliament was to be held before Christmas 1462 Bayen and the Ports’ barons in the Parliament were to seek the confirmation, and in April 1464 it was agreed that Bayen should receive 2s. a day while engaged in this matter.22 Rye mss, 60/2, ff. 87, 93, 94v; White and Black Bks. 43, 47, 50. Whereas in the years 1454-9 he had been employed on a regular basis to do the business of the Ports in the Exchequer, from 1463 onwards he was formally engaged as the Ports’ attorney-general in Chancery.23 White and Black Bks. pp. xx, xxx, 48-49. His usual fee seems to have been 13s. 4d. a year for the next ten years, although this was paid somewhat erratically, and from 1474 he received 20s. p.a., as well as additional rewards for particular business undertaken, such as 10s. for work ‘about the franchises’, and 3s. 4d. ‘for his search in the Exchequer for the mayor of Rye’. Sometimes such payments reflected his special role as clerk of the Commons: thus he was paid 20s. for writing ‘the Actes of the parlement’ (this in July 1474, when, presumably, he compiled a special copy of the statutes for the Ports’ benefit), and 13s. 4d. ‘for suits in parliament’ (July 1475).24 Ibid. 57, 60-61, 66-69, 71, 73. He seems to have earned his money, both in and out of the House, by advising the barons on matters of law. In July 1465 Thomas Hextall* had been instructed to take the new charter of the Ports to Bayen at London, so it might be examined before claims were made for allowances against the subsidies. In 1466 he was to labour to have Portsmen discharged from payment of certain subsidies at Calais, and in April 1468 he was instructed to consult with the barons appointed to attended the forthcoming session of Parliament to be held at Reading or Westminster how best to respond to the stream of warrants coming from the warden of the Ports in all points concerning the charter.25 Ibid. 53, 55, 57.

Probably at the dissolution of the Parliament of 1467, in June 1468, Bayen successfully petitioned for a reward for his efforts as under clerk, on the grounds that since he was duty bound to attend upon the Commons he had had to decline other profitable business. The Commons, aware of his diligence in this Parliament, as in previous ones, supported him in the petition, with the result that a warrant was sent to the Exchequer to pay him £10.26 E28/90/9. The next Parliament to meet was summoned for 26 Nov. 1470 in the name of the restored Henry VI, and it is possible that Bayen was removed from his clerkship of the Commons for its duration. Certainly, the superior office of clerk of the Parliaments now passed to Baldwin Hyde, although this may have been because of John Faukes’s ill health and impending death, which occurred on 5 Feb. 1471, during the second session.27 Bull. IHR, xvi. 84; PCC 2 Wattys. Yet, even if not the clerk of the House, Bayen may still have been present in the Commons. It looks as if he once more sat in the House as a representative for Rye, for the local accounts for 1476-7 refer to a payment of 40s. to him ‘for his Parliemente wages, the which was left behind unpaid in John Sutton’s time [as mayor]’, and this may well refer to the mayoralty of John Sutton†, who served from September 1470.28 HMC 5th Rep. 495; White and Black Bks. 62-65. The Rye accts. for 1474-7 have been lost since they were transcribed in HMC 5th Rep. 493-6: Cat. Rye Recs. ed. Dell, 64. An older John Sutton* had been mayor in 1458-9, but left office before Bayen’s election to the Coventry Parliament. There was no other mayor of this name between then and 1470. Whatever his role or roles in the Parliament, it is very likely that he was called upon by the canons of the college of St. George at Windsor to act as their advocate. During the 1460s he had served as clerk to their dean, John Faukes (his superior in the Chancery and in Parliaments), and had been active at Westminster and elsewhere on the college’s behalf. St. George’s had much to lose from Henry VI’s restoration, as there was a risk that Parliament might invalidate Edward IV’s acts and grants. The dean and canons needed to be able to secure provisos to any general acts that affected the interests of the college and to react to any bills that might have implications for Windsor’s endowment. Bayen, who had recently been formally retained as their solicitor in the royal courts, could be relied upon to undertake this task.29 St. George’s Chapel, recs. XV.48.27, 31, 38; H. Kleineke and E.C. Roger, ‘Baldwin Hyde, Clerk of the Parliaments’, Parlty. Hist. xxxiii. 506-8.

Following Edward IV’s return to England to reclaim the throne, the barons of the Cinque Ports made a serious error of judgement in April 1471 by lending their support to the forces of the Lancastrian Bastard of Fauconberg: their franchises were confiscated by the restored monarch as a consequence. In July two delegates were sent from Romney and Hythe to seek Cardinal Bourgchier’s aid in the Portsmen’s supplications to regain their liberties, and also to ask Bayen’s advice about how to deal with the practical problems currently faced by the barons – how they should phrase their commission for the Ports’ bailiffs to the herring fair at Yarmouth, ‘what name we shall call them’, and what writs were needed; indeed, whether bailiffs could be sent in the customary manner. In December Bayen was one of a dozen men asked to plead with the King regarding the franchises, and to advise the Ports’ authorities whether a gift of 100 marks should be offered to the warden.30 White and Black Bks. 63-64. Fortunately, his own place in the Chancery appears to have been secure, and in the following year he was active as John Faukes’s executor, and in making settlements of the Passhele lands of which they had been co-feoffees.31 CP40/843, rot. 100; C54/324, m. 9d.

During the 1470s Bayen mainly resided in or near London, rather than on the Sussex coast. This is suggested by his association in May 1475 with Richard Beauchamp, bishop of Salisbury, Walter Devereux II*, Lord Ferrers, and several parishioners of the church of St. Bride in Fleet Street in the foundation of a perpetual guild of St. Mary; and the fact that two years later he joined Sir Thomas Montgomery† in establishing another guild in the parish church of St. Mary at Prittlewell in Essex.32 CPR, 1467-77, p. 553; 1476-85, p. 34. Presumably, his business at Westminster kept him there most of the time. Yet he continued regularly to receive fees from the Cinque Ports, which from 1478 to 1493 amounted to 26s. 8d. every year. Significantly, in this period such payments were often brought to him from the Brodhulls by his son, Robert, or else by John Bayen, possibly Robert’s brother.33 White and Black Bks. 75, 78, 80, 81, 83, 84, 87, 92, 94, 95, 98, 100, 101, 103, 106, 109, 113, 114. Of his status in the Ports there is no doubt: he was among the barons who attended the coronation of Richard III and his queen on 6 July 1483; and, indeed, he helped to carry the canopy held over the new King. He it was who wrote an account of the ceremony in the ‘White Book’ of the Ports, noting that this record might be used as a precedent.34 HMC 5th Rep. 496; White and Black Bks. 641-2. Bayen’s concern for precedents is of interest in the context of his role as clerk of the Commons which entailed recording noteworthy events while Parliament was sitting. His exceptionally long service as clerk would have had a significant effect on ensuring continuity of procedure in the House from Parliament to Parliament over a period of 50 years.

Richard III confirmed Bayen in office as clerk of the Commons, by a warrant dated 14 July 1483.35 C81/886/7. In April 1484 two Portsmen, instructed to ride to London to secure royal confirmation of the Ports’ charters, were told to take the advice of Bayen about suing for a general pardon and the choice of a new attorney in the Exchequer.36 White and Black Bks. 89. After an absence of more than 20 years from meetings of the Brodhull, Bayen represented New Romney in the one held in July 1485, but this was to be his final appearance there.37 Ibid. 93. Following Henry VII’s accession, he was again kept on as clerk of the Commons, and he was exempted from the Act of Resumption passed in Henry’s first Parliament, in respect of his fees, wages and annuities.38 C82/8, no. 45 (warrant dated 4 Mar. 1486, the last day of the Parliament, authorizing payment of his salary from the previous Sept.); PROME, xv. 238. Accordingly, he continued to be paid his annual fee of £5 from the Crown for the next 12 years.39 Materials for Hist. Hen. VII ed. Campbell, i. 351; ii. 558, corrected in Bull. IHR, xvi. 85-86; E404/79/72, 107, 180, 267; 80/276, 303; C260/160/2. Naturally, he could also expect to receive douceurs from petitioners to Parliament seeking his assistance for the smooth passage of their bills. Apparently, he could expedite certain bills before others, if it were made worth his while to do so. This seems to be the inference to be drawn from an entry in the accounts of the Pewterers’ Company of London for 1487-8: ‘Item paide to Thomas Bayne clerke of the parliament house to spede our billes to be redde ... vjs. viijd.’.40 C. Welch, Hist. Pewterers, i. 64.

For several years Bayen had continued to receive an annual fee of 26s. 8d. from the dean and canons of Windsor. In return he offered them his counsel, and proved particularly helpful in the pursuance of their dispute with the ‘poor knights’ of Windsor, by drafting and promoting bills in the Parliaments of January 1483 and 1485.41 St. George’s Chapel, recs. XV 48.27, 32; 60.33, 38, 47, 56, 61; H. Kleineke, ‘Lobbying and Access’, Parlty. Hist. xxv. 151-2. All this while he had been busy as official attorney for the Cinque Ports, a commitment he maintained until about 1493; although after that date there are no further references to Portsmen consulting him, nor to his fees.42 White and Black Bks. 113, 117, 119. Nor is there any subsequent reference to his son Robert in the context of the business of the Brodhulls. Payments to Bayen as clerk of the Commons ceased after the dissolution of Parliament in March 1497, but that he remained a clerk in Chancery is suggested by an incidental payment of 20d. made to him at Easter 1503 for writing in his own hand the tenor of an Act passed in that Parliament concerning the subsidy and alnage of cloth. He did not serve in the subsequent Parliament, which met on 25 Jan. 1504,43 Bull. IHR, xvi. 86. and it seems likely that by then he was dead.