FASNAM, Roger

In consideration of his good service as a groom of the saucery, Fasnam shared a corrody at Monmouth priory with William Benet, by grant for their lives in survivorship made by Henry VI on 18 Aug. 1437.6 CCR, 1435-41, pp. 162-3. He continued to receive fees and livery at the Household for at least 15 years longer, and it may have been primarily to this position that he owed his return for New Windsor to the Parliament at Bury St. Edmunds in 1447, for many other Members of the Commons on this occasion were similarly attached to the Court. Yet Fasnam did own property in the borough he represented, and he became well regarded in the local community. Precisely when he had first come to live at New Windsor is uncertain, although it may be surmised that his residence there was an outcome of his regular attendance on the King on the frequent royal visits to Windsor castle. His marriage to Christine Smyth, a local widow, probably took place in the summer of 1438, for it was then that his father-in-law settled jointly on him (described as ‘of the King’s Household’) and his wife three tenements and three gardens in ‘Underore’ in return for an annual rent of just 1s. These properties were to pass to their issue, with remainder in tail to Christine’s daughter Agnes, the child of her previous husband.7 Windsor deeds, 767. The marriage brought Fasnam more property in Windsor when his wife’s father died in 1455, although he and Christine were forced to petition the chancellor for redress when one of the feoffees of Smyth’s estate refused to transfer seisin to them, even though the others, who included Henry Fraunceys*, were willing to do so.8 C1/26/332. In June 1456 Fasnam received a bond in £100 from his father-in-law’s widow, presumably to guarantee his interest in the Smyth estate, and two years later he and his wife donated to the dean and canons of Windsor certain lands in New and Old Windsor, on condition that they would keep the obits of Christine’s parents. If the ceremonies were neglected the lands were to pass instead to the wardens of the fraternity of the Holy Trinity in the parish church at New Windsor.9 St. George’s Chapel, recs. XV 2/17, 58 C 2.

Besides the property he acquired through marriage, Fasnam rented several plots of land pertaining to Windsor castle. After the Act of Resumption of 1455 he leased 65 acres of arable land, ten of underwood and 20 of meadow in Windsor and Shaw in association with others, and a further nine acres on his own. He also obtained from the officials at the castle the farm of the herbage of ‘Lodecroft’ park for 20s. p.a. He may still have been in crown employment, for in the same year he was paid 12s. 6d. for the carriage of 25 cartloads of materials for hedging the royal vineyard and the park under the castle walls, and shortly afterwards he was associated in one of his leases with William Okeden*, the clerk of the castle.10 SC6/755/19, ff. 7v, 8, 8v, 9, 9v; 20 ff. 7, 7v, 8, 8v. Fasnam regularly witnessed deeds at New Windsor from 1442 to 1462,11 St. George’s Chapel, recs. XV 45/164, 192-3, 207, 212-13, 216, 218; CCR, 1454-61, p. 341; Windsor deeds, 769. and following his return to Parliament he served at least four terms as a town bailiff. As such he joined his fellow bailiff in making the borough return to the Parliament of 1460.12 C219/16/6. Together with Henry Fraunceys he received a gift of goods and chattels from Margaret Salveyn, a local widow, in August 1461.13 CCR, 1461-8, p. 89. By then he had no doubt lost his post in the Household following the deposition of Henry VI. His appointment as a tax collector in 1463 probably should not be regarded as a mark of esteem, but rather as a burden imposed on those considered lukewarm in their support of the new regime.

Following Fasnam’s death, which occurred before January 1465, his widow sold their remaining properties in New and Old Windsor and Clewer to John Cony, in return for a cash payment of £20 and an annuity of £2 for life. But she then, ‘by the excitation of other persons’ foolishly re-entered these holdings and made two further enfeoffments, apparently with a view to obtaining better terms. Naturally enough, Cony stopped payment of the instalments of the purchase price and the annuity, whereupon Christine petitioned the chancellor, George Neville, archbishop of York, for assistance. The veracity of her statement was supported by the testimony of the mayor and other men of New Windsor, and found proven by the chancellor. Meanwhile, further enfeoffments had been made by interested parties to secure the help of persons in very high places, notably the King’s brothers, the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, the Lords Herbert* and Wenlock* and Sir Robert Harcourt* KG. However, in November 1465 the lands concerned were transferred to the possession of the chancellor himself, William Lacon I* the judge, and others including Cony, presumably for the latter’s benefit.14 C1/31/56-62; Windsor deeds, 829, 831; CCR, 1461-8, p. 332.