CALWODLEGH, Thomas

Calwodlegh was descended from a family that took its name from its principal seat near Tiverton in Devon. His parentage cannot be established with absolute certainty, but he may have been a scion of a cadet branch of the family, for in September 1431 holdings in Calverley, including the advowson of the church, were still in the hands of a Robert Calwodlegh, probably his kinsman.15 CCR, 1454-61, p. 188. The Calwodlegh estates were modest, and the holdings at Calverley which eventually came into Thomas’s hands were later said to be worth a mere 100s. p.a.16 CIPM Hen. VII, iii. 594.

Thomas trained in the law, and by the early 1450s had entered the service of William, Lord Zouche, who employed him as steward of his manor of Totnes. Although he may also have served as steward of the guild merchant of the town that same year, it is likely that he owed his local standing to his patron, and it was probably the same factor that secured him election to two successive Parliaments in November 1449 and 1450.17 This seems a more probable explanation for Calwodlegh’s return than Martin Cherry’s suggestion that he owed his election to the links of his mother’s family with the Courtenays of Tiverton: Patronage, Crown and Provinces ed. Griffiths, 130, 142; M. Cherry, ‘Crown and Political Community, Devon’ (Wales Univ. Swansea Ph.D. thesis, 1981), 273, 277. Even more important than the connexion with the comparatively insignificant Lord Zouche was one with a rather more powerful patron, Henry Holand, the young duke of Exeter. It is not known when Calwodlegh first forged his link with the Holands, but it may have dated back to the time of Duke Henry’s father, John Holand, for on the day before his first Parliament assembled the lawyer was included among the group of Holand servants to whom custody of the ducal estates was granted alongside their young master while he remained under age.18 CFR, xviii. 147; CP, v. 212; C139/170/43. Certainly, Calwodlegh’s tie with the Holands was to prove a lasting one, and after the duke’s attainder in the Parliament of 1461 he went on to serve as receiver to the duchess.19 M.M.N. Stansfield, ‘Holland Fam.’ (Oxf. Univ. D.Phil. thesis, 1987), 236; CP40/835, rot. 226; 836, rot. 250.

Whether through noble patronage or by virtue of his own abilities, it seems that Calwodlegh attracted some attention in government circles and even while he was sitting in his first Parliament the lawyer was appointed receiver of the former Gournay estates, in the King’s hand after the death of Lord Tiptoft. Just over half a year later, and while representing Totnes for a second time, Calwodlegh attracted an even more important office in the escheatorship of the double-bailiwick of Devon and Cornwall, which he was to retain for an extended term until February 1452. In the course of his official duties, in November 1451 he presided over the inquisition post mortem of John Vautort, a Devon landowner who had died the previous December. Vautort’s widow was assigned some of his estates in jointure, and Calwodlegh lost little time in grasping the opportunity that presented itself and married her. The chief possession Elizabeth Vautort brought to her husband was the manor of Clyst St. Lawrence to the north-east of Exeter, said to be worth £2 p.a., and it was there that the couple settled, but there were also holdings further afield in Plymouth.20 C139/141/5; CP25(1)/46/89/260; CP40/820, rot. 23d. At the time of Vautort’s death his synonymous son and heir was a minor aged eight, and it seems that the Calwodleghs in the first instance gained control of his entire inheritance. Yet, after he came of age, he sought to recover his family property. The dispute dragged on into the 1470s, and only in the autumn of 1474 was an agreement reached, under the terms of which the Calwodleghs retained holdings in Awliscombe, Bradninch and elsewhere in Devon for their lives, but had to quitclaim Elizabeth’s dower rights to her son.21 C1/48/455; E405/59, rot. 2.

By the mid 1450s Calwodlegh had established himself in the city of Exeter and had acquired a residence within its walls, a house opposite ‘Seynt Stephens Bowe’, as well as another five messuages, which he rented from St. Nicholas’s priory.22 CPR, 1467-77, p. 187; CP40/836, rot. 117d. The citizens regularly called upon his professional services, and in recognition he was admitted to the freedom in May 1455 ‘for his counsel and good will’.23 Exeter Freemen, ed. Rowe and Jackson, 52. He soon became an integral part of Exeter society and took up some mercantile activity, which, along with his several receiverships, accounts for much of the debt litigation in which he was embroiled throughout his career.24 CPR, 1461-7, pp. 4, 256; 1476-85, p. 262; CP40/766, rot. 58; 780, rot. 154d; 786, rot. 253; 820, rots. 26d, 450; 826, rot. 256d; 836, rot. 41; KB27/896, rot. 36. In 1456 and 1460 he was elected receiver, the city’s chief financial officer, and before the end of Henry VI’s reign he was thus well on his way to reaching the pinnacle of the civic hierarchy, the mayoralty. He was evidently well regarded by Exeter’s individual inhabitants, as well as the ruling oligarchy: among those with whom he forged close relationships was the long-serving cathedral precentor, Walter Colles, who named him as his executor.25 Reg. Lacy, iv (Canterbury and York Soc. lxiii), 57-58.

In the late 1450s the country, and particularly the south-west, was descending into open civil war. Calwodlegh is not known to have become involved in the violence sparked by Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon, that swept the West Country in the second half of 1455, although around that time he did clash with one of the protagonists, John Radford*, cousin of the murdered recorder of Exeter.26 CP40/786, rot. 424. About the same time, there may also have been something of a cooling of Calwodlegh’s relations with the ducal Holands. A general pardon that he procured in November 1455 may have been a precaution necessitated by litigation begun by the dowager duchess of Exeter for a sum of money he and an associate were said to have stolen from her, while in May 1460 the duke of Exeter himself procured a writ of sub poena in the large sum of £500 against Calwodlegh from Chancery.27 C67/41, m. 25; CP40/774, rot. 312; C253/37/67.

Nevertheless, when following the Yorkist rout at Ludford Bridge in October 1459 Parliament was summoned to meet at Coventry on 20 Nov. the citizens of Exeter returned Calwodlegh as one of their representatives. This was probably no accidental choice. The allocation of a mere 26s. 8d. for Calwodlegh’s wages for a session lasting four weeks may suggest that he had deliberately sought election, perhaps at the bidding of the duke of Exeter who had in the past influenced the choice of the Exeter Members. Certainly, he was trusted by the Lancastrian administration, for while Parliament was in session he was appointed receiver of the west country estates forfeited by the attainted Neville earls.28 Devon RO, Exeter receiver’s acct. 39 Hen. VI-1 Edw. IV, m. 1d; CPR, 1452-61, p. 530. Such an appointment was, however, prone to render him suspicious to the duke of York’s supporters who emerged victorious in the following summer. He thus found no official appointment for much of the 1460s, and clashed privately with the wealthy John Dynham of Nutwell, who had been in exile at Calais with the Yorkist earls. A connexion with the earl of Warwick’s brother, John Neville, earl of Northumberland, that he established at some point before 1465 had by that date also turned sour.29 CCR, 1454-61, p. 478; CP40/818, rot. 261d.

Nor did Calwodlegh enjoy universal popularity among his neighbours. In 1463 John Netherton*, Exeter’s other MP in the assembly of 1459, complained of having been assaulted and imprisoned by a mob led by his former parliamentary colleague, perhaps acting in an official capacity.30 CP40/808, rot. 259. There were also professional and commercial disagreements. Thus at one stage in these years he became embroiled in a suit under the statute of maintenance with a fellow lawyer, John Ingram*.31 KB27/818, rots. 11d, 54, 108. The circumstances in which John, Lord Scrope of Bolton, came to be indebted to Calwodlegh are uncertain,32 C1/223/11, 225/77-78. but some of the men of Exeter were also bound to him in obligations which they were at pains to pay. Thus, the apothecary John Weston owed him £9 10s. and as security for payment pledged silver plate worth more than twice that sum, including a silver-gilt basin with enameled ornaments in the bottom, and a standing cup with a chased silver-gilt cover decorated with a columbine of enamel. The greater value of the plate aside, its clearly exquisite workmanship may have played a part in persuading Calwodlegh to refuse all payment of the debt and retain the silver instead, forcing Weston to petition the chancellor for redress, and ultimately the lawyer’s own executors to deny any knowledge of the plate’s existence.33 C1/111/10-12; C4/9/28.

This was just one of a number of instances that may suggest that Calwodlegh was not above bending the law for his own profit. In about 1465 he was embroiled in a dispute with one Peter Lake over landholdings in Langley and Templeton, and although he had promised his opponent to desist from prosecuting a suit pending in the court of common pleas while their dispute was in the hands of arbiters, he nevertheless seized his opportunity to have Lake condemned by default.34 C1/32/241. One of Lake’s sureties in this plea was none other than the royal official Thomas Dukmanton†, himself an Exeter man, who later was also to quarrel with Calwodlegh over property in the city. Calwodlegh had invested some of the money amassed in the course of his legal practice in the purchase of a share in the houses in Exeter owned jointly by William Bishop* and John Stokyngton, and on account of his training in the land law had been entrusted by the vendors with the task of drawing up the necessary documents. When Dukmanton had purchased the share of the properties remaining in the hands of Bishop and Stokyngton, he found to his dismay that Calwodlegh was laying claim to the entire holdings, disregarding any exceptions that had been agreed at the time of the purchase, and using the deeds he had drawn up to challenge Dukmanton’s claim.35 C1/33/16; CP40/845, rot. 128. Similarly, when one John Gofeyre, father of Calwodlegh’s own godson Thomas Gofeyre, found his title to certain lands in Washfield challenged by Nicholas Cannington, Calwodlegh stepped in as a feoffee, secured a quitclaim and delivery of the related muniments from Nicholas, and – to Gofeyre’s chagrin – promptly proceeded to treat the holding as his own.36 C1/136/76. It is probable that similar plans to extend his landholdings lay behind disputes with the lawyer John Sydenham* and the royal justice Sir Richard Chokke over the wardships of the heirs of John St. Aubyn and Joan Kelly.37 CP40/780, rot. 215d; 835, rot. 46; 837, rot. 24d.

Such squabbles notwithstanding, at Michaelmas 1467 the citizens of Exeter elected Calwodlegh as mayor, having earlier that year returned him to his fourth Parliament. The Commons’ two short sessions were uneventful compared with the increasing trouble brewing on the national stage, but for Calwodlegh it marked his restoration to some measure of royal favour. During the recess of late 1467 and early 1468 he was added to the Devon bench, and two months after the dissolution made a justice of oyer and terminer. Before long, however, he was once more overtaken by political events. In early 1470 (Sir) Hugh Courtenay* of Boconnoc laid siege to the city of Exeter, where Calwodlegh was by then serving as mayor of the staple. Within days, the earl of Warwick and the King’s own brother, the duke of Clarence, rose in open rebellion, and in the autumn King Henry VI was restored. The citizens, now recalling old ties with Sir Hugh, sought his intervention for the confirmation of Exeter’s charter.38 Exeter receiver’s acct. 10-11 Edw. IV, m. 2. Curiously, in the light of Calwodlegh’s prior connexions with the Holands and the Nevilles, the Readeption regime did not trust him and removed him from the county bench. Before long, this proved a blessing, for when Edward IV emerged victorious the following spring, Calwodlegh became a trusted servant of the restored dynasty. Between May and July 1471 he was successively appointed escheator of Devon and Cornwall and feodary of both duchies in the south-western counties, and in early 1472 he was also restored to the Devon bench. Corporations as far afield as Cornish Launceston now sought to curry his favour with gifts of wine, and the citizens of Exeter once more returned him to Parliament in 1472.39 Ibid., 12-13 Edw. IV, m. 1d Launceston bor. recs., B/Laus/147, m. 2. Although the Commons sat intermittently for almost three years, Thomas continued to serve the Crown in the locality, holding his duchy of Lancaster office throughout the decade. It is possible that at some point in the early 1470s he became drawn into the orbit of the duke of Clarence, perhaps through a family tie with the Courtenays of Powderham (important servants of the duke) forged by the marriage of his grand-daughter. If this was so, it might account for his dismissal (along with William* and Sir Philip Courtenay†) as a j.p. in the autumn of 1474. Yet he established where his loyalties lay, and by early 1477 was once more appointed to a royal commission in the locality. Later that year, he was present at the shire elections at Exeter castle and attested the indenture, which among the names of the shire knights and other burgesses also recorded that of his eldest son, Thomas, who had been returned by the burgesses of Totnes.40 C219/17/3.

Calwodlegh’s later years saw the successive deaths of his wife and his eldest son, Thomas. Apart from having to provide for his own children, he was now also left with the task of finding suitable spouses for his unmarried grandchildren, and he did so with some success, albeit at a cost. For a dowry of £40 and a silver gilt cup the wealthy Sir John Speke had married the lawyer’s daughter Isabel, and for a similar sum of money Calwodlegh secured the hand of Philip Courtenay of Powderham for his grand-daughter Christine.41 C1/255/39, 294/89. The Kelly heiress, Edith, over whose custody he had squabbled with Sir Richard Chokke, was married to his grandson, Humphrey.42 CP40/835, rot. 46; C1/242/36.

A final spell in Edward IV’s last, short, Parliament of January 1483 brought Calwodlegh’s career in the Commons to a close. Unlike many leading south-westerners, however, he was evidently not openly hostile to Richard III, and although on 23 Feb. 1484 he took the precaution of suing out a general pardon, he was reappointed to the Devon county bench just days later.43 C67/51, m. 10. Henry VII, however, had no further use for him, and within weeks of Bosworth he was not only dropped from the bench but also dismissed as feodary of the duchy of Lancaster. There were no wider reaching repercussions, and in his locality Calwodlegh continued to be highly regarded. In the autumn of 1486 the citizens of Exeter elected him mayor for a second time, and he continued to maintain a private practice, serving, inter alia, as a feoffee of the influential Cornish landowner Henry Bodrugan.44 CIPM Hen. VII, iii. 861; PROME, xv. 367.

Calwodlegh died on 6 June 1492. In his lifetime he had made provision for the welfare of his soul by settling his manor of Awliscombe on feoffees with instructions to convey it to the Exeter authorities, who were to use the annual revenues for the relief of the poor of the city and for the establishment of a chantry in the chapel of St. George.45 CPR, 1494-1509, p. 74. As Calwodlegh’s eldest son had predeceased him, his heir was his now 20-year-old grandson Humphrey. Along with his grandfather’s estates Humphrey inherited his Yorkist sympathies and was later attainted in Parliament for his support of Perkin Warbeck’s landing at Whitsound Bay in September 1497.46 CIPM Hen. VII, iii. 594; I. Arthurson, Perkin Warbeck Conspiracy, 182; PROME, xvi. 379-87. Calwodlegh’s second son, John, became his principal executor, an onerous task, for his father had left much unfinished business, and for years after his death John was engaged in litigation with men as important as Philip Courtenay of Powderham, Sir John Speke and even John, Lord Scrope of Bolton.47 C1/111/12, 223/11, 225/77-78, 255/39, 294/89.