PERNECOTE, William

William may well have been related to Richard Pernecote† and his son John†, who had represented their home town of Reading in the Parliaments of 1397 (Jan.) and 1414 (Nov.), respectively, and to Margaret Pernecote, the daughter and heiress of Lambert Appulman, who in 1428 occupied a house in the High Street.3 The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 56; Berks. RO, Reading deeds, R/AT 1/110. Yet the large entry fee of 16s. 8d. that he was charged on his admission to the guild merchant suggests that his father had not been a burgess. Although resident in the town by 1440, when he contributed 1s. to works on the parish church of St. Laurence, he was not formally admitted to the guild until 28 June 1443, with a draper, Thomas Clerk II*, and a dyer, Edward Dyer alias Smith*, acting as his sponsors.4 C. Kerry, Hist. St. Laurence, 12; Reading Recs. i. 17; cofferers’ accts. R/FA/2, no. 29. Like Clerk he traded as a draper, although little is recorded about his business or commercial activities.

Pernecote soon began to take on responsible roles in the affairs of Reading. In the following May he served on the local jury which indicted Thomas Kerver for treason, and in November 1446 he helped to collect parliamentary subsidies in the High Street, where he held property.5 KB9/245/45; Reading Recs. i. 26; Reading deeds, R/AT 1/155. A term as cofferer followed in the next year, and Pernecote’s name appeared on the lists of attestors to the electoral indentures drawn up at the guildhall at Reading for the Parliaments of February and November 1449 and February 1453, recording on all three occasions his office as a constable of the town.6 C219/15/6, 7; 16/2. He was selected to serve on a committee appointed in August 1451 to scrutinize evidences in the guildhall to support the burgesses’ case for liberties refused them by their lord the abbot of Reading, and in June 1452 he was one of 25 men chosen with the mayor ‘ad determinandum et respondendum’ in matters affecting the commonalty.7 Reading Recs. i. 37, 39. A term as mayor followed in 1455-6, and when holding the office for the second time, in 1459, he took responsibility for making the return to the sheriff’s precept recording Reading’s choice of MPs at the Parliament summoned to Coventry, although this return was somewhat irregular in failing to take the form of an indenture required by statute.8 C219/16/5. Pernecote himself was elected to Parliament at the end of his mayoral term a year later, in 1460, and his fellow burgesses showed their appreciation of his performance in the Commons by re-electing him to Edward IV’s first Parliament. He and Thomas Beke*, his fellow MP in 1461, encountered difficulties in receiving payment of their parliamentary wages as the writ de expensis was lost. They had still not been paid by January 1463, as the money could not be levied without the authority of a writ, so it was decided in a meeting at the guildhall that Thomas Clerk, held responsible for the loss, should purchase a replacement writ or else pay all the wages himself.9 Reading Recs. 53-54.

Towards the end of December 1462 Pernecote was one of five burgesses named with the mayor to treat with the abbot regarding continuing matters of contention between the members of the guild merchant and their lord. There were also disputes between the townsmen which needed settling, and shortly afterwards he joined a body set up to bring to an end the quarrel between William Rede* and William Linacre* on the one side and Robert Farle on the other. In September 1463, together with the current mayor and five other sometime holders of the office, he promulgated new ordinances for the administration of Reading, and that same month and again in November 1468 he shared the responsibility of assessing contributions to the parliamentary subsidies.10 Reading Recs. i. 53-55, 57, 62. Quite clearly, Pernecote was a popular choice among his fellow burgesses for the role of mayor. He was one of the three men nominated in the years 1463, 1465, 1470 and 1472, from whom the abbot could make his appointment, yet evidently the abbot found him unacceptable, and he did not prove successful again until 1474. Nevertheless, his place among the most prominent townsmen remained assured, for in August 1472 he was one of just eight required to give their assent when the mayor made a grant of land belonging to the guild in perpetuity to Reading’s benefactor William Baron*.11 Ibid. 54, 59, 64, 66; Reading deeds, R/AT 1/158.

For four years from 1447 Pernecote had rented from the guild a garden in ‘Lorimerlane’, but he gave this up after receiving instead on 2 June 1452 a lease for 61 years of a stable and garden next to the guildhall, for which he paid 6s. 8d. p.a.12 Cofferers’ accts. R/FA/2. nos. 32-35; Reading Recs. i. 38. In the course of his career he often assisted others in their business and property transactions. Thus, in 1457 he was a recipient of the goods and chattels of Richard Wysbeche, a local merchant,13 CCR, 1454-61, p. 249. while in the period 1458-63 he helped in the estate administration of the wealthy esquire Thomas Stonor II*, by transferring to Stonor’s receiver various sums of money collected as rents, and offering his own house as a venue for meetings of his staff.14 SC6/1240/13. Pernecote acted as pledge for an admission to the guild merchant in January 1464, and helped his old colleague Thomas Clerk to complete the transfer of his property in Reading to William Edmund* of Wells early in 1466. In the 1470s he was a feoffee of property in the High Street and elsewhere,15 Reading Recs. i. 56; CAD, iv. A9247; Reading deeds, R/AT 1/157, 165. but of perhaps greater significance was his inclusion in the large group of trustees asked by the prominent landowner Edward Langford* esquire to make settlements of his estates in Berkshire in accordance with his will.16 CIPM Hen. VII, i. 934. Pernecote was nominated for the mayoralty of Reading for the last time in September 1477 (once more without success), and on the following 7 Jan. he again attested the parliamentary electoral indenture.17 Reading Recs. i. 75; C219/17/3. He died at an unknown date between October 1478 and 1484, when his widow paid the rent due for the property next to the guildhall.18 Reading deeds, R/AT 1/168, 169; cofferers’ acct. R/FA/2, no. 47.