REDE, John I

Rede’s parentage has not been established, but he was resident in Dartmouth, where he owned a tenement to the south of Pynneslane, which had passed to him from one John Hemmeston by 1404.2 E13/121, rot. 10; H.R. Watkin, Dartmouth, 92. Like many of the leading burgesses of Dartmouth in the later Middle Ages, he was active in the shipping business,3 The Dartmouth MP must be distinguished from two contemporary namesakes who respectively lived at Lostwithiel and Colyford: CPR, 1388-92, p. 191, 1399-1401, p. 498. It was probably the Lostwithiel man who served as steward to Sir John Dynham of Nutwell in c.1397-1400: H. Kleineke, ‘Dinham Fam.’ (Univ. of London Ph.D. thesis, 1998), 145; M. Cherry, ‘Crown and Political Community, Devon’ (Univ. of Wales, Swansea, Ph.D. thesis, 1981), 113; Cornw. RO, Arundell mss, AR37/57. and his vessels, like theirs, engaged in periodic acts of privateering in parallel with more licit activities. Thus, in 1408 a balinger called La Rose, of which Rede was joint owner, was among a number of ships which took La Marie Knyght, a ship of Sluys, and its cargo of wine and iron and brought them to Dartmouth. An inquiry found in favour of the owners of the cargo, merchants of Genoa and Piedmont.4 CPR, 1405-8, pp. 473, 477-8. Similarly, in July 1415 commissioners of oyer and terminer were appointed to hear an appeal by Francesco de Gastaldo, a Milanese merchant, who complained that certain merchandise, wool and jewels of his worth over 600 marks had been captured by Rede and John More II* of Dartmouth. Not content with taking his goods, they had also inflicted bodily injuries on him. In the first instance, the case had been heard before John Urban†, lieutenant of the admiral of England, who had condemned de Gastaldo to pay the costs of the action, although More and Rede had admitted that certain of the goods had indeed come into their hands and declared themselves ready to make restitution. Understandably unhappy, the Italian had appealed against the initial judgement.5 CPR, 1413-16, pp. 406-7.

Far from damaging Rede’s reputation, his naval activities seem to have brought him to the government’s attention, and in April 1412 he was commissioned to recruit 40 mariners for service at sea. Although styled a mere ‘mariner’, he was a respected member of the Dartmouth community and was regularly called upon to witness local deeds and occasionally to act as a feoffee.6 Watkin, 91-92, 95-96, 100-1, 104, 390. In 1420-1 he served as one of the bailiffs of Dartmouth, a natural step to qualify him for election to Parliament in 1423 alongside the influential John Hawley*, one of the leading men of the town. While Parliament was in session, the Council’s plans to sell the royal fleet constructed by Henry V came to fruition. Rede was among the first to seize the opportunity which presented itself: on 4 Sept., together with his neighbours William Straunge, John More II, Richard Rowe and Walter Bacheller, he purchased the royal balinger Nicholas.7 Navy of the Lancastrian Kings (Navy Recs. Soc. cxxiii), 87.

Following his term in Parliament, Rede appears to have mainly devoted himself to his own business. In December 1428 he was among a group of Dartmouth men whose arrest and appearance before the Council was ordered, perhaps on account of a fresh act of piracy,8 CPR, 1422-9, p. 549. while five years later he was one of the burgesses who were said to have attacked the royal escheator Baldwin Fulford* in the course of his official duties.9 Watkin, 112-13. Spain now also featured among the destinations of his ships, for in 1434 he was licensed to take pilgrims to Santiago de Compostella in one of them, the Anthony.10 DKR, xlviii. 297-8. From the later 1420s Rede was no longer so active attesting deeds, although he was periodically empanelled on local juries (concerned with such matters as a boundary dispute between John Walsh alias Gregory* and John Foxley† in 1429),11 Watkin, 109; E199/9/11. and occasionally arbitrated local disputes. One such squabble in April 1428 arose from title to the barge La Kateryne, which had been taken from its Breton owners by the English fleet on its way to Bordeaux. A group of Dartmouth merchants, including Hugh Yon* and Nicholas Stebbing*, claimed to have purchased the vessel, but her former owners, John Stanbery and John Cleve, disputed this in the court of admiralty. Here, the matter was committed to the arbitration of Thomas Bukke and John Gayncote* for the part of Yon and his associates, and Rede and William Glover† for Stanbery and Cleve. The arbiters came to the conclusion that the ship should be returned to its former owners, but that they should repay Yon and the others the original purchase price of 45 marks, as well as an additional £6 10s. and any prize money due.12 Watkin, 392.

Rede was still alive in 1438 when his wife died and was buried in St. Saviour’s church. He did not, however, survive her for long, and was certainly dead by late 1440.13 Ibid. 119, 120, 307. The younger man of the same name active at Dartmouth in the second half of the fifteenth century may have been his son.14 C1/316/67; 353/30.