STOKKE, Thomas

Members of the Stokke family had long been resident in Great Bedwyn, where they held the manor of the same name from the early fourteenth century. Although the precise descent of the manor is uncertain, it passed to the MP at an unknown date before 1428,3 VCH Wilts. xvi. 24-25; Feudal Aids, v. 264. by which date he had been a parishioner of the church at Great Bedwyn for over 20 years.4 Reg. John Chandler (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xxxix), 62, 279, 354. Confusion about the date of his birth owes much to his own uncertainty. At a proof of age for Agnes, wife of Thomas Temys* and grand-daughter of John Levesham† of Salisbury, conducted at Marlborough in June 1427, Stokke said that he was aged 61 (so born in about 1366); but at a further proof for the same heiress held just four months later he gave his age as 56 (so born in about 1371).5 CIPM, xxii. 828; xxiii. 143. In a third proof of age, held a year later in 1428 for John Baynton*, Stokke was said to be aged 74, so born in about 1354 (CIPM, xxiii. 307), but this is the least likely of the three to be correct. It is quite likely that he was the Thomas, son of Thomas de Stokke, who in April 1396 obtained a royal pardon for causing the death of another namesake, the son of John de Stokke, at Bedwyn 18 months earlier,6 CPR, 1391-6, p. 696. although further details of this family tragedy have not been found.

The Stokkes had long been associated with the leading landowners of their locality, the Sturmys of Wolf Hall. Stokke’s putative father and namesake had witnessed a conveyance in 1382 whereby Wolf Hall and other estates were settled on Sir William Sturmy*and his future wife in jointure,7 Wilts. Hist. Centre, Marquis of Ailesbury mss, 1300/32. and he held office as verderer of Savernake forest (where Sir William was hereditary warden) until removed as being insufficiently qualified for the post in 1387.8 CCR, 1385-9, p. 245. The date of his death is not known, but the future MP had entered his inheritance by March 1406, when he relinquished his title to ‘Dun Mill’ near Hungerford (close to Bedwyn) to the lawyer William Coventre†.9 CCR, 1405-9, p. 118; The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 677-8. Soon after, he too entered the service of Sir William Sturmy, who as the lessee of Bedwyn from Queen Joan exerted considerable influence in the locality. When he recalled the baptism of John Levesham’s grand-daughter which took place on 6 Oct. 1411 Stokke said that on the day in question he had gone to Salisbury on Sir William’s business, but on arrival in the market place his horse had thrown him and his left arm had been broken.10 CIPM, xxii. 828. In what capacity Sturmy employed him remains unclear, although he was evidently useful for legal formalities, such as when he joined Sturmy and the latter’s nephew Robert Erle* in October 1414 to witness the transfer of property in Charlton and nearby Hungerford by Maurice Hommedieux† of Great Bedwyn to Thomas, Lord Berkeley.11 Berkeley Castle mss, BCM/B/4/6/10, 11. In June 1418 two of Stokke’s kinsmen, both described as husbandmen, were in dispute with Walter Metford, the prebendary of Bedwyn and dean of Wells cathedral, and were bound over to appear before him at Bedwyn and abide by the award of him and his counsel. But whatever the cause of the quarrel it did not directly concern the MP and his wife, who were both on good terms with Metford: the dean left them 20s. each in his will of December 1421.12 CCR, 1413-19, p. 430; Reg. Chichele, ii. 254.

Stokke witnessed a deed for Sir William Sturmy in February 1422.13 CCR, 1422-9, p. 195. This was a few months before the elections to Henry VI’s first Parliament, which met on the following 9 Nov. On that occasion Sir William, a former Speaker, was returned as a shire-knight for Wiltshire to his 12th and final Parliament, and he doubtless lent guidance to his kinsmen and associates as they entered the Commons for the first time. It seems very likely that his influence lay behind the return of a number of the burgesses from the county. Stokke was returned for Great Bedwyn in company with Sir William’s nephew Robert Erle, while the knight’s grandson John Seymour I* and illegitimate son John Sturmy* were both elected for Ludgershall. This was to be Stokke’s only Parliament. At the elections held in Wiltshire in the following year he stood surety for Richard Hardene*, another of Sturmy’s circle, and in 1437 he was to do likewise for John Appleton*, both of them chosen to represent his home town.14 C219/13/2; 15/1.

Meanwhile, Stokke had appeared as the defendant in a plea brought in King’s bench in 1425 by another neighbour, Joan Collingbourne (either the mother or wife of Robert Collingbourne*), but of what offence he had been accused is not stated.15 KB27/657, att. rot. 1d. He and Erle were jurors at Marlborough in March 1426 at the inquisition post mortem for Elizabeth, countess of Huntingdon, and he also served on the juries called to Little Bedwyn following the deaths of other Wiltshire landowners in 1428 and to Marlborough in 1431 and 1434 regarding the estates of (Sir) Richard Hankford* and Joan, Lady Cobham.16 CIPM, xxii. 612; xxiii. 16, 23, 571; C139/65/37. In August 1426 Stokke had attested his master Sturmy’s conveyance of land in Aldbourne to feoffees headed by Thomas Polton, bishop of Worcester, and after Sturmy’s death in the following year he was present when Polton with a different group of feoffees relinquished the manor of Burbage and other estates including the bailiwick of the stewardship of Savernake forest to the knight’s grandson and coheir John Seymour.17 E326/10711; Marquis of Ailesbury mss, 1300/43.

It is not known why, in November 1431, Stokke made a quitclaim to Sir Walter Hungerford†, Lord Hungerford, and his feoffees of the manor of Stokke and all his lands in the vicinity.18 CCR, 1429-35, p. 163. Perhaps he was seeking to extricate himself from financial difficulties which might ensue from accusations made against him by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester. In the summer of 1434 he was among a group of men accused in the King’s bench of having 11 years earlier poached hares, rabbits and pheasants in the duke’s liberties and chases at Marlborough, and fished in his fisheries, taking livestock altogether worth £40. The duke claimed enormous damages of £1,000 from the culprits. Stokke, through his attorney, denied culpability. Earlier that year, described as a ‘gentleman’, he had been among the men of Wiltshire listed to take the oath against the maintenance of law-breakers.19 CPR, 1429-36, p. 371; KB27/693, rot. 67. By then Stokke must have been long in years. He was last recorded in November 1441, once more in association with Seymour, Erle and John Sturmy, all lending their weight as witnesses to a deed for Robert Collingbourne.20 CCR, 1441-7, p. 43.