ORPYD, John

Orpyd was admitted to the guild merchant of Reading on 18 Jan. 1443, on payment of a fine of 16s. 8d., which indicates that he came from outside the town,3 Ibid. 16. and this is confirmed by his description as ‘formerly of Abingdon and Steventon, Berkshire’ in a pardon granted him three years later.4 C67/39, m. 20. One of his pledges for admission was Thomas Clerk II*, a leading draper, but he himself was variously described as a chapman, a merchant, a mercer and a husbandman. His diverse trading activities led to suits for debt in the court of common pleas, in which he sometimes appeared as the defendant. For instance, as a ‘woolman or mercer of Abingdon’ he had been sued in 1431 by William Wodefold* of Lewes in Sussex for a debt of £40, and in the 1450s Edward Dyer* alias Smith and his wife, as executors of William Claversham of Reading, brought a plea against him for the sum of £27 he had owed to the testator.5 CP40/680, rot. 29d; 737, rot. 22; 770, rot. 88d; 775, rot. 77d. A more serious charge, levied against him by one John White, alleged that he had stolen a purse containing ten marks at Letcombe Regis; Orpyd came to court in the Easter term of 1449 to protest his innocence. In the following term he brought an action against a chapman from Colchester for failing to render account as his receiver.6 CP40/753, rot. 163; 754, rot. 287.

Orpyd’s involvement in Reading affairs had begun as soon as he became a member of the guild. He gave 12d. towards repairs to the guildhall in 1443,7 Berks. RO, Reading recs., cofferers’ accts. R/FA/2, no. 29. and acted as a pledge for the admission of another mercer in May 1449. On 24 Oct. following he attested the indenture of election of the borough’s MPs.8 Reading Recs. i. 32; C219/15/7. He was named as a collector of parliamentary subsidies in the High Street on 25 Sept. 1450, and was himself returned to Parliament a month later, on 23 Oct. There is no record of his activities during the parliamentary sessions at Westminster, although at some point within the next few months he rode to Henley-on-Thames to have discussions with legal counsel on the town’s behalf, this being no doubt in connexion with the difficult relations between Reading’s guild and the abbot of Reading, the overlord of the town.9 Cofferers’ acct. no. 33; Reading Recs. i. 34; C219/16/1. In June 1452 Orpyd was one of 25 burgesses elected with the mayor ‘ad determinandum et respondendum’ on behalf of the community.10 Reading Recs. i. 39. Although he was never chosen to fill any of the principal borough offices, he did serve as one of two keepers of the market. In addition, he acted for a while as a rent collector in Reading for Thomas Stonor II*. How long he did so is unclear, but by 1456 he was no longer employed by Stonor, to whom he owed arrears of £4 19s. 10d. on his account, and this sum was still outstanding seven years later.11 SC6/1122/20; 1240/13. Orpyd took out another royal pardon on 25 Jan. 1456.12 C67/41, m. 11. In his later years he was known as John ‘senior’, as when in the following October he relinquished his title to a tenement opposite the corn market. He made a further quitclaim of the same or a neighbouring property in April 1462, together with a plot of land in New Street.13 Berks. RO, Reading recs., deeds R/AT 1/141, 144. He had been last recorded participating in the affairs of the commonalty a month earlier, when he provided pledges for an admission to the guild.14 Reading Recs. i. 46, 51. At Easter 1469 either our John Orpyd or his younger namesake, along with his wife Agnes, conveyed to John Bukke† of Reading and his wife Alice a messuage in the town.15 CP25(1)/13/87/12. Neither John is recorded therafter.