STABLE, Robert

Stable was a fishmonger. He first appears in the records when he was appointed as one of the Nottingham bailiffs in 1443. While in office he extended his property interests in the town: he took a 90-year lease of a vacant plot of land in the Saturday Market from John Mapperley†, and a 100-year lease, at an annual rent of 16d., of a waste piece of ground in the Woman Market from the mayor and community. By September 1457 he had been appointed as one of the wardens to supervise the repair of the Hethbeth bridge, a matter of great importance to the borough community. As warden he made a gift of 2s. and loaned a further 3s. 4d. to the work. His election to represent Nottingham in the Coventry Parliament of 1459 came during his wardenship.1 Nottingham Recs. ed. Stevenson, ii. 220, 244, 367, 409-10, 424, 429-30; C219/16/5. In the following year he paid 40s. towards the sum of £23 the community sent to aid the King at the battle of Northampton; and in March 1461 he contributed five marks to the ‘gift’ of £124 made by the town to Henry Beaufort, duke of Somerset, and a further 40s. towards the ‘reward’ of £16 paid to the duke’s servants. The size of his individual contributions demonstrate that he was one of the more substantial burgesses, although his annual income was assessed at only a modest £3 in the tax returns of 1450-1. 2 Notts. Archs., Nottingham recs. CA7452; E179/238/78, no. 6. He may also have had lands outside the town at nearby Wilford, for, in November 1473, his widow conveyed a toft and bovate of land there to Gervase Clifton, lord of the manor of Wilford.3 Nottingham Univ. Lib. Clifton mss, Cl D 907.

Stable’s high standing in the town is reflected in his election as one of the seven aldermen the burgesses were empowered to elect under the terms of the royal charter of 1449. It is not known when this election occurred, only that it had done so by 16 Apr. 1464 when he sat as one of the town’s j.p.s, an office which was the exclusive preserve of the aldermen. Since the mayor was also drawn from the ranks of the aldermen, it is not surprising that his election to that office should have followed soon afterwards. As mayor he headed the attestors to the parliamentary election held on 4 May 1467. His term of office saw the conclusion of the town’s dispute with its powerful neighbour (Sir) Henry Pierrepont† over a mill on the river Leen, an award being returned in the townsmen’s favour on 8 July following.4 KB9/318/117; Nottingham Recs. ii. 380-4, 430; C219/17/1.

Towards the end of mayoralty Stable concluded an important personal matter, negotiating the marriage of his son and heir, Richard, to Agnes, sister of Richard Blakwall, a yeoman of Wirksworth (Derbyshire). On 18 Sept. 1467 Blakwall agreed to pay a portion of 40 marks; and in return our MP resettled part of his property, namely a messuage in Great Smith Gate (now Pelham Street) and a cottage in Saturday Market, on himself for life with remainder to the couple.5 CP40/833, rot. 132d; Nottingham recs. CA7539. His death followed soon afterwards. On 10 Oct. 1467 he still figured among the aldermen, but he was dead by Hilary term 1469. His son and heir, Richard, and his widow were then at odds, with the former suing the latter for detinue of deeds. On 30 June 1469 she replied with a writ against Richard for her dower in Nottingham. Judging by the subsidy assessments of 1473 this dispute was won by the widow: she paid 6s. 2½d. for the tenth part of her freehold in the town compared with only 2s. 5¼d. paid by Richard.6 Nottingham Recs. ii. 264, 276, 292; CP40/830, rot. 82; 832, rot. 135. His wid. may have remarried, for in 1473 she was described as ‘Maud Stable, widow of William Savage, saddler’: Clifton mss, Cl D 907. Although the family survived in the male line for at least four generations after our MP’s death and two of its members served as sheriff in the early sixteenth century, it never recovered the prominence it had enjoyed in his time.7 Nottingham Recs. iii. 461, 463.