TYRES, Peter

Among the most obscure men to sit in Parliament for Plympton Erle in this period, Tyres, like his colleague in Henry VI’s first Parliament, was a local man. Indeed, at some point prior to his return to the Commons he had served as town clerk, and it is possible that this experience played a part in his election. In addition, he may have had connexions with the lords of the borough, the Courtenay earls of Devon, for he may have been related to the Richard Tire who served as an archer in Earl Hugh’s expedition to France in 1420, and at least one of the men who stood surety for Peter at his election in 1422 came from a family with links to the Courtenays.2 E101/49/34, m. 3; C219/13/1.

Perhaps in connexion with his official duties as town clerk Tyres became embroiled in a dispute over a debt of 40s. with one John Broke, and, summoned to appear before Henry V’s justices, avoided the law courts for some years, before acquiring a royal pardon for the consequent outlawry in early 1428.3 CPR, 1422-9, p. 435. Several years later, in August 1446, he came to blows with the Plympton Erle merchant William Pyek, a fight which resulted in litigation in the court of King’s bench, for which Tyres employed as his attorney his prominent neighbour, the lawyer John Serle alias Silverlock*.4 KB27/742, rot. 15; 743, rot. 10d; 746, rot. 107.