VESTYNDEN, Thomas

The MP’s unusual surname makes it likely that he was related to Simon Vestynden, a tanner living near Ticehurst in east Sussex in the 1390s.6 Ct. Rolls Rape of Hastings (Suss. Rec. Soc. xxxvii), 114. As a Portsman of Hastings, he claimed exemption from taxation on his moveable possessions at ‘Monyere’ in the hundred of Battle, in the late 1440s.7 E179/229/151. Vestynden was sent as a delegate from Hastings to as many as 24 meetings of the Brodhull between April 1441 and May 1458, so there can be no doubt that he was highly regarded by the townsmen, who trusted him to be a reliable spokesman for their interests.8 White and Black Bks. 14-16, 19, 23-30, 32-34, 36, 39. Perhaps early training in the law accounts for this ability. He was less successful as a royal official. Although appointed collector of customs in Chichester and the other ports of Sussex in May 1443, he was replaced after only nine months in the post. The reason for his dismissal may have been because his fellow customer was Godard Pulham*, who like him came from the eastern part of Sussex; generally, one of the collectors was based in the west of the county, at Chichester itself. However, he did receive a reward for his services at the Exchequer.9 CFR, xvii. 234, 279; E403/751, m. 2.

The post of common clerk at Hastings is poorly documented in this period, but it may be that Vestynden was so active at Brodhulls on behalf of Hastings because of continuous tenure of this office. Another of the Cinque Ports, Winchelsea, engaged him on the same basis, from May 1445, and he may have held both posts simultaneously for several years. While common clerk of one, or both, of these western Ports, and described as ‘of Hastings, gentleman’, he appeared in the Exchequer on 17 Dec. 1445 to stand surety for John Stoughton* esquire, a member of the royal household, on his appointment as an alnager of Boston in Lincolnshire. Stoughton was to represent Hastings in the Parliament summoned to Bury St. Edmunds.10 CFR, xviii. 7. The description ‘gentleman’ is further indication of Vestynden’s status as a lawyer. In April 1446, at the close of the Parliament summoned over a year earlier, he was nominated as a collector of the subsidies granted by the Commons. This was deemed to be ‘derogate to the franchises’ of the Cinque Ports (since Portsmen were exempt not only from payment of fifteenths and tenths but also from having to collect them), and the Brodhull meeting at New Romney that month awarded him 26s. 8d. for his costs in attempting to free himself from the task. Nevertheless, he was still appointed, on 16 July, to collect the one and a half fifteenths and tenths granted on 9 Apr., and was recorded among those who formally rendered account at the Exchequer later in the year.11 White and Black Bks. 20; CFR, xviii. 37; E359/31, rot. 26.

Vestynden was himself elected to Parliament early in 1449. At the end of the year he took on some business on behalf of the barons of Rye regarding their Port’s agreement with its member-Port of Tenterden, for which they thanked him by entertaining him to dinner and paying him 6s. 8d. for his help. In the following summer he was offered wine when he brought a proclamation to the town.12 Rye acct. bk. 60/2, ff. 11v, 14. Vestynden was enfeoffed of the manor of Stonelink and lands in the neighbourhood, at Fairlight, Pette, Icklesham and Guestling, in association with, and probably on behalf of, the prominent local lawyer Bartholomew Bolney*. By a grant sealed by John Tamworth* on 10 Jan. 1450, he was also seised of property in Winchelsea, which was conveyed in the following November to John Gray*, his former companion in the Commons.13 Bolney Bk. (Suss. Rec. Soc. lxiii), 63-64. Bolney was a leading member of Lincoln’s Inn, and it may well have been through his introduction that Vestynden was admitted to the Inn round about that time.14 L. Inn Adm. i. 11. Thereafter he retained his close association with the Ports of Hastings and Winchelsea, and once more represented the former in Parliament in 1453-4. In July 1455 he attended a Brodhull in the dual capacities as delegate from Hastings and deputy to the mayor of Winchelsea.15 White and Black Bks. 34.

Last recorded in May 1458, Vestynden died at an unknown date before 1475.16 Ibid. 39; Bolney Bk. 63. Little is known about his immediate family, although it is likely that he was related to John Vestynden, who at the Brodhull of April 1454 (which our MP attended), offered to provide a ‘seam’ of fish for presentation to Humphrey, duke of Buckingham, the warden of the Ports.17 White and Black Bks. 33. The MP’s distinctive surname was also borne by two kinsmen who at some point before 1453 had married coheiresses of land at ‘Brenchesle’,18 Ct. Rolls Rape of Hastings, 114; CP40/769, rot. 436. and by a more notable figure, Ralph Vestynden of Battle, who in July 1461 was granted an annuity of £10 from the issues of Surrey and Sussex, to receive until the new King, Edward IV, granted him an office worth 20 marks p.a. According to his letters patent of exemption from the Act of Resumption of 1464, Ralph had earned this substantial reward for bearing Edward’s standard ‘of the blak Bulle’ at the battle of Towton.19 CPR, 1461-7, p. 127; PROME, xiii. 196. He was similarly exempted from the Acts of 1467 and 1473: PROME, xiii. 343; xiv. 196.