ERLE, Robert (d.1451), of Burbage and Wolf Hall in Great Bedwyn, Wilts.

Robert would appear to have come from the family which held property in Maiden Erlegh in Sonning, Berkshire, for he answered for a quarter of a knight’s fee in the manor of Whiteknights there at the assessment of an aid in 1401, and this estate was to be in the possession of his grandson Richard† when the latter died a century later. Feudal Aids, i. 56; VCH Berks. iii. 217-18. His early career was dominated by his relationship with his influential and wealthy uncle Sir William Sturmy, to whom he owed not only his landed estate but undoubtedly also his elections to Parliament. Sturmy had no legitimate sons, and perhaps for this reason he gave his nephew some of his property and entrusted him with his affairs, including the executorship of his will. The two were always close, and in his old age Sturmy depended much on the support of his younger kinsman. His gratitude for Erle’s assistance was expressed in settlements of land: in 1401 he granted Erle all the property he had purchased within his manor of Westcourt in Burbage, known as ‘Welyngtonesland’, and six years later the two men together acquired land in Berle and Heckfield by Crofton, apparently with the intention that Erle would keep them for his own children after Sturmy’s death. Marquis of Ailesbury mss, 1300/9, 34 A and B; CIPM, xxii. 717. Then, at an unknown date, Sturmy settled on Erle and his wife in tail-male eight messuages and some 640 acres of land in Burbage and Crofton (which were to be valued at £10 p.a. at the death of their grandson). CIPM Hen. VII, ii. 523. This last estate probably formed the manor of Burbage Savage, as transactions from 1414 onwards confirmed the Erles in possession of holdings known as ‘Savage Londes’. VCH Wilts. xvi. 75; Savernake Estate mss, 9/6/12, 13, 56-58. All these properties were in the same area of east Wiltshire, where the focus of Sturmy’s estates lay. Yet Sturmy and Erle also acquired property together in Hampshire, also with the intention that Erle would take sole possession after his uncle’s death. These acquisitions included buildings in Winchester, purchased in 1426, among them a large house with a garden and four cottages in Minster Street, and two other cottages and a garden off Calpe Street. Winchester Coll. muns. 1334A, 1335. Erle was named as heir to Sturmy’s estates in the event of the failure of Sir William’s direct line (represented by his grandsons John Seymour I* and William Ringbourne*). Wilts. Arch. Mag. li. 336.

Such acquisitions under his uncle’s auspices made Erle a person of some substance in Sturmy’s lifetime, while in addition he held for life a messuage in Charnham Street in Hungerford (apparently by gift of Thomas, Lord Berkeley), and property in Salisbury, notably a shop in Minster Street, and a corner tenement in Winchester Street. CIPM, xx. 807; Tropenell Cart. ed. Davies, i. 225; Reg. Chichele, ii. 265. Furthermore, his marriage brought him property in Bristol, including a garden in the Market and a house on the bridge, which his wife Joan held as dower from her previous husband. The full identity of the latter is not known, although he was a member of the prominent Bristol family of Barstaple alias Shipward, and her son by him was called William. Bristol Wills, 135, 141-2. William’s relationship to John Shipward* of Bristol was not explained when he referred to John in his will of 1467. It is possible that Joan’s first husband was Robert Barstaple alias Shipward, the bailiff of Bristol in 1407-8: Bristol RO, St. Thomas the Martyr parish recs., P/St.T/D/54; St. Leonard’s Vestry recs., 40365/D/2/14. Joan may also have had a daughter, Isabel, later the wife of Thomas Russell, for in 1432 she, Erle and Thomas Shipward settled on the Russells two messuages and two shops in Bristol. Som. Feet of Fines (Som. Rec. Soc. xxii), 82. Perhaps Erle’s interest in the advowson at East Lydford, Wiltshire (he presented to the church in 1435), also came to him through marriage. Reg. Stafford, ii (Som. Rec. Soc. xxxii), 184; VCH Wilts. iii. 126. There are signs of disagreement between Erle and the Bristol family. In 1428 he accused Nicholas Barstaple, a clerk, of the theft of silver plate and other goods worth £40, and of assaulting one of his servants. CP40/669, rot. 114d. Nicholas was the son of John Barstaple, the former mayor of Bristol who with his wife Isabel had founded the hospital of Holy Trinity at Lawford’s Gate: C1/4/165, 6/270-1; SC8/96/4770-1. All in all our MP’s income from land amounted to £26 p.a. according to tax assessments made towards the end of his life, E179/196/118. and to more than £40 p.a. according to the distraints levied on him for failing to take up knighthood.

While his uncle lived Erle was his right-hand man. He stood surety for Sir William in the Exchequer in 1403 and 1404, CFR, xii. 209, 239. and together they provided pledges in 1409 for Margaret, widow of Sir Henry Hussey† of Sussex, in support of the truth of her petition to Chancery against her son Henry*. Perhaps Margaret was a kinswoman of theirs. The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 463; C1/16/35. The two men appeared at a love-day in 1409 on behalf of Robert Hill† of Spaxton in a dispute over the inheritance of his wife. Hylle Cart. (Som. Rec. Soc. lxviii), no. 300. When Sturmy was elected for Wiltshire to the Parliaments of May 1413 and November 1414 his nephew Erle was present at the shire court at Wilton to attest the indentures. Meanwhile, both men had witnessed a quitclaim to Lord Berkeley in October 1414 of a garden in Charlton by Hungerford. Berkeley Castle mss, BCM/B/4/6/10, 11; CIPM, xx. 807. In 1418 Erle, together with other men in whom Sturmy placed his trust (such as Chief Justice Sir William Hankford, John Bird* and John Benger†), was enfeoffed of certain of Sir William’s manors in Hampshire and Wiltshire, which they retained for seven years before making settlements in accordance with his wishes. CCR, 1413-19, pp. 457-8; E326/394; The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 187-8.

Sturmy was elected to Parliament for the last of at least 12 times in 1422, with Erle once more attesting his return and standing surety for his attendance. The aged knight was to be supported in the Commons not only by Erle himself, sitting for Great Bedwyn (where they lived), but also by his illegitimate son John Sturmy* and his grandson John Seymour, both of whom sat for Ludgershall, a borough which Sir William leased from Queen Joan. Erle’s relations with these younger kinsmen always remained cordial. For instance, he provided mainprise for John Sturmy in the following year at his election for Marlborough. C219/13/1, 2. He himself was returned to Parliament again in 1425, this time also for Marlborough (and with a co-feoffee of the Sturmy estates, John Bird, standing surety for his attendance). Erle was at his uncle’s side when Sturmy made his will on 20 Mar. 1427 at his house in the parish of St. Brigid, London, then witnessing Sturmy’s bequest to Bishop Polton of Worcester (the overseer of the will) of the advowson of Easton Royal priory, and accepting nomination with John Sturmy and William Tourney as his executor. PCC 7 Luffenham (PROB11/3, f. 55). According to depositions made 24 years later, Sturmy died at Elvetham in Hampshire at about eight o’clock in the evening of the next day, Friday 21 Mar., in the arms of his chaplain. Erle and John Sturmy sent for a woman called Grete to close his eyes and lay out the corpse and then called Sir William’s servants into the chamber and instructed them to keep the death secret until the Sunday, for ‘certain causes which they declared not’. The implication was that this was to allow sufficient time for Tourney, to whom Sir William had given power of attorney, to tour certain of his estates in Wiltshire and hand over seisin of them to feoffees. On Saturday morning the prior of Easton Royal came to Elvetham and on being told by Erle and John Sturmy of Sir William’s death agreed to deliver to them as executors certain goods he had in his keeping at the priory, while retaining a few items as payment for prayers for the knight’s soul. On the same day Erle showed his servant William Mauger of Burbage the body and ordered him to guard the door, letting no one in. CPR, 1446-52, pp. 554-6. With astonishing speed, the will was proved at Lambeth on 25 Mar. The circumstances of Sir William’s death were eventually to give rise to a dispute over possession of the manors of Wolf Hall and Crofton and other landed holdings, the quarrel focusing on this supposed deathbed enfeoffment and an alleged fraud committed by Erle and John Sturmy. Yet it should be noted that there was no sign of any quarrelling between the survivors until after these two men had themselves died, so it would appear that whatever Sir William had ordained with regard to the settlement of his estates had found acceptance by his heirs, his grandsons Seymour and Ringbourne. Indeed, neither challenged Erle in the possession of certain important properties, which he occupied for the rest of his life. Thus, he held the manors of Wolf Hall and Stitchcombe, from the issues of which he paid Sir William’s widow an annuity and other sums towards her dower. Marquis of Ailesbury mss, 1300/145. That Seymour was content with this arrangement is clear from his witnessing a settlement of Stitchcombe on Erle and his wife at Wolf Hall in Jan. 1450: E326/4664, 4667. It was only when he died and John Erle his son and heir claimed that the estates had been settled in tail-male that, in 1451, Seymour challenged this claim, demanding to know precisely what had happened while his grandfather lay dying. C1/18/45, 46, 19/112, 360; CPR, 1446-52, pp. 554-6.

While he remained at Wolf Hall until his death, Erle chose not to keep certain other properties Sir William left to him. Six weeks after Sturmy’s death the latter’s feoffees, headed by Bishop Polton, conveyed to Erle lands and tenements known as ‘Pykedwode’ in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, which Sturmy had purchased. However, eight years later the recipient and his wife relinquished possession to others, apparently acting in the interest of the bishop of Winchester. E326/8244, 8248, 8251; Wilts. Feet of Fines (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xli), 490. As Sir William’s executor, Erle faced challenges in the law-courts. Immediately after the knight’s death William Darell*, the under treasurer of England, attempted to wrest from him the manor of Axford, Wiltshire, and in May 1427 the two men were bound to stand by the arbitration of John Vampage* and John Hody* (the latter nominated by Erle). This clearly failed, for in Easter term 1428 Darell contested the title to the manor of our MP and other of Sturmy’s friends and feoffees in the court of common pleas. In the same term Erle and his fellow executors were accused by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, of illegally taking livestock from one of his servants at Burbage. E326/9761; CP40/669, rots. 371, 411d; Feudal Aids, v. 268, 288; Wilts. N. and Q. vii. 265-9; VCH Wilts. xii. 49. This was not to be his only brush with Darell: JUST1/1540, rot. 21.

Erle was not returned to Parliament again after his uncle’s death; nor (save for a single appointment as an assessor of the subsidy granted in 1428), was he appointed to public office. Nevertheless, he did do duty at home in Wiltshire as a juror at inquisitions post mortem held at Marlborough, doing so, for instance, in 1426 following the death of Elizabeth, countess of Huntingdon, in 1434 after that of Joan, Lady Cobham, and in 1438 after that of the son and heir of the earl of Arundel. CIPM, xxii. 612; C139/65/37, 87/41, 88/50. Described as ‘esquire’, he was often called upon to witness deeds in the county, appearing in association with others of the former Sturmy circle, now headed by his kinsman (Sir) John Seymour, with whom he remained on friendly terms. CCR, 1429-35, pp. 242, 249; 1441-7, p. 43; Savernake Estate mss, 9/11/3. He attested three more parliamentary elections at Wilton, and was among those members of the county gentry required to take the oath not to maintain peace-breakers in 1434. CPR, 1429-36, p. 370.

As ‘of Wolf Hall, esquire’ Erle took out a royal pardon on 5 Mar. 1446. C67/39, m. 10. In December that year in return for their good service he made a lease for life to William Maunger and his wife (who seems to have been his stepdaughter) of a tenement called ‘Giffardes’ and land called ‘Waltons’ in Burbage. Sir John Seymour witnessed the transaction. Savernake Estate mss, 9/6/44. Bristol Wills, 141-2 provides the identity of Maunger’s wife. His final recorded act came on 20 Nov. 1450, when he relinquished possession of the property in Winchester he had held jointly with his late uncle, Winchester Coll muns. 1335. and he died not long afterwards (shortly after the tax assessments of February 1451). The petition which his son John presented to the chancellor later that year stated that Robert had been in possession of Wolf Hall for ‘24 years and more’. C1/19/360. In 1467 his death was said to have taken place 16 years before: KB27/836, rot. 72. Erle was survived by his wife Joan, who died shortly before 20 Mar. 1465. CFR, xx. 144 – a writ de diem clausit extremum. No post mortem survives. She was referred to in the will of William Shipward alias Barstaple of Marlborough, gentleman, made in July 1467, as his late ‘mother’. Shipward made bequests to another Robert Erle and his sister Isabel Newbury, who may therefore have been other children of our MP. Bristol Wills, 141-2.