FENNE, Robert atte (d.1502), of Wilton, Wilts.

A prominent figure in his native town of Wilton and in the county at large as a coroner for at least 40 years, Robert atte Fenne was probably the son of John, a former MP and mayor, for whom he was acting as an executor while his second Parliament was in progress. CP40/779, rot. 618d. He excelled his putative father in being elected to the Commons at least ten times and in holding office as mayor for no fewer than nine terms. Remarkably, his participation in the administration of Wilton extended over 50 years.

Although atte Fenne’s public life is well documented, his private affairs remain obscure. Of his real property little is recorded, save that in 1460 he acquired from the son and heir of William Forster III* the reversion of a messuage and four acres of meadowland in Wilton. Wilts. Feet of Fines (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xli), 643. Having been returned to Parliament for the first time ten years earlier, thereafter he was constantly and continuously involved in the town’s business, and often stood as pledge for the admission of new burgesses. e.g. Wilton gen. entry bk. G25/1/21, f. 22. He was elected one of the four auditors of the borough (two of whom were always the outgoing mayor and his successor) at Michaelmas 1451, and was to fill the post on many more occasions. A competent draftsman, he sometimes made copies of rentals on behalf of the authorities, and took responsibility for compiling the financial accounts. e.g. he was paid 4d. for making a copy of the rental in 1455-6, and 2s. for drawing up the steward’s acct. in 1458-9: stewards’ accts. G25/1/88. While steward in 1454-5 atte Fenne was elected to Parliament again, and during the final session, in February 1456, he and John Gardyner received recognizances in £12 from John Crede of Wilton, a transaction which the parties saw fit to have enrolled on the close roll. CCR, 1454-61, p. 121. Atte Fenne was elected mayor for the first known time in the following year. In February 1459 he was an attorney for delivery of seisin of lands in Fisherton Anger in the suburbs of Salisbury to Robert, Lord Hungerford, and others including John Uffenham* (with whom he had sat in the Commons of 1450), and four years later he joined Uffenham as a feoffee of ‘Uptonsfield’ in Laverstock and land in Stratford sub Castle, in which the now late Lord Hungerford had previously had an interest. CCR, 1454-61, p. 402; Tropenell Cart. ed. Davies, i. 60-62. He represented Wilton in two Parliaments in a row, in 1460 and 1461, and although he was not chosen in January 1463 when Parliament was summoned to meet at York and then by prorogation at Leicester, he was re-elected when it was called to Westminster in April. Wilton gen. entry bk. G25/1/21, f. 6.

In the 1460s atte Fenne was often to be found bringing lawsuits in the court of common pleas in his own interest, but his main business there and in the courts of King’s bench and the Exchequer, was as an attorney in pleas started by litigants from his home county. e.g. KB27/804, rot. 33; 805, rots. 31, att.; E13/149, rot. 42; 151, rot. 95d; 158, rot. 7d.; 165, rot. 32d; Med. Legal Recs. 413. But he is not to be confused with Robert Fenne, the clerk of the Exchequer, who was prob. a relation of the East Anglian Hugh atte Fenne*, for many years an official there. In May 1464, when Hugh was under treasurer, Robert Fenne was paid for his great labours in receiving and delivering money by order of the treasurer, and he was described as Hugh’s clerk that July: E403/832, mm. 4, 8. Remaining a clerk of the Exchequer during the Readeption, he later became a servant of George Neville, Lord Abergavenny: Add. Chs. 28905-6; E403/845, mm. 4, 5. There, he is first mentioned as a coroner in 1462, and appears to have held the post without break until his death. Yet his authority as county coroner did not necessarily lead to a successful conclusion to his litigation. In 1464-5 he brought a plea regarding an offence allegedly committed seven years earlier, whereby he had been fraudulently sold a horse, which although warranted by the vendor, John Ward, to be sound, was in fact broken down and unfit for work. However, the failure on successive occasions of the sheriff of Wiltshire to execute the writs to arrest Ward meant that he failed to appear in court to answer until 1466, and then the case was adjourned by licence to imparl. Med. Legal Recs. 418. In a suit brought by Richard Beauchamp, bishop of Salisbury, in Trinity term 1466, the defendants pleaded that as the then sheriff, Thomas de la Mare†, was a kinsman of the bishop, as too was John Dauntsey* (one of atte Fenne’s fellow coroners), while another coroner was of the bishop’s fee, it fell on atte Fenne and the fourth coroner, John Uffenham (his former parliamentary colleague) to execute the writ. CP40/820, rot. 330. Atte Fenne was acting as under sheriff (to Richard Darell) in 1467-8, and deputy to Sir Laurence Raynford the sheriff in 1470. E13/157, rot. 29d. He was accused of negligence in making an incomplete return while in Raynford’s service: J.H. Baker, Men of Ct. (Selden Soc. supp. ser. xviii), i. 663, from CP40/836, rot. 113.

Yet while busy about his duties in the shire he did not neglect to carry out tasks for the authorities at Wilton. In 1466 he had run up costs about the acquisition of letters patent from Edward IV confirming the liberties of the borough, such costs being allowed during his mayoralty beginning that Michaelmas, after Wilton’s charters were confirmed in November. Wilton stewards’ accts. G25/1/88; CPR, 1461-7, pp. 537-8. When returned to Parliament (for at least the sixth time) in 1472 atte Fenne was acting as auditor and member of the council of 12 in Wilton, and while the Parliament was in progress (it was eventually dissolved in March 1475), he served as mayor again. The mayor’s fee was usually set at 26s. 8d. p.a. but in 1474-5 atte Fenne received £2 instead. Perhaps this was to compensate him in part for his additional services at Westminster. Wilton stewards’ accts. G25/1/88. Also while the Parliament was in being, Fenne acted as attorney for the sheriff of Wiltshire as well as for other litigants in the court of common pleas. CP40/856, att. rot. 1. He was present at the elections held at Wilton on 4 Dec. 1477 for the Parliament summoned for 16 Jan. following, as one of 18 named burgesses responsible for making the choice. Wilton gen. entry bk. G25/1/21, f. 600. Called ‘gentleman’ he was one of those to whom Thomas Walrond*, executor of John Whithorne*, released all his interest in lands in Old Sarum and Stratford formerly belonging to a citizen of Salisbury, in 1480. CCR, 1476-85, no. 599. Atte Fenne was elected to the Parliament summoned for January 1483 (which turned out to be Edward IV’s last Parliament), and also to that summoned in Edward V’s name to meet on 25 June, but which was subsequently revoked. In January 1485 when the burgesses agreed to send four men to serve in Richard III’s army in the north for 21 days, atte Fenne and another prominent burgess, Stephen Semer, personally sponsored one of them. Wilton gen. entry bk. G25/1/21, ff. 48-49.

Surprisingly, atte Fenne is not often recorded acting as a feoffee or trustee of landed estates, although he did agree to do so for Walter Bergh*, a fellow Member of the Commons of 1450, and Charles Ringwood (d.1488). C140/56/40; CIPM Hen. VII, ii. 407-8. His name appears on the lists of burgesses of Wilton until the end of the century, and he died at some point before 8 Oct. 1502, while still in office as a county coroner. Wilton gen. entry bk. G25/1/21, ff. 73, 581-9, 591-8; C242/14/18A.