GODEMAN, William, of Lewes, Suss.

William was presumably related to John Godeman*, who had represented Lewes in the Parliament of 1427, but very little is recorded about him. Save for the coincidence of name there is nothing to identify him with William Goodman of Alkham in east Kent, a farmer whose close was broken into in 1448 by a man from Hythe, allegedly to steal sheep: CPR, 1446-52, p. 309. That he was the bailiff of Bramber is fairly certain, for Bramber and Lewes shared the same lord, the duke of Norfolk, and it was to him, the third duke, that Godeman owed his initial appointment. Even so, there is nothing to indicate that his earlier return to Parliament had come about through the duke’s direct influence.