HARYNGTON, Sir Richard (d.1462), of Fishwick and Westleigh, Lancs.

The Haryngtons of Fishwick were a cadet line of the Haryngtons of Farleton in Lonsdale, themselves a junior branch of the baronial family of Haryngton. As a younger son, albeit of a leading gentry family, our MP’s father’s inheritance was not extensive: on the death of his own father, Sir Nicholas Haryngton, in 1404, his share of the family lands was restricted to some modest holdings in Cumberland and in the Lancashire villages of Tarleton, Chorley, Hunsworth and Fishwick. However he made up for what he lacked in expectations and acres by energetic service to the house of Lancaster. He fought at the battle of Shrewsbury, where he captured Archibald, earl of Douglas, one of the principal allies of the Percys. Thereafter he won steady advancement. While sitting as an MP in the Parliament of October 1404 he was granted the constableship of Liverpool castle and other offices in the administration of the duchy of Lancaster. Under Henry V he gained a high military reputation: he fought at Agincourt and was considered for appointment as marshal of the 1417 expedition. That expedition was to prove his last: he died at the siege of Caen in late August that year. The Commons l386-l42l, iii. 304-5; CIPM, xx. 689.

The most important episode in the young life of Richard Haryngton was his marriage to the heiress of a local knight. On the death of her father, Sir William Bradshaw, in 1415, shortly after the marriage had been made, she inherited the manors of Westleigh and Blackrod, together valued at as much as 78 marks p.a. in her father’s inquisition post mortem. Lancs. Inqs. i. 109-10; VCH Lancs. iii. 424. Although this promised to make him a richer man than his father had been, he decided on a military career. By the time of his father’s death this had already begun. He fought in the campaigns of 1415 and 1417 in the retinue of his cousin, John, Lord Haryngton, N.H. Nicolas, Agincourt, 341; E101/51/2, m. 14. and having crossed over to Normandy again in 1422 he fought at the battle of Verneuil on 17 Aug. 1424, in a detachment under the bailli of Rouen, Sir John Salvain. DKR, xliv. 635; Archives Nationales, Dom Lenoir 21, f. 303. Haryngton was generously rewarded for his good service. On 2 Jan. 1425 he received his first significant grant: confiscated lands in the bailliages of Rouen and Caen, which included the seigneuries of Saint Julien de Saucon and Notre Dame de Fresnes. Later that year he was promoted to a relatively minor military post, the captaincy of Bernay. In a delai of 15 Dec. 1425 Haryngton was referred to as ‘de nouvel venue esdis terres et seigneuries’, and occupied in war service in the guard of Bernay. Dom Lenoir 21, ff. 303, 415.

Haryngton was back in England by the beginning of 1427. On 15 Feb. he was appointed escheator of the county palatine of Lancashire, a position that he held for just over a year, and he served for a further term in 1429-30. In August 1429 he appeared personally before the justices of assize to defend a claim for damages of £200 made against him by the Lancashire knight Sir William Atherton for an assault on one of Atherton’s servants. PL15/2, rot. 15d. Such domestic inconveniences made it natural that he should return to France on the coronation expedition. On 18 Feb. 1430 he indented with the King for one year of service, with a small personal retinue of three archers. E404/46/200. He was probably knighted on the expedition and chose to remain in France. On 28 Oct. 1431 he was appointed to the post of bailli and captain of Evreux. As such, on 16 Feb. 1432, he issued an ordonnance allowing payment to one Guillaume le Pouteiller for having hung seven brigands ‘en arbres par les chemins de la ville’. His overall service was considered satisfactory, and on 14 Dec. following the Regent Bedford renewed his appointment for a further one year term. Add. Ch. 3694; Extraits des Chartes du Calvados ed. D’Anisy, ii. 394. Haryngton was thus confirmed in the charge of a substantial garrison on the frontier of eastern Normandy, whose strength in September 1433 was estimated at 15 mounted lances, 20 foot and 105 archers. Early in 1434 he served in the field, on the earl of Arundel’s campaign in Anjou and Maine. Letters and Pprs. Illust. Wars of English ed. Stevenson, ii (2), 346; Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 26061/2958. He was now coming to the notice of the authorities in France, and on the following 2 July it was decided ‘by deliberation of the grand conseil’ to promote him to one of the key miltary and administrative posts in Normandy, as bailli of Caen. Archives Départementales de l’Eure, sous-série II F 4043. Shortly afterwards he was rewarded with another important captaincy, that of Argentan. His kinsman Nicholas Haryngton, who had served in his retinue at Evreux as a mounted lance, took possession of the fortress on his behalf on 6 Aug., Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 25771/900. and he himself was in his new post as bailli by the 15th, when he publicized a summons that all nobles eligible for the feudal levy should assist Thomas, Lord Scales, in the siege of Mont-St-Michel. The levy was to join Scales at the newly constructed bastide at Ardevon.

Soon afterwards Sir Richard faced one of the most difficult challenges of his career. In early October 1434 a group of unwaged English soldiers massacred an entire local Norman militia at Vicques, near Falaise. The region was in uproar and Haryngton had to act decisively to quell the discontent. He sent a number of his officers to Falaise, and had learnt full details of the massacre by 21 Oct., after one of those involved in the killing had made a full confession. The seriousness of the incident was now clear, with over 1,200 feared dead. Haryngton called an emergency meeting of local officials in the vicomte of Falaise. An information was carried out, ascertaining which soldiers had been involved and who the ringleaders were, and the results were sent with all possible haste to Bedford and the Grand Conseil at Rouen. Bedford appointed a high-powered judicial commission, led by Sir John Fastolf, the master of his household, Sir John Salvain, the bailli of Rouen, and Sir William Oldhall*, the bailli of Alençon, who were to meet up with Haryngton at Falaise. The ringleaders were captured with a number of their accomplices, tried before a panel (which included Haryngton) and executed. Ibid. 26058/2338, 2399, 2416. Haryngton’s actions had ensured a prompt response to this terrible incident, and may well have won the respect of Fastolf, for the two men were now to co-operate closely on military matters.

Haryngton was soon faced with a fresh crisis. In January 1435 a major peasant revolt sprung up in the Norman Bessin. Haryngton held Caen against the rebels until a relief force arrived under Fastolf. They then launched a counter-attack and managed to ambush part of the peasant force in the outlying suburb of Vaucelles, killing their leader, Jean Chantepie, and dispersing the remnants. Ibid. 26059/2433. This feat of arms was particularly timely as an invading French army under the duke of Alençon was preparing to enter Normandy to effect a junction with the rebels. Haryngton’s part in it was noted in a well-informed London chronicle, and was also recalled appreciatively in the Boke of Noblesse, which described how, with his small ‘fellowship’, he had helped disperse a force of several thousand. Chrons. London ed. Kingsford, 137; Bk. of Noblesse, ed. Nichols, 28. The notes collected by William of Worcestre provide additional detail, listing some of the men in Haryngton’s retinue who had participated in the rescue. William of Worcestre, Itins. ed. Harvey, 353. He was rewarded with a substantial land grant, receiving the estates in the bailliage of the Cotentin confiscated from Thomas du Bois, one of the principal rebels. This represented a significant addition to his landed wealth, although the unsettled condition of the ‘plat pays et boscage’ where the bulk of the properties were situated prevented him from fully taking possession for almost a year. Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 26062/3138.

In the aftermath of the rising Haryngton was appointed by Bedford to a special commission, empowered to restore order to the region. On 15 Feb. 1435 he wrote to the vicomte of Bayeux, styling himself ‘commissaire du roy’, and announcing the formation of a mounted detachment of English archers, which was to patrol the countryside. Add. Ch. 11843. His service was rewarded on 12 Apr. when he was allowed to receive the revenue from the guet at Argentan, in addition to his captain’s salary. Archives Nationales, série K63/34. On 4 Jan. 1436 Haryngton and Fastolf presented the Norman treasurer, John Stanlawe, with a detailed document arguing for a major overhaul of the defences of Caen. Bull. Soc. Antiq. Norm. xli. 332-7. A new uprising was rapidly spreading through the Pays de Caux and a few days earlier Haryngton had been in urgent communication with Sir John Montgomery*, the bailli of Caux, discussing the recent fall of Dieppe. Bibliothèque Nationale, pièces originales 2021 (Montgomery)/23. Now he and Fastolf referred to the urgency of the military situation. A substantial rebuilding programme within the castle of Caen was necessary, with the construction of new boulevardes for the use of heavy artillery. They enclosed a detailed survey suggesting a whole range of improvements, from the strengthening of towers and ramparts to the repair of the mill situated within the donjon. Their recommendations were quickly approved. On 9 Oct. 1436 Haryngton was to request a postponement of the formal swearing-in ceremony as bailli, normally made to the chancellor at Rouen, giving as one of the reasons his involvement in suppressing popular revolts in the bailliage of Caen. Ibid. fr. 26061/2958. Indeed, early in the year there had been another uprising, this time in the Val de Vire. Haryngton and Fastolf had sent out spies from Caen to the region around Mortain in late February to ascertain the strength of the rebels and to watch their movements. They were then instructed to report to Lord Scales, the nearest garrison commander, at Vire. Ibid. 26060/2784. The intelligence gathered allowed Scales to crush the revolt quickly.

Meanwhile, Haryngton’s qualities as a soldier had again been tested in April 1436 when French troops under Alencon and Loheac captured Granville and flooded into the surrounding region. The invasion had caught the English by surprise. Few regular troops were in the area and it was only Haryngton’s prompt action that prevented the loss of further towns in the Cotentin. Hearing that Coutances was now in danger, Sir Richard had ridden to the nearest convenient recruiting base, at St-Lô, where he had gathered together as many soldiers as he could muster. A message was despatched to the vicomte of Coutances, promising him that help was on its way. Haryngton tried to anticipate enemy intentions. He interviewed soldiers from the garrison at Hambye, who had captured and interrogated some of the invading French force, and sent out spies to the vicinity of Granville. By 12 May he had reached Coutances with his reinforcements and a further stream of messages were sent out. The nearby castles of Laulne, Pirou and Saint-Germain were warned to be on their guard and to gather additional troops. Fastolf, the captain of Caen, was informed of the dispositions of the French army (Haryngton’s report was detailed enough to describe the earth ramparts they had thrown up to protect their war camp), and the Grand Conseil at Rouen was also fully briefed. Archives Nationales, série K64/10/2. The immediate crisis had passed and Haryngton’s actions established his worth as a local commander.

Over the next few years Haryngton was involved in most of the major military operations within the duchy. In October 1436 he was at the siege of Fécamp in the company of Richard, duke of York. Dom Lenoir 5, f. 81. In November 1437 he was one of the leading captains in John, Lord Talbot’s expedition to relieve Le Crotoy, helping to recruit additional soldiers from the disbanded retinues ‘vivans sur le pays’. Add. Ch. 3830. The following year, on 30 Sept. 1438, he assisted Edmund Beaufort, earl of Dorset, in the reassembling of part of his army, which was destined for further campaigning in Maine. Add. Ch. 11834. In the summer of 1439 Haryngton raised a small contingent for the relief of Meaux. These operations were often small-scale but complex in terms of military organization and logistics. The relief force for Meaux provides an example of this. On 2 Aug. 1439 John Beaufort, earl of Somerset, the senior commander in the region, sent letters close to Haryngton, instructing him to assemble at Argentan with utmost urgency a force comprising his own personal retinue, soldiers living off the countryside and small landowners who held obligations of military service. Haryngton had to gather these men together in a matter of days, effect a junction with Somerset, and proceed as fast as possible to Pont Audemer, where their artillery was to be collected. Add. Ch. 3882; Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 26066/3832, 3833, 3838. All this was accomplished and the small but important force was able to gather further reinforcements once it had reached Rouen. The most impressive of all these operations occurred in the last months of 1439. A large French army under Charles VII’s constable, Arthur de Richemont, had invaded Normandy in November and laid siege to Avranches. A scratch field force was raised to counter this threat, under the two most senior aristocrats in the duchy, the earl of Dorset and Lord Talbot, and Haryngton was chosen to be one of its commanders. He played a key role in the recruitment of the army, assembling soldiers ‘vivans sur le pays’ in the bailliage of Caen and conducting them to the war camp that had been constructed east of Rouen close to the village of Pont-Saint-Pierre. Dorset and Sir Andrew Ogard* had joined him in one of the tours of inspection within ‘basse Normandie’. Dom Lenoir 26, f. 347; fr. 26066/3894. The small army turned the French position at Pont Gilbert on 23 Dec. after a dramatic night march across the tidal estuary of Mont-St-Michel, and routed Richemont’s army. This devastating victory was one of the most memorable English successes in the last phase of the Hundred Years War, and Haryngton had played an important part in it.

Sir Richard’s administrative duties were also important. In his capacity of bailli of Caen he helped encourage resettlement of lands damaged by warfare, issuing in 1437 instructions to local officials to facilitate the entry of Sir John Sutton into his seigneurie of Folletot, despite the loss of deeds and evidences at the time of the peasant revolts. Caen, Archives Départementales du Calvados, série E 439. Some of his tasks involved difficult and sensitive local decisions. The sergenteries of Briquesart and Torigni had appealed to him to provide them with greater protection from the brigands that were troubling the countryside. It was a reasonable request but one that required Haryngton to exercise his own initiative and judgement, for the practice of allowing the peasantry to recruit and arm their own local militia had failed disastrously and had been discontinued early in 1436. Haryngton had to balance security risks and financial constraints with the legitimate concerns of Normans living within his bailliage. On 7 Nov. 1437 he authorized the use of a force of ten archers, drawn from the garrison of Torigni, for their protection, on condition that the soldiers were all English and payment was met by the sergenteries involved. Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 26063/3326. The security of the countryside was a constant problem during the last years of English rule and the threat could take many forms. In April 1438 Haryngton warned Ogard, the captain of Caen, that partisans of Charles VII had landed at Lion-sur-Mer. Ibid. 26064/3447. Between 17 July and 9 Aug. 1440 he had to travel to Valognes and a number of smaller places within the Cotentin investigating accusations of treason made against two local landowners, Guillaume des Molins and Guillaume aux Espaulles, the vicomte of Valognes and many others. Informations were held, arrests made and cases tried, all under Haryngton’s authority and supervision. Ibid. 26067/4097.A letter of 17 Apr. 1440, written by him to the vicomte of Bayeux, brings out well his character and ability. A large number of soldiers were living off the countryside in the Val de Vire. Haryngton described in forceful terms how these men were robbing and mistreating the local inhabitants. His commands were clear and well informed. The bulk of the malefactors had crossed over with the last army from England, in the previous February, but had not joined their commander. Instead they were living off the land and encouraging others to do the same. Haryngton insisted that on receipt of his letter the vicomte arrange proclamations ordering them to rejoin the main army immediately, adding that at all costs they must be removed from the Vire. Ibid. 26067/4026.

The records of the tabellionnage reveal that Haryngton had a permanent residence in Caen, a hotel, and that on one occasion he engaged in litigation with a Norman priest to prevent a new building being constructed next to it. By 7 Apr. 1440 he was acting as conservateur for the university, passing judgement in a process involving one of the tutors, which had come before the cour des privileges. In another action of the same year he drew up an accord in a dispute over rights of taxation in Bretteville-le-Rehel. Archives Départementales du Calvados, tabellionnage de Caen, 7E 90, f. 81; Extraits des Chartes du Calvados, ii. 122-3, 334.

Haryngton performed further military service in the early 1440s. He served in a field force under Lord Fauconberg in eastern Normandy in the spring and summer of 1442, gathering companies of soldiers at Lisieux on 23 Mar. and Le Neubourg on 14 Apr. Archives Nationales, série K67/12. On 14 Dec. l443 he summoned an arriere-ban to reinforce John Beaufort, duke of Somerset’s siege of Beaumont-sur-Sarthe, in the last recorded use of this feudal levy by the English during the war. Ibid. série K67/21. He was now regarded as one of the leading members of the Anglo-Norman establishment and in September 1442 had been appointed to the embassy under the duke of York, in the company of the chancellor of France, Lords Talbot, Scales and Fauconberg, Sir John Montgomery and Sir Andrew Ogard, that was empowered to treat for peace with Charles VII. PPC, v. 212, 214.

Haryngton’s wide-ranging ability and experience ensured him a prominent role in the administration of the duchy after the truce of Tours. In July 1445 he presided over an ambitious scheme to scour and widen the river Orne so that it would be navigable for larger merchant ships, levying an aide of 2,400 livres tournois on the inhabitants of Caen to help meet the costs of the venture. Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 26073/5266. A plot to betray Argentan to the French in the summer of 1447 was revealed to him by the disaffected duke of Alençon. R.A. Griffiths, Hen. VI, 542. By then Sir Richard had been appointed to the Grand Conseil, the supreme governing body within Normandy, and in a letter of the previous 18 Dec. he had styled himself ‘conseiller du roi’. A document of 20 July 1447 recorded that his annual salary as a councillor was 1,000 livres tournois. His good and loyal service on the council and within the duchy were praised in a letter of the following 28 Nov., addressing him as ‘notre ame et feal conseillier’ and appointing him to a special commission to muster troops that had been in the companies belonging to Matthew Gough and Fulk Eyton. Archives Nationales, série K68/18, 27; Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 26076/5778. Maintaining order among the large groups of disbanded soldiers now outside the garrison system presented the peace-time administration with one of its greatest challenges, and the problem had worsened after York’s return to England in 1445. Haryngton applied himself to the task with vigour. On 16 Dec. 1446 he wrote briskly to Richard Curson, at Falaise. Curson was to join him in the review of these soldiers and Haryngton ordered him to be at Thury in two days’ time, ‘en toute diligence’. The results of the tour of inspection were reported to the vicomte of Falaise ten days later. Haryngton warned him that there were many troops in the vicomte who were breaching the recent disciplinary ordonnances. They were unwaged but not engaged in any licensed occupation, but instead were oppressing the local people. Proclamations were to be made, to the effect that they either assemble and muster or find reasonable occupation, ‘sur paine de la hart a ceulx qui apres ledit cry seront trouves faisant le contraire’. Archives Nationales, série K68/18. Haryngton also played an important part in the Norman administration’s campaign against the contraband salt trade. Instructions had been sent to him in April 1446, warning of the sale of untaxed salt within the bailliage of Caen. He made arrangements to protect the local grenetiers a sel, who were being intimidated by English soldiers involved in the racketeering, and oversaw the collection of the contraband personally. Add. Chs. 8018, 8426.

Haryngton’s varied military experience had brought him into contact with most of the major English aristocrats in France. From 1439 to 1444 he had served John, duke of Somerset, as his lieutenant at Falaise, collecting on his behalf the proceeds of the guet. Clairambault, 168 (Harrington)/55. He had also played a significant part in the duke of York’s military reforms within the duchy in 1444-5. For instance, on 17 Dec. 1444 he had made inquiries into extortions committed by troops under Mathew Gough that had recently returned from an expedition to Lorraine. The investigation was carried out with a view to fully briefing York on the problem. Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 26073/5116. On a happier note, Haryngton organised an enumeration of those knights, esquires and officers within the bailliage of Caen willing to join York’s retinue for the ceremonial reception of Margaret of Anjou upon her entry into Normandy in March 1445. The enumeration was important to York. By 24 Nov. 1444 Haryngton had compiled an extensive list of officers and landholders, which he had sent to the duke at Rouen. Ibid. 26073/5107. On 2 Mar. 1445 York wrote to him with the news that Margaret was shortly expected in Paris. He requested ‘en singuliere affeccion’ that Haryngton and his retinue join him at Mantes no later than the 12th. He stressed the need for the men to be led ‘en bonne regle’ through the surrounding countryside, and added a cordial postcript: ‘que en vous nous avons parfaicte confiance, trescher et bien ame, nostre seigneur vous ait en sa sainte garde’. Archives Nationales, série K66/1.

In 1448 Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, took up office as lieutenant-general amid fears of a breakdown of the truce and a resumption of hostilities. A series of military dispositions were made organizing mobile field retinues, and Haryngton indented to serve from 21 Oct. that year with a mounted force of three lances and 38 archers, drawn from the garrisons of Argentan and Torigni. Add. 11509, f. 7. War was declared by Charles VII on 31 July 1449 and his invasion of the duchy led to the speedy breakdown of the English administration. On 19 Aug. Haryngton was forced to take ‘par contrainte’ 600 livres tournois from Jehan de Bailleux, a clerk employed by the receiver-general of Normandy, to recruit additional troops for the safeguarding of Caen. Pieces originales 1483 (Harrington)/8. After the loss of Rouen in November, a makeshift administration was transferred to Caen. In this twilight period of the war one of the residents of the city, Guillaume Bron, made over his seigneurie of Tossel to Haryngton on 19 Mar. 1450 in expectation of his favour. Tabellionnage de Caen, 7E 91, f. 124v. There was little time for it to be exercised. Charles VII’s troops were soon laying siege to the outer defences, and on 20 June Haryngton was appointed as one of the commissioners to treat for surrender. According to the chronicle of the Berry Herald he led the English delegation. On 24 June an agreement was concluded and a week later, on 1 July l450, the English marched out of Caen, the city that had been Sir Richard’s home for the last 15 years. V.Hunger, Le Siege de Caen, 62.

Within five months of leaving France Haryngton was elected knight of the shire in the county court held at Lancaster on 23 Nov. 1450, in an indenture attested by, among others, his cousin, (Sir) Thomas I*, and son Sir William. Lancs. Knights of the Shire (Chetham Soc. xcvi), 196, 224. His election was a tribute to his war service, which had left his military reputation unsullied at a time when the loss of Normandy had provoked a mood of bitter recrimination. Parliament was prorogued on 18 Dec. 1450, and on the following 14 Jan. he was chosen, alongside Hugh Spencer, a former bailli of the Cotentin, to hear the petition of William Kirkeby, another ex-soldier, who was claiming arrears of wages for his service at St-Lô and Caen. A later commission, of 15 Feb. 1452, to judge the claims for wages of members of the Caen garrison brought against Sir Andrew Ogard and Thomas, Lord Hoo, showed that Haryngton was not tarnished by charges of corruption associated with so many who had presided over the surrenders in France. CPR, 1446-52, pp. 435-6, 537.

Meanwhile, on 28 Apr. 1451, in the wake of complaints brought against Haryngton’s fellow MP (Sir) Thomas Stanley II* after Richard, duke of York’s landing in Wales, Haryngton had replaced him as controller of the royal household, a move that preserved the important link between the court and the palatinates of the north-west. E101/4l0/6, f. 44v. On 19 June l452 he was also nominated to the council of the duchy of Lancaster, with a life annuity of £40 drawn from the honour of Pontefract. DL37/20/16. He appeared on the list of those who had received gifts of jewellery from Queen Margaret of Anjou in 1452-3. A.R.Myers, Crown, Household and Parl. 213, 224. Sir Richard was appointed to several commissions of oyer and terminer in September 1452, in the aftermath of York’s unsuccessful confrontation with the King’s forces at Dartford, and in March 1453 he was again elected knight of the shire, for the strongly Lancastrian Parliament assembled at Reading. CPR, 1452-61, pp. 54, 60; Lancs. Knights of the Shire, 197; C219/330/25. His second election for Lancashire, again in the company of Stanley, reflected the importance of his position at Court, which more than outweighed his lack of landed wealth within the county. According to the ‘Fastolf Relation’ Haryngton was a prominent member of the royal party that entered St. Albans on 22 May 1455. During the negotiations with the Yorkists he was one of three knights manning the town barrier by St. Peter’s church who challenged Mowbray herald. He and his companions, Sir Bertrand Entwhistle and Sir John Handford, all had considerable war experience in France and may have been deliberately chosen to hold the forward position. Evidence suggests that all were heavily involved in the fighting. Entwhistle was badly injured and died of his wounds six days later, and the report in the ‘Dijon Relation’ wrongly believed that Haryngton had also been killed. C.A.J. Armstrong, ‘Politics and the Battle of St. Albans’, Bull. IHR, xxxiii. 64, 65. Despite his particpation in the battle on the Lancastrian side, Haryngton retained the office of controller of the Household during York’s second protectorate, being still referred to as such on 12 Nov. 1455, when his life-annuity was exempted from parliamentary Acts of Resumption on account of the good service done by him to both Henry V and Henry VI. PROME, xii. 422; DL37/25/14. No doubt his cousin Sir Thomas Haryngton’s close connexion with the Nevilles together with his own distinguished reputation as a soldier made him acceptable to those he had opposed. Indeed, on 23 Nov. he was acting for York at Calais, relaying news to him from the duke of Alençon. P.A. Johnson, Duke Richard of York, 171.

There are few further references to Haryngton until his election at Lancaster on 12 Nov. 1459 to the Coventry Parliament. Lancs. Knights of the Shire, 197-8, 225-6. It was a crowded election, with no fewer than 91 attestors to the indenture. Sir Thomas Haryngton had been captured in the aftermath of the battle of Blore Heath and many of his supporters in Lonsdale and Furness had turned out, perhaps hoping that his cousin could act as an intermediary. But Sir Richard was to be drawn more closely towards the party of the queen, and by January 1460 had been appointed controller of the newly-formed household of the prince of Wales. SC1/57/98. Whether, however, he took up arms when the Yorkists invaded in the following summer is open to doubt. Although he lost his controllership after the Yorkist victory at Northampton on 10 July, he was not identified by the victors as a Lancastrian partisan.

A little over three months later, on 5 Sept. 1460, Haryngton, now approaching old age, drew up his will, instructing that his body be buried in the church of the Dominican friars at Lancaster, in the chapel where his father lay. His cousin Sir Thomas, recently released from custody, was to be given a pair of gold beads. To his son Sir William were left his collar of the King’s livery, in gold, his gold cross, a ‘bassyn and a lavour’ of silver, a chalice and a covered silver cup. To his grandson James he bequeathed his armour and military equipment, his sword, ‘salade’ and ‘brigandynes’, memorials of a highly successful career. Further gifts were made to his sisters and nephews. His sister Joan, widow of Richard Balderston of Balderston (Lancashire), and his nephew William Norris were appointed principal executors. It is not known whether he played any part in the campaigns of 1460-1, but the probability must be that he did not. He was seemingly unaffected by the change of regime. On 16 Aug. 1462 he made a small revision to the will, appointing his chaplain, John Smallwood, as one of his executors, and died at Lancaster the following day. His son and heir, Sir William, took possession of the main body of his estates, in Cumberland, some two months later. Norris Deeds, 182-3; C140/26/48.

Haryngton’s distinguished career had earned him universal respect. He had worked successfully for both Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou and such opposing factions as the Beaufort family and the duke of York, and he was also on good terms with the dissident French nobleman, the duke of Alençon. A contemporary chronicler singled him out as ‘un noble chevalier et vaillant homme’. Armstrong, 64. His reputation remained unsullied after the final capitulation in Normandy and placed him above the vicissitudes of the politics of the 1450s. He was also regarded with deep affection by his family and kin. On 15 May 1464 his nephew Thomas Norris made a grant of lands to the priory of St. Thomas the Martyr at Upholland, on the condition that a mass was said daily for his soul. This was to take place at an altar in the church, saying after the offertory and before the lavatory the psalm De Profundis, the prayer ‘Incline O Lord’, and other special prayers. Every year on the anniversary of Sir Richard’s death the obsequies and office of the dead were to be held, with nine lessons and music, and on the following day the mass of Requiem eternam, with music, setting in the choir of the church ‘a bier draped with fair woollen cloth with two candles burning there’. These arrangements were witnessed by Sir Richard’s brother-in-law Henry Halsall*, who had been a close associate in a number of Lancashire land transactions in the 1450s and had been elected with him to Parliament in 1459. They form a moving tribute from those who had come to know this distinguished war-veteran well in the last decade of his life. Norris Deeds, 210.