KAYSER, William (b.?1400), of Wilton, Wilts.

The Kaysers were a Wilton family. C241/194/37. At the elections to the Parliament of 1435 William stood surety for Richard Whithorne*, one of those elected for the borough, and he did likewise for John Uffenham* in 1447. On the latter occasion he also attested the indenture for the knights of the shire, drawn up in the county court held in his home town. C219/14/5; 15/4. In April 1449, a few months before his own election to the Commons, he conveyed to Uffenham all his property in the borough and suburbs of Wilton and at Fugglestone nearby, together with an annual rent of five marks paid to him and Agnes his wife for their lifetimes from their lands in central Wiltshire near Bishop’s Lavington. The purpose of the transaction appears to have been to raise a mortgage, for it was stipulated that if Kayser paid Uffenham 40 marks in instalments spread over four years he might re-enter the estate. CCR, 1447-54, p. 167. Some property near Bishop’s Lavington, at Littleton Panell, had been acquired by Kayser before 1435: CP40/715, rot. 356d. Uffenham, then clerk of the peace and a coroner in Wiltshire, was to be his companion in the Parliament which assembled on the following 6 Nov.

Kayser’s occupation is not recorded, although he was named as an attorney by John Redyng to deliver seisin of property in East Harnham, not far from Wilton, in 1440, Tropenell Cart. ed. Davies, ii. 244-5. and in pleas in the central courts he was styled ‘gentleman’ or ‘franklin’. CP40/718, att. rot. 2; 768, rots. 207-8; 800, rot. 73d. He was of sufficient standing in the community of the shire to be present at the baptism of John Lye† at Flamston in 1443, C140/11/35. and to be frequently called upon to serve as a juror at the inquisitions post mortem of Wiltshire landowners. In fact, he is known to have done so, at Wilton or Salisbury, on at least 14 occasions between 1444 and 1471. Among those at whose inquisitions he testified were William Alexander*, Richard Strickland*, Sir Maurice Berkeley I*, Sir Maurice Berkeley II*, William, Lord Botreaux, the earls of Shrewsbury and Worcester and Humphrey, duke of Buckingham. C139/118/13; 130/10; 163/5; 169/35b; 176/27; 177/47; 179/57, 58; 180/59; C140/7/15; 14/29; 31/12; 34/53. Kayser also appeared as a juror at the sessions of oyer and terminer held at Salisbury in February 1453. KB9/134/2, mm. 77, 106, 110.

Lacunae in the borough records of Wilton mean that it is now impossible to chart Kayser’s progress in the administration of the town, although it seems likely that he held borough office of some sort before his election to Parliament. In September 1461 he stood pledge for the admission of a new burgess, and at Michaelmas he was chosen as steward of the guild merchant. Wilton gen. entry bk. G25/1/21, ff. 9, 601. When he gave testimony at the proof of age of John Lye in January 1464, he stated that he himself was then 64. C140/11/35. In the following year he and his wife Agnes, the daughter and heir of William Auncell, relinquished to Roger Fynamour lands in Wiltshire which her late uncle John Auncell had held as a trustee. Money-Kyrle mss, 1720/284, 285. He is last recorded in October 1471 at Wilton for the post mortem on the earl of Worcester. C140/34/53.