MARCHAUNT, John II, of Rye, Suss.

John’s father William was a noted landowner in east Sussex, well known among the gentry of that part of the county and in Kent. Besides being a neighbour and associate of William Swinburne† esquire, he was of sufficient standing and trustworthiness to be asked to be executor of the influential Sir John Dallingridge† (d.1408) of Bodiam castle, with whose even more prominent father Sir Edward Dallingridge†, the builder of the castle, he had sat in the ‘Merciless Parliament’ of 1388, when Sir Edward represented Sussex for the tenth and final time. The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 738-44; iii. 683. In his will of 10 Mar. 1423 William named his son John as an executor, along with his second wife Alice. Reg. Chichele, ii. 275-6. The date of his death is not known, although it may have occurred before John attended the Parliament which assembled on 20 Oct. 1423 and lasted until 28 Feb. 1424, or even while it was in progress, for the will was proved on the following 3 Mar.

A few years earlier John had been assessed for a scot at Rye, on the modest amount of 8d. E. Suss. RO, Rye mss, 77/1. Presumably, he grew more prosperous by inheriting his father’s land at Iden, Peasmarsh and elsewhere, and as a Portsman of Rye in 1430 he claimed exemption from taxation on his moveable goods worth 16s. at Hope, outside the liberty of the Port. E179/225/50. Unlike his father, he was never appointed to royal commissions, nor, apparently, was he asked by any of the local gentry to be a feoffee of their estates. The absence of detailed records before the late 1440s means that the lists of mayors and jurats of Rye are by no means complete for the first half of the century, so whether John ever held such a position in the Port has not been ascertained.