PRIOUR, Robert (d.1443), of Colchester, Essex.

Originally from Shelley in Suffolk, Priour became a freeman of Colchester in 1388-9. Colchester ‘Oath bk.’, D/B 5 R1, f. 61. Thomas Priour of Shelley, perhaps his brother, was admitted some six years later: ibid. f. 64. Although sometimes known as a ‘mercer’, he traded in wine and other commodities as well as cloth. He resided in a house in the town’s market place, where he also owned several shops and meat and fish stalls. St. Paul’s school, cart., ff. 207v-8, 216, 217v, 220v-1, 230v-1v; Colchester ct. rolls, 1411-12, 1422-4, 1425-6, 1428-30, 1442-3, D/B 5 Cr38, m. 23d; 43, mm. 2, 11, 22; 44, m. 11d; 46, m. 2d; 49, mm. 14d, 23d; 50, mm. 3, 14, 24; 58, m. 19. It is also possible that he had business dealings in London, since a resident of the City, accusing him of issuing threats, went to law against him in the early 1390s: CCR, 1399-1402, p. 102. His other holdings in Colchester and its liberty included a barn and garden in the parish of Holy Trinity, a ‘moor’ (‘mora’) known as the ‘Bernehawe’ and a field and pasture in Mile End, St. Paul’s school, cart., ff. 207v-8, 213-16, 217v, 230v-1v. and in late 1439 he, Robert Selby* and others acquired the farm of six acres in the borough from the Crown. CFR, xvii. 124.

Over the years, Priour was involved in numerous property transactions in the town, both on his own account and as a feoffee, witness and executor on behalf of others, St. Paul’s school, cart., ff. 204-6v, 207v-9, 213-16v, 217v, 220v-3, 226v-31v; Essex Feet of Fines, iii. 230; Colchester ct. rolls, 1411-12, 1416-17, 1423-4, 1432-3, 1438-9, 1463-4, D/B 5 Cr38, m. 21d; 40, mm. 44, 45; 44, m. 31; 51, m. 19d; 56, mm. 5d, 6d; 72, m. 18. but he did not enjoy good relations with all of his fellow burgesses. In 1432, for example, he and his second wife Elizabeth took action in the borough court against Thomas Lakynghethe and his wife over a gold necklace that Elizabeth had entrusted to the Lakynghethes to repair. Colchester ct. rolls, 1426-7, 1432-3, D/B 5 Cr 47, m. 9d; 51, m. 10d. He also quarrelled with John Mouncy of London, who sued him at Westminster. In pleadings of Trinity term 1440, Mouncy claimed that Priour had broken the conditions of a bond made in London in October 1438, namely that he should pay Mouncy £20 on a given day. As in so many of such cases, the plea roll does not reveal the circumstances of the alleged debt although it most likely arose from business dealings between the two men. CP40/718, rot. 540.

Priour began his 40-year career as a municipal office-holder upon his election to the borough council in 1400, and in 1414 he was on a jury that gave the names of townsmen who owned English books to Richard de Vere, earl of Oxford, and other commissioners investigating lollard activity in Colchester. C.J.B. Reid, ‘Lollards at Colchester’, EHR, xxix. 103-4. He had already served as a bailiff of Colchester by the time he entered Parliament, and he was re-elected to that office six months after leaving the Commons. Following this second term as bailiff, the master and college of Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, to which belonged the suppressed alien priory and manor of West Mersea, sued Priour and other burgesses for trespassing on land just south of Colchester belonging to the college and imprisoning one of its employees. KB27/687, rot. 62; VCH Northants. ii. 177. During his third term as bailiff, Priour was required to swear the oath to keep the peace administered throughout the realm in 1434. CPR, 1429-36, p. 401.

Priour died within two years of completing his final term as bailiff. In his will, dated 15 Apr. 1443 and enrolled on the borough’s court roll on the following 29 July, he sought burial in the Lady Chapel of the parish church of St. Runwald, Colchester. He donated 300 lb of lead towards the construction of a bell tower for that church and made bequests to other religious institutions in the town, including its Franciscan friary and guild of St. John. Priour ordered his executors to sell certain properties, partly to provide cash sums of £50 for his widow and £10 for one Elizabeth Hynde and partly to support a chantry priest who was to sing for the souls of himself and Alice, his first wife, in St. Runwald’s for three years. He also provided for his tenants, John and Margaret Bergholt, and their son, Robert, who was his godson. He ordered that the couple should retain the messuage that they held from him during Margaret’s lifetime, after which Robert was to have the tenancy for life. In addition, Priour directed his executors to provide for Robert’s education at Cambridge should he decide to become a priest. Conceivably, Priour’s generosity to Robert was prompted by the fact that he had no children of his own. While allowing his widow an interest for life in all of his holdings at Colchester not otherwise disposed of, his childlessness meant that he ordered that these properties should be sold after her death. From the money arising, they were to pay her goddaughter, Elizabeth Bergholt, ten marks and to provide a fother of lead for the church of Holy Trinity. Colchester ct. roll, D/B 5 Cr58, m. 19. One of her husband’s executors, Elizabeth Priour is likely to have died before July 1454, at which date the properties she had held in dower were in the hands of John Breton esquire and others. They were afterwards acquired by Thomas Cook II* of London. St. Paul’s school, cart., ff. 207v-208, 216-218v; C1/66/400.