COCKAYNE, Sir John

In the late 1380s and early 1390s Sir John Cockayne was even more extensively involved in local disorder than implied in the earlier biography.2 The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 611-13. Much of this arose out of dissension within the Lancastrian affinity in the north Midlands. When the court of King’s bench came to Derby in 1393 he and other Lancastrians were indicted for leading 200 armed men to the manor of Sir Walter Blount†, chamberlain of the duke of Lancaster, at Barton Blount. Here, as in other instances, he was acting in support of Sir John Ipstones†, a recent recruit to the Lancastrian retinue, but he was also guilty of violent actions on his own initiative. According to a jury of county constables sitting before the visiting justices, on 27 July 1392 he had led 20 of his retinue in an assault at Derby on one William Pole, who escaped death only by flight to a local church.3 KB9/989/3, 10; S.K. Walker, Lancastrian Affinity, 222, 226. More positively, Cokayne’s military experience was also more extensive than allowed in the earlier biography, for he participated in Henry IV’s invasion of Scotland in the summer of 1400.4 E101/41/1, m. 45.

Cockayne’s only son by his first marriage, another Sir John, was dead by 1419 when our MP’s daughter, Alice, wife of Sir Ralph Shirley†, is named in a deed as heir-presumptive to the Cockayne patrimony. Since the younger Sir John is known to have fought in the campaign of 1417 it is a reasonable speculation that he met his death in the French war. His death brought our MP not only the urgent need of male issue but also a recalcitrant daughter-in-law, Joan Dabridgecourt. In 1421 she sued him for the massive debt of £200 and as late as 1444 she was pursuing his widow for lesser sums.5 S.M. Wright, Derbys. Gentry (Derbys. Rec. Soc. viii), 212; CP40/643, rot. 215; 732, rot. 475d.

Cockayne’s belated first appointment to the shrievalty appears to have been connected with the dispute between his friend, Henry Booth*, and Sampson Meverell over the inheritance of Sir Philip Leche† (d.1420). On 27 Feb. 1423, less than two weeks after his appointment, an assize of novel disseisin returned a verdict in Booth’s favour with respect to a tenement in Tideswell, and a further verdict in a related matter went the same way in the following August. In a petition presented in the Parliament of 1425 Meverell claimed that Cockayne had used the influence of his office to secure these verdicts, empanelling Booth’s servants and threatening Meverell’s counsel with false indictment, and had then raised 300 armed men to eject Meverell from the disputed property.6 JUST1/1537, rot. 26; C49/68/8. This was only one side of the story – Booth, elected to the previous Parliament at an election conducted by our MP, had presented a petition containing a very different account – but there is no reason to suppose that Meverell’s accusations against Cockayne were without foundation.7 C219/13/2; SC8/339/15978.

Cockayne’s long service to the duchy of Lancaster brought him substantial rewards and was further recognized late in his career. On 14 Dec. 1427 he was appointed surveyor of the duchy chace of Duffield Frith and on the following 20 Feb. the more important office of master forester was added. In August 1437 he surrendered his letters patent to the latter office so he might hold it jointly with Humphrey, earl of Stafford, an arrangement which foreshadowed his son’s entry into the earl’s service.8 DL42/18, ff. 59, 224; R. Somerville, Duchy, i. 556.

By a fine levied in Easter term 1438, very shortly before his death, Cockayne added further to the extravagant provision he had made in favour of his second wife. In 1432 he had granted her a life interest in his manors of Harthill and Middleton (Derbyshire) and in 1435 he had added the manor of Pooley and his other Warwickshire estates. He now completed the settlement with a grant of the manors of Tissington and Ballidon in Derbyshire together with that of Calton in Staffordshire. These properties represented his substantial maternal inheritance in its entirety and he may have reasoned that his ancient paternal inheritance, centred on the family home at Ashbourne, would be enough to maintain his eldest son’s place in local affairs until his widow’s death.9 Derbys. Feet of Fines (Derbys. Rec. Soc. xi), 1085; Warws. Fines of Fines (Dugdale Soc. xviii), 2581; CP25(1)/292/69/211; C139/87/40. Unfortunately, however, she survived him by more than 20 years and his generosity gave rise to serious dissension between her and their son and heir, John.

Sir John died intestate. Administration of his goods was committed to his widow.10 CP40/733, rot. 331.