SHILLINGFORD, John

More may be added to the earlier biography.4 The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 361-2.

The execution of the will of the former recorder of Exeter, William Wynard, embroiled Shillingford in litigation with major gentry of the south-west, such as Elizabeth, widow of Sir Thomas Carewe (an aunt of William Bonville*, Lord Bonville),5 CP40/760, rot. 102d. and he and his co-executors faced a challenge from Wynard’s son and heir, John, who accused them of unlawfully withholding his rightful inheritance of his father’s gold and silver vessels, as well as the vast sum of £1,000 in cash.6 C1/24/39. By contrast, the nature of the contract giving rise to Shillingford’s bond for as much as £5,000 to the local clerk John Beaufitz, dated 13 Feb. 1434, is obscure.7 C131/71/1; 73/3.

Shillingford’s acquisition of the family estates was beset by difficulties. It had, as John explained to Chancellor Stafford, long been agreed between him and his cousin William Shillingford that in the event of the latter’s childless death the Shillingford lands would pass to him, but in May 1433 William had reneged on this agreement and arranged for the property to be settled on himself and his wife Elizabeth.8 C1/11/120. Probably connected with the disputes over the Shillingford lands were charges brought against Shillingford and three associates by two wealthy Devon gentlemen, Nicholas Keynes and John Mules*, in the autumn of 1433, purporting that Shillingford and his fellows had unlawfully broken into the plaintiffs’ property at Shillingford, Faringdon and Widdecombe, destroyed their crops and cut down their forest.9 CP40/691, rot. 325. Nor did Shillingford’s troubles end when he secured his lands. Thus, early in 1451 William Bourgchier, Lord Fitzwaryn, claimed that in May 1449 Shillingford had unlawfully invaded his property at Shillingford, felled vast numbers of trees, and carried off cartloads of fish. Shillingford for his part admitted taking 20 eels and damaging some of Bourgchier’s crops, but maintained that he had been entitled to do so, since he had owned the holding where the offence had purportedly taken place since June 1441 by Bourgchier’s grant. Bourgchier denied Shillingford’s title, claiming to have – somewhat conveniently – revoked his grant two days before the alleged offence. The matter may have been settled by a bond for £30 which Shillingford sealed in July 1451, and which Bourgchier successfully pleaded in the court of common pleas at Easter 1452.10 CP40/760, rot. 188; 765, rot. 440.

Nor was Fitzwaryn the only south-western magnate with whom Shillingford came to blows. In 1446 Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon, accused him of a string of offences, including thefts of livestock and wine, committed over the preceding two years, claiming a total of £500 in damages, and in early 1449 the earl’s servant John Hobbes* claimed to have been assaulted and imprisoned by him and an Exeter cook.11 CP40/740, rot. 108; 752, rot. 222; 758, rot. 130.

In the early 1450s Shillingford faced litigation brought by his own son William and the latter’s wife, Mabel Botour, together with Mabel’s sisters Elizabeth and Nicola (the latter the wife of Andrew Peverell) over the detention of muniments relating to the ladies’ inheritance from their father.12 CP40/768, rot. 113d; 773, rot. 404.

The considerable gap of over ten years between Shillingford’s first and second mayoralties may have owed something to a personal reluctance to take up another senior civic post: on 21 Oct. 1444, more than two weeks after the mayoral elections, a meeting of the city council presided over by the previous year’s mayor, Hugh Germyn, noted that the mayor-elect, Shillingford, had so far failed to take the oath of office, and assigned wages to Germyn for as long as he might need to continue to carry out the duties of the post. It appears, however, that Shillingford eventually took the oath, for by the end of his term he had drawn the customary annual fee of 100s.13 Devon RO, Exeter receiver’s acct. 23-24 Hen. VI; mayor’s ct. roll 23-24 Hen. VI, rot. 4d.

The dean and canons of Exeter sought to blame the great dispute between them and the city authorities which came to a head during Shillingford’s final mayoralty on the mayor’s machinations, but Shillingford’s own conscience was evidently clear: ‘God wote who is clere of his living, quia nemo sine crimine vivit,’ was his response to the cathedral authorities’ challenge.14 Letters and Pprs. Shillingford (Cam. Soc. n.s. ii), p. xi. In the early stages of the legal battle, there was some degree of disagreement over its conduct between Shillingford and his principal deputy, Richard Druell*, but in the event Shillingford was magnanimous enough to admit that Druell’s view had rightly carried the day.15 Ibid. 5. The mayor’s own lively descriptions of his encounters with the chancellor, Archbishop Stafford, illustrate something of his self-assurance, as well as the esteem in which he was held by the prelate. In October 1447 he wrote back to Exeter’s council:

The Saterdey next ther after the mayer came to Westminster sone apon ix. atte belle, and ther mette wt my lorde Chaunceller atte brode dore a litell fro the steire fote comyng fro the Sterre chamber, y yn the courte and by the dore knellyng and salutyng hym yn the moste godely wyse that y cowde and recommended yn to his gode and gracious lordship my feloship and all the comminalte, his awne peeple and bedmen of the Cite of Exceter. He seyde to the mayer ij. tymes ‘Well come’, and the iijde. tyme ‘Right well come Mayer’, and helde the mayer a grete while faste by the honde, and so went forth to his barge and wt hym grete presse, lordis and other, &c. and yn especiall the tresorer of the kynges housholde, wt wham he was at right grete pryvy communicacion. And therfor y, mayer, drowe me apart, and mette wt hym at his goyng yn to his barge, and ther toke my leve of hym, seyyng these wordis, ‘My lord, y woille awayte apon youre gode lordship and youre better leyser at another tyme.’ He seyde to me ayen, ‘Mayer, y pray yow hertely that ye do so, and that ye speke wt the Chief Justyse and what tyme that ever he will y woll be all redy.’ And thus departed &c. The Soneday abowte viij. atte clokke y came to Lambeth […] to myte and speke wt my seyd lord. We mette and spake wt hym yn the ynner chamber, he at that tyme beyng right bysy goynge yn to his closet. And wt right gode longage and gode chere yn godely wyse exscused hym that he myght not speke wt ous atte that tyme for grete bysynes […] and bade me come ayen that same dey afternone […] Y was by the Styward and meny other of the housholde full fayre y bede to abide atte mete, ne never hadde better chere of my lorde ne of the houshold then y hadde atte tyme. […] That afternone y went ayen to Lambeth to my lord after his commaundement aboveseid and when y come thider to hym yn to his ynner chamber, there was myche peeple, lordes and other, my lord Tresorer, under Tresorer, the pryvy seel, land [sic] dyvers abbottes and pryours, and meny strangers aleyns of other londys. And then came yn the Duke of Bokyngham, and ther was grete bysynes at that tyme, hardly alle men were bede to avoyde that chamber saaf the lordes. Nerthelez y awayted my tyme and put me yn presse and went right to my lorde Chaunceller […] [and he] seide ‘Mayer, y moste to morun ride by tyme to the Kyng, and come ayen this wyke: ye most awayte apon my comyng […]’.16 Ibid. 5-7.

Similarly, on 2 Nov. Shillingford wrote home of the progress of the city’s case, describing how he, ‘liyng on my bedde atte writing of this right yerly, myryly syngyng a myry song, and that ys this, Come no more at oure hous, come, come, come’, was nevertheless rapidly running out of funds,17 Ibid. 16. while ten days later he described how Archbishop Stafford had spent almost an hour exchanging pleasantries with him, had been

right mery and comyned meny divers maters bothe of disporte and sadnesse: furste of dysporte of Bysshop Stafford ys tyme when my lord was there, and among other y spake to my lorde yn dysporte of the arrest of Sr Thomas Gogh and of Hugh Lucays atte Denys place, and what favor y had do and had no thanke and of other thyngys as come yn to my mynde. He cowed telle us how Germyn toke the churche þe day of eleccion &c. Y seide … therof a disporte, and that Germyn putte his finger yn his ye and wepte […].18 Ibid. 19.

The pursuit of the city’s case did, however, present other difficulties. By custom, the favour of the chancellor, royal justices, and other men of law, had to be curried with gifts of food and wine, and the citizens of Exeter could not afford to be outdone in this by their opponents. Thus, on 2 Nov. 1447 Shillingford reported home with glee that

for as moche as my lord Chaunceller bade the Justyse to dyner ayenst that same day for oure mater, seyyng that he sholde have a dys of salt fisshe; y hiryng this, y didde as me thoght aughte to be done, and by avys of the Justise and of oure counseill, and sende thider that day ij. stately pikerellis and ij. stately tenchis, for the whiche my lord Chaunceller cowde right grete thankys [...] for hit came yn gode seson, for my lordis the Duke of Bokyngham, the Markis of Southfolke and other, Bysshoppis divers dyned with my lord Chaunceller that dey.’19 Ibid. 9.

Yet, about a month later, his efforts were being seriously hampered by the tardiness of his agents in Exeter in sending fresh consignments of fish:

I taried and yet tary because of þe buk horn þt was boght or y went forth before at Stoklond or y departed fro home as Germyn, that never legh, tolde to me verily wt grete othis; the whiche came not yet, me to right grete anger and discomfort by my trauthe [...] Nothelez I know right well [Germyn] woll ascuse hym right well by thike fals harlot his carioure, and the carioure yn like wyse by the seide Germyn [...] Cristes curse have they bothe [...]20 Ibid. 23.

Shillingford died intestate, and the settlement of his complicated affairs caused his son William considerable difficulties, as much of his father’s intentions had to be reconstructed from hearsay. The question of the former mayor’s chantry at St. John’s hospital aside, there were also purported creditors like Richard Druell, whom William Shillingford paid in full, only to discover later that his father’s supposed debt had been a figment of Druell’s imagination.21 C1/31/9. Conversely, the ever cash-strapped city of Exeter still owed money to Shillingford’s estate, which had to be recovered by litigation in the Westminster courts,22 Exeter receiver’s accts. 16-22 Hen. VI; CP40/808, rot. 98d. while a debt of £7 owing to the former mayor from one John Courtys necessitated a suit in Chancery, as the debtor’s executor, John Floyer, refused to pay, despite having gained more than enough money by the sale of Courtys’s house and garden.23 C1/27/141.