CRATHORNE, Thomas

Crathorne, who originated from Marton in Sinnington in the North Riding, already had established commercial links with the merchant community of York when in 1421-2 he purchased the freedom of the city.4 C241/215/1; Freemen of York (Surtees Soc. xcvi), 131. By this stage of his career his trading activities were already wide-ranging: between 1420 and 1425 he was one of a number of English merchants who were accused of robbery and violence in Iceland,5 Diplomatarium Islandicum, iv. no. 381. while in 1430-1 he paid customs for the export of at least 91 unfinished cloths in five separate shipments from Kingston-upon-Hull.6 E122/61/32.

Before long, Crathorne was admitted to the prestigious Mercers’ Company of York. The date of his entry is not recorded, but by March 1436 he was sufficiently well regarded among its members to be elected as one of their constables, a post which he retained for a lengthy term of some six years until 1442. City office soon followed. On 2 Feb. 1440 he was chosen as one of the city’s three chamberlains, and on completion of his term he was pricked one of the city’s sheriffs, in this capacity presiding over the election to Parliament of William Girlington* and Thomas Ridley*. Indeed, Crathorne’s shrieval year proved a busy one. He was named to three royal commissions and it may have been his burgeoning responsibilities in civic government that led to the end of his tenure as one of the constables of the Mercers’ Company in March 1442. Crathorne’s subsequent advancement was rapid. He probably joined the ranks of the council of 24 as soon as he was discharged of his shrievalty, and in March 1443 he was named a commissioner of sewers in York, an unusual responsibility for a junior councillor.7 York Memoranda Bk. iii. 131.

In the interim, Crathorne and his wife had been admitted to the prestigious guild of Corpus Christi, and by November 1443 he had probably joined the ranks of the city’s aldermen, since he was among a small group of senior councillors who witnessed a series of deeds concerning property belonging to the York merchant William Kyllom.8 Reg. Guild Corpus Christi, York (Surtees Soc. lvii), 38, 161. He finally reached the pinnacle of the civic hierarchy in February 1445, when he was elected mayor of York. Central to his year in office, whether by his own design or not, was an attempt to settle a long-running jurisdictional dispute between the city and the abbey of St. Mary, which had once more come out into the open as a result of the obstruction of the river Ouse by the abbey’s fishgarths. In April Crathorne set out for London, accompanied by the alderman, Thomas Ridley, two ‘generosi maioris’, the common clerk, and 13 other servants to secure a royal judgement in the citizens’ favour. The delegation remained in London for 23 days before returning to York, only to travel again to the capital for a further four days in May. The sum of £21 15s. was distributed in gifts to various lawyers, including the King’s attorney, John Vampage*, and Thomas Urswyk II*. Crathorne, however, had other pressing duties in York and returned home before the matter was settled, leaving Ridley to continue the city’s suits at Westminster.9 York City Chamberlains’ Acct. Rolls, 54. Nevertheless, Crathorne’s conduct in office had perhaps met with his neighbours’ approval, and on 16 Jan. 1447 he was elected, alongside the wool merchant William Stocton II*, to the Parliament summoned to assemble at Bury St. Edmunds the following month. Nothing is known of their part in proceedings, if any, nor the duration of their stay, but one of their tasks may have been to secure letters patent for another York stapler, John Karr*, exempting him from civic office.10 CPR, 1446-52, p. 49.

Not surprisingly, Crathorne’s friends and associates were chiefly drawn from among his fellow merchants involved in the Hanseatic trade. In 1445 he acted as a feoffee for the Yorkshire gentleman Roger Crome, alongside William Clyff (d.1453), one such merchant, and the lawyer Guy Fairfax.11 Yorks. Deeds, vi. (Yorks. Arch. Soc. Rec. Ser. lxxvi), 179. In May 1446, he was one of six men, including the mercer John Aseby (d.1459) and the former chamberlain and sheriff Richard Thornton (d.1474), licensed to reform the old guild of St. Anthony as that of Saints Mary and Martin.12 CPR, 1441-6, p. 442; A. Raine, Med. York, 93-94; J. Kermode, ‘Merchants of Three Northern Towns’, in Profession, Vocation and Culture ed. Clough, 27. Ties of marriage connected Crathorne with the Kirkhams: his putative kinsman, John Crathorne, had married a daughter of the mercer Thomas Kirkham*, and he himself acted as one of Kirkham’s executors.13 CPR, 1441-6, p. 212.

Little is known of Crathorne’s final years. Just weeks after his return from Parliament he was chosen as master of the Mercers’ Company, a position he held for one year, and he was present in the civic council chamber in January and October 1449 to witness the parliamentary elections.14 C219/15/6, 7. He may have died shortly afterwards as he was not among the aldermen attesting the indenture of 1450. At his death Thomas left one son, William, who had become free of the city by patrimony in 1432 and five years later followed his father into the Mercers’ Company. Like his father (and sometimes in conjunction with him), he appears to have traded mostly with the towns of northern Germany. He and his wife, Alice, joined the city’s guild of Corpus Christi in 1445, and in 1447 he became one of the chamberlains of York. Membership of the council of 24 followed accordingly, and in November 1449, 1450, 1453 and 1459 he witnessed the parliamentary elections in that capacity. The date of his death is not known, but a son, also called William, became a freeman in 1486 and his widow was still alive in 1483.15 Kermode, ‘Merchants of York, Hull and Beverley’, app. 4; C219/15/7; 16/1, 2, 4.