ARUNDELL, Nicholas

Nicholas Arundell was born as heir to the most prominent cadet branch of the leading gentry family of fifteenth-century Cornwall. By the reign of Henry IV the Trerice line had succeeded in establishing for themselves an identity largely separate from that of their cousins, the Arundells of Lanherne. This independence owed much to the advantageous marriage of Nicholas’s father, Sir John, to the heiress of the Durant family. It was also this match which enabled Sir John to settle 15 messuages and some 300 acres of land in Cargantallen and Trenance next Porth (in St. Columb Minor), Trenance (in St. Issey), Treverrow and Trevine (in St. Minver), Pentire and Efflins next Engollan (in St. Eval), and Treglinick (in St. Ervan), on his son at a fairly young age in 1419, probably on the occasion of the latter’s own first marriage.5 Cornw. Feet of Fines, ii. 932. The date of Arundell’s birth has not been established. In the inquisition post mortem taken after the death of his sister Joan in Nov. 1454 he was said to be aged ‘30 and more’, evidently a considerable underestimate: C139/156/10.

The ties between father and son remained close, and it was unquestionably in Sir John’s interest that Nicholas secured election in 1431 for the borough of Lostwithiel, where his father owned extensive property, including ten houses.6 C140/10/26, m. 4; Cornw. RO, Tremayne mss, T490-3, 495-8, 500, 503-4. Sir John that year headed the list of attestors to the indenture recording shire and borough results alongside his distant cousin Sir Thomas Arundell* of Tolverne, but it seems that he had to exercise his influence after the Lostwithiel election had been recorded, since Nicholas’s name was inserted into the indenture over an erasure, apparently replacing that of one of the men chosen by the burgesses.7 C219/14/2. Sir John had good reasons to seek his son’s election to the Commons, for his brother-in-law, Robert Treage*, was at the time facing a challenge to his tenure of the manor and borough of Helston-in-Kerrier from the previous tenant, Margaret Sarnesfeld, who in a petition presented to the Commons that year accused Sir John of having connived in defrauding her of her rightful property. If Nicholas did, indeed, intervene in his uncle Treage’s interest, his efforts were only moderately successful. Royal commissioners were appointed to investigate the matter, and Margaret recovered the property, although Treage and his co-tenant Richard Penpons* (whose daughter Marina was the wife of Arundell’s younger brother Richard), were allowed to retain as theirs such corn as was currently growing on the demesne.8 The Commons 1386-1421, i. 300; iv. 639; RP, iv. 384. Nor is there any indication that Nicholas distinguished himself in the Commons in any other way; indeed, he is not known ever to have secured any appointment to office under either the Crown or the duchy of Cornwall.

Certainly, while Sir John Arundell survived, Nicholas continued to stand in his shadow, and even his acquisition of the manor of Govely Moer in 1438, when he married his second wife, did little to alter this state of affairs.9 C140/10/26, m. 4. Even in November 1446 he seems to have been little more than his father’s accessory in a property dispute with William Bere*.10 C244/53/99. When Sir John finally died in about 1450, Nicholas should have succeeded to the full family estates, including more than four manors, 40 messuages and many acres of land, probably worth well in excess of £20 p.a.,11 Cornw. RO, Arundell mss, AR2/740; Wynell-Mayow mss, WM357; C140/10/26, m. 4. but the survival of his mother, who had brought the bulk of these holdings into the family, meant that he never entered his full inheritance. Nicholas’s reduced means – in 1451 he was assessed at just £9 p.a. for tax purposes – may explain his continued failure to make a mark in the governance of his shire.12 KB27/810, rots. 35-36; 817, att. rot. 1; E179/87/92. Yet, despite this, the Arundells of Trerice remained a family of high standing, and Nicholas was able to contract important marriages for his elder sons. His heir, John, married Margaret, daughter of Sir Hugh Courtenay* of Boconnoc, whose younger sister Maud had married his kinsman John Arundell of Tolverne. Following Margaret’s death, John made a potentially even more profitable match, taking as his second wife Anne, daughter of the judge (Sir) Walter Moyle*.13 Vivian, 6, 11.

In the political turmoil of the second half of the 1450s, Arundell’s aloofness from public affairs may have stood him in good stead. There is no suggestion that he took any part in the factional strife of the years of civil war, although he may have become embroiled in a private feud with Stephen Carkyke, a minor gentleman from St. Cleer, whom he accused of having broken into his seat at Trerice and stolen £20 of his money.14 KB27/789, rot. 2.

Arundell died on 21 Apr. 1463, survived by his second wife, Joan, whose dower was assigned on 18 Oct. He was succeeded by his 24-year-old son John, whose homage King Edward took on 4 July, and who not long after was able to profit from his grandmother’s death and the consequent reunification of the family estates.15 C140/10/26; PSO1/64/39; E368/243, rot. 96; CCR, 1461-8, p. 173. Joan Arundell lived on for almost two decades after her husband’s death, also surviving her son John, but, as far as is known, never remarried.16 CFR, xxi. 664; CPR, 1477-85, pp. 328, 430. Neither Nicholas’s grandsons nor his great-grandsons are known to have ever served in Parliament, but in the reigns of Mary I and Elizabeth I the family was once more represented in the Commons.17 The Commons 1509-58, i. 334-5; 1558-1603, i. 351.