ARUNDELL, Renfrew

Among the concerns that moved the great Sir John Arundell I of Lanherne for much of his life was the adequate provision for his younger sons. Renfrew was the youngest of these and was first given estates of his own in 1421, following his marriage to Joan Colshull. The lands that Sir John granted to him on this occasion included the Cornish manors of Treloy (in St. Columb Minor) and Trink (in Lelant).10 Cornish Lands of the Arundells, p. xxii; Arundell mss, AR19/2; CP40/786, rot. 118. Renfrew remained close to his father and in 1429 he was also granted two of Sir John’s chief manors, Lanherne and St. Columb, at an annual rent of £40, which in February 1433 was reduced by a quarter to £30 p.a., for ‘services rendered in the mean time’.11 CCR, 1429-35, pp. 245-6; C254/141/109; Arundell mss, AR20/19. By this time our MP had rounded off his share of the family estates by two further grants in 1430 and 1431 by which he gained control of the manors of Tregarne (in St. Keverne and St. Anthony in Meneage) and Penwerris (in Budock) and other smaller holdings, estates which his mother, Annora Lambourne, had brought to the Arundells.12 Cornish Lands of the Arundells, p. xxii.

More problematic, it seems, was Arundell’s title to the manor of Lanivet, which he claimed to have acquired from Benedict Gyffard. In the autumn of 1431 Gyffard’s cousin John Bounteth along with his aunt Alice and her husband, Roger Prideaux of Penvose, staked their claim to the property, and the dispute continued until Arundell’s death, by which time Prideaux had died and Bounteth had been replaced by Otto Nicoll* of Penvose and his wife Joan among the claimants.13 CP40/683, rot. 320; 722, rot. 304; 723, rot. 119; Arundell mss, AR3/627; CCR, 1435-41, p. 71. Similarly, in 1436 the lawyer Richard Penpons* mounted a challenge to Arundell’s possession of lands at Treswithian (in Camborne) but was, in spite of his professional skills, roundly defeated at the assizes.14 CP40/701, rot. 324; 703, rot. 138.

Although given a degree of independence from their father by the estates he had settled on them, the younger Arundells maintained close connexions with Sir John, and Renfrew was no exception. Thus, when in 1428 Sir John embarked on the great charitable enterprise of his life and founded a chantry at St. Columb Major that was to become the richest such establishment in Cornwall in the fifteenth century, Sir Thomas and his descendants were made the principal trustees of the endowment, with remainder in default of issue to Renfrew and his heirs.15 Cornish Lands of the Arundells, pp. xxii-xxiii; CCR, 1429-35, pp. 35-36. When he drew up his will, Sir John appointed both these younger sons his executors, and our MP can be found acting in this capacity on more than one occasion after his father’s death.16 Reg. Lacy, i (Canterbury and York Soc. lx), 273; iv (ibid. lxiii), 20-22. Likewise, Renfrew was present at the Cornish shire elections of November 1421, when his elder brother John was elected, and in 1429 when it was the second brother, Sir Thomas’s, turn to represent the family’s interests in the Commons.17 C219/12/6, 14/1. For their part, Sir Thomas and their kinsman Sir John Arundell II* of Trerice headed the list of attestors in January 1431 when Renfrew himself was first elected to Parliament, and on the occasion of his re-election in 1433 Sir Thomas presided as sheriff.18 C219/14/2, 3. Nothing is known of Renfrew’s contributions, if any, to the debates of the Commons, but he used his time at Westminster to good effect in other ways. In 1433, while Parliament was in session, he secured custody of the estates of Elizabeth, the recently deceased widow of William, Lord Botreaux (d.1395).19 It is doubtful how valuable this acquisition ultimately proved to be, for Elizabeth’s heir, William, Lord Botreaux (1389-1462), was granted seisin that same Nov.: CFR, xvi. 158, 177-8; CP, ii. 242. Moreover, whereas he had only once been appointed to a royal commission subsequent to his first spell in the Commons, he now received a string of such appointments. At least two of these arose directly from his membership of Parliament. In 1434 the knights of the shire, including Arundell and his brother-in-law and colleague, Sir William Bodrugan*, were ordered to return into Chancery the names of individuals who were to be sworn not to maintain peace breakers, and it is probable that like the shire knights in other counties they were also included among the commissioners to administer the oath.20 CCR, 1429-35, p. 271. No comm. for Cornwall is recorded on the patent roll, perhaps as a result of the MPs’ failure to return any names. A month earlier the two MPs were also commanded, as was customary, to distribute in their shire the allowance of a tax granted by the Commons.21 Truro bor. recs., B/Tru/15; CFR, xvi. 187, 192.

Ever since Henry IV had usurped the throne, the Arundells had maintained close links with the Lancastrian dynasty. Whereas his father and eldest brother entered the service of the new duke of Cornwall, Prince Henry (afterwards Henry V), Renfrew became part of the affinity of Henry IV’s half-brother, Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester and cardinal of England. It is uncertain when he first formed this association with Beaufort, but he may already have done so when he was elected to his first Parliament in 1431.22 G.L. Harriss, Cardinal Beaufort, 203. Certainly, he accompanied Beaufort to the Congress of Arras in the summer of 1435, and was thus among his retainers who, having shared in the disappointment of seeing the negotiations collapse, suffered the added indignity of leaving the conference on 6 Sept. in the middle of a rainstorm which soaked their splendid vermilion liveries with the word ‘honour’ embroidered on their sleeves.23 Ibid. 251; DKR, xlviii. 305.

Not long before the English delegation to Arras sailed for France, Arundell’s father had died, leaving as his heir his under-age grandson. It now fell to the young John Arundell’s uncles to maintain the family’s customary position in local society, and, along with his brothers, Renfrew began to play his part in county administration. Knighted during the course of 1436, he was pricked sheriff of Cornwall in the autumn of 1437. After he was added to the Cornish bench a year later, he energetically set about his duties in keeping the peace.24 Patronage, Crown and Provinces ed. Griffiths, 125; KB27/726, rex rot. 28. Further advancement came through the good offices of his old patron, Cardinal Beaufort, who in October 1440 procured for him a grant in survivorship of the manor and borough of Helston, jointly with Margaret, widow of Sir Nicholas Sarnesfield†, who just a few years earlier had fought an acrimonious battle for it against Arundell’s kinsman Sir John II of Trerice and his brother-in-law, Robert Treage*. Equally, it was undoubtedly the cardinal through whose intervention Sir Renfrew had by this date been retained for life by the King himself, and his continued service was made a condition of the grant of Helston, although it was omitted from its renewal four months later.25 CPR, 1436-41, pp. 476, 526.

Arundell’s connexions at court did not prevent him from otherwise leading the life of an ordinary west-country gentleman. He may occasionally be found attesting deeds for his kinsmen and neighbours,26 CCR, 1435-41, p. 184. and, like many of their number, he also had an interest in the Cornish tin industry. Although the details of his involvement in the business are obscure, he can be regularly found pursuing tinners for trespasses and debts in the stannary courts.27 SC2/157/5, rot. 4; 6, rots. 2, 9, 15, 18d. For example, in October 1435 he brought a suit against one John Crostov, who the previous May had forcibly reclaimed various tin and pewter vessels, beds and livestock which Arundell had seized in distraint for outstanding rents.28 SC2/157/6, rot. 2. Other interests shared by many of the gentry of the south-west were trade and warfare at sea, and it was common for men of gentle birth to engage in occasional acts of piracy. Renfrew himself owned two balingers, the Flour de la Mare and the Jesus of Penryn, and he shared ownership of a third, the Christopher of Truro, with Sir John Arundell II of Trerice. Just how formidable a force these vessels constituted, a group of Breton merchants discovered to their cost in October 1440. Trusting in the protection of a safe-conduct of the earl of Huntingdon, then lieutenant of Guyenne, the Bretons were sailing to Bordeaux in the St. Julian of Vannes with a cargo and money to the value of 6,000 crowns, when they were set upon by Arundell’s ships. The merchants were easily overcome, their money taken and their ship and goods sold, leaving them to petition the chancellor for redress. As a result of their petition, commissioners of inquiry were appointed, but Arundell is not known ever to have faced the consequences of his crews’ actions.29 Procs. Chancery Eliz. ed. Caley and Bayley, i. p. xxxviii; CPR, 1436-41, p. 574.

Closely connected with the court, Arundell secured election to the Commons for a third time in January 1442. He was not to see this assembly dissolved, for he died within less than two weeks of its opening.30 CFR, xvii. 196. He was survived by his wife, whom he had appointed executrix of his will. Not long after her husband’s death, she went on to marry John Nanfan*, and survived for a further four decades.31 C67/39, m. 17; CP40/781, rot. 444; Arundell mss, AR20/22. Sir Renfrew left four children, at least three of whom contracted prestigious marriages. His elder daughter Elizabeth married Edmund Stradling (second cousin of Sir Edward Stradling who had married Cardinal Beaufort’s bastard daughter), and after Stradling’s death became the wife of the wealthy Cornish esquire John Trenewith*. Arundell’s younger daughter, also called Elizabeth, was betrothed to the Gloucestershire landowner William Whittington*, and later in life took as her second husband Nicholas Brome of Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire. Sir Renfrew’s eldest son, heir and namesake married the daughter of the prominent royal servant Sir Andrew Ogard*, and went on to sit in the Commons for Worcestershire in the reign of Edward IV.32 Vivian, 3; C140/10/22; CIPM Hen. VII, iii. 366.