BOTREAUX, William II

Botreaux was probably a junior scion of the baronial family of that name, although it has not been possible to determine his exact descent from the senior line. Although it is just possible that his father, Ralph, was the shire knight of that name, a younger son of William, Lord Botreaux (d.1391), this seems unlikely, as a settlement made by the MP’s daughter at some point before 1469 failed to style her grandfather a knight. It is possible that either William or his father was of illegitimate birth, or that their cadet line had split from the main branch of the family several generations earlier, since William was omitted from the elaborate entail of the Botreaux lands made in 1428.4 CPR, 1422-9, p. 462. His relationship with his noble kinsfolk was nevertheless a close one: in 1417 he attested a land settlement for William, 3rd Lord Botreaux, and three years later, in 1420, he fought in France in the baron’s retinue (having previously set out on the Agincourt campaign in the retinue of the duke of Gloucester, when he had participated in the siege of Harfleur, before falling ill and thus probably missing the famous battle on St. Crispin’s day). In December 1423 he was among the feoffees entrusted by Lord Botreaux and his grandmother, Elizabeth, with the endowment for their religious foundation at North Cadbury, and he would later remember the former in his will as his lord.5 E101/44/30 (1); CCR, 1413-19, p. 437; CPR, 1422-9, p. 190; Reg. Stafford, f. 172v.

The full extent of Botreaux’s landholdings is uncertain, but it seems that his father endowed him with property in Cornwall which he had acquired by purchase from the Smallhill family.6 Salisbury Domesday bk. 3, G23/1/215, f. 12v. William himself had acquired holdings at Ilchester in Somerset, perhaps by illicit means in October 1420, as their previous owner, William Balsham*, claimed.7 C1/5/83. Botreaux’s entry into Wiltshire society, by contrast, was apparently facilitated by his marriage to Margery, the widow of the Bristol merchant John Hertham, who brought to him her former husband’s property in Yatesbury in the north of the county. This property had originally been intended by Hertham to fall to his daughters, Joan and Agnes, but Margery had procured a forged will by which it was settled on her and her heirs, and had arranged for Joan to take the veil at Wilton abbey. Margery had nevertheless refused to settle the property on her second husband outright, until Botreaux agreed to pay her a life rent in return.8 Money Kyrle mss, 1720/242, 277; VCH Wilts. xvii. 174; Wilts. Feet of Fines (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xli), no. 469; PCC 8 Marche (PROB11/2A, f. 61).

It seems that Botreaux was a more substantial man than his relatively limited career of office-holding suggests, for in 1434 he was deemed to be of sufficient standing to be included among the Wiltshire gentry obliged to take the general oath against maintenance.9 CPR, 1429-36, p. 371. While he frequently served on the juries empanelled to take inquisitions post mortem (including those taken after the deaths of Sir Edward Benstede†, Sir Stephen Popham† and William Alexander*),10 C139/58/32, 59/38, 62/4, 71/37, 121/18, 126/23, 130/10, 131/26. he apparently only held formal Crown office once, when he was appointed a Hampshire tax collector in 1442.11 In Feb. 1433 a William Botreaux was paid for a day’s service on the Som. bench between June 1429 and June 1431. This is a curious reference, as William, Lord Botreaux, was the only member of the family to have been appointed a j.p. in that county, and peers were not normally paid for their service. Nevertheless, it is unlikely to relate to our MP: E101/586/32. It is probable that by this date he had established himself for at least part of the year at Lymington (where he is first encountered as a juror in the autumn of 1438, and where he owned a house on the north side of the High Street and property in Cowper’s Croft). It is not clear what motivated this move, but it is possible that Botreaux’s second marriage to one Agnes had a part to play.12 CIPM, xxv. 85; I.o.W. RO, Oglander mss, OG/S/10, 13.

It seems that Botreaux took a degree of interest in parliamentary affairs, for even prior to his own first return to the Commons he had been present at the Wiltshire elections of 1420 as well as at those held in Somerset for Henry VI’s first Parliament, and attested the election indentures. He would later do likewise in the Wiltshire county court on no fewer than four occasions, and once in Worcestershire. It is, by contrast, less certain how he himself came to be returned by the burgesses of Wilton, who normally showed a predilection for local men, and it is possible that it was his noble kinsman, Lord Botreaux, who was able to exert some influence on his behalf. Equally, he may have possessed other ties in and around Wilton: on 1 Dec. 1429, when his first Parliament was in session at Westminster, he (in association with three Salisbury men, William Russell and the lawyers Henry Bradley and Edmund Penston*) he was in receipt of sureties of £500 from the Hampshire gentleman Robert Peny of South Tidworth, in a dispute or transaction the details of which have not come to light.13 CCR, 1429-35, p. 29. If it was this affair that motivated Botreaux to seek his first return, he may subsequently have developed something of a taste for parliamentary life: on the occasions of both of his subsequent elections he was himself present in the shire court, held at Wilton, and added his seal to the county indenture. Moreover, in 1431, when his fellow Member, Richard Bright*, a local man, received wages of £2, Botreaux contented himself with the lesser sum of 33s. 4d., perhaps also from a genuine desire to be returned.14 Wilts. Hist. Centre, Wilton bor. recs., stewards’ accts., G25/1/89.

Botreaux made his will on 1 Mar. 1449. He asked to be buried in the chapel of Lymington, to which he made a bequest of 40s. Lord Botreaux was to have the testator’s best silver cup, and other similar items went to Thomas atte Welle and another kinsman, Robert Botreaux, who was also to have a horse. His widow, Agnes, was left all his household goods, while his daughter, Joan, still under age, was to receive £20 should she live to see her fourteenth birthday. The execution of the will was entrusted to Thomas Ringwood. Probate was granted on 30 Apr., and on the following 4 July the executor was discharged of his responsibilities.15 Reg. Stafford, f. 172v. Like William, Robert Botreaux would later serve as a tax collector in Hants: CFR, xix. 48-49.