FACONER, Roger

In early 1401, when probably still a young man, Faconer appeared in person in the court of King’s bench. He had come to Westminster to enter a suit against Thomas Kelsale, a scholar of Cambridge university, for attacking him with a dagger at Cambridge in the previous November. The court however referred the case to the jurisdiction of the chancellor of the university, Richard Billyngford, after he had claimed cognizance of the action by virtue of the liberties his institution held by grant of the Crown.2 KB27/559, rots. 14, 54. Faconer next appears in 1415 when he participated in the Cambridge parliamentary election of that year. By the time of his own election to Parliament, he had attained some prominence in borough affairs, having during 1426 joined the common council, served as a juror at gaol delivery sessions and commenced a term as one of its treasurers.3 C.H. Cooper, Annals Cambridge, i. 175; JUST3/8/12, rot. 3. The borough paid both Faconer and his fellow MP, Richard Sexton*, at the new rate (reduced from 2s.) of 1s. for each of the 103 days that Parliament took up of their time.4 Cambridge treasurers’ acct., 1427-8, City/PB Box X/70/6. Faconer was again a juror at gaol delivery sessions held in Cambridge in early 1430. Six years later, a tax assessment calculated that he possessed lands (of unknown whereabouts) worth £10 p.a. In 1473 Margaret, widow of Roger ‘Fawkener’ (probably the MP), founded a house for poor men and women in Cambridge.5 JUST3/8/14, rot. 21; E179/240/268; M. Rubin, Charity and Community in Med. Cambridge, 127.