BARTON, Thomas I

Barton was the eldest of four surviving sons of a York skinner and was admitted to the freedom of the city by patrimony in 1426.4 Freemen of York (Surtees Soc. xcvi), 138. The MP must be distinguished from two contemporary namesakes, a mercer and a mason, who were respectively admitted to the freedom of York in 1439 and 1446: ibid. 155, 166. When his father, William, died in 1435, Thomas was named as one of his executors, and assigned as his portion of his father’s property his dwelling in Walmgate and the 80-year-lease of his house in Petergate (rented from the commonalty of York since 1424) for term of his life.5 York registry wills, prob. reg. 3, f. 409; York City Archs., G.67 misc. I.80; CP40/724, rot. 27d; York Bridgemasters’ Accts. ed. Stell (York Arch. Trust, 2003), 199, 222, 249, 293, 323, 345. While Thomas’s brother John followed their father into the skinners’ trade, the later MP established himself as a spicer.

In February 1439, within a few years of his father’s death, Barton was chosen as one of the chamberlains of York. The relatively long interval between his admission to the freedom and the first steps on the ladder of civic office may be explained by the fact that he was not among the leading merchants in the city and was engaged in domestic rather than overseas trade. Further office soon followed, however, and in September 1442 he was named one of the sheriffs. In another mark of his increasing prominence in the city, he and his wife were admitted to the prestigious guild of Corpus Christi in the same year.6 Reg. Guild Corpus Christi, York (Surtees Soc. lvii), 42. He almost certainly joined the council of 24 at the end of his shrieval year, but a lack of evidence makes this impossible to confirm. Nevertheless, by 16 Jan. 1447, when he attested the election to the Parliament summoned to assemble at Bury St. Edmunds, he had joined the ranks of the aldermen.7 C219/15/4.

In January 1449 he again witnessed the parliamentary election in the council chamber, and did so a third time in October that year, when he himself was chosen to attend the Parliament summoned to meet at Westminster the following month. It was most unusual for an alderman to endorse his own election, but there is no obvious explanation for this break with normal procedure.8 C219/15/5, 6. This long and contentious assembly, which lasted for three sessions in Westminster, London and Leicester and witnessed attacks on the King’s councillors, notably the duke of Suffolk, took Barton and his fellow MP, the mercer John Catterick*, away from York for an extended period of time. They set out for Westminster on 30 Oct. and received wages until their return home on 28 Dec. (11 days after the prorogation on 17 Dec.). Their wages for this first session were settled quickly: £20 of the £23 12s. due to both men was paid by the city chamberlains before 3 Feb. 1450. The evidence for the Parliament’s two later sessions is less conclusive. While the city chamberlains’ rough account book records a payment of £6 to Catterick for his wages in September 1450, there is no similar evidence for a payment to Barton, and it is possible that his election as mayor of York in February 1450, just days into the second session, curtailed his attendance for the remainder of the Parliament.9 York City Chamberlains’ Acct Rolls, 59; York City Archs., chamberlains’ accts. 1450-1, CC1a, f. 63. Certainly, there were matters to occupy him at home: days after his election he was named to a commission to deliver the city’s gaol. Curiously, he was absent from the parliamentary elections of October 1450, although he witnessed those of 1453, 1459 and 1460. In these years his presence at meetings in the council chamber was periodically recorded, although it is impossible to tell how regular an attendee he was.10 C219/16/1-6; York Memoranda Bk. ii (Surtees Soc. cxxv), 198, 200, 204.

Few details of Barton’s private affairs are known, although there is some suggestion that his life was marked by personal tragedy: he left only a single daughter, but asked to be buried in that place in his parish church of St. Michael Spurriergate where the remains of his children lay interred. His inherited tenements in Walmgate and Petergate aside, he had by his death also acquired property in Over and Nether Ousegate, but none of this appears to have been deemed of great value, after the rent payable had been deducted: on the occasion of the income tax of 1450 he was assessed for property worth a mere £3 p.a.11 York Bridgemasters’ Accts. 199, 222, 249, 293, 325, 345, 346; E179/217/56. There is nevertheless every reason to believe that Barton’s trade in spices was lucrative. His customers included the residentiaries of the Minster and other regional clergy, but also a magnate as important as Edward Neville, Lord Abergavenny, who in early 1453 was indebted to him in the sum of £15 9d.12 Test. Ebor. iii. 114, 142; CP40/758, rot. 53; 768, rot. 256.

Barton made a will on 20 Jan. 1461. He made detailed provision for his funeral and left bequests to the parish clergy as well as the city’s friaries, maisons dieux and leper houses. A sum of 20s. was assigned to the building of the city’s Common Hall. Bequests of money and clothing were made to his two surviving brothers, Roger and John, and to his wife’s sister, Jueta, the widow of the former mayor Thomas Bracebrigg, as well as to certain of his servants. Barton’s own sister, Cecily, was to have a weekly allowance of 3d. His widow received his property in Over and Nether Ousegate and Walmgate during her lifetime, with remainder to their daughter, Katherine. Should Katherine die without issue the properties were to be disposed of by his executors for the welfare of his soul. Barton’s single most striking bequest, however, was the substantial sum of £26 for the purchase of a set of vestments of white damask with embroidered orphreys for the church of St. Michael, where a priest was to sing masses for his soul for a year after his death. The remainder of his goods and chattels were to revert to his widow, whom he appointed as his executor alongside William Langton, the rector of St. Michael’s, Thomas Clarell and his former apprentice, Robert Hancock, each of whom was to receive 40s. for their troubles. Probate was granted on 7 Sept. 1461.13 York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, ff. 451v-452v; CP40/724, rot. 71d; York Bridgemasters’ Accts. 372, 397; J. Kermode, Med. Merchants, 76, 105.

Barton’s widow, Matilda, survived him by over 20 years. She made her will on 2 Nov. 1479, asking to be buried beside her husband, and made provision for masses to be sung for her and her family for a year after her decease. Money was assigned to each of the mendicant orders, the religious houses at Clementhorpe, Rosedale and Thicket, and the canons of St. Andrew the Apostle in the suburbs of York. As her executors, Matilda named her daughter, Katherine, and the latter’s husband, Alan Wilberfoss, as well as Master Edmund Mynskipp. Probate was granted on 4 Aug. 1483.14 York registry wills, prob. reg. 5, f. 84. Within a year of Barton’s death Robert Hancock had established himself as a grocer in his own right, and by 1468 he had gained possession of the Barton house in Petergate. When he came to make his own will in 1495, Hancok asked to be buried next to his former master: York Bridgemasters’ Accts. 432; Test. Ebor. iv (Surtees Soc. liii), 274.