BEDERENDEN, John

This MP’s family came from Kent where a relative, John de Betherynden (d.1393), held the manor of Sandhurst near Cranbrook. The elder John was a London chandler who, by virtue of his holdings in Kent, was also known as John Sandhurst. In 1413 and 1420 our MP acted as a trustee, with other drapers, of property which passed to the church of St. Magnus the Martyr following the deaths of Sandhurst’s four children. Other relatives of our MP included William and Roger Bederenden, and in the late 1420s all three were named in a petition submitted to Chancery as would-be feoffees of the manor of Forde in Kent.3 E. Hasted, Kent ed. Drake, vii. 160; Corp. London RO, hr 122/41, 141/94, 151/43, 154/51; Cal. Wills ct. Husting London ed. Sharpe, ii. 306-7; C1/8/30.

Although nothing is recorded of his apprenticeship or of the date of his freedom, Bederenden was active in London as a draper by 1410 when he and other freemen of that craft, of whom the most prominent was Walter Chertsey, acquired a tenement in Candlewick Street in the parish of St. Lawrence Pountney. The two men were subsequently involved in a number of transactions concerning property in that part of London, some of which was acquired on behalf of the Drapers’ Company itself and was later used as the location for the company’s hall.4 Johnson, i. 75n, 108-13, 348-51. As is often the case, however, it is difficult to distinguish those transactions in which Bederenden actually acquired property from those where he acted as a feoffee. What is certain, however, is that by the early 1420s both he and another associate, Walter Gawtron*, were residents of Candlewick Street, which was rapidly becoming an important centre for the drapery trade: in 1423-4 both men were listed as residents of that street when a levy was raised for the building of Drapers’ Hall in nearby St. Swithin’s Lane – Bederenden himself promised to pay the hefty sum of £5. In May 1424 he, Chertsey and Robert Tatersale leased a small parcel of land in St. Swithin’s parish to a fellow draper.5 Corp. London RO, hr 137/63, 142/61, 143/11, 14, 153/1, 154/15; Johnson, i. 292; Cal. P. and M. London, 1413-37, p. 171.

Despite his prominence within the Drapers’ Company relatively little is recorded of Bederenden’s business dealings. Unlike those of more prominent drapers such as John Gedney* and Gawtron, Bederenden’s name is notable by its absence from the London customs accounts of this period. On the other hand, there is clear evidence that he was involved in overseas trade: he was the owner a ship called Le Thomas which he seems to have used to import wine from Gascony. In the spring of 1417 the ship was arrested in Bordeaux at the suit of Edmund Arnold† of Dartmouth with whom Bederenden evidently had business dealings. On 8 May Arnold entered into a bond with Bederenden in £70 to free the ship from custody.6 Cal. P. and M. London, 1413-37, p. 61. He also appears to have had dealings with merchants in northern Europe, for in May 1431 he acted as a surety for certain German merchants who were complaining about the imposition of extra duty on goods imported and exported by aliens. Four years later, shortly before his election to Parliament, he was an arbiter between some of these merchants and a citizen of London.7 CPR, 1429-36, pp.146; Cal. P. and M. London, 1413-37, p. 281. In the meantime he had become a respected figure within the domestic cloth trade, for in November 1425 and again in February 1431 he was granted the subsidy and alnage of cloth for sale in the city and the suburbs of London. Both grants also appointed him as alnager, a post he held for nearly six years.8 CFR, xv. 113; xvi. 6-7, 72. In the meantime, in March 1427 he was chosen as one of the four wardens of the Drapers’ Company.9 Johnson, i. 315. Among his business associates at this time was a shearman, Robert Holand, who may have undertaken cloth-finishing work for him: in the early spring of 1431 the two men were granted the unexpired portion of a 30-year lease on tenements and a wharf in the parish of All Hallows the Great, along with brewing equipment, presumably left by a previous tenant. These premises could perhaps have functioned as both a warehouse and workshop where cloth was finished prior to being exported.10 Cal. P. and M. London, 1413-37, p. 252. Bederenden and Holand were also involved in transactions concerning property, both in London and Kent but also in Essex, where they had acted as feoffees of the manor of Messing for Richard Baynard* and his wife Grace in the early 1420s. His connexion with Baynard stemmed from the former Speaker’s third marriage to Joan, daughter and heir of John Betherynden alias Sandherst.11 CCR, 1419-22, pp. 223, 225; 1435-41, p.249; CPR, 1429-36, p. 368. Even in 1415 they had been associated as feoffees of the Sussex manor of West Dean for Sir Gerard Braybrooke†, who had originally acquired it as a feoffee of Joan de Bohun, countess of Hereford.12 E. Suss. RO, Dobell and Lane mss, SAS-M/1/402-4.

From the beginning Bederenden’s career in the city government centred upon finance. In September 1418 he was listed among those present at a committee which met to discuss financial questions. In December that year he was one of several men who were listed together in the city’s journals, probably after they had agreed to lend money to the King,13 Corp. London RO, jnl. 1, ff. 48, 52. and the following month he was among the creditors of the Kentish esquire John Pecche.14 C131/60/11. He was appointed as one of the city’s four auditors in September 1419, an office he held for just one year before being chosen as chamberlain. He held this post for 14 years before John Chichele was elected as his successor. Although most chamberlains served for several years, Bederenden’s unusually long term of office suggests that he was a respected and highly competent administrator. He attended meetings of the court of aldermen on several occasions and in May 1427 swore the oath of secrecy normally taken by aldermen, although he himself never attained that rank. That year, as on several previous occasions, he was among the citizens who attested the election of the City’s MPs. In January 1429 he and Nicholas James* were appointed as commissioners to levy subsidies granted to the King.15 Jnl. 2, ff. 16, 41, 47v, 88v-89, 93v. Much of his work, however, was routine, such as overseeing the numerous bonds which were entered into in the city chamber by citizens acting as sureties for the patrimonies of city orphans.16 Ibid. f. 136; Cal. Letter Bks. London, I, K, passim. Among the other matters demanding his attention was the appointment of chantry chaplains in the chapel at the Guildhall.17 Cal. Letter Bks. London, I, 259, 271; K, 67, 117. As chamberlain Bederenden would have been more aware than most of the state of the city’s coffers. It was doubtless he, or else his auditors, who, in January 1432, reported that there was not enough cash available to fund both the planned reception in London for Henry VI following his coronation in France, and the rebuilding of tenements belonging to the city near the Leadenhall. A poll tax was considered but rejected because of the hardship it would cause in a city impoverished, so it was claimed, by war. To alleviate the situation Bederenden undertook to advance the sums required out of his own purse; he was to be repaid out of the issues and profits of the common beam (where grocers’ wares were weighed and sold) as well as from property in two parishes. The precise amount involved was not specified. Bederenden was also exempted from service in any office in the city.18 Cal. Letter Bks. London, K, 129-30. In the event, however, he continued to serve as chamberlain until September 1434.

On 29 Aug. 1435, just under a year after his retirement as chamberlain, Bederenden was chosen as one of London’s four representatives at the Parliament summoned to meet at Westminster on 10 Oct.19 Ibid. 190-1; C219/14/5. His election was doubtless in recognition of his long experience and expertise on matters affecting the City, and its timing reflected the fact that, in this period, serving chamberlains were not normally chosen to attend Parliament. Given his long service in this office it is perhaps no surprise that this marked the end of his civic career. Little else is recorded of him in London, although he was still active there in April 1440 when he appeared as surety before the chamberlain for the guardianship of the children of a goldsmith, and he also continued to serve as one of John Gedney’s feoffees of the manor of Mockings in Tottenham.20 Cal. Letter Bks. London, K, 237; London Metropolitan Archs., Tottenham manorial deeds, ACC1068/021-22. At some point, probably late in his career, Bederenden acquired interests in Northamptonshire, for in Hilary term 1445 he sued (Sir) John Pygot* and Sir William Plumpton* for the manors of Northborough and Etton in that county. These manors were owned by Sir Thomas Rempston† and it is probable that the two men were his feoffees. It is likely, however, that Bederenden had already retired to Downe in Kent, where an inscription in the church recorded that he died on 23 Jan. 1445.21 CP40/736, rot. 111; Hasted, vii. 160.