BEMOND, Richard

Admitted to the franchise of Maldon in January 1428, Bemond did not have to pay an entry fine, from which local custom exempted him because he had married the daughter of a freeman from the borough.3 Ibid. f. 24v. Although obscure, he was a figure of some consequence, for he features in the list of Essex residents expected to swear the widely administered oath to keep the peace of 1434.4 CPR, 1429-36, p. 401. A few months after leaving the Commons, Bemond was the earl of Oxford’s co-plaintiff in the borough court. He and the earl claimed that John Russell owed them nearly £6, for the rent of a shop and of plots of land, but the suit does not reveal whether he was Oxford’s servant. Bemond took part in several conveyances of property at Maldon, although there is no evidence for his own holdings. Still alive at the beginning of 1440, when he acted as a feoffee for Robert Darcy I*, he was dead when his son and namesake made an appearance in the borough court in October 1447.5 Ct. roll 1436-8, D/B 3/3/23, m. 2d; D/B 3/3/27, m. 3; Essex Feet of Fines, iv. 15; Maldon bor. recs., deeds, D/B 3/11/16, 3/3/547 (2).