BERTRAM, John

It is a reasonable inference that John was a near kinsman of Robert Bertram, who represented Northampton in the Parliament of October 1383, and perhaps even his son. He first appears in the records in October 1414, when he was allegedly the victim of the theft of a horse, woollen thread and cloth to the value of £4 at Northampton.2 KB27/636, rot. 34d. Early in his career he made several personal appearances in the court of King’s bench as litigant and mainpernor. Between Easter terms 1418 and 1420 he personally pursued several minor actions there, and in Hilary 1422 he offered mainprise for the payment of a distraint by the prior of the Blackfriars in Northampton.3 KB27/628, rot. 9; 629, rot. 6d; 632, rots. 2, 49d; 643, rex rot. 1. He was active in the political life of his native town from May 1421, when he stood surety for the attendance of John Bernhill† as an MP, and he was soon after elected bailiff. Thereafter he routinely acted in this role of surety, doing so on three successive occasions between 1427 and 1431 and also in 1435.4 C219/12/5; 13/5; 14/1, 2, 5.

Bertram’s career conforms to a pattern familiar among the borough’s MP’s, namely a single return to Parliament and a single term as bailiff as a young man. His interests, however, appear to have been more extensive than those of other prominent townsmen. From early in his career he had landed interests outside Northampton: in 1418 he had a plea pending against a husbandman for leaving his service at Brixworth, a few miles to the north. He may also have had trading interests in the capital, for in 1424, describing himself as a mercer, he sued the executrix of a London armourer for a small debt.5 KB27/629, rot. 6d; CPR, 1429-36, p. 305; CP40/654, rot. 309. These outside concerns were further extended by marriage. By Trinity term 1436, and perhaps several years before, he was the husband of the executrix, and presumably widow, of Robert Mose. In that term they had an action of detinue of charters pending against the executors of Richard Stanes of Bloxham in north Oxfordshire. Mose may have originated from the same area: one John Mose was sworn to the peace in that county in 1434.6 CCR, 1441-7, p. 102; CP40/732, rot. 303d. On the other hand, another Robert Mose is described as a draper of Northampton in 1443, and that either Katherine or her late husband hailed from the town is consistent with a later action. In Hilary term 1444 our MP, now a widower, was sued for waste in 12 messuages and other property there, which he allegedly held by law of England of the inheritance of Joan, wife of Laurence Kay.7 CP40/691, rots. 294, 469; 692, rot. 31d; 706, rot. 375. This suggests that Katherine was a Northampton heiress, perhaps one who had married first into a minor gentry family of Oxfordshire. Unfortunately there is no other evidence to illuminate Bertram’s marital history, but it is clear that his marriage brought him property.

There is little other evidence about Bertram’s career. In 1434 he was distrained to answer the prominent Northamptonshire lawyer, William Alderwyncle*, for a debt of ten marks. Three years later he himself claimed £10 against a shipman of Sheringham on the Norfolk coast, and he clearly had business interests in that county, for it was there that a chapman of Banbury in Oxfordshire allegedly contracted a debt to him in twice that sum.8 CP40/691, rots. 294, 469; 692, rot. 31d; 706, rot. 375. On 5 July 1439 he headed the jurors who assembled at Northampton for the inquisition taken on the death of Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick. He is last recorded in Easter term 1444 when he appeared in person to sue a writ of close-breaking at Brackley, perhaps again in respect to property which had come to him through Katherine.9 CIPM, xxv. 271; CP40/733, rots. 368, 397.