GODWIN, Henry

Godwin is one of the more obscure men to have represented Hythe in Henry VI’s Parliaments. He was already a jurat in March 1429, when he heard pleas in the bailiff’s court, and while so serving he was elected to his only known Parliament in the following September. He travelled to Westminster with the experienced parliamentarian, John Overhaven*, although no details of their time in the Commons are known. There is no evidence that Godwin served as a jurat in the three years after February 1431, although the records may be deficient, but he was certainly chosen among their number in February 1434. A frequent litigant in the bailiff’s court, he often used the alias Barbour and this may give a clue as to his occupation.2 He is not included in any of the extant accounts of maltolts, which would have revealed more about him. During the 1430s he was often called upon to arbitrate in local disputes. In July 1431 he acted as arbiter on behalf of the vicar of West Hythe in his quarrel with John atte Dawne* and Richard Rykedon*, and three years later he was employed in a similar capacity with Richard Rye* on the part of Overhaven and others. He was last recorded sitting as a jurat in the bailiff’s court in April 1437.3 Hythe ct. bk. H 1018, ff. 104v, 122, 131v, 144v.