COLYN, Robert

The Colyns of Helland were an ancient Cornish family who in the medieval period frequently provided parliamentary representatives for the county’s boroughs. However, Robert Colyn’s connexion with the family (if any) presents some difficulty, for even though he was mostly known by this name he was in fact a descendant of another old knightly family, the de Brunes of Deliaboll (in St. Ive). He is first recorded in 1406, when (aged nine) he attended the Cornish assizes at Launceston to challenge Stephen Bodulgate’s title to the lands which had formerly belonged to Sir William de Brune†. De Brune had died without legitimate issue, but before his death had attempted to settle some of his property on his bastard son William and his descendants. Whereas Sir William’s common law heirs were the descendants of his sisters, Robert Colyn claimed as son and heir of William the bastard. In view of the Bodulgates’ powerful connexions this challenge was doomed to failure, but Robert may nevertheless have continued to pursue it, for in 1425 his arrest was ordered in connexion with a fresh attempt to secure his inheritance.5 J. Maclean, Trigg Minor, iii. 123-4; JUST1/1519, rot. 86; E368/219, recorda Easter rot. 15d. Once again the Bodulgates won the day, and Colyn may have been forced to content himself with his maternal inheritance which comprised some 250 acres scattered across the county in the parishes of St. Erme (not far from Truro, a factor which may have recommended him to the burgesses for election to the Commons), Camelford, Blisland, Lansallos and St. Pinnock.6 Cornw. Feet of Fines, ii (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1950), 1040.

It may have been either his early experience of the land law or else his family connexion on his mother’s side with the prominent lawyer and later judge Nicholas Aysshton* which prompted Colyn himself to train in the law. Certainly, he was at one time practicing alongside Aysshton in the court of Chancery.7 C1/4/56. Yet, unlike his kinsman Colyn never rose to the forefront of his profession, even though in his professional dealings he was associated with prominent men of law like Thomas Cokayn*, John Jaybien†, John Cork* and Robert Clay*, and his clients included leading members of the south-western gentry, such as Sir William Bodrugan*, Sir John Arundell II* of Trerice, John Colshull*, Walter Reynell*, John Tretherf* and Thomas Herle*.8 Cornw. Feet of Fines, ii. 1002, 1038; CCR, 1435-41, p. 184; CP40/673, rot. 459; 680, rot. 139; 683, rots. 327, 543; 700, rot. 105; 701, rot. 124; 702, rot. 325d; 703, rots. 109, 124d; 706, rot. 461d; 710, rot. 493d; 711, rot. 439; 720, rots. 102d, 314; JUST1/1540, rot. 82; KB27/677, rots. 68d, 75; 679, rot. 25d; 714, rex rot. 20; C254/140/59, 141/16, 20-25; E13/141, rot. 44. It was probably on account of links forged in the context of his legal practice that Colyn came to join the clerical staff of the sheriffs of Cornwall, and ultimately was appointed to the under shrievalty. Interestingly, he was first employed in this office by Sir John Herle* in the autumn of 1433, presumably while he was still sitting in the Commons, but evidently carried out his duties to the sheriff’s satisfaction, for a few years later, in 1438, he was retained by John Colshull to serve a second term. These two appointments aside, Colyn’s public career remained limited, amounting – as far as the records enable us to tell – to no more than two royal commissions subsequent to his second under shrievalty.

If Robert used his father’s surname of Brune both in his quest for his paternal inheritance and in the settlement of his mother’s lands, he otherwise called himself Colyn, and was regularly associated with his putative kinsmen of that name. In 1427 he served as a proctor for Ralph Colyn, the rector of Lansallos, and it was in association with Ralph’s successor in the rectory, Thomas Robyn, and John Colyn† of Helland that in 1439 he was enfeoffed of the lands of Roger Penlen by the heirs, Margaret Baake and Alice Husbonde.9 CCR, 1441-7, p. 73; Reg. Lacy ed. Hingeston-Randolph, i. 92. Otherwise, his life seems to have been largely uneventful, although in the autumn of 1441 he complained of having been attacked, imprisoned and robbed by William Mohun of Tredinnick and Puslinch, perhaps while abroad on official business.10 CP40/723, rot. 508.

Nothing further is known for certain about Colyn’s life, although it is possible that he lived beyond the age of 60 and was the man who in 1462-3 served as reeve of the duchy of Cornwall’s manor of Climsland.11 SC6/822/1, m. 1d.