GRENEFELD, John II

This MP was very likely a close relation of John Grenefeld I* and the latter’s son, the John Grenefeld, ‘gentleman’ and member of Clifford’s Inn, who lived at South Wells in Romsey to the south-west of Winchester and died in 1448. Described as John Grenefeld ‘of the King’s Household’, he was named as the lawyer’s executor and together with one of his fellow executors he was left the manor of Roke in Romsey for 14 years, under instructions to dispose of the profits for the testator’s soul. In addition, the executors were made more personal bequests of silver bowls and precious stones, which, however, would not come into their possession until the death of the testator’s mother, Felicity.4 PCC 35 Luffenham (PROB11/3, ff. 279v-80). For some time previously our MP had evidently been resident at the royal court, and is known to have worn Henry VI’s livery for at least 11 years from 1441 or before.5 E101/409/9, 11, 16; 410/1, 3, 6, 9. The whereabouts of his home in Hampshire at this stage in his career is uncertain, although later on his offices linked him to the city of Winchester, as did royal grants. On 28 Jan. 1445, as ‘King’s serjeant and one of the clerks of the counting house’ he was granted the reversion of the constableship of Winchester castle, to fall in after the death of John Yerde, esquire; and in June 1446 he received for life the post of joint ranger of the nearby forest of Bere. This latter position he probably owed directly to the steward of the Household, William de la Pole, marquess of Suffolk, to whom the forest had been granted.6 CPR, 1441-6, pp. 323, 436; 1446-52, p. 544. Even so, despite the connexion of the household man with Winchester and the coincidence of the dating of these grants, it is much more likely that John Grenefeld I represented the city in the Parliament of 1445-6 than he, for during this period the citizens invariably elected residents who had taken some part in civic administration, and in this respect John II was deficient.

Precisely when Grenefeld of the Household actually took over from Yerde as constable of the castle is unclear, especially as in February 1451 the King’s harbinger, Thomas Yerde, replaced his kinsman in the office. However, depite this appointment it would appear that Grenefeld was the person who performed the duties of constable. On 13 Aug. following he was assigned £80 from the fee farm of Winchester to make essential repairs to the castle to avoid its imminent collapse (‘as it evidently appereth to every mannes ee of discrecion’). Furthermore, he was held responsible for the escape from the castle of William Dalby of Warwickshire, a ‘gentleman’ who had been attainted for treason. At his own expense Grenefeld effected Dalby’s recapture and committment to the Tower, and on 5 Jan. 1452 he was pardoned for his earlier negligence. Seven days later he was formally granted the constableship for life, the sheriff of Hampshire being instructed to pay his wages with effect from the previous 21 Feb. (the date of Thomas Yerde’s appointment).7 E404/67/240; CPR, 1446-52, pp. 416, 509, 513-14.

From then on Grenefeld most likely dwelled in the city, probably in the castle itself. In May 1452 he and Thomas Fowler received a grant in survivorship of their post in Bere forest, with wages backdated to the Act of Resumption passed in the Parliament of 1449-50, when the forest had been resumed to the Crown. Later that same year, in September, after the death in office of Thomas Haydock*, the steward of the royal lordship of Odiham, Grenefeld was granted the stewardship, again for life.8 CPR, 1446-52, p. 544; 1452-61, p. 15; CCR, 1447-54, pp. 294-5. He surrendered for cancellation letters patent of 1 July whereby he had taken on the keeping of the lordship for 20 years paying a farm at the Exchequer of £51 p.a.9 CFR, xix. 13-14.

How Grenefeld came to be elected MP for Melcombe Regis in 1455 remains unclear, but no doubt his position as a royal official had much to do with it. During the third parliamentary session, on 14 Feb. 1456, he took out a royal pardon, as ‘of Winchester, gentleman’, so there can be little doubt that he was an outsider to the borough he was representing, and had disregarded the statutes regarding residence.10 C67/41, m. 7. In this pardon, as in a later one, he was given the alias Coke. Despite his patent conferring life tenure, he lost the constableship of Winchester castle to John Roger II* that autumn. The two men had sat together in the Commons, albeit for different constituencies, but clearly Roger could tap into patronage at Court now denied to Grenefeld. However, the latter returned to favour two years later, then receiving a reversionary interest in the office of warden of the change and mint in the Tower of London, occupied by Thomas Montgomery†.11 CPR, 1452-61, pp. 330, 469, 481. Grenefeld remained a member of Henry VI’s household at least until the end of 1459, and when the constableship of Winchester castle came back into the King’s gift following the Acts of the Parliament at Coventry, he, now called ‘esquire’, was granted it once more and again for life, while John Roger and his family reaped the consequences of supporting the Yorkists.12 CCR, 1454-61, p. 434; CPR, 1452-61, p. 570. What became of Grenefeld after the Yorkist victories of the following summer and the turning of the political tables is not recorded, although it is very likely that he was removed from his royal offices well before Edward IV’s accession, even though a new appointment to the constableship was not formally made until July 1461. Grenefeld was pardoned by the new King on 28 Feb. 1462, as a ‘gentleman of London and Winchester’.13 C67/45, m. 34. For a few years he found employment at St. Swithun’s priory (where, interestingly, John Grenefeld I had once been an administrator), but is not mentioned after 1471.14 He should not be confused with the Yorkshire lawyer of the Inner Temple who took the coif in 1463 and died in 1467: KB9/28873; Order of Serjts. at Law (Selden Soc. supp. ser. v), 515.