BRASIER, Richard

Brasier’s early appearances in the records cast doubt upon his suitability as a candidate for Parliament. On 30 Mar. 1402, together with his brother John and a chapman named John Affeton, who like the Brasiers lived in Lewes, he obtained a royal pardon for all felonies, trespasses and misprisions they had committed, except for murder, common larceny and rape. Why they had felt it necessary to sue for pardons is not explained. Later on in Henry IV’s reign, this time with the alias of Gylys, Richard was a defendant in the court of common pleas in suits for debts totalling £4 6s.8d. brought by a London pewterer and another man, but after repeatedly failing to appear to make answer he was outlawed. It was not until November 1417 that he was granted a pardon of outlawry.1 CPR, 1401-5, p. 56; 1416-22, p. 97.

In later life Brasier adopted roles more in keeping with a leading townsman. He served as a juror in his home town in 1428, giving evidence to the assessors of the tax levied on parishes;2 Feudal Aids, v. 163. and his fellow burgesses elected him to Parliament as one of their representatives three years later. Brasier’s occupation and the extent of his property-holdings remain unknown, although a rental of 1457-8 referred to a tenement in Lewes which had once been held by him.3 Arundel Castle mss, A1871.