HANKFORD, Richard

Richard Hankford was born in about 1397 as heir to an important Devon gentry family. His grandfather, Sir William Hankford, had made his career in the law and eventually rose to the very top of his profession as chief justice of the King’s bench under Henry V. Sir William’s son, also called Richard, substantially increased both the family’s wealth and its social standing by his marriage to Thomasina Stapleton, heiress of the family of Walter Stapleton, one-time bishop of Exeter and treasurer to Edward II. It was probably through his grandfather’s influence that the younger Richard gained a scholarship to Winchester College in 1409, having been first admitted the previous year, and he later went on to study at Oxford. Although the elder Richard died in the chief justice’s lifetime and consequently never came into his paternal inheritance, his son was already of age, and thus succeeded immediately to the estates with which the chief justice had endowed his son, as well as those of his mother.6 CCR, 1419-22, p. 5; CFR, xiv. 285. The Stapleton inheritance included the manors of Norton and Nonnington in Somerset and Hewish and Broad Harford in Devon, as well as holdings in Exeter and Cornwall, lands which at Richard’s death were assessed at more than £70 p.a.7 The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 281; C139/51/54, mm. 15, 23. Yet, even by this date the Hankfords’ tenure of the Stapleton inheritance was by no means secure and Richard was forced to continue a suit against John Prideaux of Orcheton over the manor of Combe-in-Teignhead, which his father had begun in 1409. Although he employed the prominent lawyer John Wydeslade* as his attorney, it took until 1425 before he was able to conclude it successfully.8 Peds. Plea Rolls, 259-60, 322; Reg. Lacy ed. Hingeston-Randolph, i. 310; CP40/658, att. rot. 5d. These difficulties were to some degree compensated for by a royal grant of the keeping of the lands of Walter Cornu, which Richard’s father had held before him.9 The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 281; CFR, xiv. 50, 51, 280-1.

Hankford’s landed wealth combined with his family’s social standing allowed him to secure a marriage into a long-established family, the Fitzwaryns, who possessed semi-legendary status by virtue of the thirteenth-century Romance of Fouke le Fitz Waryn, a romanticised account of the career of an early outlaw-ancestor. At the time of the match, Elizabeth, daughter of Fulk Fitzwaryn of Whittington, had a living brother, another Fulk, roughly three years her junior. In September 1420, however, the sudden death of the younger Fulk at the age of only 14 left Elizabeth as sole heiress to her family’s extensive landholdings, including the ancestral seat of Whittington castle and other lands in Shropshire, the manors of Wantage in Berkshire and Tawstock, Uffculme and Little Torrington in Devon, and holdings in Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, an estate worth in excess of £350 p.a.10 CFR, xiv. 364; C139/51/54; CP, v. 504. The lands which passed to Hankford and his young wife were further augmented by the death of Elizabeth’s mother Anne just a month later in October 1420, ensuring that the couple could take seisin of almost the entire Fitzwaryn inheritance.11 CFR, xiv. 333. The only part temporarily alienated was that brought to the family by Elizabeth’s grandmother, another Elizabeth (d.1397), whose second husband, Sir Hugh Courtenay† of Haccombe, retained it until his own death. These estates included the Devon manors of Holne, Nymet Tracey, Marwood, Ilfracombe, Upex, Bere Charter and the manor, borough and hundred of Bampton, which Hankford and his wife were able to reunite with the remainder of their holdings in May 1425.12 CCR, 1389-92, p. 416; CFR, xv. 102.

In the first instance, however, Hankford did not settle down to the management of his new and vast estate. In mid 1421 he went to France on Henry V’s final expedition, in the King’s own retinue, and remained abroad until at least the summer of 1422.13 DKR, xliv. 633; CCR, 1419-22, pp. 247-8; E101/71/1/773. He had, it seems, returned by the late autumn of that year, when his possession of his wife’s lands was suddenly and violently challenged. On the night of Friday, 13 Nov. 1422, her kinsman, William Fitzwaryn, and an associate, Sir Richard Lacon* , himself a veteran of Henry V’s French campaigns, scaled the walls of Whittington castle at the head of a band of armed Welshmen and took it ‘as if in war’. Hankford and his wife petitioned the Parliament then in session at Westminster for redress, and the two assailants were threatened with attainder, unless they made amends. At the same time, Hankford also challenged them in the law courts.14 RP, iv. 192-3 (cf. PROME, x. 62); SC8/24/1181-2; CP40/648, rot. 320; The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 542.

Hankford recovered Whittington and may indeed have initially settled there with his wife, as he embarked on a career in local government in Shropshire, being added to the bench in that county the following July. Otherwise however, he remained devoted to his native south-west. In October 1423 he was returned to Parliament for Devon, where he had once before attested a parliamentary election.15 C219/12/5. In the course of the Parliament, and perhaps once again owing to his grandfather’s influence and reputation, he was appointed sheriff of Devon. As was common, the office led to some minor vexation after its expiry, such as charges of failing to hand over the prisoners in Exeter castle to his successor.16 CP40/658, rot. 91d. If Richard’s grandfather had indeed had a hand in his appointment to the shrievalty, this was the last time that he could perform such a service, as he was already dying. Sir William made his will on 10 Dec. 1423 and died shortly afterwards. Along with the chief justice’s extensive estates in Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire and Middlesex, of which he was granted seisin in June 1424, Richard was also left some of his moveable possessions, which included a set of 12 silver dishes, 12 salt-cellars (‘salsaria’), two silver chargers and two silver bottles, as well as Sir William’s best sword and complete suit of armour.17 CFR, xv. 50-51; CCR, 1422-9, pp. 108-9; Reg. Chichele (Canterbury and York Soc.), ii. 292-3.

Hankford’s wealth now saw him move among the most influential men in the kingdom. Thus, in May 1427 he was associated with the Protector, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, Thomas Montagu, earl of Salisbury, and William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, when as feoffees of the manor of Weycroft in Axminster they procured a royal charter to enable its owner, Sir Thomas Brooke*, to crenellate the manor-house and create a park.18 CChR, vi. 1; CPR, 1422-9, p. 400; The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 376-7. In 1428 he was among the witnesses to the settlement intended to put an end to the long-running quarrel between Sir John Dynham of Nutwell and the abbot of Hartland over the patronage of the abbey, who also included the young earl of Devon, Thomas Courtenay, his cousin Philip Courtenay* of Powderham and Robert Cary* of Cockington, who was related to Hankford by marriage.19 Reg. Lacy, iii (Canterbury and York Soc. lxii), 373; H. Kleineke, ‘Dinham Fam.’ (London Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1998), 193. Cary had married Hankford’s aunt Joan (The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 495). By then, however, Hankford’s wife, the Fitzwaryn heiress, had died, leaving him with the disturbing certainty that on his own death her valuable estates would be divided between their three daughters and be lost to the Hankfords. Perhaps in the hope of fathering a son, he soon married a second wife, and one of high standing: Anne Montagu was the sister of the earl of Salisbury, and her status was reflected in the generous jointure settled on her from the Hankford lands.20 C139/51/54. Hankford’s links with the earl were already close, and later in 1428 he travelled to France in Salisbury’s retinue. He was probably present at Orléans in August, when the earl was killed. Among his companions-in-arms on this campaign were (Sir) Theobald Gorges alias Russell* and James Gascoigne*, both of whom would subsequently act as his feoffees for the settlement of Anne’s jointure.21 DKR, xlviii. 258. Gorges had a longstanding connexion with Hankford, in whose wardship he had been placed in 1421 (CPR, 1416-22, pp. 375-6).

By this time, the old dispute over the Stapleton inheritance had erupted once more. On this occasion, it was the prominent west-country landowner Thomas Carminowe* of Ashwater who laid claim to the advowson of the church of Menheniot, part of Hankford’s maternal inheritance.22 Reg. Lacy ed. Hingeston-Randolph, i. 91; Peds. Plea Rolls, 338. In the summer of 1429, and perhaps as a tribute to his distinguished service in France, Hankford was knighted at St. Albans. Yet there is no sign that he undertook to participate in the coronation expedition of the following spring. Rather, he resumed his activity on royal commissions, notably on one to negotiate a loan to the King in Devon and Cornwall. He himself contributed £75 3s. 4d., and was rewarded with a relatively prompt assignment of repayment.23 CPR, 1429-36, p. 60. Yet, this was to be the last of his public activities. Less than nine months later, on 7 Feb. 1431, he died, at the age of about 35. His second wife never bore him the desired son, although a fourth daughter, named Anne after her mother, was born a few weeks before his death. The execution of Hankford’s will was entrusted to the two prominent lawyers John Copplestone* and John Mules*, who were to be engaged in litigation over his debts for some years to come.24 CP40/696, rot. 130; 700, rot. 132.

The substantial Fitzwaryn inheritance now passed to Hankford’s two surviving daughters from his first marriage, Thomasina and Elizabeth, while the old Hankford lands were split three ways between Thomasina and Elizabeth and their infant half-sister Anne. As all three were minors, the estates were taken into the King’s hands. Those in Shropshire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire and Gloucestershire were committed to John, Lord Tiptoft†, within a few months of Richard’s death, and the manor of Wantage in Berkshire was assigned to John Copplestone. Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, paid 2,000 marks for the marriages of the two Fitzwaryn heiresses, but by February 1432 it had been arranged that their wardship and marriages should be sold instead to Anne, countess of Stafford, and her sons Henry and Thomas Bourgchier.25 E404/47/317; CPR, 1429-36, p. 116. Elizabeth, the younger of the two, died a minor on 13 Oct. 1433, leaving her sister Thomasina as sole heiress to the valuable Fitzwaryn estates.26 C139/65/40; DKR, xxxvii. 346; CFR, xvi. 83-84, 141. She was eventually married to William Bourgchier, another of Countess Anne’s sons, and the couple were granted seisin of her pourparty on 15 Aug. 1437. Bourgchier was subsequently summoned to Parliament as Lord Fitzwaryn and became one of the most prominent figures in Devon in the 1450s and 1460s.27 C139/84/75; CP, v. 507-8. The marriage of the youngest Hankford daughter, Anne, was sold for £200 to Lewis John*, who had married her mother, Hankford’s widow, and was also given custody of her share of the old Hankford lands. Anne was eventually to marry Thomas Butler, earl of Ormond.28 CPR, 1429-36, p. 261; CFR, xvii. 68, 132; CAD, vi. C4104; Genealogist, n.s. xxii. 179-80; The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 494-7. After Lewis John’s death on 27 Oct. 1442 Hankford’s widow took as her third husband John Holand, duke of Exeter (d.1447). She survived Hankford by more than 26 years, dying in 1457.29 CP, v. 506-7.