BRIGHAM, John

Brigham’s parentage has not been established beyond reasonable doubt, but it is highly likely that he was a son or other close kinsman of William Brigham, who had served Edward Courtenay, earl of Devon, as his receiver-general in the late 1370s and early 1380s.3 Cherry, 33, 61, 376. Like him, John also entered the Courtenay household, and in the late 1450s held a position in Earl Thomas’s estate administration.4 Add. Ch. 64717, m. 3. It is probable that it was this connexion which allowed for his return to the second Parliament of 1449 for the borough of Plymouth, for he is not otherwise known to have had links with the town. The Parliaments of 1449 saw a number of Earl Thomas’s retainers elected by south-western constituencies, and it seems likely that Brigham was yet another who owed his seat in the Commons to Courtenay patronage.

There is nothing to suggest that John stood out among the Courtenay men in the Commons at that time, and on his return he apparently resumed his duties in the comital household at Tiverton. As one of the earl’s trusted retainers he may well have been among the army of tenants and followers whom Courtenay assembled in the autumn of 1451 to meet his old adversary, William, Lord Bonville*, in a campaign which culminated in the siege of Taunton by the earl’s troops, but was cut short by the duke of York’s intervention.5 R.L. Storey, End of House of Lancaster, 89-91. Equally, it is probable that Brigham took up arms in his master’s cause when Earl Thomas led an army to the south-east to join York in open rebellion the next year. The rising collapsed with the arrest of the two magnates at Dartford and a number of the earl’s prominent supporters were indicted in King’s bench. Early in July 1452, however, Brigham, like many of his associates, secured a royal pardon for his activities over the previous year, having found sufficient surety for his future good behaviour.6 C67/40, m. 25; KB9/105/2/129. Yet, three years later, in the autumn of 1455, he was once more implicated in his master’s lawless activities and found himself indicted for complicity in the murder of Nicholas Radford*. Earlier that year, he had been appointed to his only recorded Crown office, when he was made searcher of ships at Exeter and Dartmouth, yet he was to hold this office for little more than two months, being dismissed in mid June, perhaps as a result of the continued bickering between the earl and Lord Bonville.7 Storey, 166. He was placed in the Marshalsea in Southwark, but within a short time had escaped along with a group of 13 other prisoners.8 KB29/86, rot. 36. He was clearly once again at liberty, and active in the city of London, when in July 1457 he sealed a bond to the lawyer Richard Horton* in the sum of £4 8s., repayable in the autumn of 1461.9 CP40/818, rot. 403.

When Earl Thomas died unexpectedly in 1458, Brigham probably transferred his allegiance to the new earl, Thomas Courtenay the younger. No evidence of his position in this earl’s household has been found, but after Courtenay’s capture and execution after the battle of Towton, Brigham rose to prominence under his brother Henry, to whom King Edward returned some of the Courtenay family estates. He was to serve as Henry’s receiver at least to the mid 1460s, and probably right up to Henry’s execution in January 1469. In return for his good services, Courtenay granted him a not insubstantial holding of some 300 acres in Stedcombe in Axmouth. Although Courtenay had been found guilty and executed for treason, there may have been sufficient doubt over his guilt to prevent the King’s wrath from extending to the dead man’s servants. Thus, Brigham was allowed to retain his land, and only the reversion thereof was granted away in January 1470 to pay some of the King’s debts.10 CPR, 1467-77, p. 187. The bulk of the Courtenay estates, however, had been granted to Humphrey Stafford IV*, Lord Stafford of Southwick, who was created earl of Devon, and the Courtenay household dispersed. Nothing is known of Brigham’s movements during the political crisis that followed. It is possible that he joined his old master’s last surviving brother, John Courtenay, titular earl of Devon during the Readeption, but there is no definite evidence to this effect, beyond the pardon that he procured from the restored Edward IV in January 1472. The list of his addresses (Tiverton, Musbury, Colump John in Devon and Breamore in Hampshire) given in this document speaks vividly of the vicissitudes suffered by the servants of the troubled Courtenay family in the middle decades of the fifteenth century.11 C67/48, m. 9. After Tewkesbury, Brigham seems to have returned to central Devon, and spent his final years in the region of Exeter, where he occasionally served on local juries. It was in this capacity that he is last recorded in November 1473.12 C140/41/23, 44/31.