BUKDEN, Richard

Bukden’s origins are obscure, but he purchased the freedom of the city of York in 1415.5 Freemen of York (Surtees Soc. xcvi), 124. Nothing is heard of him for several years thereafter, until in March 1426 he was appointed as one of the masters of the Fosse bridge, a position he held for the customary term of one year. This comparatively junior position provided a springboard for further office in the city and in May 1428 he was one of the jurors responsible for assessing the parliamentary subsidy.6 York Memoranda Bk. ii. 131; Feudal Aids, vi. 532. Increasingly, he also held senior posts. In February 1430 he was chosen as one of the chamberlains and it was in that capacity that he witnessed the parliamentary election on 1 Jan. the following year.7 C219/14/2. Five years later, in September 1435, he was elected to the shrievalty alongside John Thirsk*. They were soon kept busy. In November the two men were commissioned to purvey 100,000 goose feathers and arrest fletchers in the city amidst news of fresh English reversals in France and a feared Burgundian attack on Calais. The following month he and Thirsk were responsible for collecting the parliamentary subsidy in York. Perhaps as a result of these intense activities, Bukden’s association with Thirsk proved durable. They had evidently discharged their duties to satisfaction, and at the end of his shrieval year Bukden joined the city’s governing council of 24, and is first recorded attending a council meeting that December.

By December 1442 Bukden had been elevated to the ranks of the aldermen, but little evidence remains of his role in city government during these years, until in February 1444 he was elected as mayor of York. His mayoral year appears to have been a quiet one, but almost immediately following its close he was returned as one of the MPs for the forthcoming Parliament at Westminster. His companion on this occasion was his old colleague as sheriff, John Thirsk. The date of their departure is not known, but both men received wages for 30 days spent at Westminster in February and March 1445, returning to York on 20 Mar. (five days after the session’s close). Both men travelled again to Westminster for the second session, spending 44 days away from home from the beginning of April. For the third session they received wages for another 63 days each. The lack of chamberlains’ accounts for the accounting year from 2 Feb. 1446 makes it impossible to tell how much of the final session the two men spent at Westminster, but they were at least paid for ten days’ service before the old chamberlains retired. The assembly coincided with the city’s attempts to settle a long-running dispute with the abbey of St. Mary over the latter’s placement of fishgarths in the river Ouse, and Bukden and Thirsk played a vital role in York’s efforts to secure favourable judgements in the King’s courts in this matter, as well as over the parties’ respective rights to sell victuals in the city. Gifts were given to various lawyers and royal servants, including the King’s attorney John Vampage* and Thomas Urswyk II*, as well as the former treasurer of England, Lord Cromwell.8 York City Chamberlains’ Acct. Rolls, 34, 55. Following his return from Parliament Bukden continued to play a full role in the city’s affairs. For example, on 16 Jan. 1447 he was present in the council chamber to witness the parliamentary election, a duty he repeated on 13 Oct. 1449.9 C219/15/4, 6.

By contrast with the wealth of information known about his public career, few details of Bukden’s personal life have come to light. The paternity of his wife, Joan, is not known, nor is the date of their marriage, but it had taken place by 1442, when the couple were both admitted to the Mercers’ Company of York.10 York Mercers (Surtees Soc. cxxix), 53. Equally, the scale of Bukden’s trading activities is unclear. In 1430-1 he shipped 55½ unfinished cloths from Kingston-upon-Hull,11 E122/61/32. but gaps in the customs records prevent any further reconstruction of his mercantile interests. His connexions and social network are likewise, largely obscure, although it is known that in about 1436 he, along with John Catterick*, and the chaplain Thomas Skipwith, was appointed an executor of the York widow, Elizabeth Davy. On her death, they accordingly took possession of her estate, valued at over £100. Her son, Robert, was serving in France, and when a rumour reached York that he had been killed the executors apparently kept the remainder of Davy’s estate as their own. On his return from overseas in 1437, Robert, very much alive, began litigation in the court of Chancery to recover his inheritance from Bukden and the rest.12 C1/9/244; 11/234; 69/320.

Bukden made his will on 16 Apr. 1450. He asked to be buried in York’s Franciscan friary and made provision for his funeral and for prayers for his soul there. There were bequests to Bukden’s parish church of St. Sampson, and the other mendicant orders in York, as well as to the city’s hospitals, and alms were to be distributed among the poor folk of the city and the prisoners languishing in the gaols of the city and archbishop. Bukden’s widow was to receive his household goods, while his daughter, Joan, was left £10 for her marriage on condition that she submitted to the counsel of her mother in this matter. The remainder of his goods and chattels were to be disposed of by his widow to meet the costs of his funeral and the provisions for his soul. No property was mentioned; he had doubtless made other arrangements for this before his death. Bukden placed the execution of his wishes in the hands of his widow, but also asked his old colleague and fellow alderman, John Thirsk, to act as supervisor. Probate was granted on 1 June, but it is not known whether Thirsk agreed to Bukden’s final wish.13 York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, f. 209. Bukden’s daughter went on to marry John Marshall†, mayor of York in 1467-8 and 1480-1.14 Reg. Guild Corpus Christi, York (Surtees Soc. lvii), 76.