BUKESY, Peter

Despite his status as one of the leading citizens of York with a career in civic government that spanned three decades, Bukesy is one of the more obscure men to have represented the city in Henry VI’s Parliaments. A mercer, he was admitted to the freedom of the city in 1391-2.3 Freemen of York, 91. By this time he was already well established in trade and he had exported unfinished cloth from Kingston-upon-Hull in 1388-9 and again three years later.4 E122/59/14, 23. It was not, however, until February 1408, when he was chosen as one of the chamberlains, that he began to take an active role in civic affairs. Three and a half years later, on 21 Sept. 1411, he was chosen as one of the sheriffs, and in 1414 his local standing found confirmation in his admission to the prestigious guild of Corpus Christi.5 Reg. Guild Corpus Christi, York (Surtees Soc. lvii), 17. He was almost certainly married by this time, although, unusually, his wife appears not to have been admitted to the guild alongside him. By 21 Sept. 1416 Bukesy had joined the ranks of the city’s council of 24, and in this capacity continued to play an active role in the day-to-day administration of York for the remainder of the decade.6 York Memoranda Bk. ii. 55.

It is unclear when Bukesy joined the aldermanic bench, but it is likely that he had done so by October 1422. From 1413, he was regularly among the citizens who attested York’s parliamentary election returns, but he himself had to wait until the autumn of 1423 before being elected alongside John Northby* to the second Parliament of Henry VI’s reign.7 C219/13/1, 2. In February 1426 Bukesy reached the pinnacle of his civic career, when he was elected mayor. His mayoralty was notable for a debate in the council chamber in June when the Franciscan friar, William Melton, appeared before the mayor, aldermen and councillors and argued successfully that the annual Corpus Christi play and procession should take place on successive days rather than on the same day. It was decided by Bukesy and his fellows that in future the play should take place on the Wednesday before the feast of Corpus Christi, rather than on the feast day itself, ‘so that all the people then in the city could devote time to Matins, Mass, Vespers, and the other hourly services of the festival, and be recipients of the indulgences graciously granted in that regard by Pope Urban IV’.8 York Memoranda Bk. ii. 156-9.

Little evidence survives of Bukesy’s private affairs. Lacunae among the Hull customs accounts mean it is impossible to trace his involvement in trade in the early years of the fifteenth century. It is possible, however, that he continued to ship goods overseas: in March 1424 he made a grant of goods and chattels and debts both at home and abroad to his son, John, and another York merchant, John Esingwold, perhaps as a precursor to a voyage overseas.9 York Memoranda Bk. iii (Surtees Soc. clxxxvi), 53. Bukesy married one of the daughters of another York merchant, John Eston, and by her had at least two sons. He maintained cordial relations with his wife’s family and seems to have acted as one of the feoffees of his father-in-law’s property in 1411, when he granted a messuage in St. Saviourgate to Eston’s widow, Emma. Nothing is known of Bukesy’s own property, although in 1415 he was involved in a dispute with a neighbour concerning the repair and maintenance of a gutter running between their houses.10 Yorks. Deeds, i. (Yorks. Arch. Soc. Rec. Ser. xxxix), 187; iv. (ibid. lxv), 160.

Bukesy’s elder son, William, became free by patrimony in 1420, while his second son, John, followed ten years later.11 Freemen of York, 129, 148. It was to John that the administration of his father’s estate was granted when Bukesy himself died in 1429.12 Borthwick Inst., Univ. of York, York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, f. 612.