HERT, John

Hert was descended from a family with landholdings in Tregony, Penryn, Helston and elsewhere in Cornwall.3 CFR, xvi. 85; PCC 17 Rous (PROB11/1, f. 128). Several early fifteenth-century members of the family found careers in the south-east: while John’s brother William established himself as a London mercer, he himself entered the service of John Iwardby, clerk of the receipt of the Exchequer. It is not certain at what date he took up this appointment, and it may have been he who at the parliamentary elections held in Cornwall in 1423 found surety for John Cory* (then chosen MP for Launceston). He performed a similar service for Sir William Bodrugan*, one of the knights of the shire, at the time of his own return for Lostwithiel in 1429.4 CCR, 1435-41, p. 451; C219/13/2, 14/1. It is even possible that he maintained links with his native county throughout his life, for in October 1440 a man of this name headed the witnesses to a land settlement made at Bodmin, but there is no definite evidence to identify this individual with the MP, as there appear to have been at least two namesakes active in the county in this period.5 At least two different John Herts (variously distinguished as ‘senior’ and ‘junior’) served as reeves of the duchy of Cornw. manor of Penmayne in 1425-6, 1432-4, 1438-9, 1440-1, 1447-8, 1450-2 and 1460-1: SC6/815/1, m. 1; 816/6, m. 1; 820/12, rot. 8; 821/3, rot. 6; 821/7, rot. 6; Cornw. RO, Arundell mss, AR2/719, rot. 6.

It is possible that Hert’s move to Westminster occurred early in 1431, at the time of his second Parliament, when he was party to a settlement of some of the family property in Treluswell (in St. Gluvias) on John Geffrey and his heirs,6 Cornw. Feet of Fines, ii (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc., 1950), 990. and he was certainly established in the Exchequer by that March. Some of his official duties were clerical: along with other exchequer clerks he received regular rewards for writing the memoranda rolls and recording payments of wages of war, ambassadors and similar expenditure, and where required produced extracts from the records.7 E403/712, m. 11; 729, m. 15; 741, m. 12; 745, m. 12; 747, m. 15; 749, mm. 7, 9. At other times, Hert took personal charge of the payment of the wages of war. In July 1432 he accompanied Roger Wynter, one of the tellers of the receipt, to Winchelsea to pay Sir William Peyto‡ £548 19s. 4d. for the wages of his retinue, and subsequently crossed the Channel to Dieppe to take £2,500 to the duke of Bedford for the payment of his soldiers.8 E403/703, mm. 14, 16. In 1430, 1438 and 1439 he played his part in the conscription of vessels on the eastern and south-eastern coast to provide shipping for successive expeditions to France, paying wages to the impressed masters and mariners, and taking the musters of the military retinues before they set out.9 E403/729, m. 15; 734, m. 23. As the financial problems of Henry VI’s government increased, Hert’s workload grew. On many occasions powerful creditors like John Hotoft* and Sir John Popham*, treasurers of the Household, John Norris*, keeper of the great wardrobe, John Arderne, clerk of the works, the earls of Northumberland and Shrewsbury, and Richard, duke of York, entrusted him with the receipt of fresh assignments for their bad tallies,10 E403/739, m. 10; 743, m. 16; 755, m. 4; 757, m. 5; 759, m. 12, 15; 769, mm. 2, 6, 11, 12; 771, mm. 3, 5, 6; 773, mm. 11, 14. while the Exchequer’s increasingly frantic endeavours to bring some form of order into the chaotic system of assignments and reassignments are illustrated by the rewards that Hert and his fellows drew for their ‘great labours’ and almost permanent attendance at Westminster during the vacations throughout the 1440s.11 E403/747, m. 17; 757, m. 11; 765, mm. 11, 12; 767, m. 14; 769, m. 9; 775, m. 4.

On occasion, Hert stood surety for individuals suing out grants of the custody of estates that had escheated to the Crown during the minority of an heir, most notably for his own master Iwardby.12 CFR, xvi. 85, 205, 344; xvii. 44, 71, 113. The clerk of the receipt rewarded Hert’s services by surrendering to him in 1439 a seven-year term of the custody of the Buckinghamshire manor of Weston Turville, formerly part of the lands of Queen Joan, which he had himself acquired two years earlier.13 CFR, xvii. 82; E159/224, brevia Trin. rots. 13-14.

In 1447-8 Hert was admitted to the freedom of the Mercers’ Company of London,14 Med. Acct. Bks. of the Mercers ed. Jefferson, 643. but he did not live to enjoy the benefits that this status brought him for long, for he died, probably suddenly, before 9 Dec. 1449. He left no will, and the administration of his goods was entrusted to his brother, William, who survived him for less than a year. As a consequence, the final settlement of John Hert’s affairs was placed in the hands of John Colbrede, a London haberdasher, on 1 Nov. 1450.15 PCC 13, 17 Rous.