CHENEW, John

John’s putative father had served as a jurat of New Romney in the first decades of the fifteenth century and in 1412-13 was bailiff of the town.4 NR/FAc 2, ff. 109, 110v, 120v, 122, 124v, 126v, 128v; feet of fines, NR/JB 6, 7. Our MP was admitted to the liberty in 1438 and paid maltolts that year in Hamersnod ward. By 1448 he had moved to Holyngbroke ward, where most of the leading townsmen lived, and continued to reside there until his death.5 NR/FAc 2, ff. 128v, 129v, 131; NR/FAc 3, ff. 2, 7, 19, 24v, 26v, 29, 31v, 34v, 37v, 40v, 42v. The first mention of him in connexion with the government of the town was in December 1438 when, along with Richard Clitheroe, Godard Pulham*, Thomas Pope* and John Greenford*, he was ordered by the Brodhull to make suit to Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, warden of the Cinque Ports, for the ‘recontynuance and observaunce’ of the Ports’ liberties. This arose out of a fine imposed on certain Portsmen for refusing to sit on juries at the command of the royal justices of assize. It then involved Chenew making suit at the Exchequer regarding the fines on the instructions of the Brodhull in July the following year.6 White and Black Bks. 11, 12. Later in 1439, although he was not yet one of the town jurats, Chenew was elected to his first Parliament alongside the experienced parliamentarian James Lowys*. It is not known how long he sat in the Commons or whether he made the journey to Reading for Parliament’s second session which began on 14 Jan. 1440. He and Lowys received a single payment of £4 10s. from New Romney to cover both their wages and their travelling expenses.7 NR/FAc 2, f. 130v. It may have been while at Westminster that, with John Greenford, Chenew made a further suit at the Exchequer for the exemption of the Portsmen from the parliamentary subsidy. In April 1440 his importance in Romney and in the Ports in general was confirmed when he was chosen as one of the deputies to represent the town in the Brodhull, a duty he performed again three months later when he was chosen for the first of four times as one of the Cinque Ports’ bailiffs to Yarmouth.8 White and Black Bks. 13; assmt. bk. NR/FAc 2, f. 130v.

Chenew continued to be involved on business both for New Romney and for the Ports generally throughout the 1440s. In 1441 he went to discuss matters with Gloucester’s lieutenant at Dover castle, Sir Reynold Cobham, and was one of a delegation of Romney men who rode to Canterbury to have talks regarding the appointment of the town bailiff with the archbishop of Canterbury’s steward.9 NR/FAc 2, f. 131v. In 1442 he and Greenford were again engaged at the Exchequer on behalf of the Ports, but in July 1444 they were reminded to make suit again in the following Michaelmas term or else appear at the next Brodhull ‘to tell cause why that they labour not’.10 White and Black Bks. 15, 18. The following year, along with his fellow jurat Richard Ford, Chenew rode to Dover to intercede for some local men who had been wrongly arraigned in the admiralty court.11 NR/FAc 2, f. 143v. In fact, he continued to be heavily involved in both the town’s and Ports’ business until the end of his life. He represented Romney frequently in the Brodhull, attending 27 of the 41 meetings between April 1448 and January 1462. In April 1449, in consideration of the ‘dyverse controversyes ... yerely betwene the Bailifes of the sayd v. portes’ and Yarmouth, he was again appointed the Ports’ bailiff to the annual herring fair, with a special fee of 40s.12 White and Black Bks. 13, 14, 23-34, 36-43. It was probably in relation to this matter that some 18 months later the jurats of Rye made him a special payment of 3s. 4d. for going to see Humphrey Stafford, duke of Buckingham, the new warden of the Ports, for the ‘salvation’ of their liberties.13 Ibid. 26; E. Suss. RO, Rye mss, acct. bk. 60/2, f. 20v.

At the beginning of 1447 Chenew had been elected to his second Parliament, which assembled at Bury St. Edmunds on 10 Feb. No record of how long he sat in Parliament survives, but the following year he and his fellow MP (and father-in-law), Richard Clitheroe, were discharged of their outstanding parliamentary wages, as well as receiving a payment for obtaining a new charter of liberties. On this latter business Chenew spent 15 days at Westminster, for which he received 14s.14 NR/FAc 3, f. 4. On 25 Mar. 1449 he was chosen for the second time as one of the jurats of New Romney. His first election had been seven years previously and his surprising omission from the town’s governing body for this length of time can probably be explained by the frequency and nature of his commitments outside the town, although after his second election as a jurat the frequency with which he was employed on special business by the town and the Ports in general does not seem to have decreased. In October 1450 he and Clitheroe rode to Dover to be present at the recording of the parliamentary elections which saw Chenew himself returned again as an MP alongside Geoffrey Godelok*, a servant of Archbishop Stafford and former bailiff of Romney. In 1450-1 the Romney accounts recorded separate payments of 53s. 4d. and £3 4s. 8d. for Chenew’s parliamentary wages, while the following year he received £5 6s. 8d. in full discharge of the amount outstanding.15 Ibid. ff. 13, 16v.

In 1453 Chenew was elected for the third time as MP for Romney, this time with the lawyer Guy Ellis*. This time he received 42s. 6d. in parliamentary wages, less than half the amount claimed by his colleague.16 Ibid. ff. 18v, 21. Shortly before the Parliament’s second session, on 10 Apr. 1453, the Brodhull ordered Chenew and the other Cinque Ports’ MPs to ‘conceyve’ a bill regarding the continuing problems between the Ports and Yarmouth and deliver it to Buckingham.17 White and Black Bks. 31. The following year, during the Parliament’s final session held at Westminster between 14 Feb. and 18 Apr., Chenew and Thomas Bayen* of Rye were at the Exchequer claiming the allowances of the Ports’ advocants from parliamentary subsidies. Chenew received 1s. 8d. a day for this task on top of his parliamentary wages and in July they were ordered to continue their business at the Exchequer having already spent 32 days engaged there. In the following April the Brodhull authorized payment of £10 between them to cover their costs.18 Ibid. 31-34. Problems later arose over the Parliament of 1453-4 in the form of a wage dispute between Ellis and the jurats of Romney and in 1457-8 Chenew was among those townsmen who rode to consult the duke of Buckingham and his deputy, Richard Witherton, concerning the matter.19 NR/FAc 3, f. 33; KB27/783, rot. 70d.

In 1460 Chenew was elected to his final Parliament, which assembled at Westminster on 7 Oct. and attempted to settle Richard, duke of York’s claim to the throne. On this occasion he received wages of £3 14s., suggesting a parliamentary attendance of 74 days which would probably have involved being present on every day that the Parliament met. In contrast, his colleague, Robert Scras*, received wages for only 46 days.20 NR/FAc 3, ff. 42, 44. Earlier in the year Chenew and John Joseph† had been labouring for the ‘reformacion and renovacion’ of the Ports’ common charter, sending their deliberations to Thomas Bayen in Westminster, who was then charged to seek learned counsel.21 White and Black Bks. 42. It may be surmised that Chenew’s consultations with Bayen and counsel on this matter continued during the Parliament. Soon after the dissolution of Parliament, following the victory of Edward IV at Towton on Palm Sunday 1461, Chenew, along with Bayen and Thomas Thunder II*, was again at Westminster to obtain a confirmation of the Ports’ charters from the new King.22 Ibid. 43. The pinnacle of Chenew’s career was reached on 28 June that year when, alongside Robert Scras, he was one of those barons of the Cinque Ports who carried the canopy at the coronation of Edward IV. On this occasion the cloth used was returned to Romney and Dover.23 NR/FAc 3, f. 44; C.L. Scofield, Edw. IV, i. 183.

Few details survive of Chenew’s private affairs. Evidently, however, he was trained as a lawyer and his legal skills were called upon by his fellow Portsmen. Shortly before his death, he was one of a group of Portsmen with legal training who were appointed to arbitrate in the dispute between John Green IV* and William Kenet† over the auditing of the mayor of Sandwich’s accounts.24 White and Black Bks. 46. He was also called upon to act as feoffee and executor for local men.25 Canterbury consist. ct. wills, PRC 32/1, f. 70v. Chenew probably married twice. His first wife, Margaret Clitheroe, was still alive in February 1454 but probably died not long afterwards as Chenew’s widow was called Katherine. In 1474 Robert Scras made her a small bequest in his will. Chenew had represented New Romney in his last Brodhull in January 1462. He died soon afterwards, as he was not recorded paying maltolts later that year. Indeed, he was not among those whom the Brodhull ordered to further pursue the matter of the Ports’ charters in July.26 White and Black Bks. 47. The John Chenew who was assessed for payment of a scot in 1466 in Holyngbroke ward was almost certainly our MP’s son. That John went on to have a even more successful career than his father, serving as jurat and bailiff of New Romney and parliamentary baron on six occasions between 1467 and 1491.27 Romney assmt. bk. 1467-1492, NR/FAc 4, f. 3.