COPLEDYKE, John

It is possible that this MP came from the important Lincolnshire family of Copledyke, which produced the shire knight Sir John Copledyke† (d.1408) and in the 1430s held land in that county worth at least 100 marks a year.8 EHR, xlix. 635. But there was also a family of this name associated in the late fourteenth century with Snargate in Kent, and a Thomas Copedoke† had represented Sandwich in Parliament in 1383, so it is perhaps there that his origins should be sought.9 Archaeologia Cantiana, xiii. 419. John is not recorded until after he entered the service of Henry, Lord Bourgchier, at some point before October 1441, when Bourgchier contracted with the Crown to be captain of the fortress of Le Crotoy across the Channel. The accounts presented to the Exchequer for the period up to April 1446, during which the sum of £3,250 was assigned for safe-guarding Le Crotoy, show that as Bourgchier’s lieutenant Copledyke received just under £1,516, which he used to pay the wages of the garrison and purchase supplies.10 E101/53/40; L.S. Woodger, ‘Hen. Bourgchier’ (Oxf. Univ. D.Phil. thesis, 1974), 27. He must take some responsibility for the reprehensible behaviour of the soldiers under his command in this period. In March 1443 Bourgchier was reprimanded by the King’s council after members of the garrison, seeking a substantial ransom, seized three wealthy merchants from Ipres on their way to Calais, in defiance of the truce then operating between England and Burgundy. He had been once already required to release them and was now threatened with severe royal displeasure if he failed to do so.11 PPC, v. 247. But the English were not the only ones committing such offences. In April 1445 Copledyke was empowered with William Pyrton, the lieutenant of Guînes, to treat with the representatives of the duchess of Burgundy touching the imprisonment of the captain of Rue and other English subjects contrary to the truce.12 Foedera ed. Rymer (Hague edn.), v (1), 141.

Supplies for the garrison of Le Crotoy were shipped out from England through Winchelsea, and naturally enough, Copledyke formed an association with the barons of that Port. He himself owned a ship, the Katherine of Winchelsea, which was used along with vessels belonging to Bourgchier to help convey the entourage of Henry VI’s new queen Margaret of Anjou across the Channel from France in the spring of 1445.13 Add. 23938, f. 19v. Copledyke’s role at Le Crotoy became more difficult later in the decade as the fragile peace with France began to break down, and the garrison’s soldiers became increasingly guilty of taking ‘apatis’. In March 1448 the French ambassadors claimed the sum of £115 on behalf of the duke of Burgundy as compensation for the garrison’s misdeeds since the beginning of the truce.14 E.M. Burney, ‘English Rule in Normandy 1435-50’ (Oxf. Univ. B.Litt. thesis, 1965), 85. Copledyke reported in an undated letter that he was unable to sail over from Winchelsea to the fortress because of a hostile blockade.15 SC1/44/26. Nevertheless, he remained lieutenant of Le Crotoy until the end; indeed it was he who formally surrendered command to the French. On 13 Dec. 1449 he obtained a pardon for having ‘concluded certain arrangements with the enemy without the royal sanction’.16 DKR, xlviii. 383.

Copledyke was returned by Winchelsea to the Parliament which met less than a year later, in November 1450, in the wake of Cade’s rebellion and the collapse of English rule in Normandy. He brought to the Commons first-hand experience of the state of affairs across the Channel, and perhaps also a predisposition to support the duke of York (Bourgchier’s brother-in-law) and other critics of the Lancastrian government. It seems likely that he complied with the statutory qualifications for election to Parliament as resident in Winchelsea, for in the following March he claimed exemption from paying parliamentary subsidies on his moveable goods at Guestling, as barons of the Port were entitled to do.17 E179/229/154. Yet it should be noted that he had not been listed among the barons before that date, and it was only after the Parliament had ended that he became properly involved in the affairs of Winchelsea. He attended the first of eight Brodhulls as the Port’s representative in May 1451, immediately after the dissolution of the Parliament and no doubt so that he might report to the assembled delegates what had been decided at Westminster.18 White and Black Bks. 27, 30-32, 37, 40, 41. That summer he was named as one of the Cinque Ports’ bailiffs at the Yarmouth herring fair, as chosen by Winchelsea and Rye. After the death of the ‘King’s esquire’ William Pope* he secured royal appointment as his successor in the bailiffship of Winchelsea, acquiring a grant of the post for life in the following May.19 CPR, 1446-52, p. 550. Copledyke’s status was given as ‘gentleman’ or more usually ‘esquire’ in this period. As ‘of Winchelsea, gentleman’ he stood surety at the Exchequer in April 1454 for Thomas Mynton, who was given the farm of property on the river near Colchester.20 CFR, xix. 83.

From that time on Copledyke regularly served on ad hoc royal commissions in Winchelsea and the Cinque Ports generally. The patronage of his former commander continued to play a part in his career. When Bourgchier was made treasurer of England following the Yorkist victory at St. Albans in 1455, he used his warrant to promote Copledyke as customer at Chichester and the other Sussex ports.21 CFR, xix. 106; C81/1621/61. The MP lost the post when Bourgchier was dismissed 18 months later, although recovered it subsequently. Meanwhile, in June 1457 he obtained a mandate to ship wool overseas on his own behalf.22 DKR, xlviii. 421. Copledyke continued to attend Brodhulls regularly, and at that of April 1457 he was named as the receiver of sums of 20 marks each from the western Ports for the costs in the suit brought against the authorities at Great Yarmouth for wrongs done to the bailiffs of the Ports at the most recent herring fair.23 White and Black Bks. 37; Rye mss, acct. bk. 60/2, f. 54v.

Nothing certain can be deduced about Copledyke’s political views from the royal pardon he obtained in June 1458,24 C67/42, m. 3. especially as there was no interruption to his service as royally-appointed bailiff of Winchelsea during the civil war years of 1459-61. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt of his commitment to the Yorkists, who numbered Bourgchier among their most prominent supporters. On 6 Mar. 1461, just two days after Edward IV was declared King, he and three fellow commanders of a fleet assembled to sail to the north of England, were instructed to make proclamation of Edward’s accession, charge all men to take him for their sovereign lord and offer rewards for the deaths of named traitors. Essentially composed of ships from the Cinque Ports, this fleet was to shadow Edward’s army, victual it and prevent Queen Margaret escaping to France. Copledyke, the bailiff of Winchelsea and former lieutenant of Le Crotoy, was its natural admiral. His post as bailiff was confirmed to him on 10 July.25 CCR, 1461-8, pp. 55-56; CPR, 1461-7, p. 95. That he remained linked to Bourgchier, now created earl of Essex, is clear, for in November he delivered money from the Exchequer to the earl for his fee as treasurer of England once more.26 E403/824, m. 4.

It was also in the first year of the new reign that Copludyke moved from Winchelsea to Sandwich. He last represented the former Port at a Brodhull in April 1460, and from January 1462 appeared there instead as a delegate from the latter. This was the meeting of the Brodhull held during the recess of Edward IV’s first Parliament, in which Copledyke sat in the Commons for his new home town. He went on to represent Sandwich in nine more Brodhulls.27 White and Black Bks. 41, 44, 47-49, 51, 52, 54, 55. His change of residence had been prompted by his second marriage, to the widow of Richard Cock, the former mayor and parliamentary baron for Sandwich. Together with his new wife he obtained a pardon on 13 May 1462, which referred to her executorship of Cock’s will.28 C67/45, m. 30. At the Brodhull of 27 July following it was agreed that Copuldyke, Thomas Thunder II* and Thomas Bayen* (the clerk of the Commons who was regularly engaged as legal counsel by the Cinque Ports) should ‘labour’ to the King for confirmation of the charters of the Ports; although if a Parliament were to be summoned before Christmas Bayen and the elected barons should act in this regard, and Copyldyke and Thunder should do so only if they were chosen as MPs. In fact, no Parliament met until April 1463, and Copyldyke was not one of those elected on that occasion. Nevertheless, he did serve as mayor of Sandwich for two terms, and on occasion as deputy mayor thereafter. In addition, he continued to be active on the Ports’ business, taking responsibility for paying the fees of attorneys in the Exchequer, and delivering instructions to John Greenford*, the steward of Dover castle, to examine the new charter. He was among those who were to petition the warden to obtain the King’s confirmation.29 White and Black Bks. 47, 49, 51.

In November 1464 the royal grant of the bailiffship of Winchelsea was extended to Copledyke’s son John, the two of them holding it henceforth in survivorship. They were exempted from the Act of Resumption passed in the Parliament which ended in March 1465.30 CPR, 1461-7, p. 358; PROME, xiii. 165-6. Our John was among the barons of the Ports privileged to attend the coronation of Elizabeth Wydeville two months later, their ceremonial duty being to carry the canopy over the new queen.31 Coronation Elizabeth Wydeville ed. G. Smith, 66. He received further exemption from Acts of Resumption in the Parliament of 1467-8.32 PROME, xii. 280. In the 1460s Copledyke became closely involved in the financial affairs of Sir John Scott†, the lieutenant of Dover under the constableship of the earl of Warwick. Scott’s accounts for 1463 show our MP making payments on the lieutenant’s behalf in London and elsewhere, and receiving sums of money on his behalf.33 Archaeologia Cantiana, x. 251-4. Scott appears to have retained a kinsman of his, Thomas Copledyke, whom he equipped with brigandines.

Copuldyke last attended a Brodhull in July 1466.34 White and Black Bks. 55. He died before 20 Aug. 1472, by which date his widow had married Thomas Hextall* of Dover.35 C67/49, m. 20. She made an appearance in the Exchequer the following Easter term to hand over arrears from his receipts as former bailiff of Winchelsea.36 E405/56, rot. 1d. A later reference to letters patent of 18 June 1468, which were not enrolled, may lead to the conclusion that our MP died in that year, for they apparently referred to his son John as sole bailiff of Winchelsea.37 CPR, 1467-77, p. 570.