DAUNTE, John

The Dauntes were a minor gentry family from southern Gloucestershire, who held property in Wotton-under-Edge and elsewhere in the county as tenants of Thomas, Lord Berkeley, and his heirs. No indication of the family’s income in the mid fifteenth century has been discovered, but at the time of the deaths of a later John Daunte (probably the MP’s grandson) and his wife, Margery, in 1521 the lands that descended to their son and heir Christopher were thought to be worth some £15 p.a.7 E150/356/2, 4.

The John Daunte who represented Wootton Bassett trained in the law, and at some point before the mid 1440s gained admission to Barnard’s Inn in London,8 It is not clear whether he may also be identified with the notary who was admitted to the London Scriveners’ Co. in 1440: Scriveners’ Co. Common Paper (London Rec. Soc. iv), 66. although his career was to take a different course when he entered royal service. The family’s pedigree is confused, but on chronological grounds it seems that it was he (rather than his synonymous son) who married Anne, widow of John Clivedon of Zeals Clivedon in Wiltshire, and heiress to the Weedons of Weedon (in Hardwick), in Buckinghamshire.9 According to J. Daunt, ‘Daunt Fam.’, Glos. N. and Q. ii. 287 it was he who married Anne, the da. of Robert Stawell (c.1423-?1506) of Cothelstone, Som. As her father was an almost exact contemporary of the MP, it seems more likely that it was his son who contracted this match (CIPM, xxv. 184; CIPM Hen. VII, iii. 256). It was certainly as ‘of Zeals Clivedon, gentleman’ that in 1455 he was accused by Sir Edmund Hungerford* of attacking his servants at nearby Mere.10 CP40/779, rot. 373.

The course of Daunte’s life was to be determined by his family’s tenurial connexions, rather than his professional qualifications. In the aftermath of the death of Lord Thomas an acrimonious quarrel had broken out between the baron’s heir male, James, Lord Berkeley, and his heirs general, the three daughters of his sole surviving daughter Elizabeth, wife of Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick. Possession of the manor of Wotton, from which the Dauntes held their property, was disputed between the younger Berkeleys on the one hand, and the Talbot family, Lords Talbot, earls of Shrewsbury, and Viscounts Lisle on the other. By the early 1450s, it seems the Dauntes had thrown in their lot with the Talbots: in October 1451 John and his brother Nicholas were among the Talbot partisans to whom the Berkeleys formally released all personal actions.11 KB27/763, rot. 41d.

By this date, John Daunte had attracted more significant preferment, and was serving in Henry VI’s household as a groom of the Chamber.12 CPR, 1446-52, p. 463. The exact date of his entry into royal service is uncertain, but it is likely that it predated his return to the Commons for Wootton Bassett in 1449. The Wiltshire borough frequently returned Household men, and provided the sheriff of that year, the courtier John Norris*, with ready patronage. Among the issues that exercised the Commons were the costs of the King’s entourage, and the monarch’s inability to pay even those serving in close proximity to his person may have been an issue near to Daunte’s heart, for he was among those whose wages repeatedly fell into arrears.13 E159/229, brevia Trin. rot. 4d; 230, brevia Mich. rots. 1d, 8. Perhaps in recompense for his outstanding wages, in June 1451 he was appointed parker of the royal park at Mere in the immediate vicinity of Zeals Clivedon, and in the autumn of 1452 he became one of the yeomen of the Crown.14 CPR, 1452-61, p. 78; 1452-61, p. 107. It appears that Daunte continued in these posts in spite of successive Acts of Resumption, and he may indeed have held them even after the reorganization of the Household by the duke of York’s administration formed in the aftermath of the battle of Northampton in 1460.

After Edward IV’s proclamation as King in March 1461, however, Lancastrian appointees throughout the realm were replaced by the new King’s men, and Daunte was probably no exception. In the light of his former service about Henry VI’s person, it is not surprising that he should have formed part of a circle of Lancastrian loyalists based on the Wiltshire border with Somerset and Dorset, for in January 1462 a high-powered commission headed by John Stourton II*, Lord Stourton, his heir (Sir) William Stourton*, John Audley*, Lord Audley, and Humphrey Stafford IV*, Lord Stafford of Southwick, was appointed to arrest Daunte along with the vicar of Mere and one of his kinsmen, and several associates on charges of plotting against the new rulers.15 CPR, 1461-7, p. 101. If the commission took active steps against the former MP, he seems to have made his peace with Edward IV before long. Certainly, both he and his brother maintained their old connexions with the Talbots. In 1470, when Thomas Talbot, Viscount Lisle, renewed his family’s quarrel with the Berkeleys, the Dauntes were part of Lisle’s contingent at the ill-fated engagement at Nibley Green. While Lisle was killed by an arrow, Daunte distinguished himself in the fighting by cutting down Lord Berkeley’s man John Lewis.16 P. Fleming and M. Wood, Nibley Green, 78, 82-83.

It is uncertain whether the Dauntes suffered any reprisals in the immediate aftermath of the battle, but John Daunte survived to fight another day. During Henry VI’s readeption later that year he not only rejoined his old master, but may have reassumed his duties at Mere. On 13 Apr. 1471, shortly after Queen Margaret and the Lancastrian Prince Edward had landed at Weymouth, letters under the prince’s seal were addressed to Daunte, summoning him to join the Lancastrian army being assembled in the west. As an afterthought, he was to instruct the bailiff of Mere to rally the men of the locality for the same cause, and – more importantly – to bring with him the recently collected rents that had fallen due on Lady Day. Whether, and to what extent, Daunte carried out these instructions is not known. A later, unconfirmed family tradition suggests that Queen Margaret spent the night before the battle of Tewkesbury at the family home in Wotton-under-Edge.17 Ibid. 83; Glos. N. and Q. i. 280. If there is any truth in this tale, it is probable that the former MP was also present at the battle and fought for his old master. His subsequent fate is uncertain.