FLAMANK, James

The Flamanks were a Cornish family of great antiquity, having been resident at Boscarne near Bodmin and played a part in that town’s affairs since the thirteenth century.5 Maclean, i. 279-83. James was born, probably at some point in the reign of Henry IV, as the sole son and heir of the head of the family, Richard Flamank. The date of Richard’s death and his son’s consequent succession to the family estates is obscure, but James may have been in possession of the lands by early 1446, when he was described as ‘of Little Boscarne near Dymmurebridge’.6 CP40/740, rot. 193. The extent of the holdings, which included the family seat at Boscarne and the manor of Nanstallan as well as lands in Trenance, ‘Lankeden’ and ‘Treburthek Pye’, is equally uncertain, but when assessed for purposes of taxation in 1450 Flamank’s landed income was said to total £10 p.a.7 C1/81/65, 1002/35; Harl. Ch. 57 A 35; Cornw. RO, Arundell mss, AR2/1337/4, AR3/148. His tenure of the family lands was not without disturbance, for he quarreled over the possession of a messuage and 60 acres at Treburthek with the influential James Nanfan*, who seized and retained the property despite Flamank’s protests, leaving their respective sons to seek settlement of the issue in Chancery in 1486-7.8 C1/81/64-65. This was not the only battle that Flamank had to fight out in the courts. Like many of his neighbours he had interests in the Cornish tin industry, and in the mid 1430s he was a regular litigant in the stannary court of Blackmore. Nor was he above bringing a suit in the court of King’s bench against a local blacksmith who, he claimed, had shoed a horse of his in so incompetent a manner that it had become lame.9 SC2/157/6, rots. 4, 19, 20; KB27/680, rot. 34. By contrast, he seems to have enjoyed amicable relations with his more influential neighbours, such as Sir William Bodrugan*, who in 1434 made him a feoffee of his lands, and the powerful Arundells of Lanherne, from whom he held some of his estates.10 CAD, iv. A.9452; Arundell mss, AR2/740, AR3/148.

Flamank first embarked on a public career in the summer of 1430, when he was appointed controller of customs in the Cornish ports. He appears to have been dismissed from office after only a few months the following spring, although there is a suggestion that he may have served for longer, but in any case he continued to take an interest in matters connected with the office, for in November 1431 he stood surety at the Exchequer for Thomas Treffry, who had been appointed havener for Plymouth and around the Cornish coastline.11 CPR, 1429-36, pp. 68, 179; E122/113/45-47, 51; CFR, xvi. 76. Conversely, Flamank is not known to have taken an interest in parliamentary affairs on more than a local level. No member of his family had previously sat in Parliament, and when in December 1436 he attended the shire elections at Lostwithiel, he may have done so in order to report his own return for Bodmin to the sheriff.

There is no indication that Flamank distinguished himself in the Commons, and unlike many others he did not subsequently go on to hold further office under the Crown, although he did on occasion serve on local juries.12 KB27/748, rot. 33. Instead, he seems to have concentrated on the affairs of his home town of Bodmin. In October 1451 he was elected to the mayoralty, which he went on to hold for another two successive years. It was only after at last relinquishing office that he once again attested a shire election, and as in the earlier instance he may have been motivated more by a sense of duty on account of the tense political situation than any personal interest.

Indeed, during his term of office as mayor his energies were being absorbed by other activities: the period witnessed an acrimonious quarrel between the burgesses of Bodmin and the lord of the borough, the prior of Bodmin, over the extent of the prior’s authority in the town and its surroundings. The townsmen under the leadership of some of the more prominent of their number, including Flamank as well as Thomas Luccombe* and Bartholomew Trott*, were said to have first violated their lord’s seigneurial prerogative on 9 Dec. 1453, thereafter fishing in the Dunmere every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday for a year, during which they caught some 100 salmon, 40 ‘peales’, 100 lampreys, and 1,000 eels. Evidently, the prior resisted the burgesses’ exploits, for the following spring they embarked on a more systematic campaign of intimidation: they broke the weir of the prior’s mill and carried off chattels worth £10. Then, on 17 Sept. 1455 and the two following Saturdays they made their way to the priory church with an armed following, interrupted divine service and threatened the prior and canons. The riot culminated in a dreadful scene on Monday after Pentecost 1456, when an armed mob of 100 men led by Flamank and his associates broke through the priory gates into the precinct, forced their way through the church doors and not only dragged off two of the canons, but also ransacked the surrounding buildings, taking goods worth £200. Now even the Westminster authorities, their ears full of tales of the violence sweeping the south-west as a result of the dispute between Lord Bonville* and the earl of Devon, could no longer ignore the exasperated prior’s pleas and a commission of oyer and terminer was appointed to investigate the matter.13 CPR, 1452-61, pp. 308-9; KB27/788, rots. 88-88d.

Nothing is known of the outcome of the investigation, and it seems that not all the violence was directed at the priory, for Flamank himself informed the justices of common pleas that a week before the supposed attack on the priory he in his turn had fallen victim to a violent assault by Richard Bere, a local gentleman, and a large following of armed retainers.14 CP40/782, rot. 309. Eventually the dispute between the priory and the townsmen was submitted to the arbitration of Chief Justice John Fortescue* and Nicholas Aysshton*, who pronounced their award on 22 Aug.15 KB27/788, rots. 88-88d.

Flamank himself did not live long after these events: he was certainly dead by late November 1458, when the wardship and marriage of his eldest son and heir, Richard, were granted to his kinsmen Peter Gerveys* and William Trewynnard.16 Arundell mss, AR3/148.