GODWIN, Hugh

Nothing is known of Godwin’s family, and it is unclear how he came into the service of the earl of Stafford. In the late 1420s. however, he was serving as parker of one of the earl’s parks at Bletchingley, and in 1432 he was returned to represent the earl’s borough there in Parliament. It was probably the earl who facilitated his entry into the royal household. Within a year of sitting in the Commons he had become a yeoman of the Crown, and as such was granted in 1433, during royal pleasure, the usual wage of 6d. a day, which in his case was paid out of the revenues from the shrievalty of Kent. It was in that county that he settled (if, indeed, he did not originate there): in May 1434 he was among the residents of Kent required to take the general oath against maintaining law breakers.4 CPR, 1429-36, pp. 285, 389.

In January 1439 Godwin’s wage at the Household was confirmed to him for life, and in the following summer, described as a yeoman of Ditton, he provided sureties at the Exchequer for a fellow household man, John Martin, an usher of the King’s chamber.5 CPR, 1436-41, p. 255; CCR, 1435-41, p. 208; CFR, xvii. 81, 90. He went on to wear the livery of a yeoman of the chamber for at least 14 years.6 E101/409/2, f. 45v; 11, f. 39; 16, f. 35v; 410/1, f. 31; 2, f. 32; 6, f. 40v; 9, f. 44. Yet, unlike many of his fellows in the Household, he was never singled out for special favour by the often overly-generous monarch.

In November 1446 Godwin was chosen as sole arbitrator in a dispute over lands in Kent between John Orgar and Hugh Stanlowe, esquire. The latter was supported by John Ellingbridge* and John Pympe, both of whom were linked with the estate administration of the earl of Stafford (now duke of Buckingham), as also was William Hextall*, a prominent retainer of the duke, to whose judgement the matter was referred on another occasion.7 CCR, 1441-7, pp. 446-8; C1/16/502. Later Godwin attested the parliamentary elections held at Maidstone in January 1449, and in the Parliament of 1449-50 he secured exemption from the Act of Resumption, in respect of his office as a yeoman of the Crown. Shortly after the passing of the Act, and as ‘gentleman’, he was listed among his fellow gentry from Kent who purchased royal pardons in July 1450 in the immediate aftermath of Cade’s revolt. There is nothing to indicate why he felt the need to do so.8 C219/15/6; PROME, xii. 128; CPR, 1446-52, p. 369. Perhaps because he had failed to make a significant impression, he ceased to be a yeoman of the chamber following the King’s mental collapse, and he was not named among the reduced staff of the Household listed in the council ordinance of November 1454.9 PPC, vi. 220-33. Godwin is last recorded in a bill brought against him in Chancery in June 1457, concerning a messuage and land at Ditton and Aylesford, of which one Walter Philpott claimed he had been enfeoffed to Philpott’s use. The former MP strenuously denied any knowledge of any such enfeoffment.10 C1/26/56. He was no longer a yeoman of the Crown by 13 Feb. 1460, when his wages of 6d. a day were assigned to another,11 CPR, 1452-61, p. 548. Two members of the Godwin fam., both called John, attested the shire elections for Kent in 1472: C219/17/2. although whether he had died or simply had failed to establish a place for himself in the Lancastrian court at Coventry is not known.