HALS, Richard

In terms of their landholdings, the earlier Halses were a gentry family of only limited significance, but from the second half of the fourteenth century onwards they successfully availed themselves of the opportunities for social advancement offered by the education available in the universities and law schools of England. An earlier Richard Hals rose through the ranks of the Church to become treasurer of Exeter cathedral in 1400. He was active in diplomatic service under the Lancastrians and sailed for Harfleur with Henry V in 1415, dying two years later in 1417.3 SC8/252/12560; CPR, 1391-6, p. 571; Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, ix. 11, 45; E101/47/34; E358/6. John Hals (perhaps Richard’s brother) rose through the legal profession to become a justice of common pleas in 1423, only to move to the King’s bench less than a year later, where he served until his death in 1434.4 J.H. Baker, Men of Ct. (Selden Soc. supp. ser. xviii), ii. 1754. The judge’s son, another Richard, was a man of property who was pricked as sheriff of Devon in 1454. The extent of the family lands is obscure, as they were kept in the hands of feoffees for generations and did not enter the official records, but that Richard received an income in excess of £40 p.a., for in 1458 he was distrained for his failure to take up knighthood despite owning lands of that value and more. Like his putative uncle, the judge’s younger son and namesake took holy orders and by the 1420s was active in Crown service. He became a canon of Exeter cathedral in 1438 and chaplain to Queen Margaret in 1446.5 M. Cherry, ‘Crown and Political Community, Devon’ (Univ. of Wales, Swansea, Ph.D. thesis, 1981), 299-300. Perhaps even more significant was the family’s connexion with the leading magnate of the south-west, Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon. Richard Hals senior was trusted by the earl, to the extent that he used him as his representative in negotiations with the steward of his old adversary, William, Lord Bonville*, before their quarrel broke out into open violence in October 1455.6 Ibid. 299, citing Devon RO, CR493.

In view of the Halses’ adherence to the common practice of bestowing identical names on successive heads of the family, it is difficult to distinguish the younger Richard’s activities from those of his synonymous father, by whom he appears, in any event, to have been overshadowed for much of his life. Indeed, there can be little doubt that he owed his single recorded foray onto the public stage in the form of his return to Parliament to the inability of his father, then serving as sheriff of Devon, to take a seat himself. The Parliament of 1455 was summoned in the aftermath of the battle of St. Albans with the duke of York and his allies in the ascendant, and although the battle had seen the elimination of their principal opponents among the lords, factional divides nevertheless continued to run deep. There can thus be no doubt that Hals’s return for Plympton Erle owed everything to the influence of the borough’s lord, the earl of Devon, and was facilitated by Richard’s father, who as sheriff was responsible for making the return into Chancery. Beyond doubt, there was some electoral interference, for Hals’s name was inserted into the election indenture over an erasure.7 C219/16/3. Alongside Hals, Plympton Erle returned Thomas Gale*, a household servant of the younger brother of the earl of Oxford, the earl of Devon’s adherent Sir Robert de Vere*, who himself sat in the Parliament representing the county of Devon. Parliament had been summoned within days of the engagement at St. Albans, and the earl of Devon, who had been with the King at the battle, did not attend himself. The assembly was prorogued at the end of July to reassemble in November, but even before this second session began, events on the political stage of the south-west began to take a dramatic turn. In mid September Edmund Lacy, the long serving bishop of Exeter, died, and at the King’s own recommendation, Richard’s uncle, John Hals, was appointed in his place by Pope Calixtus III. This appointment, however, was not to the liking of the duke of York and his Neville allies, the earls of Salisbury and Warwick, who were seeking to secure the see for Salisbury’s youngest son, George. As the Nevilles were in the political ascendant, Hals was forced to resign, and in February 1456 George Neville was provided to the bishopric by the Pope.8 Cherry, 299-300; R.L. Storey, End of House of Lancaster, 164. Nor was the earl of Devon in any position to intervene on behalf of his clients. After the defeat at St. Albans he had withdrawn to the south-west and from October 1455 mounted a campaign of violence against the adherents of his longstanding enemy, Bonville, which lasted for several months. By the time Parliament reassembled on 12 Nov. his troops were occupying Exeter and besieging the mansion of (Sir) Philip Courtenay* at Powderham. It is likely that the younger Richard’s absence at Parliament and his father’s shrievalty kept them from joining the earl’s contingent and precluded any serious legal trouble in the following year when the earl was indicted for his activities. There is no indication that the young and inexperienced Richard Hals distinguished himself in Parliament, although his close blood ties with the bishop-elect of Exeter whose resignation fell within the final session must have aroused a certain amount of interest among his fellow Members. Hals is not known to have ever held office either locally or under the Crown, although his family were able to maintain their close links with Henry VI’s government until the end of the reign. Following his resignation from the see of Exeter John Hals went on to become Queen Margaret’s chancellor in 1457 and having been made dean of Exeter the following year, became bishop of Coventry and Lichfield during the Lancastrian ascendancy of late 1459, whereas his brother, the elder Richard Hals, went on to serve as sheriff of Devon a second time in 1458-9.

In view of the close association of the Hals family with Queen Margaret and the court regime dominated by her in the final years of Henry VI’s reign, it is not surprising that they disappeared from the political stage after Edward IV’s accession. Equally, however, they do not appear to have been subject to any major reprisals for their past loyalties and continued to be empaneled on local juries.9 C140/26/58. On the eve of the Readeption the elder Richard had completed his rehabilitation to the extent that he was once more appointed to a royal commission, and his support for the re-established Henry VI seems to have been at best lukewarm. The restored Lancastrian regime included him in a commission of inquiry in late 1470, but did not apparently mark him out for more wide-ranging responsibilities. Edward IV drew more regularly upon his services after his return. By contrast, the younger Richard, who took the precaution of securing a general pardon from the restored King Edward in February 1472,10 C67/48, m. 6. failed ever to secure office either before or after his father’s death in 1480. There is scant evidence that he rose to any prominence among his peers, although he was on occasion called upon to witness deeds for his neighbours,11 CCR, 1485-1500, no. 1146. and it may have been in the context of a similar, private, transaction that in the autumn of 1471 he was suing John Hacche* and Thomas Calwodlegh* for the return of a chest of muniments and deeds.12 CP40/840, rot. 184. It is unclear how he came to enter the service of Edward, Lord Hastings, to whom he accounted as his receiver by the early years of Henry VII.13 Jervoise of Herriard mss, 44M69/A7/7/2, m. 20d. It was probably the father who was serving as steward of the south-western estates of Alice, duchess of Suffolk, in 1475: KB9/340/26.

Hals was named as his father’s executor,14 CP40/877, rot. 41d. but did not outlive him for long, dying before the end of March 1489.15 The death date of 21 June 1489 given by his inq. post mortem is clearly wrong, as it post-dates the writ of diem clausit: CIPM Hen. VII, i. 519; CFR, xxii. 189. His own executors were headed by Sir John Halewell†.16 C1/241/4. He left as his heir his 19-year-old son, Richard, who under the Tudors became a j.p. and an important royal servant in the south-west.17 CPR, 1494-1509, p. 145; C1/284/17-19, 1505/3; C147/162; C142/81/294.