LISLE, John II

Of an ancient and well-connected family, Lisle was aged about 22 when his father died in February 1429. Along with his mother he was an executor of John senior’s will, and in May he received seisin of part of his inheritance. This, consisting of estates in Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire, and in particular on the Isle of Wight (where the Lisles possessed at least 14 manors), was burdened with two dowagers – John’s elderly grandmother, Elizabeth, widow of Sir John Lisle† (1366-1408), who lived on until February 1435, and his mother, Margery, who retained jointure in the estate at Chute in Wiltshire and in four manors in Hampshire, besides her dower portion.3 CFR, xv. 268; C139/39/42; 68/1; CCR, 1422-9, p. 426; Feudal Aids, ii. 365. The Lisle lands produced an annual income estimated in 1412 at just under £188, but according to the tax assessments of 1436 John’s share then amounted to only £100 p.a. This income appears to have grown subsequently, and not simply because of the deaths of the dowagers, for the Lisle properties on the Isle of Wight alone were to be valued in the early sixteenth century at £140.4 Feudal Aids, vi. 423, 450, 457, 534; CIPM Hen. VII, iii. 491; E179/173/92. Lisle’s patrimony suffered some diminution. In 1441 he made a settlement on John and Joan Wilford and their issue of his manor of Crux Easton, with reversion to him and his heirs. This may have been a marriage settlement (perhaps Joan was a kinswoman of his), or a mortgage, but in any case in 1460 Wilford issued a receipt for £3 in full satisfaction of all sums owing to him, and then quitclaimed the manor back to Lisle.5 CP25(1)/207/33/4; CCR, 1454-61, p. 490. The latter also sought to obtain yet more property, by bringing speculative lawsuits. In Michaelmas term 1455, he not only sued a distant relation, Richard Lisle, for the Wiltshire manor of Holt, successfully asserting that it was his by right of inheritance from his great-grandmother, but also laid claim to the valuable manor of Dodford in Northamptonshire, as kinsman and heir of Hawise Keynes (fl.1329), although in this instance he had very little chance of acquiring the much-contested prize.6 CP40/779, rots. 415, 514. For litigation over Dodford, see G. Baker, Northants. i. 351-5; S.J. Payling, ‘Imposter Pilgrim’, The Fifteenth Cent. X, ed. Kleineke, 17-38, esp. 33-34.

Lisle further added to his landed holdings through his first marriage, to Anne, the only child of John Botreaux, a younger son of William, Lord Botreaux (d.1391). In 1433, under the terms of a settlement made by his mother, John had come into possession of the manor of Lund on the Wold in Yorkshire, worth £20 p.a., and following the death without issue of one of his elder brothers, Sir Ralph Botreaux*, he also acquired property in Westmorland and the manor of Brixton in Devon, along with some 480 acres of land at Westlake, Bradford and elsewhere. Before his death on 25 Mar. 1444 he settled on Anne and her husband Lisle his holdings at Up Sydling in Dorset.7 J. Maclean, Trigg Minor, i. 641; C139/117/4; C140/39/59. Another part of Anne’s widespread inheritance was the manor of Trewynnek in Cornwall. This Lisle sold to John Trevelyan* for 350 marks in 1448.8 CP40/785, rot. 257 (he claimed in 1457 that Trevelyan still owed him 20 marks); 840, rot. 487. He and his wife encountered difficulties in taking possession of her manor far away in Yorkshire, for although Sir William Palton* quitclaimed it to them in 1445, it was not until 1458 that Anne’s cousin, William, Lord Botreaux (d.1462), provided a similar disclaimer. It made sense to dispose of it like Trewynnek, and in the following year the Lisles conveyed Lund and their Westmorland properties to Robert Danby of Thorpe.9 CCR, 1454-61, p. 339; CP25(1)/293/73/442.

At the time of his first election to Parliament in 1433, at the age of about 25, Lisle had yet to serve on an ad hoc commission of local government, although his Membership of the Commons determined appointments to distribute the allowances on the subsidies granted in the second session and to help administer the oath against maintenance. He had attested the electoral returns for Hampshire at the shire court at Winchester in the previous year, and was to do so again on six more occasions, his standing in the county being quite often indicated by his place at the head of the lists of attestors.10 C219/14/3, 5; 15/1, 2, 7; 16/3; 17/1. Lisle’s wealth and position in local society is reflected in his many commissions after 1433, his consecutive shrievalties of Wiltshire and Hampshire in the years 1438 to 1440, and his nearly 30 years’ service as a j.p. All this was to be expected of a landowner of substance. So, too, was participation in the wars in France, although in Lisle’s case any early involvement in military campaigns overseas is poorly documented, as is the circumstances of his knighting, which perhaps took place in 1436, when English forces crossed the Channel to raise the siege of Calais, although this is to speculate. Later, in 1443, Sir John was recruited for the major expedition to France commanded by John Beaufort, duke of Somerset, as one of the captains of the army of 600 men-at-arms and 3,949 archers which mustered at Portsdown on 17 July and sailed to Cherbourg.11 DKR, xlviii. 357; E101/54/5.

There is no definite evidence of Lisle’s presence in England between then and June 1446. On the following 22 Dec., described as a ‘King’s knight’, he was granted in consideration of his ‘good and praiseworthy service’ the keeping of lands which pertained to the King owing to the death of Sir Stephen Popham* and the minority of three of Popham’s daughters and coheirs, together with their marriages, paying for the latter a sum to be agreed with the treasurer. Lisle had known Popham personally, and was currently a feoffee of his estates in Wiltshire and Hampshire. This caused him some problems: he was cited in a petition sent to the chancellor by Popham’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth, the wife of John Wadham, who claimed he had refused to hand over to her the manor of Fisherton, which her father had promised her; and at some point he conveyed to another of the heiresses, Alice, and her husband Humphrey Forster†, the manors of Steeple Langford and West Grimstead, without first obtaining a royal licence to do so. Lisle was also a feoffee of the Popham manors governed by entail, which passed to Sir Stephen’s cousin Sir John Popham* before returning on the latter’s childless death in 1463 to the heiresses.12 CFR, xviii. 64; C1/74/64; C139/121/18; C140/9/7, 56/39; C145/328/3. Another sign of royal favour came in June 1448, when Sir John was awarded keeping of the herbage of Hippenscombe in the royal forest of Chute, where he was hereditary warden, back-dated to the death of the late Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, for 50 years at a rent of one mark a year. This had been held on lease by his grandfather and father before him, but the latter’s tenure had been successfully challenged by Gloucester, who had asserted that the herbage was parcel of the forest of Savernake. Although Lisle lost the lease subsequently in accordance with the first two Acts of Resumption, but fresh grants in the 1450s extended it well into the future, and it is significant that the pardon he purchased in 1455 referred specifically to his tenancy of assarts in Chute forest. Furthermore, Edward IV was to confirm him in possession.13 CFR, xviii. 91; xix. 90, 202-3; xx. 39; C67/41, m. 4.

During the troubled years of the late 1440s and the 1450s the Crown enlisted Lisle’s help as the Isle of Wight was threatened by invasion from France. The inhabitants of the island had suffered severely from misgovernment under the tyrannical rule of John Newport I*, and in the autumn of 1450 ‘Jenquyn’ Baker esquire was ordered to sail over to Carisbrooke casle with a small body of men to reinforce the garrison. Letters of privy seal were sent to Lisle in the following spring to check whether Baker was doing his duty as ordered: he replied, certifying that Baker was at Carisbrooke with a full quota of soldiers.14 E404/67/156. Before long Lisle himself was in arms again. In July 1452 he received a prest at the Exchequer on behalf of John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, to help finance the ships and men needed to safeguard the Channel, and five months later, when preparations began for an army to be sent to relieve the earl’s forces in Guyenne, he took on a more demanding role. He was among those hastily commissioned to raise loans for the project, and on 29 Jan. 1453 together with Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns (his wife’s kinsman) and the bastard of Somerset he indented to serve under Shrewsbury for three months. The next day Sir Roger Camoys and John, Viscount Lisle (the earl’s son), joined them, the last named being made ‘governor’ of their army. On 17 Feb. the war-captains were granted shares of one third of the profits of the campaign. There were setbacks regarding the conscription of shipping and sailors, but the 2,325 enlisted men eventually sailed for Bordeaux from Dartmouth and Plymouth, and when they reached their destination their numbers swelled to 7,325. Sir John’s own contingent, as mustered on 26 Feb. and 5 Mar., numbered 20 mounted men-at-arms and 200 archers on foot, and he was paid £604 2s. 2d. for one quarter’s wages, at the rate of 4s. per day for himself, 1s. per day for each man-at-arms, and 6d. per day for each archer. They disembarked at Bordeaux on 17 July, the very day that the English were defeated at Castillon. Lisle endured the siege of Bordeaux, which eventually fell to the French, but the date of his return home is not recorded, nor whether he was captured and held to ransom.15 E404/69/90; M.G.A. Vale, English Gascony, 146, 232, 241; E403/788, m. 5; 791, mm. 14, 15; Recueil des Privileges ed. Gouron (Archives Municipales de Bordeaux, 1938), 181; DKR, xlviii. 417. This is at least likely, and although he was back in England the following spring in 1458 he was granted a licence to trade in Aquitaine to recover losses sustained by enemy action, and duly chartered the Anne of Southampton to sail to Bayonne with frieght on his behalf.16 DKR, xlviii. 428; C1/26/300.

During the crises of the mid 1450s Sir John was among those on whom the government placed heavy reliance. In a letter sent by the Council in December 1455 to a number of magnates requiring them to accompany and assist the Protector, Richard, duke of York, on his journey to the south-west to restore order, Lisle headed the list of 14 ‘men of gode birth and havour’ ordered to wait on them. The defence of the Isle of Wight also continued to cause concern, and in September 1457 orders were sent to him and (Sir) Henry Bruyn* giving them sole responsibility for the safeguard of the Island and of Portchester castle.17 PPC, vi. 270; CPR, 1452-61, p. 405. Lisle continued to be appointed to commissions of array by the Lancastrian government right up to June 1460, these last being to resist the advance of the Yorkist lords through southern England. That he was deeply concerned about the current events, and quite likely considered his life to be in danger, is suggested by the fact that he then placed his manors on the Isle of Wight in the hands of feoffees, who included his former companion-in-arms Lord Moleyns (only recently ransomed by the French following his capture at Castillon).18 C140/39/59. Moleyns showed no hesitation in his commitment to the house of Lancaster in the winter of 1460-1 (and was accordingly attainted in Edward IV’s first Parliament), but there is no sign that Lisle followed his lead. Sir John was reappointed to the Hampshire bench by the Yorkist regime and served as before on commissions of array. He was pricked as a juror at important trials for treason against the new King, notably those held at Winchester in 1466 presenting indictments of those involved in plots on the Isle of Wight, and at Salisbury in January 1469 when (Sir) Thomas Hungerford* the dispossessed heir to Lord Moleyns, was tried and executed. If he did harbour some sympathy for the deposed Henry VI, as might be implied from his appointment to judicial commissions during the Readeption, then he concealed it well during the 1460s.19 KB9/314/86, 87; 320/8; CPR, 1467-77, p. 246.

In the course of his career Lisle had been acquainted with a number of persons of note. In 1445 he had acted as a mainpernor under pain of 100 marks for Nicholas Carew, Baron Carew;20 CCR, 1441-7, p. 295. and he was later asked to witness important conveyances for Bishop Waynflete and the warden and fellows of Winchester College.21 Winchester Coll. muns. 3549; Reg. Common Seal (Hants Rec. Ser. ii), 347. One of his sons was educ. at Winchester in the 1440s: T.F. Kirby, Annals of Winchester, 113. Valued as an arbiter in disputes over land, for example that between William Warbleton* and William Fauconer, he headed the list of those present at Winchester in 1462 to consider conflicting claims to the manor of Winnall, and was similarly involved when tenants of the bishop’s manor of Alverstoke presented their case to the justices of assize.22 Winchester Coll. muns. 10157, 12417, 12542; CCR, 1461-8, p. 117. As the feoffees of his estates he could call on such leading members of the gentry as Sir Robert Shotesbrooke*, (Sir) John Seymour I* and Thomas Uvedale* (in 1460) and on Bishop Waynflete, the earl of Arundel and Maurice Berkeley* in 1467.23 C140/39/59.

The marriage Lisle had negotiated for his sister Elizabeth might have been intended to further extend his connexions and enhance his own standing at Henry VI’s court, for her husband, John Pury*, was closely associated with Archbishop Kemp and William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk. In 1439 he settled on the couple an estate at Crookham and Thatcham in Berkshire, including the manor of Chamberhouse, which his grandfather had acquired at the start of the century. Yet Elizabeth’s death not long afterwards meant that his links with Pury did not long endure.24 Berks. RO, Misc. Unofficial Collns., D/EZ 77/2/2, 3; 4/2. For Lisle’s brief links with Kemp and Suffolk, see CCR, 1435-41, pp. 270, 359; 1441-7, p. 228. Sir John made good marriages for his children. He acquired the wardship of John Philipot* from Elizabeth, widow of Richard Spicer† alias Newport, paying her £120 for the ward’s marriage (which apparently represented a loss for the Newports of £50), and marrying him to his daughter, Elizabeth. Philipot was descended from the famous Sir John Philipot† (d.1384), one-time mayor of London, and Lisle gained control over his valuable inheritance both in the City and in Hampshire until he came of age.25 CCR, 1441-7, p. 375; 1447-54, p. 124; Archaeologica Cantiana, lx. 24, ped. A; CAD, ii. A2642. For his son and heir, Nicholas, and another daughter, Margaret, Lisle negotiated a double match with the wealthy John Roger I*, so that Margaret married Roger’s second son, John II* (with the couple being promised his father’s manor of Freefolk in Hampshire in jointure), and Nicholas took to wife the groom’s sister.26 Procs. Hants Field Club, v. 80; CCR, 1454-61, p. 445.

Sir John himself married twice. His second wife, Isabel, was the widow of Robert Horne, who was killed at Towton fighting for Edward IV. On 30 Aug. 1461 she received a royal grant of 40 marks a year from Milton by Sittingbourne in Kent to help support herself and her three daughters, and it seems likely that she also brought to Lisle an income from other properties in that county.27 Paston Letters ed. Davis, i. 165. CP, vii. 44-45 incorrectly names Isabel’s former husband as Richard Horne. Sir John settled on her in jointure his first wife’s manor of Up Sydling along with those of Maiden Newton, also in Dorset, Thruxton in Hampshire, and Holt and Pomeroy in Wiltshire, involving his heir, Nicholas, as party to the transaction to ensure his compliance with an arrangement which, in the event, deprived him of his part of his inheritance for several years. He made fresh enfeoffments of his estates in July 1467,28 C140/39/59; C141/6/17. It was asserted much later, in 1508, that Lisle had disseised the feoffees he had nominated in 1460 by re-entering his manors on the I.o.W. on 6 May ‘39 Hen. VI’ (sic), and that his conveyances had been illegally made without royal licence: CIPM Hen. VII, iii. 491. and drew up a will on 20 Oct. 1468, with the purpose of providing for the young children of his second marriage, Joan and William. They were allotted certain lands and tenements on the Isle of Wight to pay for their marriages, and after his parents’ deaths William was also to inherit Pomeroy, livestock at Thruxton and lands elsewhere in Hampshire. Lisle’s older offspring were bequeathed silver cups and more livestock (for instance 100 ewes each to Elizabeth Philipot and Margaret Roger).29 PCC 3 Wattys (PROB11/6, f. 22v). Reports that he was killed at the battle of Barnet fighting on the Lancastrian side were without foundation, for he had, in fact, died three months earlier, on 27 Jan. 1471.30 Chrons. London ed. Kingsford, 277; C140/39/59. Following his death, Sir John’s widow and executrix, who, it was later claimed, took possession of his goods and chattels worth at least £1,000, together with the sum of £400 set aside for the performance of the will, married Thomas Beauchamp, esquire. At least twice in his career Lisle had borrowed money from the abbot of Hyde (ten marks in July 1436 and £30 in May 1446), and these debts remained outstanding at his death. He had instructed his feoffees to settle his accounts from the profits of the lands worth 100 marks p.a. which he had entrusted to their keeping for 11 years, but they failed to satisfy the abbot, who after the widow’s death in 1484 brought an action against Beauchamp in Chancery.31 Winchester Coll. muns. 12162; C1/59/45; C141/6/17.