HAREWELL, Roger

Roger Harewell’s father was a prominent figure, a trusted councillor of Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, with strong links with Joan, Lady Abergavenny, the widow of the earl’s uncle. It was through the great affinity of the earl that he made a series of excellent marriages for his sons. Our MP’s three younger brothers were contracted to the three daughters and coheirs of Margaret, daughter of Alexander Besford, a lawyer who had served the earl’s father; and our MP was matched with another of Besford’s grand-daughters, a daughter of a knight retained by the earl. This marriage was to bring him the brief enjoyment of a share of the combined inheritances of Clopton and Besford, but whether his bride’s prospects of inheritance were certain when the marriage was made is a matter of doubt. On his death in 1419 Sir William Clopton left an only son, Thomas, and it is not known when the boy’s death brought the inheritance to his two sisters. Since, however, all three of Harewell’s brothers had been married by 1422, it is possible that the match was made before the bride fell coheiress.3 CCR, 1422-9, pp. 9-10; CIPM, xxi. 245-9.

Our MP’s father, in his will of 9 Dec. 1427, made cash bequests to his widow (his fourth wife and our MP’s stepmother), younger sons and daughter totaling as much as 470 marks; our MP, on the other hand, was bequeathed the modest sum of £10. This contrast may reflect nothing more than Roger’s position as heir, although, since the will contains an injunction to him not to impede its bequests and he is not named as an executor, John may have anticipated Roger’s resentment of his generosity. Moreover, John also made at least one settlement of land on a younger son: he entailed the manor of Shottery in Stratford-upon-Avon on Richard and his issue.4 PCC 10 Luffenham (PROB11/3, f. 81); C139/145/9; C. Carpenter, Locality and Polity, 123. None the less, there can be no doubt that our MP came into a substantial inheritance on his father’s death, consisting not only of the manors of Wootton Wawen and other lands in Warwickshire, but also of his late mother’s lands in Somerset, principally the manors of Beer Crocombe and East Capland. Judging from a later inquistion, these lands were worth over £100 p.a., and although in our MP’s time they were burdened by the interests of his stepmother (who survived him) and his younger brother or brothers, enough was left to ensure his prosperity.5 CIPM Hen. VII, ii. 431, 477. Further, his income was significantly supplemented by the lands of his wife. In company with her sister, Joan, wife of John Burgh III*, she inherited manors in Shropshire, Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. These were held in trust by two lawyers in the Beauchamp service, John Throckmorton I* and William Wollashull*, and not formally divided between the coheirs until 1444. None the less, there can be no doubt that our MP and his wife received the issues (subject to the interest of his mother-in-law, who was alive as late as 1432). Upon the division lands in Shropshire, valued at about £53 in 1501, were assigned as Agnes’s share, and it is safe to conclude that our MP’s income was well in excess of £100 p.a.6 CIPM Hen. VII, ii. 430; Bodl. Dugdale mss, 15, p. 165.

Harewell’s wealth made it natural that he should take a part in the public affairs of his native county within a short time of succeeding his father, and on 8 Jan. 1431 he was returned to Parliament. Among those present to witness his election were two of his brothers, Richard and William. Soon after, on 11 Nov. 1432, he was the beneficiary of a grant of royal patronage, albeit an extremely minor one: he shared with John Throckmorton and two others the lease of three tofts in Knole (Somerset), a lease which had been granted to his father and others 30 years before.7 C219/14/2; CFR, xvi. 116-17. The promise of this early career was not to be fulfilled. Premature death meant that his active career had only a beginning. He was alive in 1434 when, as ‘of Moor Hall’, one of the Clopton manors, he was listed among those to be sworn to the peace in Warwickshire, but he was dead when assessments were made to the subsidy of 1436. His widow, assessed to this subsidy at an annual income of £136, lost little time in remarrying. By 29 July 1437, when she sued out a general pardon, she was the wife of Thomas Herbert†, elder brother of a then obscure Welsh esquire, William Herbert*, later earl of Pembroke.8 CPR, 1429-36, p. 384; E179/192/59; C67/38, m. 5; W. Worcestre, Itineraries, ed. Harvey, 340. Her son, William Harewell (d.1500), a minor at this date, was to enjoy a more interesting career than his father. According to a now lost manuscript seen by William Dugdale, he was captured fighting in the cause of Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, at the battle of Barnet in 1471 and his lands saved from forfeiture only ‘through the solicitation of his kinsman John Leighton† Esquire made with John Talbot, then earl of Shrewsbury’. The story is intrinsically plausible: William’s attachment to the earl is demonstrated in other sources and Leighton was the husband of his mother’s niece. The family estates were divided between coheiresses on the childless death of William’s grandson, Thomas Harewell, early in the reign of Henry VIII.9 W. Dugdale, Warws. ii. 810; Carpenter, 510n., 697.