MOULE, John

Moule’s father and namesake was bailiff of the commons in Winchester in 1414-15, and of the 24 in 1419-20, as well as serving at other times as cofferer, alderman of High Street ward and keeper of the postern.4 D.J. Keene, Surv. Winchester (Winchester Studies, 2), ii. 1301; Winchester recs., W/D1/106; E1/14; Winchester Coll. muns. 1160. A draper,5 CPR, 1422-9, p. 238. he died in March 1421, having bequeathed to his son two of his tenements on the corner of High Street and ‘Thomases gate’ (now Market Street), and a plot at the Postern next to the ‘great latrine’, together with a reversionary interest in another tenement after the deaths of a servant and her daughter.6 Keene, ii. nos. 141, 145, 146, 567; Stowe 846, f. 155. Moule’s occupation is not recorded, although it is possible that he received a training in the law. In October 1445 he was an attorney for the delivery of seisin of property in Kingsgate Street from the rector of the parish church of St. Laurence to two chaplains.7 Winchester Coll. muns. 1093.

Moule contributed 2s. towards the expenses of Winchester’s parliamentary representatives of 1445-6. In April 1446 the mayor granted that he be exonerated from the office of either bailiff of the city, on condition that he served as warden of the fraternity of St. John the Baptist for the next seven years. He also agreed to officiate as chamberlain from the following Michaelmas, and during his term he was paid 2s. 6d. for his costs in crossing over to the Isle of Wight on civic business, and 9s. 10d. for riding with another man to Eton, presumably to talk to William Waynflete, the provost of Eton who was elevated to the bishopric of Winchester that year.8 Winchester recs., W/E1/18; E4/4; Black Bk. 83. At the next parliamentary elections, held early in 1449, he was chosen one of the city’s MPs, with John Dutton*, the former mayor, standing surety for his attendance in the Commons.9 C219/15/6. Subsequently, Moule was sent to London on civic business in 1452-3, for which he received payment of 19s. 8d. as his expenses,10 Winchester recs., W/E1/19. and in each of the two following years he was given a fee of 20s. ‘pro labore suo’, probably for clerical or legal work.

Moule appeared as a pledge in the mayor’s court in May 1456 on behalf of Thomas Madehurst, who had trangressed against the liberties of the city.11 Black Bk. 86. At some stage in his career, most likely in the late 1440s, he had been named as an executor of Nicholas Waryner of Winchester, who asked that certain of his lands and tenements be sold to cover the cost of his testamentary provisions and so that his widow, Joan, could be given £100 from his estate. This Moule failed to do. The widow petitioned the chancellor at some point between 1450 and 1454 alleging that he and his fellow executor had taken all of her late husband’s moveable goods, worth 300 marks, but had given her only £80, keeping the rest along with Waryner’s real property to their own use.12 C1/22/66. Nevertheless, Moule was also appointed as an executor by John Merk, rector of the local church of St. Anastasius, in November 1450, being required to dispose of the residue of his estate for the health of Merk’s soul. Part of the rector’s property, a croft outside the north gate of Winchester, on the Oxford road, was still in Moule’s possession when he died, at an unknown date after 31 July 1456 and before 3 Jan. 1457. His own executors – his widow Joan and Thomas Madehurst, now bailiff of Winchester – conveyed it to Winchester College in accordance with Merk’s wishes.13 Winchester Coll. muns. 1231, 1233-4; Keene, ii. no. 799.