RODYS, John

Very little is recorded about Rodys, but what there is indicates that he was trained in the law and lived in or near Lewes, the town he represented in two Parliaments. He was called ‘of Southover, gentleman’ in Easter term 1429 when together with the keeper of the rolls of the King’s bench, Andrew Pille (who lived nearby at Cliffe), he brought a plea of trespass in that court.1 KB27/672, fines rot. d. In Hilary term 1431, while the first of his Parliaments was in session, he appeared in the court of common pleas to bring a suit against a local labourer, Robert Broker, and his wife for abducting his servant Agnes, and also acted as an attorney there for John Parker†, the wool merchant of Lewes. During the Michaelmas term of 1432 Rodys took on briefs for the prior of the great Cluniac monastery at Lewes,2 CP40/680, rots. 66, 157; 687, rot. 499d. and in the following spring he was active in the King’s bench on behalf of John Nelond*, brother of the previous prior, who together with Andrew Maffey alias Peek* alleged a trespass had been committed against them at West Firle.3 KB27/688, rot. 16.