ALYSAUNDRE, John

The earlier biography failed to note that there is a possibility that this MP was related to the Alysaundre or Alexander family of Wiltshire, and thus to the apprentice-at-law William Alexander*, with whom he sat in the Commons of 1432.1 The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 31. William had an only son named John (who predeceased him in about 1442), and a brother of the same name, who, aged over 60, became his heir in 1446.2 Ibid. 23-24. The latter John held property in Salisbury,3 First General Entry Bk. Salisbury (Wilts. Rec. Soc. liv), no. 210. and from 1430 to 1444 or later served regularly as a member of the city council.4 Ibid. nos. 273, 275, 278, 294, 300, 325, 328, 335, 336, 344, 346, 347, 352, 355, 366, 379, 381-2, 386, 388-90, 392, 393. In 1431 he was one of the collectors for the wages of Salisbury’s MPs, and in 1432 he was alderman of Market ward.5 Ibid. nos. 275, 418. Elected one of the reeves in 1436, he appears not to have risen higher in the civic hierarchy, although he was an assessor for the collection of parliamentary subsidies in the city on at least three occasions, and a supervisor of the construction of the great ditch in 1440.6 Ibid. nos. 323, 334, 340, 358, 399. On occasion John was assessed for contributions to donations from Salisbury to the Crown, for example for soldiers needed to raise the siege of Calais in 1436, and for loans (when he was generally assessed at 3s. 4d., indicating that he was a man of only moderate means).7 Ibid. nos. 321B, 343I, 360A, 368B.

However, there is nothing tangible to link the MP for Melcombe and Lyme with his namesake of Wiltshire. The records connect the MP to west Dorset, and to the area between the two boroughs he represented. Thus, he was called ‘of Marshwoodvale, yeoman’ in Michaelmas term 1430, when defendant in a plea of trespass brought in the King’s bench.8 KB27/678, rot. 81. He was still living in July 1443 when summoned to be a juror at assizes to be conducted at Shaftesbury regarding cases of smuggling from Melcombe Regis.9 E143/24/1.