BODRUGAN, Sir William

To add to the information in the earlier biography,4 The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 271-2. it should be noted that Bodrugan gathered early military experience when he headed the men-at-arms on board Sir John Arundell I’s carrack George, probably part of the fleet assembled by Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, early in 1418 for the safeguard of the English Channel.5 E101/44/30 (5). In 1421, prior to setting out for France again, our MP made a brief will, which included among its provisions a settlement of 20s. on the Truro friars for his and his parents’ obits, as well as further obits for his ancestors to be celebrated in St. Mary’s church in Truro and the church of Mylor. To pay for these obits and his debts Bodrugan entrusted his lands to his father-in-law, Sir John Arundell, his grandmother’s fourth husband, Robert Hill, and a group of lesser gentry and lawyers, including Richard Trevanion†, David Urban* and William Trethake*.6 Cornw. RO, Edgcombe mss, ME613.

The complexity of the land settlements resulting, at least in part, from the four marriages of Bodrugan’s grandmother, Joan, meant that his title to his estates was subject to almost continual challenge throughout his life. Thus, in 1430 he accused William Mohun* of Bodinnick and his neighbour Henry Treglystyn of invading his manor of Restronguet in the dead of night in order to rescue four oxen which he had lawfully impounded.7 KB27/679, rex rot. 5; CP40/681, rot. 326d; 683, rot. 327. This incident may have represented a chapter in a more protracted dispute dating back to the 1390s, when Joan Bodrugan, then married to her third husband John Trevarthian† (a kinsman by marriage of the Mohuns), had clashed with Sir John Herle† and John Colshull† over property rights at Restronguet.8 The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 659; Edgcombe mss, ME528/1. Similarly, in 1433 John Yerde and his wife Anne laid claim to Bodrugan’s advowson of the church of Duloe,9 CP40/691, rot. 519. while in the following year it was Bishop Lacy of Exeter himself who was challenging Sir William’s right to the presentation.10 CP40/693, rot. 335. The troubles over the Bodrugan inheritance evidently continued into the second half of the 1430s, when Bodrugan took the precaution of procuring a royal pardon specifying his descent from Sir Otto Bodrugan†.11 C67/38, m. 15.

More difficult to fathom is the background to Bodrugan’s occasional quarrels with his less important neighbours. Thus, in 1428 he was pursuing in the law courts several peasants and merchants for invading his closes at Truro and elsewhere,12 KB27/677, rots. 68d, 75. while in 1436 members of the Budde family of Bodmin, including the widow of Nicholas Jop alias Bokelly†, were engaged in apparently collusive litigation with Bodrugan over the allegedly unpaid rent for certain holdings in Trevelyn, which may have been intended to establish the plaintiffs’ free status.13 CP40/701, rot. 124. Like many of his neighbours Bodrugan had interests in the tin industry. The wealth that the mines generated not infrequently led to disagreements, which in their turn kept the stannary courts occupied.14 SC2/157/3, rot. 2d; Cornw. RO, Arundell (Tywardreath) mss, ART2/8/2, 4.

Bodrugan’s standing in Cornwall as the second most important resident landowner after the great Arundells of Lanherne and their cadets is evident not only from those of his friends and neighbours who called upon him to attest their property deeds or arbitrate in their disputes, but also from the list of those who in their turn performed similar services for him. The list reads like a repertory of Cornish society, and apart from a range of lawyers (including men as prominent as John Hody* and Thomas Cokayn*) and lesser gentry also included more important men such as John Trenewith*, John Tretherf* and various members of the Arundell family.15 CP40/706, rot. 461; Cornw. RO, Coode and French mss, CF2/215/48; Edgcombe mss, ME193, 421, 613, 614, 1221, 2638.

It is not possible to prove to what extent, if any, Bodrugan used his influence to secure the return of his friends and retainers to Parliament, but he certainly held some sway in his native county’s boroughs, which sought to curry his favour by the customary method of providing gifts of food and wine.16 Cornw. RO, Launceston bor. recs., B/Laus/137, m. 1d. It is consequently possible that Robert Colyn*, Sir William’s attorney of several years’ standing, owed his return for Truro in 1433 (the year when Bodrugan last sat in the Commons) to his master’s influence, and the same may be true of the election of Peter Petit* (who had longstanding ties with Bodrugan’s mother) for Lostwithiel in 1426. Conversely, William Trethake, who also had close ties with the Bodrugans, and who sat in all but one of the Parliaments of which Sir William was a Member, may by the mid 1420s have been sufficiently familiar to the Truro electorate not to need to rely on an external patron for his return to the Commons, but might nevertheless have counted Bodrugan’s good will in his favour when seeking election.17 C254/140/59.

The execution of Bodrugan’s will was entrusted to his widow, Philippa, who was still occupied in the task of unraveling her husband’s complex affairs in the later 1440s, some years after her second marriage to an obscure ‘gentleman’ named William Tanner alias Clerk.18 CP40/749, rot. 312, att. rot. 1; 754, rot. 115. Among the matters that reached the law courts was the question of Bodrugan’s debts to the London pewterer John Megre†, which were still being collected by the latter’s executors (James Nanfan* and John Archdeacon) more than a quarter of a century after Megre’s death.19 CP40/746, rot. 498; CPR, 1446-52, p. 13.

The wardship and marriage of Bodrugan’s heir, Henry, and the custody of his lands soon became the subject of infighting among leading courtiers in the royal household. Initially, on 23 Jan. 1442 the King, with the authority of Parliament, granted them to the earl of Suffolk, Bishop Aiscough and others, including his own secretary, only for the treasurer to enter negotiations with Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon, who acquired custody of the lands two weeks later and in March secured the marriage of the heir in return for the substantial sum of 800 marks (which was assigned to the building of Eton College). Just a month later, however, Devon (who already had every reason to feel aggrieved at his treatment over the stewardship of the duchy of Cornwall) was summarily stripped of the custody of the Bodrugan lands, which were now granted to a further group of courtiers, Henry Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, his leading retainer John Nanfan*, John Norris* and Thomas Lanhergy*.20 CPR, 1441-6, p. 83; CFR, xvii. 207, 208, 211, 249; E403/745, m. 6; E159/219, brevia Easter rot. 10d; 220, brevia Trin. rot. 7; CP40/773, rot. 117; 775, rots. 308, 404d; 778, rot. 409; 779, rot. 407. This formed the background to the allegations, heard by the justices of common pleas in early 1445, that a group of local gentry headed by John and James Nanfan and the prior of Bodmin had conspired to have William Tanner indicted on charges of stealing £1,000-worth of Bodrugan’s goods along with the family’s estate archive, and had succeeded in having him imprisoned at Lostwithiel for a day in July 1443.21 CP40/736, rot. 338.