REYNWELL, John

More may be added to the earlier biography.4 The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 206-8.

Throughout Henry VI’s reign the merchants of the Calais staple were of vital importance to the ever cash-strapped administration as lenders of badly needed funds. In 1426 efforts to secure a grant of parliamentary taxation had come to nothing, and the government turned instead to the county communities for loans. Among those who responded was Reynwell, who contributed £20. Six years later, he was rather more munificent, advancing an entire £1,000, probably in conjunction with other staplers.5 E401/713, m. 15; 737, m. 21.

According to a tradition current in Stow’s day, Reynwell had laid one of the corner stones of the new Tower at the northern end of London Bridge during his mayoralty.6 J. Stow, Surv. London ed. Kingsford, i. 60. Reynwell seems to have lived just long enough to take his seat in the Commons of 1445, which assembled in February and met for the second parliamentary session in April, but died in October, before the third session was convened. He died intestate, and the administration of his goods was committed to the ironmonger John Newerk and John Colston, who had discharged their task by November 1446.7 D.B. Foss, ‘Archiepiscopates of Stafford and Kemp’ (London Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1986), ii. 461; CP40/748, rot. 121; Stow, i. 207.