John Merbury

John Merbury († January 29, 1438 ) was an English civil servant and politician. As a supporter of the House of Lancaster , through many years of service to the king and through two rich marriages, he rose from a presumably humble background to one of the richest and most influential country nobles of his time in Herefordshire .

origin

The origin of John Merbury is unclear. He was a younger brother of Nicholas Merbury who entered the service of the Percy family , later served in the court of King Henry V and eventually became Knight of the Shire for Northamptonshire , another brother was Sir Laurence Merbury , who later became Treasurer and Lord Chancellor of Ireland was. According to Merbury's coat of arms, he may have been related to the Marbury family from Marbury in Shropshire who owned Lyonshall Castle near Kington in Herefordshire . Merbury later owned the castle and property.

Advance as a follower of the House of Lancaster

Merbury is first mentioned in 1389 as an archer in a troop formed by Sir John Stanley . During the Hundred Years War he served in Bordeaux in October 1395 under John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , who granted him an annual pension of 10 marks from income in Cheshire . Merbury remained a clear and arguably important supporter of John of Gaunt's son Henry Bolingbroke , who became King of England as Henry IV in 1399. Merbury rose to Esquire and received on January 19, 1400 a pension from the King for £ 40 and on January 29 from the heir to the throne Harry of Monmouth a further pension of 40 marks. In March 1400 he was appointed treasurer of South Wales, making him the chief tax officer of that part of the Principality of Wales . This position, for which he received an additional £ 20 a year, he held for the next 21 years. In March 1402 he was given land in Cardiganshire for lifelong use , which had previously belonged to participants in the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr . With these lands his annual income from his offices and pensions rose to the stately sum of £ 126. Before 1400 he had married the twice widowed Alice, a daughter of Sir John Pembridge of Pembridge , a neighbor of his Lyonshall estate. She brought Boughrood at Builth , the Eyton estate at Leominster and land at Burghill in Herefordshire with her into the marriage.

Support the fight against Owain Glyndŵr

As the Chamberlain of South Wales, Merbury and John ap Harry raised troops for Richard Gray, 1st Baron Gray of Codnor , the royal deputy in South Wales in September 1402 to put down the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr. In June 1403 he placed another contingent of troops in Carmarthenshire . In addition, he held the post of Commandant of Huntington Castle until 1404 . However, when the rebels had taken large parts of South Wales under their control, Merbury probably withdrew to Herefordshire, where he was appointed justice of the peace on April 27, 1404 and served as sheriff from November 1405 to November 1406 . Merbury probably continued to contribute to the suppression of the rebellion in Wales, because in 1411 he was appointed Deputy Justiciar for South Wales and in 1412 he received another annual pension of 100 marks. In addition, however, he also took over other offices in Herefordshire, where Bishop Robert Maschal appointed him administrator of the lands of the Bishop of Hereford in June 1409. However, Merbury turned down the accolade offered to him in 1410.

Service for Heinrich V.

In 1413 Merbury gave up the post of Deputy Justiciar of South Wales again, but the new King Henry V confirmed Merbury's other offices and pensions. In February 1414, the king appointed him administrator of the estate of Brecon , which belonged to the Duchy of Lancaster , which belonged to the royal estate. In August 1415 Merbury took over the administration of the estates of the Bishop of St David's , and from November 1414 to December 1415 Merbury again served as sheriff of Herefordshire. For the king's campaign in France , Merbury raised a force of 20 men-at-arms and 500 archers in Carmarthen and Brecon in June 1415 . He himself stayed with Thomas Strange , his stepson Richard Oldcastle and Sir Robert Whitney, as well as with a force of 60 men-at-arms and 120 archers in South Wales to prevent a renewed outbreak of a rebellion. In the next few months he sent supplies, including 200 oxen, to France, where the king successfully conquered large parts of Normandy. The king appointed him administrator of Kidwelly , which also belonged to the Duchy of Lancaster, in February 1417 .

After the death of his first wife in 1415, Merbury had to surrender the goods she had brought into the marriage. Before March 1417 he married Agnes Crophill, who was already twice widowed . She brought her wittism from her marriage to John Parr into the marriage, including the estate of Kirkby Kendal in Westmorland, and from her grandfather Sir John Crophill Market Rasen in Lincolnshire , Cotesbach , Newbold Verdon , Hemmington and Braunston in Leicestershire , Tiercewell and Arnold in Nottinghamshire , Hyde and Weobley in Herefordshire and other properties in Shropshire and Bedfordshire . Weobley became his new primary residence. It was there in August 1417 that Merbury learned that the fugitive lollard and conspirator Sir John Oldcastle , a cousin of his first wife, was hiding at the nearby estate of Almeley , but despite an offer of £ 100, Merbury was unable to find out the exact whereabouts of Oldcastle . Oldcastle was therefore able to escape further to North Wales. Despite this setback, Merbury did not lose the king's favor. After the death of Gilbert Talbot, 5th Baron Talbot, he was allowed to administer the estates for his minor heirs and in 1419 received an estate also claimed by Sir John Scudamore . In 1422 he was given the management of another estate, which Scudamore also claimed.

Justiciar of Wales and Knight of the Shire for Herefordshire

After he had already participated several times as an elector in the general election, Merbury was elected in 1419 as Knight of the Shire for Herefordshire and took part in Parliament . From November 1419 to January 1421 he was again sheriff of the county before he was re-elected as Knight of the Shire in May 1421. A little later, on June 10, 1421, he was appointed Justiciar for South Wales. As Chief Royal Official of South Wales, he received a salary of £ 40 a year with rewards of up to £ 100 a year. His successor as chamberlain was William Botiller , with whom he shared the administration of Bronllys Castle from July 1421 . In December 1421, Merbury was re-elected to Parliament for Herefordshire.

With the exception of the annual pension of 40 marks from 1400, 1422 at the beginning of the reign of Henry VI. all offices and pensions of Merbury confirmed. After he had to give up the office of administrator of Brecon in 1420 and the office of administrator of Kidwelly in June 1423, he was replaced on November 17, 1423 as Justiciar of South Wales, which ended his long service for the Crown in South Wales. However, he remained active in Herefordshire, where he served from January to December 1426, February to November 1430 and November 1434 to November 1435 again as sheriff and was elected as Knight of the Shire in 1425 and 1427. In addition, he kept in touch with numerous influential nobles such as Humphrey Stafford, 6th Earl of Stafford , Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and Baron John Tiptoft .

After the death of his second wife Agnes Crophill in 1436, he remained administrator of their estates according to her last will. He died as an old man in early 1438. He was buried next to his second wife Agnes in Weobley Church, where her grave memorial is still preserved.

Descendants and inheritance

In her first marriage, Merbury had married Alice († around 1415) before 1400, the widow of Edmund de la Bere and Thomas Oldcastle and daughter of Sir John Pembridge from Herefordshire. With her he had a daughter:

• Elizabeth Merbury († 1438) ∞ Walter Devereux (1411-1459)

Before 1417 he married Agnes (1371-1436), the widow of Sir Walter Devereux and daughter of John Parr from Kirkby Kendal in Westmorland. With her he had at least one daughter:

• Marion

His heiress became his daughter Elizabeth from his first marriage, whom Walter Devereux had married, a grandson and heir to his second wife. This inherited the possessions of the Devereux, Merbury and Crophill families. Merbury's younger daughter Marion, from his second marriage, received £ 20 as an inheritance.

Web links

• Charles Kightly: MERBURY, John (d.1438), of Lyonshall and Weobley, Herefs. (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1386-1421)
• John Merbury on thepeerage.com , accessed August 2, 2016.