Richard Cergeaux

Sir Richard Cergeaux (also Sergeaux ) († September 30, 1393 in London ) was an English nobleman and politician who was elected ten times as a member of the House of Commons .

origin

The ancestors of Richard Cergeaux belonged since the early reign of King I. Eduard the knighthood of Cornwall . Prior to 1346, the family's annual income from their estates at Lanreath , Lansallos , Colquite at St Mabyn and Kilgath was £ 11, which does not include all properties. Cergeaux was a son of his father of the same name, Sir Richard Cergeaux († after 1367) and his wife Margaret , the daughter and heiress of Sir John Seneschal from Predarwolas in Cornwall. Master Michael Cergeaux , who later became Dean of Arches , was a younger brother of his.

Rise to the influential country nobleman

Richard Cergeaux inherited his father after 1367. Probably he had fought under the Black Prince in France during the Hundred Years War , because in 1368 he was part of the Prince's entourage in Northampton . As early as 1361 he had been elected Knight of the Shire for Cornwall. In elections 1363, 1365, October 1377, 1381, May and October 1382, February 1383, 1385 and January 1390 he was re-elected, so that he represented Cornwall ten times in the House of Commons . However, he was not consistently elected as Knight of the Shire, because other candidates were chosen in several elections. In addition, Cergeaux served several times from 1364 as magistrate of Cornwall and took on other local offices. He was knighted before 1365 and served as sheriff of Cornwall from October 1375 to October 1376 and December 1388 to November 1389 .

Expansion of his property

Before 1362, Cergeaux had married Elizabeth , a daughter of Sir William Bodrugan . She became her father's heir, which enabled Cergeaux to expand his estates to include the estates of Tremodret , Restronguet , Trevelyn and seven other estates in Cornwall. Through this legacy, Cergeaux eventually owned at least 22 estates in Cornwall. After the death of his wife before 1379, he was allowed to use these goods until his death, and he agreed with Otto Bodrugan , an uncle of his wife, that he could even bequeath two of these goods to children from a second marriage. On July 12, 1376 he was administrator of the Duchy of Cornwall's estates in Cornwall and Devon , making him administrator of Lydford Castle and hunting rights in Dartmoor . For this office he received £ 40 a year, but already on July 20, 1377 he had to resign. After the death of his first wife, he married Philippa FitzAlan , the eldest daughter of Sir Edmund FitzAlan, before 1379 . After the death of her father, she and her sisters inherited his estates, and through the marriage of a granddaughter of the Earl of Arundel , Cergeaux was able to consolidate his position as an influential and wealthy member of the gentry . However, his rise had also made Cergeaux enemies who in early 1379 charged him with several crimes during the last thirteen years before the King's Bench . Cergeaux should hide criminals and even Isabel Trenylwyth raped, he is said to have illegally exploited a beached whale and not left to the king and together with a Spaniard named Fernando , an envoy of King Henry II. Of Castile , an attack on the port of Fowey planned to have. Cergeaux denied these allegations and protested his innocence. Apparently, the charges were not pursued, because Cergeaux subsequently took on numerous other offices, struck down in 1381 and 1381 with the Peasants' Revolt in Cornwall and in 1385 took command to repel a Franco-Spanish attack on the ports of Cornwall. In July 1387 Cergeaux's claim to Chipping Norton , a lucrative Oxfordshire estate that had belonged to Edward FitzAlan, the father of his second wife, was granted. After his death it had been placed under royal administration because of debts, but Cergeaux denied the legality of the debt, whereupon he finally received the property until the legality of the debts was finally clarified. To this end, he claimed further lands near Oxford , which, however, were awarded to William of Wykeham in 1389 to establish New College in Oxford . In the same year Cergeaux was awarded the management of the estates of Thomas Carminowe and the guardianship of his heiress Joan for a fee of 260 marks . Cergeaux had also acquired the right to marry her, but the young heiress died a little later unmarried, so that the property fell to other heirs. In addition, Cergeaux owned a tin mine called Tye , because of which there was an armed conflict with Thomas Kendale in February 1390 . Three days before his death, Cergeaux drew up his will in London, the possessions listed therein are proof of his prosperity.

progeny

He had a daughter from his first marriage to Elizabeth Bodrugan. With his second wife, Philippa FitzAlan, he had four daughters and one son, including:

• Richard Cergeaux († 1396)
• Alice Cergeaux († 1452)

1. ∞ Guy de St Aubyn
2. ∞ Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford
3. ∞ Sir Nicholas Thorley

• Elizabeth Cergeaux (around 1379 – before 1414) ∞ Sir William Marney (around 1370–1414)

After his death, his widow married John Cornewall for a second time . This became the guardian of Cergeaux heirs Richard, who died in 1396. Thereafter, the Cergeaux inheritance was divided among the daughters of Richard Cergeaux, while it came to the Bodrugan inheritance to a protracted inheritance dispute with the Bodrugan family.

Web links

• CERGEAUX (SERGEUX), Sir Richard (d.1393), of Colquite, Cornw. (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1386-1421)

Individual evidence

1. ^ History of Parliament Online: MARNEY, Sir William (c.1370-1414), of Layer Marney, Essex and Kingsey, Bucks. Retrieved December 27, 2017 . 
2. ^ History of Parliament Online: BODRUGAN, William I, of Markwell in St. Erney, Cornw. Retrieved December 27, 2017 .