Family and Education

s. of John Breinton of Hereford. m. Joan (d.1419), at least 1s. George*.1

Offices Held

Coroner, Herefs. bef. Nov. 1390, Hereford bef. Jan. 1404.

Bailiff, Hereford Mich. 1391-7, 1398-1400.2

Biography

Earlier members of Breinton’s family, who were called after the village of that name situated two miles from Hereford, had been canons of the cathedral; Roger Breinton was an executor of the will of Bishop Swinfield (d.1317), and Thomas Breinton sub-treasurer in the 1360s. In May 1369 Thomas Corveiser, a skinner, describing himself as a brother of the late John Breinton, quitclaimed to William, John’s son, his right to all the Hereford property of his father, William Corveiser. Eight years later, in July 1377, William Breinton was one of the 25 men appointed as ‘keepers’ of the city of Hereford, with full powers to array the inhabitants. At the elections held there for the Parliaments of January 1380 and April 1384 he found mainprise for the appearance of Richard Nash* and Nicholas Prille†, respectively. At an unknown date in the 1380s he had been appointed coroner of Herefordshire, but on 7 Nov. 1390, following reports of his death, the sheriff was instructed to arrange the election of his successor. Evidently the reports were untrue, for Breinton attended the parliamentary elections for the city in 1391 and 1397, there providing securities for Thomas Buryton and James Nash; and during the last decade of the century he regularly witnessed deeds in Hereford, nearly always in his capacity as bailiff. It was not until 16 Jan. 1404 that his office as city coroner had certainly fallen vacant as a result of his death.3

Breinton’s widow made her will on 31 Mar. 1419, requesting burial in the churchyard by the north door of Hereford cathedral, next to the graves ‘meorum puerorum’ . The will reveals that the Breintons were a fairly wealthy family, and, as Joan appointed a draper as co-executor with her son George, it is possible that William Breinton had been similarly engaged in the cloth trade. Much later, in July 1447, William’s feoffees conveyed part of his property to Thomas Breinton†, who is presumed to have been his grandson.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. CAD, vi. C6551, 6631.
• 2. Cal. Hereford Cathedral Muns. (NLW, 1955), nos. 69, 131, 167, 418, 495, 1162; E326/4120; CAD, vi. C1084, 1219, 4657, 6518, 6733; HMC 13th Rep. IV, 287.
• 3. Cal. Hereford Cathedral Muns. nos. 540, 1068, 1732, 2800; Hereford City Lib. MT/III/25; CPR, 1374-7, p. 75; 1377-81, p. 5; CAD, vi. C6551; C219/8/4, 10, 9/8, 12; CCR, 1389-92, p. 223; 1402-5, p. 246.
• 4. C146/6631; CAD, vi. C6603.