CARLISLE, Robert II (d.1433), of Carlisle, Cumb.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

May 1413
Nov. 1414
May 1421

Family and Education

J.p. Cumb. 20 Mar. 1428-d.

Offices Held

Verderer, Inglewood forest, Cumb. to d.

Biography

It is not always easy to distinguish Robert II from his two namesakes, the first of whom, Robert I*, may have been his father. The second, who died at some point between 1466 and 1471, also represented Carlisle in Parliament (in 1449), and was perhaps his own son or nephew. There can be little doubt, however, that Robert II secured his seat in the House of Commons through the efforts of Robert I, who attested the returns for Carlisle to all but one of the Parliaments in which his young kinsman served (that for 1410 is very badly damaged, but since Robert I was then mayor of Carlisle he must have played a prominent part in holding the election). Robert II evidently spent some of his early life in Ireland, because in April 1419 he was allocated a pension of 20 marks a year by the Crown out of the farm of Drogheda as compensation ‘for the injuries he sustained from the Irish’.2

Between them, the three Robert Carlisles served continuously on the Cumberland bench from 1405 to 1461, and it is difficult to tell exactly when one replaced another. Since Robert I died in about 1425, we may assume that Robert II succeeded him when the next commissions of the peace were issued three years later. He attended the elections for Carlisle to the Parliaments of 1426 and 1431, but was dead by 22 May 1433, the date of a royal writ ordering the sheriff to appoint a new verderer in Inglewood forest because he had died in office.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: C.R.

Notes

  • 1. Although not described as ‘the younger’ on this return as he is on all the others, Robert II clearly sat for Carlisle in the 1419 Parliament. Robert I, who helped to get him elected, was then serving as mayor, and would not have stood as a candidate while in office (C219/12/3).
  • 2. HP ed. Wedgwood 1439-1509, Biogs. 158; DKR, xii. 777; C219/11/1, 4, 12/2, 3, 5, 13/1.
  • 3. C219/13/4, 14/2; CCR, 1429-35, p. 206.