MAN, Henry, of Salisbury, Wilts.

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

Mar. 1416

Family and Education

Offices Held

Reeve, Salisbury 1 Nov. 1415-16; constable 22 May-1 Nov. 1419;2 mayor 1 Nov. 1402-1, 1431-2, 1438-9; auditor 1426-7.3

Commr. of array, Salisbury Mar. 1440.

Biography

Little is known of Man before June 1414, when he sold a house in Salisbury. In March 1415 he contributed £1 towards the £100 loan made by the city to Henry V. Then, during his term of office as reeve, he was twice returned to Parliament, in November 1415 and March 1416. However, as regards the second occasion, he apparently did not attend the full session, for his expenses were paid for only 31 of the 44 days the Parliament lasted.4 In September the same year he was appointed an executor of a fellow citizen, John Becket*. By the end of 1417 he was a member of the convocation of Salisbury, and regularly attended meetings thereafter for the next 25 years.5 Earlier in 1417 he had acted as an assessor of contributions to the city’s share of a parliamentary subsidy. He himself was naturally subject to subsidies and other taxes levied in Salisbury on many occasions between then and 1442. In fact, his increasing wealth during this period is indicated by progressively larger contributions until, in 1434, he was assessed at a greater amount than any other citizen.6

Meanwhile, during Man’s first term of office as mayor in 1420-1, the convocation agreed that all future mayors should be granted £10 towards their official expenses, and that no monetary gifts should be presented to visiting royalty or nobles without the express order of the corporation. Later, in September 1426, he was one of those appointed to arbitrate in a dispute between the then mayor, William Warwyk, and Thomas Freeman, who had made certain offensive remarks concerning Warwyk and his conduct in office. When, in 1434, Henry VI visited Salisbury, Man was one of those charged with providing liveries of green cloth for the members of the convocation. Six years later, during an invasion scare, he was appointed to a local commission of array. A long record of activity as a witness to local deeds, dating back to 1416, ended in 1442. In December 1442 he made his last recorded attendance at a meeting of convocation, and it was probably soon after this that he died.7

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: Charles Kightly

Notes

  • 1. He received 30s. for 15 days’ service in 1415, £3 3s. for 31 days in March 1416, £4 12s. for 46 days in 1422, £8 for 40 days in 1425, and £14 2s. for 141 days in 1429; Salisbury RO, ledger bk. A, ff. 56, 60, 84, 88, 94.
  • 2. Salisbury RO, ‘Domesday bk.’ 3, f. 21; ledger bk. A, f. 67.
  • 3. ‘Domesday bk.’ 3, ff. 56, 126; R. Benson and H. Hatcher, Old and New Sarum, 695; ledger bk. A, f. 91.
  • 4. ‘Domesday bk.’ 3, f. 13; ledger bk. A, ff. 54, 56.
  • 5. PCC 36 Marche; ledger bk. A, ff. 62, 68, 83, 84, 98-99, 110, 133.
  • 6. Ledger bk. A, ff. 60, 62, 68, 89, 90, 99, 108, 129.
  • 7. Benson and Hatcher, 115, 118; ledger bk. A, ff. 90, 129.