MORE, Robert II (d.1407), of Pamber, Hants.

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

Sept. 1397

Family and Education

s. of John atte More of Pamber by Isabel, ?da. of Robert atte Bere.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Hants 4 Nov. 1393-11 Nov. 1394.

Verderer, Pamber forest c.1394-d.

Commr. of array, Hants July 1402.

Biography

More belonged to the family which held small amounts of property at Pamber and Tadley during the 14th and 15th centuries, and had close associations with the local Benedictine priory at Monk Sherborne. His father held a corrody at the priory and in 1381 granted the monks a tenement and 2s. rent from premises nearby in Sherborne St. John. Other lands there, which John held of the priory on a 90-years’ lease free of the rent of 41s. a year, Robert inherited before December 1387, only to be forced to sell to a wealthy and influential neighbour, Sir Bernard Brocas* of Beaurepaire, apparently to repay a debt of £100. Robert was not even the sole heir of his father’s holdings, insubstantial as they were, and his share was further depleted in 1392 by his conveyance to the priory of more land at Sherborne and Pamber.1

More’s career was similarly of little account, and notable only for his inclusion between 1383 and 1404 as a witness to several deeds relating to the Brocas estates, and for his association with Sir Bernard Brocas in one or two other transactions. The full explanation for his election as a knight of the shire does not apparently lie here, for this Sir Bernard died in 1395 and his son and namesake never sat in the House of Commons and is not known to have taken an interest in parliamentary affairs. The younger Sir Bernard was a staunch adherent of Richard II, however, and the King would have welcomed the return to this particular Parliament (which was to repeal the Acts of the Merciless Parliament) of men who would support him, or at least not offer any opposition to his policies. Between 1394 and 1396 More had been paid £3 6s.8d.for preparing and bringing eight large oaks from Pamber forest to Winchester for repairs to the castle. He was then a verderer of Pamber, but it is possible that he was more than just officially connected with the constable of the castle, Robert Cholmley, a ‘King’s esquire’, for it was with the latter that he sat in the Commons a year later. More died shortly before 11 Apr. 1407.2

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

  • 1. Queen’s Coll. Oxf. deeds 111, 217-18; M. Burrows, Fam. Brocas of Beaurepaire, 381-2, 411; VCH Hants, iv. 219, 434.
  • 2. Burrows, 383-5, 410-12, 417; Add. Chs. 24698, 24701; E101/491/25; CCR, 1405-9, p. 208.