BRODEGATE, Thomas (by 1485-1526), of Salisbury, Wilts.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1485, s. of John Brodegate by w. Agnes. m. (1) Joan; (2) Joan; (3) Catherine; (4) Agnes; at least 1s.2

Offices Held

Member of the Forty-Eight, Salisbury 1506, of the Twenty-Four 1509, constable 1507, alderman, Market ward 1508, auditor 1518, 1524, mayor 1520-1.3

Biography

A merchant, Thomas Brodegate seems to have migrated to Salisbury from Kendal in Westmorland, as in his will he left 40s. each to the churches of St. Thomas, Salisbury, and Holy Trinity, Kendal, for prayers for himself, his parents and his wives. After his admission to the Forty-Eight his civic career followed the standard progression, culminating in a mayoralty. In 1509 the corporation discharged him from the office of constable but two years later he was appointed to supervise the repair of tenements which belonged to the city. On 7 Oct. 1517 he agreed to pay 10 marks to be freed for ever from the stewardship of St. George, and while mayor he presented the city with a bell to hang in the market. In the mid 1520s he was twice assessed for subsidy, on goods valued first at £133 6s.8d. and then at £200; the second of these assessments was higher than that of any other citizen in St. Martin’s ward.4

On 24 Jan. 1515 Salisbury returned Thomas Coke and Richard Bartholomew as Members of Parliament. They served for the first session lasting from 5 Feb. until 5 Apr. 1515, but on the following 4 Oct. they were both discharged, being replaced by Brodegate and John Abarough. Coke and Bartholomew were elderly men who may have agreed to sit for a session in deference to the King’s request for the return of the Members of 1512 but who then asked to be relieved. Whereas Coke twice remitted his parliamentary expenses in return for exemptions, there is no sign that either Brodegate or Abarough did so. By his will made on 8 Oct. 1526 and proved two months later Brodegate asked to be buried in St. Thomas’s church and provided for his wife Agnes and son Richard. He named Richard executor and among others John Abarough and Henry Coldston overseers.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: T. F.T. Baker

Notes

  • 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament; Salisbury corp. ledger B, f. 233v.
  • 2. Date of birth estimated from first reference. PCC 12 Porch; Churchwardens’ Accts. of St. Edmund and St .Thomas, Sarum (Wilts. Rec. Soc. 1896), 56-57.
  • 3. Ledger B, ff. 213v, 216, 218v, 220, 241, 245, 254v.
  • 4. PCC 12 Porch; Churchwardens’ Accts. of St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, 58-59, 381; ledger B, ff. 220, 227, 239, 247, 247v; E179/197/160, 359/16.
  • 5. Ledger B, ff. 231, 233v, 238v, 253; PCC 12 Porch.