There is no evidence to show whether William took part in Lancaster's campaign against the Scots in 1384 or in King Richard's expedition during the summer of the following year, but by 1386 Parr was being drawn into the orbit of his patron's ambition, centering on Castile, for we find that, on 12 January:
28 Lancs., E. Baines, V, 20 gives the date as 1383, but the Inq.p.m. on Wm. Parr of 16 October 1404 states that his son John was 22 years and over on that date. John must therefore have been born before October 1382. Chancery: Inq.p.m. 6 Hen. IV, n. 37.
29 Scrope & Grosvenor Controversy, ed. N. H. Nicolas, II, 334.
30 R. of K., 1, 32, cit. Inq.p.m. Ric. II, n. 41
31 Yorks. Charters. Farrer, II, 15, 16.
32 Complete Peerage, sv. Roos.
33 Reg. 1379/83, 1, 23.
34 Gascon Rolls, Carte, II, 123.
35 Cf. note 28.
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"William de Par, going on the King's service to Portugal, appoints Hugh de Ines and Richard de Assheton as his attornies."36
So, once more, in the spring of 1386, Parr rode along the London-Plymouth highway in attendance upon the duke and his Spanish "Queen." His view of the future must have been satisfactory for, in the event of his patron winning the throne of Castile, the rewards given to his closest followers were likely to be kingly.
Then followed the delay in Devon while ships were being collected, the relief of Brest, the surrender of Corunna and St. James de Compostella, capital of Galicia, where Parr presumably witnessed the arrival of the Castilian embassy with a secret offer of marriage for Lancaster's daughter Katherine with the heir of Castile. That he survived the disastrous campaign which followed, when English knights, esquires and archers died off in hundreds from plague and dysentry, speaks well for the strength of his constitution. It was probably to raise another army for the duke that Parr returned to England in the summer of 1387. By the end of 1388 William had gained the confidence of King Richard II himself and was acting as his agent in trying to secure the early return of Gaunt from Aquitaine to redress the balance of power which the Lords Appellant had weighted so heavily against the king.
It was through Parr's management of the affairs entrusted to him at this juncture that Lancaster seems to have become convinced of his abilities. Richard had already made one attempt to send envoys to Aquitaine, but this had been frustrated, possibly by Arundel, who held the post of High Admiral. Now using Parr as his agent, the king sent to
Richard earl of Arundel, the King's admiral or his lieutenant, the mayors and bailiffs of Plymouth and Dartmouth, and the keepers of the passages in the ports of Fowey and Barnstaple,
36 Deputy Keeper's Report (afterwards referred to as D.K.R.) xl, App. 524, Par. 63.
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strict order as they love the king and his honour, and would escape his wrath, with all speed to provide from the king's money another ship and barge furnished with seamen and gear and deliver them to William Parre for the voyage of certain envoys whom the king purposes to send to John Duke of Lancaster, to declare business which concerns the king and his commonweal [sic], that by their default the business remain not undone which the king would impute to their neglect; as lately, by the advice and assent of the Council, a great ship and barge were arrested and suddenly departed for foreign parts at the will of the owners and possessors for their advantage, without advising the king, as his highness is informed. Dated Windsor, 4 December 1388.37
Nearly a year passed before the duke landed at Plymouth. The day following, 20 November, he granted by letters patent
"to William de Par, his bachelor, on his surrender of earlier letters patent—granting him 50 marks a year for life from the issues of the duchy of Lancaster—£50 a year therefrom.:38
The bestowal of this grant and the fact that Parr was now a knight bachelor obviously betokens the performance of some outstanding service on his part. Possibly he accompanied the freightship sent out by the king in 1389 to bring back his uncle Gaunt from Aquitaine.39 Parr may then have given his patron first hand information regarding the political situation in England, urging upon him the desirability of leaving affairs which, as its governor, had kept the duke in the French province, to deal with the serious state of emergency in England which Parr must have known would continue as long as Gloucester's lust for power remained unchecked, and the divided state of the Council continued to threaten the stability and peace of the realm.
The next seven years which marked for England and Lancaster a period and prosperity, also brought further honours and wealth to Parr. In 1390 Sir Thomas de Ros—Lady Elizabeth Parr's grandfather—ended his
37 Calendar of Close Rolls (afterwards referred to as C.C.R.) 1385/9, 548.
38 C.P.R. 1396/9, 575.
39 Foedera VII, 641.
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long and turbulent life40 and on 23 January 1391 Sir William and his wife were granted
"full seisin of all the lands which Thomas held of the king in chief in fee tail . . . on the day of his death, as the king has taken homage and fealty due from William by reason of his having issue by Elizabeth."41
Parr did not, however, retire to his northern fortress in Westmorland, for Lancaster went to Amiens to negotiate a truce with Charles of France, taking a magnificent retinue of 1,000 horsemen. Stately processions, royal banquets and tournaments followed fast upon each other, and the grant made by the duke to Sir William and his wife of an estate in Cornwall,
"of the land and lordship of Ayran in the parish of St. Medart, Ruyan, forfeited by the lord of Budos, 26 October 1392", 42
points to a desire on the part of the duke to contribute towards the heavy expenses incurred by Parr as his knight bachelor during the recent diplomatic mission.
But a higher honour was pending. The duke decided to make sure of the experience in diplomacy which at least two members of his suite had gained during their years of service with him in foreign courts. Sir William Parr with Sir Walter Blount and Henry Bowet, archdeacon of Lincoln were appointed in April 1393 to negotiate a renewal of the truce with King Enrique of Castile,43 which had been arranged originally by John of Gaunt with king João.
Hard on his return to England Sir William was commissioned in 1394 to attend Lancaster to Aquitaine, this time as duke of the province. In the stately and luxurious court established in Bordeaux Parr evidently carried out the duties assigned to him to the duke's satisfaction for on 18 July 1394 he was appointed—from Bordeaux—Justice of the Forests of the duchy of Lancaster for life.44
40 R. of K. 1. 32. cit. Inq.p.m. 14, Rich. II, n. 41.
41 Calendar of Fine Rolls (afterwards referred to as C.F.R.) 1383/91, X 351.
42 C.P.R. 1399/1401, 74.
43 Foedera VII, 739.
44 43rd D.K.R. (App. 1), 367.
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But this colourful interlude in the south ended with Lancaster's return to England in the autumn of 1395. Though Parr was to see them again, Lancaster was unknowingly looking his last on the fruitful vineyards and cornfields of France. After tarrying in Brittany to conclude a treaty with its changeable duke on 25 November, the Lancastrian party proceeded to England where Parr must have been met, soon after his arrival with news of the illness, or possibly the death of his wife, for she died presumably early in the New Year, since Parr was in Kendal in May,45 the first recorded report of his presence there. Before October 1396 he had remarried.46
His second wife was not, as might have been expected of superior wealth or social status to Elizabeth. She was Margaret, widow of Sir Laurence de Dutton, a Cheshire knight who had died before 30 January 1392/3.47 The new marriage was made in such haste that the necessary licence from the king was not obtained. In consequence Lady Margaret had to
"make fine in £12. 4s. 4d. for marriage to William de Par, knight, without licence."48
This was the exact amount of her yearly dower from lands formerly held of the king by the deceased Sir Laurence and valued at £36. 13s. 4d. yearly.49
One of Sir William's first recorded tasks in the north was to import corn from Ireland for the needs of his tenants and household at a time when, it seems, the domestic crop had failed.50 Little is known of the domestic economy of the north west at this time, but a document of 18 Hen. V throws a thin ray of light upon the district, informing us that Cumberland and Lancashire had been accustomed "long since" to obtain much of their grain and bread from Richmond market in Yorkshire:
45 C.P.R. 1391. 6, 711.
46 36th D.K.R. (App. II) 160, 161, no. 1.
47Ibid.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid.
50 C.P.R. 1391 6, 711.
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"Many merchants from the adjacent parts of Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire were wont [sic] to resort there with merchandise, grain, victuals and other goods every Saturday in the year, as well as carriers of grain and bread belonging to the adjacent parts of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire and the neighbourhood of Lonsdale,m Craven, Dent and Sedbergh in which no great quantity of corn was then grown, for which reason the inhabitants of those parts made their chief provision of grain in Richmond market . . .
The people of the adjoining counties of Cumberand [sic], Westmorland and Lancashire have thrown into cultivation large tracts of moors and wastes by means of which carriers of grain, using to resort to Richmond from these parts of Lonsdale and Sedbergh, have long since withdrawn from the said market."51
Was Sir William, inspired by recollections of the cornfields of France, one of those who threw "into cultivation large tracts of moors and wastes" in Westmorland?
The fact that he began to play in active part in the county as a commissioner introduces us to two feuds which had a more than local interest. On 1 March 1397 he was appointed to serve on a commission of the peace and of oyer and terminer in Westmorland.52 As the delinquents named were still at large in November 1398 a stronger commission was appointed—Ralph, earl of Westmorland,* Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland,* his son, Henry Percy,* Richard Redman of Levens, William de Culwen, Thomas Colvyll, a Yorkshire knight,* Thomas Tunstall of Thurland Castle,* Thomas Musgrave and the sheriffs of Yorkshire and Westmorland, with John Elyngham the king's sergeant at arms, Richard de Croft,* and John Hudleston, with orders—
"on information of dissensions between John de Preston, and John, son of Thomas de Middleton, John de Blande, Adam Touke, William and Roger de Blande and Thomas Spicer of unlawful assemblies in those counties and the lying in wait of the last named to kill the said John de Preston and his friends, causing homicides, insurrections, riots—to arrest the persons last
51 Richmondshire, Whitaker, 1, 96, 97. C.P.R. 1436/41, 452, 509, 510.
52 Ibid., 1396/99, 97.
* The asterisk denotes a relative, retainer or supporter of Gaunt.
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named and bring them before the king in council, arresting also others to be found of their following."53
Now since 1377, the Blandes and Middletons had been involved from time to time in disturbances of the peace in Yorkshire aimed particularly against Gaunt's officers and property or that of his retainers.54 They were joined later by the Bekwyths55 and the trouble came to a head in February 1393 when Sir Robert de Rokley, Gaunt's forester of the Chace of Knaresborough slew several of the Bekwyths,56 who retaliated by murdering Thomas de Blande, one of their own confederates whom they accused of betraying them to their enemies,57 John de Preston and his friends, whom the Middletons and Blandes with their confederates were lying in wait to kill in 1397 and 1398 was a justice of the King's Bench58 and a landowner in Westmorland having inherited the manor of Preston Patrick near Kendal.59
During the disturbances in Yorkshire he had served on commissions of a strongly Lancastrian character in Westmorland and Yorkshire at least fifteen times since November 1376.60 It seems clear, therefore, from this evidence, that the enmity of the Middletons and Blandes was directed against Preston in his judicial capacity, the justice's "friends" being most probably, his fellow commissioners.
The second feud with which Parr had to deal appears from the names of some of the protagonists to have a certain connection with the first. In November 1398 he and John Elyngham were appointed
"on information of divers dissensions between Edmund Redman, Richard Doket, John and Thomas de Lancaster and others, on
53 C.P.R. 1396/99, 503; 1377/81, 94.
54 Ibid., 1377/81, 305.
55 C.P.R. 1389/92, 140, 343; 1391/96, 76, 273, 284, 551. Polychronicon, Higden, IX, 239/240.
56 Polychronicon, Higden, IX, 219.
57 Polychronicon, Higden, IX, 265, C.P.R. 1391/96, 265.
58 Judges of England, E. Foss, III, 354, 355.
59 C.C.R. 1392/96, 472.
60 C.P.R. 1374/77, 314, 88; 1377/81, 515; 1381/85, 140, 245, 253; 1385/89, 258, 475; 1389/92, 137, 192, 343, 346; 1393/96, 292, 434, 438.
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the one side, and the Roger de Wyndesore, William, Thomas and John de Bethom, Roland, John and Richard Threlkeld and Christopher Forster on the other . . . to arrest all persons named and their followers . . ."61
The primary cause of these divisions seems to have been a family dispute over the will and property of Sir William de Wyndesore of Heversham, Westmorland, husband of the court beauty, Alice Perrers, mistress of Edward III. Wyndesore had died in 1385 and his three sisters, Margery Duket, Christiana Morieux and Isabel de Wyndesore were found by inquisition to be his heirs.62 Sir William had, however, during his lifetime disposed of some of his property to his nephew John de Wyndesore,63 leaving the bulk of it by will to him and his brothers.64
Of the disputants mentioned in Parr's commission of 1398, Richard Duket was Margery's son,65 Thomas and John de Lancaster, if my deductions from the evidence are correct, were illegitimate sons of Christopher de Lancaster by Isabel de Wyndesore,66 while Edmund Redman was a relative by marriage of the Dukets.67
On the opposing side, Roger Wyndesore was John's brother and one of the beneficiaries of his uncle's will which does not mention any of Sir William's three sisters or their descendants. The Bethoms and Christopher Forster were adherents of the Lancastrian party,68 and John de Preston of the Wyndesores,69 which provides evidence for a connection in the personnel at least between this feud and the first, especially as Christopher Forster was one of those who supported Sir Robert de Rokley, Gaunt's officer, in his feud against the Bekwyths;70 the
61 Ibid., 1396 99, 503.
62 Duchet, 332 cit. Chancery Inq.p.m. 8, Rich. II, n. 38.
63 Ibid. 177 (note 9).
64 Ibid. 286.
65 Ibid., 16.
66 CW2 x 463/469.
67 Duchet. 16; Redmans of Levens, W. Greenwood, 159, 186.
68 Thomas de Bethom was esquire to Hugh de Calveley. C.P.R. 1385/89, 476. In 1372 Calveley was Gaunt's "well loved bachelor", Reg. 1372/76, 1, 45
69 C.P.R. 1388/92, 476; 1361/64, 217, 416.
70 Ibid., 1361/64, 219.
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Threlkelds, Bethoms and John de Preston also shared a common emnity against the abbot of Shap.71
Unfortunately we are given no certain evidence regarding the final outcome of these disturbances. The likelihood is that they were swallowed up—for a time at least—in the great feud of 1399 which ended by Bolingbroke mounting his cousin Richard's throne as Henry IV.
Before that happened Gaunt died on 3 February 1399 and Parr, one of the executors of his will, experienced at first hand King Richard's unscrupulous actions regarding the Lancastrian inheritance. Within a month of Gaunt's death the king had changed Henry of Lancaster's temporary sentence of exile into one for life and seized his vast inheritance, ordering the executors to carry out Gaunt's will as speadily [sic] as possible, but to keep the stock formerly owned by the duke in places appointed by the king and his minsters.72
On Gaunt's death, Richard took Parr into his service, confirming to him "because retained to stay with the king only" the £50 a year for life which the duke had granted to him for the issues of the duchy.73
Exactly what part was played by Parr in the tragic events which ended in Richard's deposition is not known. The usurping king showed himself more than generous to most of those who had aided him to gain the throne, but Sir William only received a confirmation of the grant of the lordship of Ayran made to him by Gaunt seven years previously,74 Taking into consideration the long and faithful service given to the new kings' father, the meagreness of his reward perhaps suggests that Parr had been slow in deciding to support Henry.
But Parr's wide military experience made him invaluable in the north where, in spite of the preliminaries of a truce having been arranged with Scotland at the end
71 Ibid. 1361 64, 654.
72 Ibid. 1396 99, 502.
73 Ibid. 1396 99, 575.
74 Ibid. 1390 1401, 74.
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of November 1399, Henry had to complain of "very great and horrible outrages perpetrated in England by certain Scots"75 who burned Wark Castle. Parr, under Northumberland and Westmorland, called out the local forces,76 but the trouble blew over when the Scottish government offered profuse apologies.77
In 1400 Henry recognized Parr's diplomatic ability by sending him with John Trevor, bishop of St. Asaph to announce his accession in Spain78 where the young Enrique of Castile and his consort, Katherine of Lancaster were now reigning. Parr was rewarded after his return in 1402—
"to the king's knight, William Par, a stag and hind in season each year for life, within the forest of Inglewode."79
Sir William's last recorded services were the collection of the tenth and fifteenth in Westmorland in December 1402,80 and his appointment with the earl of Westmorland to a commission of array in September 1403.81 If one may deduce from this that Parr was serving with Westmorland when the earl prevented the forces of the rebel Northumberland from joining those of his son Hotspur at Chester, then we are left with no doubts of Parr's wholehearted allegiance to Henry IV, once he was established on the throne.
Before 9 October of the following year Parr was dead.82 His son John was now aged 22 and over, 83 and, until a short time before his father's death had not married. Perhaps Sir William had hoped for further sons by his second wife, for John's early death at the age of 26 or 27,84 and the fact that his name is practically
75 Royal and Historical Letters of Henry IV, ed. F. C. Hingeston, 13. No. 5.
76 C.P.R. 1399/1401, 209.
77 Polit. Hist. of Eng., C. Oman, IV, 160, 161.
78 Chron. of Trokelowe and Blaneford, ed. H. T. Riley, 320.
79 C.P.R. 1401/05, 85.
80 C.P.R. 12, 188.
81 C.P.R. 1401/05, 287.
82 C.P.R. 1399/1405, 265; Chancer: Inq.p.m. 6 Hen. IV n. 37.
83 Chancery: Inq.p.m. ut supra.
84 C.P.R. 1405/13. 120; Chancery: Inq.p.m. 9 Hen. IV, n. 38.
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absent from the records, suggests a delicacy of constitutions. A premonition of his own death may have impelled Sir William to arrange a match between his heir and Agnes Devereux, widow of Sir Walter Devereux of Herefordshire, who died in 1403.85
Sir William had not the consolation of knowing about the birth of his grandson Thomas. He may have died tormented by the fear that the line he had worked so strenuously to establish in prosperity might die out. In fact, Thomas was to prove the most prolific of all the Westmorland Parrs, and many of Sir William's descendants were to inherit his fine qualities of courage in war, versatility and adaptability in peace, as well as those of foresight and industry, which, with a certain ruthlessness often inherent in ambitious natures, enabled his descendants to add to the family wealth, prestige and possessions.
These, as left by Sir William and judged comparatively were not great. Much of his income, granted for life, died with him, so that only the fourth part of the manor of Kirkby in Kendale, his in the right of his first wife and worth £40 yearly,86 with one-eighth part of his vill [sic] of Parr, his own inheritance, for which he paid 15d. yearly to his overlord,87 were inherited by John.
But the importance of Sir William's efforts lay in the fact that he had established his family firmly in the ranks of the independent, landed middle class which was to play such an important part in the development of 15TH and 16TH-century England.
On his foundation, using his means—those of natural ability, the favour of powerful patrons and brilliant marriage alliances—Parr's grandson and great grandson were to heighten the family edifice, until its upper storeys reached that rarer air warmed by the sun of royalty itself. They were also to find that the tempests of changing fortune buffeted a taller building more dangerously.
85 Hist. Co. Hereford, J. Duncumbe, II, 36 seq.; cit. Chancery: Inq.p.m. 14, Hen. VI, n. 9.
86 R. of K. I, 34, 35.
87 VCH. Lancs. III, 377 (note 6).
