The moieties, Heydon and the siege

THE MOIETIES

Sir Edmund Bacon had two daughters, Margaret and Margery and following his death in 1327 the estate was divided between them. As far as the manor of Gresham is concerned both daughters held an equal share or ‘moiety’. It is worth looking at how both shares of Gresham manor were inherited and disposed through subsequent generations in order to understand the orgins of the siege of Gresham.

The Margaret share followed a simple line of inheritance. Margaret married John de Berghurst in 1372 and they had a daughter, Maud, and she brought the Gresham share by marriage to Thomas Chaucer, Esq. son of the famous poet in 1395.

The Margery share became part of the Moleyns estate following her marriage to Sir William de Moleyns (Lord Moleyns) in 1352. However, Margery outlived both her husband and son (Richard) so the estate was hers to dispose of following her death.

Following the Death of Margery in 1389, the Moleyns Gresham share seems to have been passed to Thomas de la Lynde and then John de la Vache (perhaps as a repayment for a debt) after which it was to be sold on, but Margery stipulated that her grandson William II would have the first option to buy it back.

In 1414 Elizabeth Vache dies and Richard Wyot (the executor of Margery’s will) began negotiations for the sale of the Margery's share of Gresham manor. This was now 25 years after Margery’s death.

Margery’s grandson, Sir William II, agreed to buy the share for 920 marks (£600) and arranged with Sir Thomas Faucanor MP the marriage of his son (William III) to Faucanors daughter Katherine.

As a result Faucanor was granted the Gresham share and he partially paid for it, however, Katherine died shortly afterwards. Although Faucanor still held the manor and had partially paid for it, it was still Richard Wyots to dispose of in its entirety and so the Margery share was in limbo to some extent.

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Thomas Chaucer

CHAUCER AND PASTON

In 1425 William Moleyns II dies and this is when Thomas Chaucer (holder of the other share) gets involved. Thomas happens to be a good friend of Wyot and sees an opportunity to help him out and dispose of the Moleyns Gresham share. Chaucer is also a friend of Judge William Paston who is interested in buying the Gresham manor as a whole.

Subsequently in 1427, Chaucer arranged the buy-out of Faucanor, and made sure the Moleyns family did not try interfere with the buy-out, he also arranged a quick sale with William Paston in a way that the sale was unambiguous and clear and the entire Gresham manor was sold Judge William two years later.

This is very interesting and of course rather informative in regards to Chaucer seeing what he thinks is an opportunity to dispose of the manor after the death of William II. There clearly must have been some ill feeling from the Moleyns’ in regard to how the Gresham share was being dealt with as illustrated by the lengths Chaucer went to make sure everything was above board.

This ill feeling could have prevailed beyond the sale and exploited by John Heydon when John and Margaret Paston inherited the manor. John Heydon, of course, was the influential lawyer who later persuaded the future Lord Moleyns (Robert Hungerford) to seize Gresham from the Pastons.

A much more detailed account of how Chaucer arranged the sale of Gresham to William Paston can be found in an excellent paper by Mary-Jo Arn titled 'Thomas Chaucer and William Paston take control '

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HEYDON

Two years after William Paston acquired Gresham, William Moleyns III was killed during the siege of Orleans and the Moleyns estate passed to Eleanor who married Robert Hungerford and he in turn was summoned to Parliament in 1445 as Lord Moleyns. One year earlier, John and Margaret Paston were given the manor of Gresham by William as part of Margaret’s jointure.

John Heydon was a rival of Judge William, and he was essentially jealous of William’s quick rise through the judicial ranks and subsequent appointment as a judge of the Common Bench.

Heydon owed his standing as a supporter and proxy of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Heydon’s many enemies regarded him as deceitful, hard-nosed and greedy. Heydon was a calculating lawyer and he always seemed to be one step ahead of them.

The Traditional narrative is that Heydon discovered that an ancestor of Hungerford’s wife, Eleanor, had once had an option to buy a share of Gresham and that the option had been refused and all claim lost. He must have been referring to William II and explains why Chaucer thought it was necessary to make the sale water tight. There may well have been a genuine grievance as yet unknown, but in legal terms the Pastons had no case to answer.

Heydon clearly sees an opportunity to influence Lord Moleyns and cause trouble for the Pastons and causing trouble for the Pastons was his motivation. It’s worth remembering that Heydon was building his power base at Baconsthorpe just up the road and maybe thought that a Paston powerbase at Gresham was a bit too close for comfort.

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THE SIEGE OF GRESHAM

THE SEIGE OF GRESHAM

In February 1448, on the basis of the spurious claim, Moleyns’ men, led by his agent John Partridge, seized the mansion. During the following summer, John Paston tried to see Moleyns but was unsuccessful, but he eventually agreed that counsels from both sides should meet.

After 16 days Paston’s counsel had the better of the argument and Moleyns counsel suggested that if Paston met Moleyns they would try and persuade him of Paston’s case. This never happened, so in October John Paston retakes the Manor house by force.

In January 1449, with John in London, Margaret and her household were forcibly evicted by Moleyns men once more and although John considered force to retake the Manor, he eventually began to get some legal traction.

In March Royal Officials sent John de Vere, earl of Oxford, one of the local justices of the peace to Gresham, but he was denied access in trying to assess whether a forcible attempt had been made to gain entry to the Manor by Moleyns men. He explained that he had been forcibly prevented from entering Gresham and lacked the necessary strength and time to enforce the process, but he did describe the damage done to the manor house and outbuildings.

The following year the Duke of Suffolk executed and, with him gone, his protection for Moleyns and Heydon disappeared. With Moleyns power now curtailed, John orders his bailiff to retake the Manor House in November.

In 1451 Moleyns was indicted for the siege of Gresham, and the case opened in Norwich. He was duly acquitted, but agreed to provide compensation for the Paston’s losses. It would be very interesting to know just how the Pastons were compensated. Would it have been enough to turn the manor house into a castellated power base?