MAUNSER, Michael, of Midhurst,, Suss.

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

Family and Education

Offices Held

Tax collector, Suss. Sept. 1431.

Biography

Maunser came from a local family, one of whose number, Roger, had been assessed at Midhurst for the poll tax of 1379. He himself served as a juror at two coroners’ inquests held there in January 1402, then indicting the lord of the borough, Sir John Bohun, together with his servants, for the murder of William Baggele*. Bohun’s men took their revenge a month later by lying in wait to ambush Maunser and John Ive II*, a fellow juror, but they apparently escaped.1

Maunser witnessed a deed at Midhurst in March 1422 on behalf of Thomas Westlond*. Another close associate was Michael Baggele* (son of the man murdered in 1401): together, in 1428, they acted as trustees of properties at Midhurst, West Dean, and Easebourne, which were then settled on John atte Wode and his wife; and they both attested the enfeoffment made by Sir John Bohun and his wife, Anne, of their manors of Midhurst and Easebourne in September 1430. Evidently, they were now reconciled to Sir John. Maunser was a member of the jury which at Midhurst in October 1431 gave evidence to the escheator about the landed possessions of Thomas Baggele, Michael’s brother, who had been burnt at the stake as a convicted heretic earlier that year. He and Michael were among the eight leading burgesses of Midhurst who, in April 1432, reached an agreement with Sir John Bohun whereby the town’s liberties were confirmed and enlarged.2

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

  • 1. Suss. Arch. Colls. xx. 11; xcv. 50-52.
  • 2. W. Suss. RO, Cowdray mss 4455, 4734/5; Suss. Feet of Fines (Suss. Rec. Soc. xxiii), 2939; Add. Ch. 20114; C139/54/26.