Family and Education

s. of Isabel Stacy of Thornton, Leics. m. by 1395, Maud, da. and coh. of Richard Wilford^† of Wilford, Notts., 1da.1

Offices Held

Alnager, Notts. and Derbys. 16 Sept. 1392-Nov. 1403.

Clerk of the peace, Notts. 1400-3.2

Bailiff, Nottingham Mich. 1403-4.3

Biography

Stacy, who came from Leicestershire, shared with his mother from 1387 a corrody in Leicester abbey, which the King ordered the abbot to award them for the rest of their lives, for what reason is not revealed. He settled in Nottingham shortly afterwards, and in 1390 acquired tenements in the weekday market and a messuage in The Poultry. In 1395 he was accused in the local courts of blocking a ditch with timber. His later purchases included a dwelling in Hounds Gate, a messuage in the Saturday market and land on West Rye Hill.4

Stacy himself produced woollen cloth, and consequently during his term as alnager his wife, Maud, was assessed for payment of the subsidies on 44 ‘dozens’ in his stead. But after he handed over the seals of office to John Bothall*, in 1403, he once again re-assumed direct responsibility for the charge.5 For the previous three years he had also been serving as clerk of the peace for Nottinghamshire, and it was not until he relinquished these royal posts that he secured appointment as town bailiff. In October 1407, a year after his first election to Parliament for the borough, Stacy attended the county elections. In the meantime, he had become friendly with Cecily, widow of John Crowshaw*, who in 1404 made bequests to his daughter, her namesake and probable god-daughter. He was occasionally required to witness local conveyances, and in March 1414 he served on a Nottingham jury giving evidence against lollards.6

Stacy is last heard of in April 1419, when he placed nine messuages in the hands of trustees. Some time after 1432 his widow brought a suit in Chancery against the surviving executor of his will for failing to complete a sale of the reversion of property in accordance with his last wishes. In 1442 she transferred to her sister Margaret, widow of John Bingham*, all her share of their late father’s lands at Wilford.7

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. Borthwick Inst. York, York registry wills, iii. f. 222.
• 2. E. Stephens, Clerks of Counties, 143.
• 3. Nottingham Recs. ed. Stevenson, ii. 426,
• 4. CCR, 1385-9, p. 319; Nottingham Archs. ct. rolls 1288, 1290 mm. 23d, 26d, 1295 m. 4d; Nottingham Recs. i. 274; ii. 32, 404.
• 5. E101/343/21, 346/9.
• 6. C219/10/4; York wills, iii. ff. 221-2; Nottingham Recs. ii. 405; Nottingham Univ. Lib. Middleton ms D787; KB9/204/1 m. 29.
• 7. C1/9/114; Nottingham Univ. Lib. Clifton ms D903.