Family and Education

Offices Held

Bailiff of the hundred of Powder, Cornw. Mich. 1404-15.1

Biography

Penalewy was a minor local official of the duchy of Cornwall, of which the borough of Helston, which he represented in Parliament, formed a part. For several years he held the office of bailiff of the hundred of Powder, being called on to present accounts for the issues of the hundred at the duchy exchequer at Michaelmas 1405 and every year thereafter until 1415. Eleven years elapsed before he was next recorded; then, at the elections to the Parliament of 1426, he stood surety for James Nanfan^†, one of the burgesses-elect for Truro, the nearest parliamentary borough to his home at Penhallow. In 1430, described as a ‘gentleman’, Penalewy took out a royal pardon of his outlawry in London following a suit brought by a brewer of the City to whom he owed money; and in 1434 he obtained another such pardon after being impleaded for failing to hand over £50 due to another creditor, Henry Denbold^† of Okehampton. There can be no doubt that he ended his career in severe financial difficulties, for debts amounting to £70, which he had incurred at Lostwithiel and at the Staple at Exeter, were still outstanding in May 1443.2

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. SC6/819/15, 820/2, 3; Duchy of Cornw. RO, ministers’ accts. 35-42.
• 2. C219/13/4; CPR, 1429-36, pp. 89, 317; C241/224/13, 228/16, 117, 173, 230/31.