Family and Education

m. bef. Nov. 1437, Alice.1

Offices Held

Biography

At Michaelmas 1402 John Salerne I* of Iden sued Posterf in the court of common pleas for pasturing cattle on his ground at Rye and carrying off goods of his worth £5. Posterf defaulted when summoned and was outlawed accordingly, but eventually appeared to answer the charge in 1408, then producing a royal pardon of outlawry obtained in October that year. In the meantime he had established himself at Rye, where in 1405-6 he paid the town a maltolt of 8d. as well as 4s. rent for two plots; and a few years later he contributed 2s. towards a scot levied there. In 1405 or 1406 the authorities paid him 8d. for landing guns (‘pro les gunnes mittendis in terram’). In 1410 he leased certain premises from the churchwardens of St. Mary’s church; and in later years he rented other properties in the neighbourhood. Besides these he held land at Wivelridge, Sussex, on which as a Portsman he claimed exemption from taxation in Henry IV’s reign. In 1428 Posterf was chosen as executor by Walter Seller, the rector of Iden, whose will required him to distribute corn among the poor of Peasmarsh and Beckley.2

Posterf continued to rent two market stalls at Rye until 1448-9, but died before accounts were rendered in the next year.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: A. P.M. Wright

Notes

Variants: Potsterf, Putsterff.

• 1. Cat. Rye Recs. ed. Dell, 136/188.
• 2. C88/84 no. 4; CPR, 1408-13, p. 6; Rye Corporation mss, 60/1, 77/2; Cat. Rye Recs. 136/162, 188, 194; E179/225/33, 34; Reg. Chichele, ii. 377-8.
• 3. Rye Corporation ms, 60/2, ff. 4, 9.