We cannot be sure that Chaucer ever actually sat on this commission or that he knew personally any one of his fellow justices. Consequently there is no intrinsic interest in a study of their individual careers and personalities. But a few notes about them will give us some impression of the type of men with whom Chaucer was associating and the importance of his social position.
In the fourteenth century the name of the Constable of Dover and Warden of the Cinque Ports always heads the list of justices in Kent. The holder of that office in 1387 was SIMON DE BURLEY, one of the most influential men in Richard II's court. This man was not of noble birth. Barnes (quoted by Kervyn de Lettenhoeve) [Footnote: Froissart XX, 487.] says that Walter Burley was so renowned for his learning at Oxford that he became the almoner of the queen (Philippa (?)) and the tutor of the prince of Wales. One of his relatives, Simon de Burley, was included among the group of young people brought up with the prince, and soon he became the latter's intimate friend, and afterwards one of the tutors of his son, Richard II. He enjoyed the greatest favour under Richard II, and belonged to the group of the King's friends, Robert de Vere, Michael de la Pole and Nicholas Brembre. He had been connected always with the family of Richard II (a fact illustrated by his being named by Joan, mother of Richard II, one of the executors of her will, 1385). [Footnote: Test Vet, p. 15.] In 1377 Richard II confirmed to him—"the King's father's Knight"—a grant of a hundred pounds yearly made by the King's father and the custody of Kerwerdyn castle. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 223.] In the same year he granted de Burley the office of constable of Windsor Castle for life, the abbot of Fecampe's manor of Sloghtre, [Footnote: idem, pp. 78, 21, 223.] rent free, during the war, and the office of master of the falcons. In 1378 he confirmed to de Burley the custody of the manor of Chiltenham (Gloucester) and the fee simple of the castle and lordship of Lanstephan. [Footnote: idem, p. 119, 256.] In 1382 Richard granted him the office of under-chamberlain of the King's household for life, and appointed him surveyor of the lands in South Wales in the King's hands during the minority of the heir of Edmond Mortimer. [Footnote: idem, p. 164.] In 1384 the King granted him for life the constableship of Dover Castle and the wardenship of the Cinque Ports, and three hundred pounds yearly therefor (and for the maintenance of himself, chaplains, etc.) with provision that he exercise the office himself. [Footnote: idem, p. 367.] In 1388 he was attainted of treason with the other favourites of the King and executed. It is reported that people in Kent rose in rebellion to [Footnote: idem, p. 78] demonstrate their loyalty to him. At his death Michael de la Pole, William Wingfield and he possessed together extensive lands, and he himself had some seven manors in Kent. [Footnote: Cal. Inq. P. M. III, 111, 119.]
The JOHN DE COBEHAM whose name follows that of de Burley in the list, was one of the most eminent barons of his day. I shall merely outline a few of the most important features in his career. He came of one of the oldest families in Kent. [Footnote: Ireland's Kent V, 240 ff.] His father had been at various times admiral of the King's fleet in the west, justice in Kent, and constable of Rochester. His mother was Joan, daughter of John, lord Beauchamp of Stoke. In 40, 41 Edward III John de Cobeham served in the wars in France; in 41 Edward III he was ambassador to Rome. In 1 Richard II he was a member of the King's council, served later in France with three Knights, 105 esquires and 110 men at arms, and was made a banneret. In 10 Richard II he was one of the thirteen lord governours of the realm, appointed to oversee the government of the King. From 1377 on he was on many commissions to treat for peace with foreign powers. In 1387 he was with the five lords appellant at Waltham Cross (evidently then he was of the party of Gloucester and Arundel). He was Member of Parliament from Kent in 1390, 1394 and 1398. In 1392 he was lieutenant to the constable of England, and in the same year he was given a cup in the Earl of Arundel's will. [Footnote: Test. Vet., p. 133.] With the downfall of Gloucester he fell out of favour. He died in 1409, leaving extensive possessions ( forty-three items in all) in London, Wiltshire, Kent and Surrey. He married Margaret, daughter of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire. [On Cobeham cf. Nicolas Hist. Peerage, and Kent. Arch. Soc. II, p. 71.]
JOHN CLINTON came of a prominent Kentish family. He was son of John de Clinton of Maxtoke and Ida d'Odingsel. [Footnote: Froissart XXI, pp. 17 ff.] He was in the French and Scottish campaigns, was appointed on commissions and was at one time lieutenant of John Devereux, warden of the Cinque Ports. He died in 1396, leaving extensive lands in Kent (twenty-six items in all). [Footnote: Cal. Inq. P. M. III, 228.] He married Margery Corbet, of a good Kentish family.
JOHN DEVEREUX was son of William Devereux. Edward III attached him to the person of his grandson (Richard II?) and gave him two hundred marks as a pension. [Footnote: Froissart XXI, p. 94 Statham Hist. of Dover, p. 380.] He was in Spain with the Black Prince. In 1377 he was appointed one of the King's council, [Footnote: Rymer old ed. VII, 161.] in 1378 constable of Leeds Castle for life, and in 1380 Captain of the city of Calais. [Footnote: idem, p. 259.] He was on many commissions to treat of peace with France and Flanders [Footnote: idem, 308, 338, 248.] and from 1384 on he was frequently summoned to Parliament. In 1386 he was one of the council of eleven appointed to govern England. From 1386 to 1390 (and perhaps longer) he was steward of the King's household. [Footnote: Rymer old ed. VII, 495, 675.] In 1387 he was with the lords appellant at Waltham Cross. [Footnote: Rot. Parl. III, 229.] In 1387 he succeeded Simon de Burley as Constable of Dover and Warden of the Cinque Ports. [Footnote: Ireland's Kent I, 710.] He died in 1394, a Knight of the Garter [Footnote: Beltz, p. 323.] and the possessor, in right of his wife, of the manor of Penshurst, Kent. His only other property seems to have been the manor of Donyngton in Buckinghamshire. [Footnote: Cal. Inq. P. M. III, 174.]
THOMAS CULPEPER came from a great Kentish family which at one time could
boast of having twelve members bearing the order of Knighthood.
[Footnote: Kent. Arch. XXI, 212.] A Thomas Culpeper was Member of
Parliament for Kent in 1361 and in other later years.
THOMAS FOGG was Member of Parliament for Kent in 1378, 1380, 1383, 1384, 1388. He held lands by Knight's service of the Lord of Ponynges, and came, through right of his wife, into part of the property of Warresins de Valoynes. In 1377 he was constable of the castle of Calais. [Footnote: Rymer IV, 2.] He was prominent in the wars of the time, especially in naval action. In 1386 he went to Spain with John of Gaunt. [Footnote: Rymer old ed. VII, 499.] In 1405 he died. [Footnote: Kent. Arch. XVIII, p. 360.]
WILLIAM RIKHILL was a justice of the King's bench. He may have been in
the list for that reason, or perhaps because he was an inhabitant of
Kent. At any rate he came of a landed family in Kent. [Footnote:
Ireland's Kent, IV, 416.] He died in Henry IV's reign.
JOHN FREMINGHAM, son of Sir Ralph Fremingham of Lose, was derived from a prominent Kentish family. [Footnote: idem, III, 111. Kent Arch. XXI, 214, XXIII, 57.] He himself is called "chivaler;" was sheriff of Kent in 1378 and 1393, and a Member of Parliament in 1377, 1381 and 1399. He was executor of the will of William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury. He died 12 Henry IV, possessing the manor and advowson of the church of Otham, and Read Court.
JAMES DE PEKHAM was of another old Kentish family which can be traced as far back as Richard I. [Footnote: Ireland's Kent III, 529. Kent Arch. Soc. XXI, 214, XXVIII, 210.] His great grandfather possessed the manor of Pekham in Hadlow (temp. Edward I) and the estates had been increased since that time. James Pekham was sheriff of Kent in 1377 and 1380 and a member of Parliament in 1372, 1377, 1383, 1388.