John Philipot (MP)

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Not to be confused with John Phillpotts (MP).

Sir
John Philipot
Arms of Philipot: Sable, a bend ermine.
Lord Mayor of London
In office
1378–1379
Preceded byNicholas Brembre
Succeeded byJohn Hadle
Personal details
Died1384

Sir John Philipot

MP for London in 1371 and 1381, headed the opposition to John of Gaunt during the minority of Richard II, was appointed joint-treasurer for the war with France in 1377 at the request of the Commons, was Lord Mayor of London in 1378, and assisted Richard II during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Philpot Lane
in London is named for him.

Origins

John Philipot was no doubt a native of

Sibertswold or Shebbertswell, near Dover, cannot be correct, though the estate was held by his descendants.[2] He bore the same arms—sable, a bend ermine—as the Philipots of Philpotts, near Tunbridge.[3][4] His first wife brought him the manor of the Grench (Grange) at Gillingham, near Chatham
.

Reign of Edward III

Philipot became a member of the

John de Northampton
, in attacking the monopoly of municipal power enjoyed by the great companies.

On the collapse of the Good Parliament the Duke of Lancaster proposed in the

Wiclif a few hours later, provoked the riot of the following day, when Lancaster and Percy had to fly for their lives. Lancaster failed to prevent the deputation of the citizens, headed by Philipot, from obtaining an interview with the old King, who heard their explanations and gave them a gracious answer. But the Duke was implacable, and the city officers sought to appease him by a somewhat humiliating reparation. The citizens as a body, however, would have nothing to do with it, and though the King, at Lancaster's instigation, turned out the mayor (Staple), they at once (21 March) chose Brembre in his stead.[13][14][15]

Reign of Richard II

English ships of the 14th & 15th centuries, 1375, 1425
Plan of London about 1381

As soon as the King's death, on 21 June 1377, became known in the city, an influential deputation was sent to the young prince

royal jewels.[18] The capture of the Isle of Wight and burning of Hastings by the French, and the seizure by a Scot, the son of one John Mercer, with a squadron of Scottish, French, and Spanish ships, of a number of English merchant vessels at Scarborough, meanwhile threw the country into a state of great alarm, which was aggravated by vehement suspicions of the loyalty of John of Gaunt to his young nephew. Philipot rapidly fitted out a small squadron and a thousand armed men, at his own expense, pursued Mercer, and wrested from him his prizes, and fifteen Spanish vessels as well.[19] His patriotism and success roused those who resented the national humiliation to great enthusiasm, and were boldly contrasted with the inactivity, if not treachery, of the Duke and the magnates. He thereby incurred the ill-will of the nobles, who sneered at Richard as 'king of London', and declared that Philipot had no right to act as he had done on his own responsibility. But he roundly told the Earl of Stafford, who complained to him of his action, that if the nobles had not left the country exposed to invasion he would never have interfered.[20] At the height of his popularity he was chosen mayor for 1378–9, and filled the office with his usual activity and generosity. He had the city ditch cleaned out, levying a rate of fivepence per household for the purpose, and enforced order and justice so admirably that his measures were taken as a precedent nearly forty years later.[21][22] Lord Beauchamp of Bletsho in December 1379 appointed Philipot one of his executors, bequeathing him 'my great cup gilt which the King of Navarre gave me'.[23] In the year after his mayoralty he earned the effusive gratitude of the city by defraying the cost of one of two stone towers, sixty feet high, built below London Bridge, between which a chain was suspended across the river to assure the safety of the city and shipping against possible French attacks.[24] He was a member of the commission appointed in March of that year, at the request of the Commons, to inquire how far the heavy taxation could be lightened by greater economy in administration.[25] He may have sat in this parliament, but the London writs are wanting. In the summer he provided ships for the Earl of Buckingham's expedition to Brittany; and when the delay in starting forced many to pledge their armour, Philipot, as the St. Albans chronicler heard from his own lips, redeemed no fewer than a thousand jacks.[26] It was to him that the intercepted correspondence of Sir Ralph Ferrers with the French was brought, and Ferrers being with John of Gaunt in the north, Philipot journeyed thither and saw him safely interned in Durham Castle.[27]

Depiction of the death of Wat Tyler, Froissart's Chronicles, c. 1475–83

At the crisis of the

John of Northampton, who was now mayor and busy depressing the influence of the greater companies, had him deposed from his office of alderman.[34] In the spring and summer of 1383 Philipot carried out the transport arrangements for Bishop Spencer and his crusaders, and sat for London in the October parliament.[35][36][37]

Death and legacy

He died in the summer of 1384, 'not leaving his like behind in zeal for the king and the realm', and was buried with (probably his second) wife before the entrance into the choir of the Greyfriars Church (now Christ Church), London.[38][39] He left his manor at Gillingham to his second son, whose son John exchanged it, in 1433, for Twyford, Middlesex, with Richard, son of Adam Bamme, mayor of London in 1391 and 1397.[39] A chapel which Philipot built there was used as a barn in Hasted's time, and is figured in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica.[40] His house in London was in Langbourne Ward, on the site of the present Philpot Lane, which was named after him.[41] He bequeathed lands to the city of London for the relief of thirteen poor people for ever.[42]

Philipot was at least twice married—to Marjery Croydon, daughter of Richard Croydon, alderman of London, who brought him the manor at Gillingham; and to Jane Stamford.[43] Hasted mentions two sons. A daughter, Margaret Philpot, married, first, T. Santlor, and, secondly, John Neyland, and dying after 1399, was buried in the church of the Greyfriars.[44][45] Descendants of his dwelt at Upton Court, Sibertswold, near Dover, until the reign of Henry VII.[46]

Coat of arms of Sir John Philipot
Notes
(1 & 4) augmentation of honour granted by Richard II to Sir John Philipot; (2 & 3) arms of Philipot
Escutcheon
Quarterly, (1 & 4) gules, a cross between 4 swords erect argent hilted or; (2 & 3) sable, a bend ermine

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The name is also spelt Phelipot or Philpot.

References

  1. ^ Heath 1829, p. 182.
  2. ^ Hasted 1800, ix. p. 377.
  3. ^ Hasted 1798, v. p. 224.
  4. ^ Stow 1720, v. p. 114.
  5. ^ Heath 1829, pp. 47, 56.
  6. ^ Dugdale 1676, ii. p. 262.
  7. ^ Rymer 1830, iii. pp. 693, 741.
  8. ^ Devon 1835, p. 145.
  9. ^ Devon 1836, p. 195.
  10. ^ Returns of Members, i. pp. 185–186.
  11. ^ Thompson, ed. 1874, p. 120.
  12. ^ Returns of Members, i. p. 196.
  13. ^ Gairdner, ed. 1876, p. 254.
  14. ^ Thompson, ed. 1874, pp. 127, 133.
  15. ^ Rymer 1830, iii. p. 1076.
  16. ^ Thompson, ed. 1874, p. 147.
  17. ^ Rot. Parl. iii. pp. 7, 34.
  18. ^ Rymer 1869, iv. pp. 31–32.
  19. ^ Thompson, ed. 1874, p. 199.
  20. ^ Thompson, ed. 1874, p. 200.
  21. ^ Stow 1720, i. p. 12.
  22. ^ Riley, ed. 1859, i. p. 522.
  23. ^ Nicolas 1826, i. p. 104.
  24. ^ Riley, ed. 1868, p. 444.
  25. ^ Rot. Parl. iii. p. 373.
  26. ^ Thompson, ed. 1874, p. 266.
  27. ^ Thompson, ed. 1874, p. 278.
  28. ^ Riley, ed. 1868, p. 451.
  29. ^ Fabyan 1811, p. 531.
  30. ^ Heath 1829, p. 184.
  31. ^ Hasted 1798, iv. p. 237.
  32. ^ Returns of Members, i. p. 208.
  33. ^ Rot. Parl. iii. pp. 123–124.
  34. ^ Walsingham 1864, ii. p. 71.
  35. ^ Walsingham 1864, ii. pp. 88, 95.
  36. ^ Devon 1836, p. 222.
  37. ^ Returns of Members, i. p. 218.
  38. ^ Thompson, ed. 1874, p. 359.
  39. ^ a b Hasted 1798, iv. p. 239.
  40. ^ No. vi. pt. i.
  41. ^ Heath 1829, p. 184.
  42. ^ Stow 1720, bk. i. p. 261.
  43. ^ Hasted 1798, iv. pp. 236, 239.
  44. ^ Stow 1720, iii. p. 133.
  45. ^ Riley, ed. 1859, i. 682.
  46. ^ Tait 1896, xlv. pp. 159–161.

Sources

  • Devon, Frederick (1835). Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham. London: John Rodwell. p. 145.
  • Devon, Frederick (1836). Issues of the Exchequer; … From King Henry III to King Henry VI Inclusive. Pell Records. London: John Murray. pp. lvi, 194, 208, 222.
  • Dugdale, William (1676). The Baronage of England. Vol. 2. London: Tho[mas] Newcomb. p. 262.
  • Fabyan, Robert (1811). Ellis, Henry (ed.). The New Chronicles of England and France, in Two Parts. London. p. 531.
  • Gairdner, James, ed. (1876). The Historical Collections of a Citizen of London in the Fifteenth Century. Westminster: Camden Society. p. 254.
  • Hasted, Edward (1798). The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. Vol. 4. 2nd ed. Canterbury: W. Bristow. pp. 236–239.
  • Hasted, Edward (1798). The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. Vol. 5. 2nd ed. Canterbury: W. Bristow. p. 224.
  • Hasted, Edward (1800). The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. Vol. 9. 2nd ed. Canterbury: W. Bristow. p. 377.
  • Heath, John Benjamin (1829). Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London. London. pp. 47, 56, 182–184.
  • Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1826). Testamenta Vetusta. Vol. 1. London: Nichols and Son. p. 104.
  • Nightingale, Pamela (2004). "Philipot, Sir John (d. 1384), merchant and alderman of London".
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22107. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  • Riley, Henry Thomas, ed. (1859). Liber Albus. Munimenta Gildiiallae Londoniensis 1. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts. pp. 522, 682.
  • Riley, Henry Thomas, ed. (1868). Memorials of London and London Life, in the XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth Centuries. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. pp. 444, 451.
  • Rymer, Thomas (1830). Fœdera. Vol. 3. Part 2. London: [publisher not identified]. pp. 693, 741, 1076.
  • Rymer, Thomas (1869). Fœdera. Vol. 4. London: [publisher not identified]. pp. 31–32.
  • Stow, John (1720). A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster. Strype, John (ed.). London. Book 1, pp. 12, 261; Book 3, p. 133; Book 5, p. 114.
  • Thompson, Edward Maunde, ed. (1874). Chronicon Angliæ, 1328–1388. London: Longman & Co.; Trübner. pp. 120, 127, 133, 147, 199, 239, 359, 266.
  • Walsingham, Thomas (1864). Historia Anglicana. Vol. 2. Riley, Henry Thomas (ed.). London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green. p. 71.
  • Members of Parliament: Return to Two Orders of the Honorable the House of Commons, Dated 4 May 1876 and 9 March 1877. Part 1. London, 1878 [Krause Reprint, 1980]. pp. 185–186, 196, 208, 218.
  • Rotuli Parliamentorum, ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento Tempore Ricardi R. II. Vol. 3. [1771]. pp. 7, 34, 123–124, 373.

Attribution:

Further reading

  • Carpenter, John; Whitington, Richard (1861). Liber Albus: The White Book of the City of London. Riley, Henry Thomas (trans.). London: Richard Griffin and Company. pp. 447, 515, 646, 657.
  • Hardy, Thomas Duffus (1869). Syllabus (in English) of the Documents Relating to … "Rymer's Fœdera". Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. pp. 426, 434.
  • Hardy, Thomas Duffus (1873). Syllabus (in English) of the Documents Relating to … "Rymer's Fœdera". Vol. 2. London: Longman & Co., and Trübner & Co. pp. 485, 486, 504.
  • Stow, John (1908). A Survey of London … Reprinted from the Text of 1603. Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge (ed.). Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 19, 107, 203, 211, 220, 320.
  • Stow, John (1908). A Survey of London … Reprinted from the Text of 1603. Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge (ed.). Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 168.
  • Unwin, George (1908). The Gilds and Companies of London. (The Antiquary's Books). London: Methuen & Co. pp. 134, 137, 141.
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