MAULEVERER, Sir Halnath, of North Deighton and York, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

s. and h. of Sir John Mauleverer (1342-1400) of Allerton Mauleverer prob. by Eleanor, da. of Sir Peter Middleton of Stockeld. m. by Mar. 1416, Millicent, da. of Sir Alexander Luttrell, 3s. 3da. Kntd. by Nov. 1406.1

Offices Held

Commr. of array, Yorks (W. Riding) July 1410, May 1415; to make arrests Oct. 1414.

Sheriff, Yorks. 16 Nov. 1420-22 Apr. 1422.

Biography

The Mauleverer family had already been long established in Yorkshire when Sir John Mauleverer represented the county in the Parliament of 1334. A tireless campaigner against the Scots, he served on frequent commissions of array, and was also a j.p. in the West Riding. Halnath may well have been his great-grandson, although he did not inherit the widespread estates around Allerton Mauleverer which gave Sir John such an influential position in the community. His father, another Sir John, who died in November 1400, remains a shadowy figure, notable only for his involvement in two English expeditions to Scotland during the 1380s. Halnath must have come of age by March 1395, since it was then that he confirmed a grant of land in Rawdon and Horsforth made by his distinguished ancestor to Kirkstall abbey. An attempt to recover one of his villeins, whom he forcibly abducted from the city of York, brought him into direct confrontation with the mayor and aldermen at this time. His breach of the jealously guarded privilege of freedom from arrest earned him a reprimand in the civic court, in April 1397, and he was obliged to release the bondman at once.2 Yet this was no more than a temporary set-back. At some point over the next nine years he received a knighthood, and was also retained by Henry, 3rd Lord Fitzhugh, whom he accompanied to Denmark in 1406 as an escort for Henry IV’s daughter, Princess Philippa, on her marriage to the Danish king, Eric. Before returning home, Sir Halnath and Lord Fitzhugh visited the Brigittine house of Wadstena with the intention of reporting on how a similar foundation might be set up in England.

Two years later, in June 1408, Sir Halnath and a group of his kinsmen, including Sir John Halnaby, obtained absolution from Archbishop Bowet of York for attending the clandestine marriage of Katherine Halnaby and Robert Place of Egton. Not long afterwards, the manor of Halnaby in Yorkshire, which was then held in dower by Katherine’s stepmother, was settled upon her in reversion with a remainder to the Mauleverers, although, so far as we know, Sir Halnath never obtained control of the property. He was, however, able to boast an impressive range of connexions, which now included the King’s younger son, John (later duke of Bedford), whom he indented to serve, in October 1408, for one year on garrison duty at Berwick-upon-Tweed. His own territorial base remained centred upon Whixley, Garrowby and North Deighton—all near York—and Ickeringill near Skipton in Craven. Wishing, no doubt, to concentrate his interests in one part of the county alone, he reached an agreement, in May 1411, whereby the more distant farmland in the West Riding was exchanged for tenements in the city of York itself.3 His attachment to Lord Fitzhugh continued; and in the following December he stood surety on his behalf at the Exchequer, offering similar guarantees for Sir Winslowe Dorstainour, who had taken on the farm of certain estates in Northumberland from the Crown. He must also have kept on friendly terms with another member of the Yorkshire baronage, Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham, whose will of June 1415 contained a bequest of a gold ring and a roll of prayers to Sir Halnath’s kinswoman, Margery Mauleverer, and a gift of a hunting horn inlaid with silver to the knight himself. But however close their relationship might have been, there is nothing to suggest that any of the Mauleverers were remotely involved in the plot against Henry V which cost Scrope his head soon afterwards.

In point of fact, Sir Halnath was preoccupied with far more mundane personal problems, as a result of his marriage to Millicent, the daughter of Sir Alexander Luttrell. The land in North Deighton which comprised her jointure had been held in trust for some time by a local man named Robert Mauger, and,although unsuccessful in the long term, his attempts to contest her title caused considerable annoyance. Having already served on at least three royal commissions in the West Riding, Sir Halnath was finally returned to Parliament for Yorkshire in 1419, and appointed sheriff of the county one year later. He relinquished office in April 1422, after which date no more is heard of him, save that he died at some point before March 1433. His eldest son, John, is said to have inherited his estates.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: C.R.

Notes

Variants: Mablyverer, Maulyverer, Maweleverer.

  • 1. Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xv. 3; Scrope v. Grosvenor, ii. 299; J.H. Wylie, Hen. IV, ii. 458. According to Vis. Yorks. ed. Foster, 66-67, Sir Halnath had at least three daughters and two sons, although this somewhat dubious source does not mention another son named William, who lived in York (Surtees Soc. cxx. 216).
  • 2. Yorks. Arch. Soc. Rec. Ser. xci. 77-79; Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xv. 3; Scrope v. Grosvenor, ii. 299; Huntington Lib. San Marino, Hastings ms HAD 196/3247; Surtees Soc. cxxv. 6.
  • 3. J.H. Wylie, Hen. V, ii. 458; Test. Ebor. iii. 319; VCH Yorks. (N. Riding), i. 166; Yorks. Arch. Soc. Rec. Ser. 1. 91; lix. 163; Cal. Scots. Docs. (supp.) v. no. 4695.
  • 4. CFR, xiii. 228-9; CCR, 1413-19, p. 349; Scrope v. Grosvenor, ii. 145; Vis. Yorks. 66-67; Surtees Soc. cxx. 216; Ripley Castle, Harrogate, Ingilby deeds 92-96.