Family and Education

Offices Held

Cofferer, Canterbury Mich. 1407-9; jurat 1410-12, 1413-15, 1416-18, 1421-3, 1425-7, 1428-30, 1431-3, 1434-6, 1437-9, 1440-1; bailiff 1423-4.1

Biography

Norman was not a native of Canterbury. The civic authorities permitted him to trade as a brewer in Newingate ward in 1400, before admitting him as a freeman by redemption (the method used in the case of strangers) on 24 Sept. the same year.2 He became active in the administration of the city in 1407, as a cofferer, and after 1410 he was regularly elected as a jurat over a period of 30 years. It was while he was serving on the governing body of Canterbury that he was returned to Parliament in 1421. From 1426 he rented from the city an area of pasture inside the walls between Newingate and the hermitage on a three-year lease, which he was able to have renewed for a similar term in 1429. In the years 1431-3 he was one of those entrusted with custody of the key to the common chest in the jurats’ chamber, at the same time acting as joint supervisor of works on the commonalty’s buildings. Norman was among those of Kent who in May 1434 were required to take the generally-prescribed oath directed against maintenance of lawbreakers.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. Canterbury Cathedral, City and Diocesan RO, accts. FA1, ff. 79, 86, 93-270; List of Canterbury Officials comp. Urry and Bunce, 49.
• 2. FA1, f. 43d; Intrantes Canterbury 1392-1592 ed. Cowper, 14. Another Thomas Norman was admitted to the freedom on 25 Sept. 1421, paying a fine of 12s. even though he was already living in the city. A plumber, he was sometimes mentioned in the city accounts in connexion with repairs to the ‘King’s mill’. It is much more likely to have been the man currently serving as a jurat who represented Canterbury in the Parliament of 1421 (Dec.) than this very recent newcomer: FA1, ff. 146d, 223d.
• 3. Ibid. ff. 172d, 190d, 207d, 214; CPR, 1429-36, p. 389.