Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/416

 of the Hanse Towns and persuade them to postpone their demand for the repayment of the loan they had advanced to the king. On 11 Dec. following he resigned the treasurership. On 20 May 1412 he was appointed steward and constable of the castles of Brecknock, Cantresell, Grosmont, and Skenfrith.

Tiptoft retained royal favour under Henry V. He represented Somerset in the first parliament of the reign, which was summoned on 5 Feb. 1413–14, and in the same year served on a committee of the privy council which reported against aliens being permitted to bring into the realm bulls and letters prejudicial to the king (, Acts P. C. ii. 60); but he was soon more actively employed in Henry's designs abroad. On 8 May 1415 he was appointed seneschal of Aquitaine, and on 4 June following received letters of protection on setting out thither (, ix. 239). In 1416 he took an important part in negotiating alliances between England and various foreign princes preparatory to Henry's invasion of France. On 13 Jan. he was commissioned to treat with the king of Castile, and on 4 May with the archbishop of Cologne (ib. ix. 328, 343, 346, 364). On 1 Sept. he was granted letters of protection for a year's sojourn at the court of the king of the Romans. On 9 Dec. he was appointed commissioner to treat for an alliance with the king of Aragon, the German princes, the Hanseatic league, and the Genoese (ib. pp. 385, 410, 427, 430). On 17 Jan. 1416–17 he was sent on a secret mission to the emperor in connection with the Duke of Burgundy's alleged offer to recognise Henry as king of France. After the conquest of Normandy Tiptoft had a prominent share in the organisation of its government. He was appointed captain of Dessay on 12 Oct., of the castle and town of Bonmoleyns on the 17th, and treasurer of Normandy and president of the exchequer and all other courts of justice in the duchy on 1 Nov. (, Rotuli Normanniæ, pp. 180, 205). On 11 Jan. 1418–19 he was made commissioner of array at Caen and Bayeux. On 8 May following he was appointed one of the commissioners to treat for peace with France. He was employed in all the negotiations preliminary to the conclusion of the treaty (, ix. 749 et passim), and then went to resume his duties as seneschal of Aquitaine (ib. x. 43, 129), where he also had command of Lesparre, an important fortress to the north-west of Bordeaux (, La Guienne Militaire, 1865, ii. 151, 337).

On the death of Henry V, 22 Aug. 1422, Tiptoft was appointed an assistant councillor to the regency during the minority of Henry VI, but on 1 Nov. following he appears to have become a full member of the privy council. He was a regular attendant at its meetings, and took an important part in its deliberations (see, Proceedings, vols. iii–v., where there are between two and three hundred references to him). He was present at the council during the winter of 1422–3, when arrangements were made for carrying on the government during the young king's minority (, iii. 97–8;, x. 270–1, 282, 289, 290, 341 et sqq.). His signature, with the words ‘nolens volo,’ appended to a minute of the council dated 16 July 1428, is of considerable interest as showing that privy councillors signed the acts of the council whether agreeing with them or not (cf., Acts P. C. vol. ii. pref. p. liv). In 1425 Tiptoft became chief steward of the castles and lordships in Wales, and about the same time he married, as his second wife, Joyce, second and youngest daughter of Edward Charlton or Cherleton, fifth and last lord Charlton of Powys [q. v.], by his first wife, Eleanor, sister and co-heiress of Edmund Holland, earl of Kent [see under ], and widow of Roger Mortimer, fourth earl of March [q. v.] This marriage added considerably to Tiptoft's importance, and on 17 Jan. 1425–6 he was summoned to parliament as Baron Tiptoft; he also assumed the title of Powis in his wife's right, and in 1440 he was styled ‘Johannes dominus de Tiptot et de Powes baro, consiliarius noster’ (, x. 834). From 1427 onwards he frequently acted as a trier of petitions in parliament, and was also employed in hearing and determining petitions left unanswered by parliament (Rot. Parl. vol. iv. passim). On 22 Feb. 1427–8 he appears as steward of the household, and in April 1429 he was placed in command of a contingent of the army which accompanied Henry VI to France (, Lancaster and York, i. 486). He was dismissed from the stewardship of the household on 1 March 1431–2, when Cromwell, the lord treasurer, and other ministers lost their offices (, iii. 114–15), but he remained a constant attendant at the meetings of the privy council. In 1436 he was again sent with reinforcements to France. On 10 Nov. following he was commissioned to treat with envoys from Prussia. In March 1437–8 he was negotiating with the king of Scotland, and in 1440 with the envoys from the Teutonic knights and the archbishop of Cologne. His last attendance at the privy council was on 24 Aug. 1442, and he died on 27 Jan. 1442–3.

Tiptoft's first wife was Philippa, daughter of