Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/418

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* B. v. MAY sw, 1000.

hoods became frequent. Before that date the number of Lord Mayors who received this honour was surprisingly few. For purposes of future reference it may be useful to tabulate in ' N. & Q.' the result of my investigations on this point.

Such men as Sir Hugh Fitz Otes (1265-6), Sir Ralph de Sandwich (1285-88), Sir John le Breton (1292-3), and a few others, undoubted military knights, who were appointed by the king to the office of warden or custos of the City in the years when the City charter was suspended, do not fall within the category of mayors. The first Mayor of London to re- ceive knighthood appears to have been Sir John le Blount or Blund, mayor 1301-1307, and alderman successively of Bread Street and Cheap wards. He was knighted with Edward, Prince of Wales, and nearly three hundred others in May, 1306, by King Edward I., previously to the final expedition against Scotland (see Maitland's * History of London ' and Sharpe's ' London and the Kingdom,' i. 130). The will of "Sir John le Blund, Knt.," is enrolled in the Hustings Court, 12 March, 1312/13. It is impossible to say whether this knighthood was a purely civic or a military honour. Le Blund or Blount was of a knightly family, and the mayor may have rendered military service. Blount's third successor in the mayoralty, Richer de Refham, was not a knight when serving his term of office (1310-11) ; but in 1314 he is styled "Sir Richer de Refham, Knight and Citizen of London" (Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. ix. p. 23). The will of "Richer de Refham, Knight," was enrolled August, 1328. It is clear, therefore, that he received the honour between 1311 and 1314, but whether for his civic or for military services we are again in the dark. The next mayoral knignt was the well-known Sir John Pountney or De Pulteney, four times mayor (1312-13, 1330-1, 1331-2, and 1336-7). He was knighted in the last year of his office in February, 1337, when the Prince of Wales was made Duke of Cornwall. His will as " Sir John de Pulteney, Knt.," is dated 14 March, 1348, and was enrolled the year following (see Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. ix. p. 47, and Sharpe's 'Hustings Wills,' i. 609). This would seem to be an undoubted civic knighthood, although it may be noted that as the leader of the City forces against Scot- land in 1337 Pulteney had a quasi-military character.

More than forty years have passed before we come to the next knighted mayor. In reward for the important assistance rendered by the City authorities in suppressing the peasants

revolt under Wat Tyler, King Richard II. knighted "in the field" on 15 June, 1381, not only the mayor, William Walworth, but D hilipot, and Robert atte Launde. Both Brembre and Philipot had passed the chair, -he first in 1377-8, and the other in 1378-9. Brembre afterwards served again for three successive years, 1383 to 1386, and is one of ihe best-known characters in early civic his- iory. Launde had served the office of sheriff n 1376-7, but did not live to fill the civic chair. All these four aldermen are styled mights in their wills. As they are said to lave been knighted in the field they pro- bably should be regarded as bannerets. With imes said to have received the like honour, jut their wills do not bear this out.
 * hree aldermen, Nicholas Brembre, John
 * hem one or two other aldermen are some-

In 1437 William Estfield was made a Knight of the Bath. He was Alderman of Cripple- gate, and had been mayor in 1429-30. His will, as " Sir William Estfield, Knight," was enrolled in 1447. So far as appears he was -AiQ sole Lancastrian civic knight and the only citizen to receive the honour between 1381 and 1461. This unknights a number of fourteenth and fifteenth century mayors to whose names we are accustomed to tack on the prefix "Sir," but with insufficient authority. Among those thus deprived is the famous " Dick " Whittington, " whose knighthood is as legendary as his burning the royal bonds " ('Diet. Nat. Biog.').

With the accession to the throne of the bouse of York civic knighthoods began to be more frequent. Among the Knights of the Bath made at the coronation of Edward IV. in 1461 occurs Sir William Cantelowe, who is thought to have been the Alderman of Cripplegate of that name who served as sheriff in 1448-9. The reason for his knight- hood at so late a stage of his life is not known. His will was proved in the P.C.C. in 1464. At the coronation of Queen Eliza- beth Woodville, 20 May, 1464, five citizens were made K.B.s, namely, the Lord Mayor. Ralph Joscelyn, Alderman of Cornhill (M. 1464-5 and 1476-7) ; Thomas Cooke, Alderman of Broad Street (M. 1462-3) ; Hugh Wyche, Alderman of Coleman Street (M. 1461-2) ; John Plummer, Alderman of Far- ringdon Out (sheriff 1459-60) ; and Henry Waver, Alderman of Castle Baynard (sheriff 1465-6).

Upon Edward IV. 's return to London after the battle of Tewkesbury he dubbed, " in the highway without Shoreditch," on 20 May, 1471, the following City aldermen : John Stockton, Alderman of Lime Street, and