Chaucers Official Life | Page 4

connections--conditions in the courts of Edward III and Richard II, and the history of the period. [Footnote: Note for example the statement on page 3 above that "the Duke of Gloucester was ill disposed towards his brother John."] Surely it is time for an attempt to gain a basis of fact upon which we may judge the real significance of Chaucer's grants and his missions and from which we may determine as far as possible his relations with John of Gaunt. In the following pages then, I shall attempt first to discover the relative importance of Chaucer's place in the court, and the significance of his varied employments, and secondly to find out the certain connections between Chaucer and John of Gaunt. The means which I shall employ is that of a study of the lives of Chaucer's associates--his fellow esquires, and justices of the peace, and his friends--and a comparison of their careers with that of Chaucer to determine whether or not the grants he received indicate special favor or patronage, and whether it is necessary to assume the patronage of John of Gaunt in particular to explain any step in his career.

THE ESQUIRES OF THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD
THEIR FAMILIES
We have the names of the esquires of the king's household in two lists of 1368 and 1369, printed in the Chaucer Life Records [Footnote: See page 13 ff.]. In the study of the careers of these esquires the most difficult problem is to determine the families from which they were derived. Had they come from great families, of course, it would not have been hard to trace their pedigrees. But a long search through county histories and books of genealogy, has revealed the families of only a few, and those few in every case come from an unimportant line. It is clear then that they never were representatives of highly important families. A statement of the antecedents of such esquires as I have been able to trace, the names arranged in alphabetical order, follows.
John Beauchamp was almost certainly either that John Beauchamp of Holt who was executed in 1386, or his son. In either case he was descended from a younger branch of the Beauchamps of Warwick. [Footnote: Issues, p. 232, mem. 26, Peerage of England, Scotland, etc., by G. E. C., vol. 1, p. 278.]
Patrick Byker, who was King's "artillier" in the tower of London, [Footnote: 1362 Cal. C. R., p. 373.] was the son of John de Byker who had held the same office before him. [Footnote: 35 Edw. III, p. 174 Cal. Rot. Pat. in Turr. Lon.] William Byker, probably a relative, is mentioned from about 1370 on as holding that office [Footnote: Devon's Issues, 1370, p. 33, Issues, p. 303, mem. 14.]. I have been able to learn nothing further about the family.
Nicholas Careu: in the records one finds reference to Nicholas Careu the elder and Nicholas Careu the younger [Footnote: Ancient Deeds 10681.]. Since the elder was guardian of the privy seal from 1372 to 1377 [Footnote: Rymer, p. 951, 1069.] and in 1377 was one of the executors of the will of Edward III, it seems likely that the esquire was Nicholas Careu the younger. At any rate the younger was the son of the older [Footnote: C. R. 229, mem. 33 dorso, 12 Rich. II.] and they were certainly members of the family of Careu in Surrey [Footnote: 1378 Cal. Pat. Roll, p. 143, 1381-5 Cal. Pat. Roll, passim, Cal. Inq. P. M. III, 125.]. The pedigrees of this family do not show Nicholas the younger (so far as I have found). But a Nicholas, Baron Carew, who may have been the keeper of the privy seal, does occur [Footnote: Visitation of Surrey Harleian Soc. p. 17.]. The name of his son, as given in the pedigree, is not Nicholas; consequently Nicholas, the younger, was probably not his eldest son. This last supposition is supported by certain statements in Westcote's Devonshire [Footnote: p. 528. Of course it is not certain that this Sir Nicholas was the Keeper of the Privy Seal.] where we are told that "Sir Nicholas Carew, Baron, of Carew Castle, Montgomery in Wales, married the daughter of Sir Hugh Conway of Haccomb, and had issue Thomas, Nicholas, Hugh," etc.
Roger Clebury. In Westcote's Devonshire [Footnote: p. 555.] occurs an account of a family named Cloberry, of Bradston. In the course of his statement, which is devoid of dates or mention of lands other than Bradston, Westcote refers to two Rogers.
Several men of the name of William de Clopton are mentioned in the county histories. Unfortunately no facts appear in the records to connect any one of them with the esquire of that name. At any rate from the accounts given in Gage [Footnote: Gage's History of Suffolk: Thingoe Hundred, p. 419.]