SALTER, John I

A saddler by trade, Salter had probably not served his apprenticeship within the walls of Exeter, as he gained admission to the freedom of the city in February 1414 by redemption. Exeter Freemen, 41. There was also a contemporary namesake, a weaver, who lived in the southern city quarter: Exeter mayor’s tourn roll 7 Hen. VI, rot. 2d. It seems that his commercial activities were not restricted to his trade, for in later years he was periodically presented at the city’s mayor’s tourns for buying wool and woolfells ‘in suspicious places’. Exeter mayor’s tourn rolls 12-13 Hen. VI, rot. 1; 15 Hen. VI, rot. 2. Before long, Salter joined the ranks of the merchants of the staple of Exeter, C244/3/131/4. and soon established himself among the leading citizens. In the years after he became a freeman, he was regularly present at the guildhall for the election of the mayor and other civic officers. Nor did he have to wait long before he was himself elected to office, for he was chosen one of the two wardens of the bridge over the river Exe in the autumn of 1418. More senior office followed three years later, when he was chosen one of the city’s three bailiffs. As was common for former city officers, on relinquishing the position the following autumn he was elected to serve on the council of 12 and remained a member of this body for the rest of his life, excepting only those years when he was disqualified by his tenure of other positions. It was during this first year as a city councillor that Salter was chosen to represent Exeter in the Parliament of 1423, having stood surety for his neighbour Thomas Cook I* at the previous year’s elections. C219/13/1. The Parliament was a long one, sitting for a total of 15 weeks until its dissolution at the end of February 1424, and it is possible that Salter agreed in advance to serve for more modest wages than the generally accustomed 2s. a day, for he was paid just £8 3s., the equivalent of less than 11s. per week. Exeter receiver’s acct. 2-3 Hen. VI, m. 2.

In the autumn of 1424 Salter was chosen receiver of Exeter, and on relinquishing the office a year later took office as both warden of the Magdalen leper hospital and constable of the Exeter staple. The receivership in particular saw him entrusted with a wide range of duties, including journeys to Tiverton to negotiate with the dowager countess of Devon on behalf of the citizens. Ibid. 3-4 Hen. VI, m. 2. Salter was evidently regarded highly by his neighbours, who called upon him to witness their deeds and arbitrate in their disputes. Add. Ch. 27619; Exeter mayor’s ct. roll 4-5 Hen. VI, rot. 7d. In July 1430, alongside John Trebell*, he sealed bonds for the substantial sum of £40 guaranteeing the appearance in Chancery of John Cutler alias Carwithan*, the former mayor of the staple. CCR, 1429-35, p. 66; The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 727-8; iv. 641. On more than one occasion he put his personal wealth at the disposal of the community or of individuals. During his receivership of Exeter he incurred substantial arrears, at least £7 of which remained unpaid until three years later, but that same year the Exeter authorities granted him the farm of the mill of Duryard, until a prest of £10 he had made to the city should be repaid. Exeter receivers’ accts. 7-9 Henry VI. Salter was once more returned to Parliament in 1426. This time the two sessions only lasted for nine weeks, but the two Exeter Members were paid more generously, between them claiming expenses of £17 16s. for their service at Leicester, probably accounting for the unattractive meeting place, which offered fewer opportunities for the conduct of private business than London or Westminster. Ibid. 4-5 Hen. VI, m. 2.

Following a third spell in Parliament in 1432, Salter finally rose to the pinnacle of Exeter society, when he was elected the city’s mayor in the autumn of 1433. His mayoralty was to prove an eventful one. For some time relations between the city and the dean and chapter of Exeter cathedral had been frayed, but that year open violence broke out when the chapter’s steward, John Jaybien†, tried to hold a view of frankpledge in its fee at St. Sidwell’s. Salter, accompanied by armed men, threatened the steward, imprisoned one of the assembled jurors, and led away various oxen which Jaybien had seized in distraint for boon works outstanding from one of the chapter’s tenants. C1/12/243; The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 490-1. Nor were the King’s officials secure from the proud citizens’ readiness to protect their own: when in the same year royal commissioners led by Sir Nicholas Carew attempted to arrest the local merchant Robert Steven*, on a charge of receiving stolen goods, Salter again gathered the men of the city in arms, attacked the commissioners and forced their servants to flee. CPR, 1429-36, p. 361. Crucially, not all of Salter’s perceived acts of high-handedness could be excused by a need to protect Exeter’s privileges. When sued by one John Stephen for possession of a house in the city, Mayor Salter made full use of the powers of his office to have his opponent incarcerated until he agreed to provide sureties that he would never again attempt to challenge Salter in the city courts, as Stephen indignantly complained to the chancellor. C1/9/276.

It is possible that the events of Salter’s mayoralty were instrumental in ensuring that after 1434 he never again held senior city or staple office, although he served on the council until his death. He continued to practice his craft and passed on his skills to apprentices, at least one of whom, Henry Hilman alias Salter may have been an illegitimate descendant, but he also augmented his income from other sources, in 1432 taking the city’s fish custom to farm for a term of ten years. Exeter Freemen, 44, 52; Exeter mayor’s ct. roll 11-12 Hen. VI, rot. 3d. Although the farm was a valuable one and should have produced revenues rather greater than the £13 to £14 that Salter annually paid into the city coffers, he relinquished it in 1437 before his full term had expired. Exeter mayors’ ct. rolls, 11-14 Hen. VI.

The extent of Salter’s property in Exeter has not been established, but he seems to have lived in the central parish of St. Petrock, in the church of which he established an obit for the soul of his wife, Millicent, in about 1444. St. Petrock’s parish recs., 2946A-99/PW1, mm. 17-18. Although Salter retired from the city council in the autumn of 1447, he lived on for at least two more years, during which his presence was recorded at the annual elections of the mayor, council and city officers. He probably died in the course of 1449-50, the year when he last received the livery of bread customarily granted to former mayors. Exeter receivers’ accts. 28-30 Hen. VI; mayors’ ct. rolls, 26-29 Hen. VI. It seems that his marriage had remained childless, for in his later years he and his wife sold off at least some of their property. C4/6/68. The execution of his will was entrusted to a local clerk, John John, who by Easter 1454 was pursuing the testator’s debtors in the Westminster law-courts. CP40/773, rot. 448.