SHAPLEGH, John

More may be added to the earlier biography. The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 347.

Shaplegh’s expertise as a lawyer aside, it may have been his willingness, at least initially, to serve in the Commons for moderate wages that made his candidature attractive to the men of Exeter. Thus, both in 1420 and 1421 (Dec.) he and his respective colleagues Richard Crese† and John Shillingford* were paid just 40s. between them (only about half of what they might have claimed on each occasion), in 1423 Shaplegh contented himself with just 100s. for the two sessions that between them lasted for more than 100 days, and in 1427 he and his uncle Roger received £11 13s. 4d. for two sessions of almost four months’ duration. Exeter receivers’ accts. 8-10 Hen. V, 2-3, 6-7 Hen. VI. By contrast, though, Shaplegh’s services in the rather shorter Parliament of 1426, held at Leicester, did not come as cheap: between them, he and John Salter I* drew the substantial sum of £17 16s. from the city receiver, no doubt to make up for the inconvenience of having to travel to a midland town that offered few attractions. Ibid. 4-5 Hen. VI, m. 2.

Shaplegh’s professional advice was sought not only by the city authorities, who regularly entertained him with food and wine and on whose behalf he rode to seek the advice of the prominent lawyer John Copplestone* in 1427-8, but also by numerous private individuals for whom he attested deeds. Ibid. 5-8 Hen. VI; Add. Chs. 27609, 27619, 27620. Despite his failure to hold civic office on a regular basis his prominence was such that in 1428 he could afford to accuse the influential Thomas Cook I*, then one of the city’s stewards, of having attempted to deprive him of his land in Duryard by means of forged deeds. KB27/670, rots. 23d, 77. This was not his only disagreement with his neighbours, for in early 1424 he had appeared in the mayor’s court to complain that the wall of one of his tenements was being damaged and his firewood rendered unusable by rainwater which John Bodulgate had allowed to run freely into the property, Exeter mayors’ ct. roll 2-3 Hen. VI, rots. 25, 35. while in February 1437 a presenting jury at the annual mayor’s tourn complained that Shaplegh had left ‘a great part of soil’ lying in the street. Exeter mayor’s tourn roll 15 Hen. VI, rot. 2d.

Shaplegh was last paid his annual pension of 20s. by the city of Exeter in 1444-5, and probably died in that year. Exeter receivers’ accts. 1-25 Hen. VI.