TROTT, Bartholomew

Although styled a mere chapman around the time of his return to Parliament, Trott came from one of the most important families of Bodmin, a member of which had first represented the borough in Parliament in 1435. CPR, 1452-61, p. 255. The full range of his trading interests is illustrated by his description not long after as a merchant, a mercer, a vintner, a tin-merchant, a grocer and a draper. C67/41, m. 15; CP40/808, rot. 418d. By the later 1440s his prominence in the local community was such that he was chosen mayor of the town by his neighbours, and his performance in office may be deemed to have been at least satisfactory, for he was re-elected at least once, and possibly twice, during one of the most troubled episodes in Bodmin’s history in the later Middle Ages. Much of the burgesses’ energy in these years was absorbed by an acrimonious quarrel with the lords of the borough, the prior and convent of St. Petrock, and like other leading townsmen Trott played his part in the dispute. The quarrel concerned a range of fishing, pasture and other property rights, as well as the privileges of the town’s merchant guild. The prior complained that the burgesses had first violated his private fishery in December 1453, and then continuously helped themselves to its stock, in one year taking some 100 salmon, 100 lampreys and 1,000 eels. In the spring of 1454 they had caused even more serious damage, making a hole measuring 200 feet in length in the weir of the prior’s mill and carrying off chattels worth £10. The prior now protested to the Westminster authorities about the continued infringement of his liberties, and in February 1455 Trott had to find surety for his appearance in Chancery, probably in connexion with these complaints. CCR, 1454-61, p. 49; CP40/781, rot. 425d. Yet, it appears that the prior was not an entirely innocent victim. On 28 Dec. 1454 a group of monks, servants and townsmen loyal to the prior brutally attacked Trott at Bodmin, CP40/779, rot. 607d; 781, rot. 313; 782, rot. 112d. and the following summer one of the prior’s associates, the fletcher John Hancok senior, accused Trott of illicitly trading in victuals while serving as mayor. CP40/778, rot. 315; 779, rot. 556d; 781, rot. 319.

If Trott was re-elected to the mayoralty in October 1454, he probably presided over the elections of Bodmin’s representatives in the Parliament summoned at the end of the following May to meet on 9 July. The country at large and the West Country in particular were in upheaval following the events which had culminated in the battle of St. Albans, and the men of Bodmin were clearly reluctant to undertake the perilous journey to Westminster. It may thus have been partly out of necessity and partly with a view to further defend himself and the town’s privileges there that Trott took the unusual step of returning himself alongside the Suffolk lawyer William Bedston*, an associate of the locally influential Moyle family. The day after the shire elections at Lostwithiel commissioners of oyer and terminer were appointed to investigate the prior’s complaint, but it is probable that Trott, who had been specifically mentioned in the writ as one of the trouble-makers, had departed for Parliament before they could meet. CPR, 1452-61, pp. 255, 308-9.

Parliament was prorogued at the end of July, and before the Commons reassembled in mid November there was further violence at Bodmin. On 17 Sept. 1455 and the two following Saturdays several of the leading men of Bodmin, including such prominent figures as James Flamank* and Thomas Luccombe*, and with Trott at their head, made their way to the priory church with an armed following, interrupted divine service and threatened the prior and canons. Trott probably returned to Westminster for the autumn session, for on the day when the Commons reassembled he was granted a general pardon, probably acquired with the summer’s activities in mind. C67/41, m. 15. In the event, the dispute was far from settled on his return home, and he was present when on Monday after Pentecost 1456 an armed mob of 100 men broke through the priory gates into the precinct, ransacked the buildings, forced their way into the church and dragged away two of the canons, making off with goods worth £200. The response of the government, then more concerned about the activities of Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon, who at the same time was conducting a campaign of attrition against the supporters of his old rival, William, Lord Bonville*, was to issue a renewed commission of oyer and terminer, but it was not until late August that the matter was settled, temporarily, by the arbitration of Chief Justice Fortescue* and Justice Aysshton*. CPR, 1452-61, p. 309; KB27/788, rot. 88.

Despite his pivotal part in these dramatic events, Trott’s subsequent career remained largely out of the public eye. He occasionally served on juries at Bodmin, including those empanelled to take the inquisitions post mortem of John Chudleigh and Humphrey Stafford IV*, earl of Devon, but is not known to have held other office either locally or under the Crown. C140/18/49, 32/30, m. 3; KB9/309/15. Nor can anything be said with certainty about his attitude towards the rapidly succeeding dynasties of Lancaster, York and Tudor, for although he was granted a general pardon by the victorious Edward IV in late 1471 in the aftermath of the Lancastrian Readeption, there is no further evidence to suggest that he had strong leanings towards one royal house or another. C67/48, m. 32.

Trott was not universally popular among his neighbours. In the summer of 1455 one William Faunce claimed to have been brutally assaulted at Bridgwater by the mercer and his son, Thomas, CP40/778, rot. 317. and not long afterwards Trott was also said to have been guilty of a similar attack on a local gentleman, Thomas Colyn of Roseworek. E159/232, recorda Mich. rot. 38. In 1460 he quarreled with a Bodmin miller, Michael Ruthyn, whom he accused of digging up the ground in his close, CP40/796, rot. 34d. while five years later he accused a Bodmin carpenter and two yeomen from West Loo of assaulting one of his servants. CP40/814, rot. 223d.

In about 1468 two local gentlemen, John Nicoll and William Pencors, were accused of having broken into his house at Bodmin in conjunction with a Truro weaver and taken goods worth £40. CP40/829, rot. 59. More seriously, some years later he was the victim of ‘a great riot’, organized against him by Richard Flamank, the son of his old associate. Trott personally rode to London to present a petition to the Council, but found himself arrested and imprisoned there on charges of trespass, at Flamank’s instigation. C1/66/418.

The date of Bartholomew’s death is obscure, but he is found attesting deeds at Bodmin up to the autumn of 1483, and it was probably he who by that date was in dispute over debts with two important landowners, Stephen Calmady of Levant and Sir John Bassett of Tehidy, litigation which was still ongoing in the following spring. Cornw. RO, Arundell mss, AR1/811, 812; CP40/883, rots. 60, 397d; 888, rot. 23. It was doubtless a younger namesake, however, who in late 1500 or early 1501 was suing John Treffry of Tremure for his marriage portion. C1/246/39. This was probably Bartholomew, s. of John Trott, who was alive in 1504: C1/365/9. Trott’s initial heir was his elder son Thomas, but on the latter’s death without issue the Trott lands passed to Thomas’s sister Joan, the wife of John Bradley. C1/365/9; 600/37; 741/7.