VESSY, Robert

More may be added to the earlier biography. The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 717-18.

Vessy’s career was not free from controversy: he was occasionally presented at the Exeter mayor’s tourn for selling ale in unsealed measures, Exeter mayor’s tourn roll 7 Hen. VI, rot. 2d. and in August 1428 he came to blows with the tanner John Symon, who – he claimed – attacked him with a dagger and stole his green gown. Mayor’s ct. roll 8-9 Hen. VI, rot. 7d. That he was nevertheless held in some regard by his neighbours is evident not only from his extensive career of office-holding, but also from his appointment as arbiter of last instance in disputes such as that in 1425 between John Hull* and Andrew Thryng over a tenement in Exeter. Mayor’s ct. roll 4-5 Hen. VI, rot. 7d.

It is possible that the butcher John Vessy, warden of the Exeter shambles in 1423-3, 1427-8 and 1440-1, was a son or other kinsman of the MP. Mayors’ ct. rolls 2-3, 6-7, 19-20 Hen. VI. The relationship of the Exeter Vessys to the Robert Vessy who served in the earl of Devon’s army at the siege of Powderham in 1455 has not been established. KB27/781, rot. 33.