BRAKIN, Francis (c.1546-c.1628), of Chesterton, Cambs. and Gray’s Inn, London

Little is known of Brakin’s early life except that he studied at Queens’ College, Cambridge, before attending the inns of court. From 1583 he served as deputy to three successive recorders of Cambridge, namely Lord Hunsdon (Henry Carey†), lord chancellor Ellesmere (Thomas Egerton I†), and Sir John Fortescue*. In 1608 Brakin was elevated to the recordership himself in recognition of his long service and work in ‘many suits and weighty causes and business greatly importing the welfare of this town’.Add. 5849, f. 12. Two years later the corporation elected him recorder ‘for life’.Cambs. RO, Box II/9, f. 18. As recorder, Brakin was involved in many disputes between town and gown and was instrumental in negotiating the town’s incorporation by charter in 1605, and the appointment of Sir Francis Bacon* as high steward in 1617.Cambs. RO, Mun. Rm. Shelf C.7, f. 75v. However, he was not averse to assisting the university as well, and in 1606 acted as counsel for King’s College.HMC Hatfield, xviii. 133. Brakin received a yearly retainer of 20s. as deputy recorder and £6 12s. 4d. after his promotion. In addition, the town awarded him £5 in 1597 to entertain the attorney-general, Sir Edward Coke*; £6 13s. 4d. as a gift when he was appointed reader at Staple Inn in 1596; and 40s. for attending Stourbridge Fair in 1609.Cambs. RO, Box II/9, ff. 1, 18; Mun. Rm. Shelf C.7, f. 134; VCH Cambs. iii. 548-9.

Like many of his fellow corporation officials, Brakin was frequently lampooned on stage in student plays.Anon., The Return from Parnassus, London, 1606, sigs. E2v, E3; The Three Parnassus Plays ed. J.B. Leishman, 61-2. He is most famous for being satirized as ‘Ignoramus’, the central character of the eponymous drama designed to show the foolishness of lawyers, which was first performed before James I at Cambridge in March 1615.Chamberlain Letters ed. N.E. McClure, i. 587; G. Ruggle, Ignoramus trans. R. Codington (1662). The play was inspired by recent disputes between the university and town over precedence between the mayor and the vice-chancellor, Barnaby Gooch*. At the quarter sessions in January 1612, Gooch, a vitriolic enemy of the corporation, had attempted to evict the mayor from his seat, claiming precedence on the grounds that the vice-chancellor was ranked higher in the commission of the peace. After Brakin’s mediation the two men agreed to leave the seat vacant, and at the sessions dinner that evening neither of them presided. However, at the September sessions, Gooch again took the chair and had the mayor removed.C.H. Cooper, Annals of Camb. iii. 46-7, 53. The matter was eventually settled by the Privy Council, which awarded the right of precedence to the vice-chancellor, but not before Brakin had attempted by various ‘pettifogging shifts’ to promote the mayor’s authority.G. Dyer, Privileges of Univ. Camb. i. 138, 140-1. Despite being six hours long, Ignoramus was enjoyed so much by James that he returned to Cambridge in May 1615 for another performance.Cooper, iii. 84-8.

Brakin’s reputation as a pettifogger seems justified. In 1604 the widow of Edward Wingfield† complained bitterly to Viscount Cranborne, later 1st earl of Salisbury (Robert Cecil†), that Brakin had, for his own financial advantage, offered her son poor advice. Brakin had arranged for the boy to procure a knighthood in order to be released from his wardship, which was held by his mother. Brakin’s daughter then married young Wingfield without a portion, whereupon Lady Wingfield, not unreasonably, concluded that Brakin was of ‘mean ability and as little in reputation’.HMC Hatfield, xvi. 296. On the other hand, Brakin enjoyed the support of Viscount L’Isle (Robert Sidney†), who in 1606 made strenuous but ultimately futile efforts to have him appointed lord chief baron of Ireland after the death of Edmund Pelham†. L’Isle described Brakin as ‘an honest and sufficient man’ and assured Salisbury that Brakin enjoyed the confidence of the lord chief justice, Sir John Popham†.Ibid. xviii. 137, 205.

Elected to Parliament for Cambridge in 1614, Brakin’s only recorded speech was on 7 May, when he spoke to the bill for building and repairing of bridges, arguing that edifices such as Cam Great Bridge should be maintained by pontage. He was subsequently appointed to the bill committee.Procs. 1614 (Commons), 171. Elected again in 1624, his first recorded contribution was in reply to vice-chancellor Gooch’s claim on 26 Feb. that the informers’ bill infringed the power of the university courts. Supported by Coke, Brakin successfully argued that since the courts of both universities operated by Civil, not Common Law, they were unaffected by the bill, and that in any case proceedings on penal laws were the town’s sole prerogative.‘Spring 1624’, p. 32; ‘Pym 1624’, i. f. 8; Kyle thesis, 219. On 16 Mar. Brakin spoke in debate on the validity of the Cambridgeshire election, which he had attended. He recalled that although there was a poll the under-sheriff had simply declared for Sir Edward Peyton and Sir Simeon Steward and then departed. Brakin then presented to the House a petition from various freeholders disputing the election.CJ, i. 687a, 737b; Ferrar 1624, p. 22. Brakin did not receive the customary Cambridge parliamentary wage of 4s. per diem, but only half that amount, totalling £8 in 1614 and £10 10s. in 1624, probably because, being resident at Gray’s Inn, he was already living in London.Downing Coll. Camb. Lib., Liber Rationalis 1611-28, ff. 38v, 283. Shortly after the end of the Parliament, he resigned the recordership to Talbot Pepys*.Cambs. RO, Mun. Rm. Shelf C.7, f. 134. He remained a member of various local commissions until 1628. Nothing further is known of him, and no further member of the family sat in Parliament.