Peter de la Mare

Peter de la Mare

Speaker of the House of Commons
In office October 1377 – November 1377
Monarch	Richard II of England
Preceded by	Thomas Hungerford
Succeeded by	James Pickering
In office April 1376 – January 1377
Monarch	Edward III of England
Preceded by	William de Shareshull (as Prolocutor, last titleholder)
Succeeded by	Thomas Hungerford

Sir Peter de la Mare (c. 1294 – c. 1387) was an English politician and Speaker of the House of Commons during the Good Parliament of 1376.

Family

His parents were Reginald/Reynold (died before 1358) and Margery de la Mare^[1] of Little Hereford, Herefordshire, and Yatton, Somerset. He had a younger brother Malcolm de la Mare^[2] who married Alice de Cokesay (died without issue in 1400), the widow of John Romsay of Kidderminster.^[3] His sister Joanna/Joan de la Mare (born ~1324) married Simon de Brockbury (born 1324). Their daughter Margaret Brockbury (born 1355) married William Seymour, who had been born in 1348 to Sir Roger Seymour and Cecily Beauchamp of Hache Beauchamp, Somerset.^[4]^[5] Their son Roger Seymour (1366 – 1420) married Maud Esturmy (~1383 – before 1427), daughter of William Esturmy, Lord of Wulfhall. At his death, Yatton was inherited by his great-nephew, Roger Seymour, the grandson of Sir Peter's sister Joanna, who married Simon de Brockbury.^[6]

Life

Before becoming Speaker, Mare worked as a toll collector, was Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1374, and served as a steward to Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March. It may have been his connection with Mortimer which led to his election to Parliament.

Peter de la Mare attended the Good Parliament in 1376 as a knight of the shire for Herefordshire. After being elected as Speaker, he served as a spokesman for the House of Commons in the House of Lords during the indictment of various figures close to King Edward III, including the king's mistress Alice Perrers, who was accused of having gained an undue degree of influence over the king. However, the political influence of the Good Parliament was brief. In November 1376, Peter de la Mare was imprisoned in Nottingham Castle by John of Gaunt. Despite pleas for his release, the Bad Parliament of 1377 refused to pardon him. However, he regained his freedom in June 1377, following the death of Edward III. Following his release, Mare was pardoned and compensated by King Richard II. He was re-elected as Speaker of the Commons in the Parliament of October 1377.

Peter de la Mare served in several more Parliaments during the 1380s. The last recorded mention of him was as a feoffee to Richard Burley in 1387.

In Piers Plowman

Many scholars agree that the parliament of rats and mice in the prologue of Piers Plowman is a direct reference to the Good Parliament. Peter de la Mare is portrayed as the "rat of renown" who proposes belling the cat (who is probably John of Gaunt), thus casting him as a well-intentioned reformer who would not or could not follow through.^[7]^[8]

References

↑ Oxford DNB http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=7432&back=
↑ Oxford DNB http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=7432&back=
↑ The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
↑ Many Mini Biographies G23: 7605248 http://www.teachergenealogist007.com/2011/08/g23-7605248.html
↑ http://www.1066.co.nz/library/battle_abbey_roll3/subchap94.htm
↑ Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 14 by Edward Maunde Thompson http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/De_la_Mare,_Peter_%28DNB00%29
↑ Orsten, E. Ambiguities in Langland's Rat Parliament. Mediaeval Studies 23, 1961.
↑ Dodd, G. A parliament full of rats? Piers Plowman and the Good Parliament of 1376. Historical Research 79:203, 2006.

Holmes, George (1975). The Good Parliament. Oxford, Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-822446-X.

Political offices
Preceded by Sir Thomas Hungerford	Presiding Officer of the House of Commons 1376	Succeeded by James Pickering
Preceded by Thomas Hungerford	Speaker of the House of Commons 1377	Succeeded by Sir Thomas Hungerford

Speakers of the House of Commons

House of Commons
of England

14th century	Hungerford De la Mare Pickering Guildesborough Waldegrave Pickering Bussy Cheney Doreward Savage Redford Savage

15th century	Esturmy Tiptoft Chaucer Stourton Doreward Hungerford Chaucer Redman Beauchamp Flower Hunt Chaucer Baynard Flower Russell Walton Vernon Tyrell Alington, Sr. Tyrell Russell Hunt Bowes Tyrell Burley W. Tresham Burley W. Tresham Say Popham I W. Tresham Oldhall Thorpe Charlton Wenlock T. Tresham Green Strangeways Say Alington Jr. Wood Catesby Lovell Mordaunt Fitzwilliam Empson Drury Englefield

16th century	Dudley Englefield Sheffield Nevill More Audley Wingfield Rich Hare Moyle Baker Dyer Pollard Broke Higham Cordell Gargrave T. Williams Onslow Wray Bell Popham II Puckering Snagge Coke Yelverton

17th century	Croke Phelips R. Crewe Richardson T. Crewe H. Finch J. Finch Glanville Lenthall Pelham Lenthall Rous (Barebones Parliament) Lenthall Widdrington (2nd Protectorate Parliament) Chute, Long & Bampfield (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Lenthall Grimston Turnour Charlton Seymour Sawyer Seymour Gregory W. Williams Trevor Powle Trevor Foley Littleton

18th century	Harley Smith

House of Commons
of Great Britain

18th century	Smith R. Onslow Bromley Hanmer Compton A. Onslow Cust Norton Cornwall Grenville Addington

House of Commons
of the United Kingdom

19th century	Addington Mitford Abbot Manners-Sutton Abercromby Shaw-Lefevre Denison Brand Peel Gully

20th century	Lowther Whitley FitzRoy Brown Morrison Hylton-Foster King Lloyd Thomas Weatherill Boothroyd

21st century	Martin Bercow

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.