No Country for Old Men? Late Medieval Gentry ‘Communities of the Mind’ in the County of Hampshire

Abstract

This article examines the armigerous gentry (knights and esquires) that operated in and around the county of Hampshire in the late-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century. It finds that whilst there was a core of resident knightly families who identified primarily with Hampshire - some for several centuries - there were many other knightly families who held substantial land in Hampshire but rarely engaged politically or socially, identifying with the southern region rather than the county – and sometimes much further afield. Those who had strong links with Hampshire depended upon lands in neighbouring Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset. Networks crossed not only county but also social boundaries and expressed themselves through ‘affinities’, most vividly the Winchester Bishopric under Wykeham and Beaufort. It was very difficult to gain entry to the highest ranks of the Hampshire elite but there were clearly close ties between upper and lower gentry families as evidenced through a series of deeds surviving in one greater gentry family (Brocas of Beaurepaire) which suggest circles of influence that were primarily local and engaged knightly families who were otherwise silent in the political affairs at county level.