Robert Constable

- Aft 1338

• Name	Robert Constable  [1, 2, 3]
  Birth	of Flamborough, Bridlington, Yorkshire, England   [4, 5, 6]
  Gender	Male
  Alternate death	Aft 8 Dec 1336  [4]
  Death	Aft 1338  [5, 6]
  Person ID	I10551	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of DK, Ancestor of LD, Ancestor of TNH, Ancestor of UKL
  Last Modified	11 Feb 2024

  
  

  Father	William Constable,   b. of Flamborough, Bridlington, Yorkshire, England d. Aft 26 Apr 1319
  Family ID	F28	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Katherine   bur. Flamborough, Bridlington, Yorkshire, England
  Children	+ 1. Marmaduke Constable,   b. of Flamborough, Bridlington, Yorkshire, England d. 21 May 1378
  Family ID	F330	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	18 Apr 2024

  
  

• Notes

  Summoned to serve in Scotland, 24 Jun 1300. Knighted 22 May 1306 together with Edward, Prince of Wales (the later Edward II). "Sir Robert Constable, who may have sat in the Parliament of 1319 and was certainly summoned to attend a great council five years later, served on many royal commissions and helped to maintain the Yorkshire coast in a state of defence against pirates and the threat of foreign invasion." [History of Parliament] From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: A rare example of political involvement occurred at the beginning of the fourteenth century, when Sir Robert [i] Constable (fl. 1313–1338/9), the eldest son of Sir William [i] Constable (d. 1319), allied himself with Thomas, earl of Lancaster. In 1313 Robert was among those pardoned for his involvement in the death of the king's favourite Piers Gaveston in the previous year and he was again associated with the earl in May 1321, when the local Bridlington chronicler noted him among the northern gentry present at the earl's 'parliament' at Pontefract. Like many northerners, however, he later dissociated himself from the earl. He was not present at the Sherburn meeting in the following month, and in 1322 was given powers of array by the king. After that he appears to have withdrawn from public affairs, and in October 1331 secured exemption from office, although he was made an arrayer again early in 1333. A partial explanation for Robert's withdrawal may have been his chronic indebtedness. From 1317 until the mid-1330s he acknowledged debts to a wide range of local merchants and clerics, as well as to more influential figures. His financial position may have eased by 1338–9, when he bought a mill and pasture in Flamborough, but in terms of public office the family remained eclipsed for a further decade.

  
  

• Sources

  [S47] The History of Parliament. Some citations point to entries from the printed volumes not yet added to the online site. [S121] "Constable family (per. c. 1300-1488)", article by Rosemary Horrox in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. [S5159] The Parliamentary Representation of the County of York, 1258-1832 ed. A. Gooder. 2 volumes. Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1935-38. [S822] John P. Ravilious, 27 Apr 2004, post to soc.genealogy.medieval. [S1526] The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, Wife of Reverend John Owsley, Generations 1-15, Fourth Preliminary Edition, by Ronny O. Bodine and Bro. Thomas Spalding, Jr. 2013. [S7379] Early Yorkshire Charters: Volume 12, The Tison Fee ed. Charles Travis Clay. "Based on the Manuscripts of the Late William Farrer." Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1965.