Edward Hull

Sir Edward Hull (c. 1410 – 17 July 1453) was an English knight who served as Constable of Bordeaux and a military commander during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War. Born into a Lancastrian-supporting family, his parents were both members of Henry IV's royal household. Hull became close to Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou. He served on campaign in France and as an ambassador to European powers. Hull held numerous offices including as Esquire of the Body to the king, Knight of the Body and carver to the queen, a feoffee of the Duchy of Lancaster, justice of the peace and sheriff of both Somerset and Dorset, and Devon.

Hull was appointed constable of Bordeaux in Southern France in 1442, a lucrative post due to the collection of export duties on wine. Bordeaux fell to the French in May 1451 and Hull joined the force being assembled to retake the city. He left with an expedition commanded by John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, in summer 1452 and retook Bordeaux in October. Hull became a knight of the Order of the Garter in May 1453. Later that year he joined Talbot in an attempt to relieve the siege of Castillon but was killed in the resulting battle. In the late 1440s he was involved in a dispute with Sir John Fastolf over the ownership of Titchwell in Norfolk. A royal inquisition of 1448 seized the manor from Fastolf into Crown ownership and gave Hull a lease on a farm. After Hull's death a new lawsuit by Fastolf restored the land to his ownership.

Early life Edward Hull was born circa 1410. He was the son of John Hull, an Esquire of the Body to Henry IV of England, and Eleanor, a servant to Henry IV's wife Joan of Navarre, Queen of England and a daughter of Sir John Malet of Somerset. Hull's family were staunch supporters of Henry IV's House of Lancaster.

Courtier

Hull accompanied Henry VI of England to France on an expedition of 1430–32, during which Henry was crowned the titular King of France in Paris. Also in 1438 he was appointed to his first term as sheriff of Somerset and Dorset. Hull was appointed a justice of the peace for Somerset on 25 March 1440. Hull was one of the ambassadors from Henry VI to John IV, Count of Armagnac sent in October 1442 with the king's proposal of marriage to one of John's daughters. Hull was appointed a feoffee of the Duchy of Lancaster in November 1443, an indication that he was then among the closest circle of the royal court. He was a member of the party that in 1444-1445 escorted Margaret of Anjou to England for her marriage to Henry VI. Hull was knighted during that expedition, at Christmas 1444. He was a Knight of the Body to Margaret at her coronation in May 1445. Hull went to defend Jersey, where he was retained by the king as part of a force to recapture the lost territories.

Hull sailed for Aquitaine in summer 1452, with a force under the command of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. The French king, Charles VII, learnt of the expedition and withdrew his force to Normandy, where he expected an attack to come. Shrewsbury and Hull were therefore able to seize Bordeaux in October 1452.

Talbot afterwards moved to relieve the French siege of Castillon. Hull joined Talbot with a force of 2,000 of his men. Hull was one of only two English parliamentarians present with the force, perhaps reflecting a disenchantment with the war among the gentry. The other member of parliament present was John Howard (who later rose to prominence and was created Duke of Norfolk by Edward IV). Hull was particularly keen to acquire Titchwell as before this point he owned no land at all. Hull claimed that his wife, Margery Lovel, whom he had married before 1441, had a claim to the land, shared with her sister Agnes who was married to Thomas Wake, under the law of entail. Hull's case was based on a claim that his wife's grandfather was a brother of Ralph Lovel of Titchwell.

A royal inquisition was held at Litcham on 30 October 1448. It found that Roys held no title to the land, which was held as a tenant-in-chief, and that it should have reverted to the Crown on his wife's death. The land was therefore seized by the king. On the basis of Hull's claim, which was possibly forged, and potentially under pressure from East Anglian magnate John Heydon the inquisition awarded Hull the lease of a farm on the land for the below-market rent of 10 marks a year.

Hull planned later legal actions to secure title to the manor as a whole for his wife and sister-in-law. Fastolf challenged the findings of the inquisition in the Court of Chancery from January 1449. Fastolf paid investigators who found that any connection between Margery and Agnes and the Lovels of Titchwell was unlikely but could not prove it. Fastolf's lawsuit then failed and by mid-1451 he had resigned himself to the loss of the manor. Hull's death in 1453 allowed Fastolf to renew proceedings. With Hull dead, Wake found he had little influence and a Chancery jury in mid-1455 found entirely in Fastolf's favour. He was assigned ownership of the manor on 1 April 1456.