Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 95 (2002), pp. 93-99 



The Life and Turbulent Times of Sir Roger 

 Tocotes, 1430? - 1492, Sheriff of Wiltshire and 

 Royal Servant: a Fifteenth-Century Survivor 



by Raymond J Skinner 



Sir Roger Tocotes survived unscathed throughout that period of unrest and lawlessness which pervaded 

 the second half of the fifteenth century. His story is an ever-present thread in a tapestry that embraces 

 many of the principal characters involved in the county of Wiltshire, and countrywide, who were in the 

 forefront of affairs during the reigns of Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry VII. To survive as a royal servant 

 during these times required an uncommon perspicacity and ingenuity, together with a large measure of 

 good fortune. As three times Sheriff of Wiltshire, Comptroller of the Households to two such disparate 

 figures as George, Duke of Clarence and Henry VII, he must have been not only an able administrator, but 

 also a discreetly pragmatic character. Born into a Lancastrian/ Neville affinity, he yet achieved important 

 office under the Yorkist king, Edward TV, survived the troublous times of Richard III, and ended his career 

 with high office under the first Tudor monarch. 



With average expectancy a medieval lifespan might 

 have encompassed that period of unrest and 

 dynastic lawlessness which is usually known today 

 as the Wars of the Roses; there were, however, many 

 during this period whose natural span was 

 shortened or brought to abrupt end by death in 

 battle, by execution, or otherwise ruined through 

 imprisonment or attainder and confiscation of their 

 goods and estates. From the events leading up to 

 the first battle of St Albans in 1455, to the final 

 spasm of the wars in 1497 - the defeat of Pretender 

 Perkin Warbeck at Blackheath - it was an 

 exceedingly fortunate or clever individual who 

 managed to preserve his life, property and status 

 during this period of disintegration in the rule of 

 law. The second half of the fifteenth century 

 witnessed, in England, the death of three kings - 

 one in battle, one murdered in the Tower of London, 

 and one prematurely. In addition, three princes of 

 the blood royal suffered similar fates, and numerous 

 figures from the top echelons of the peerage, 

 including dukes, a marquis, and earls perished in 



battle or afterwards by the axe. Such a catalogue 

 takes no account of the many members of the 

 minor aristocracy and gentry who also succumbed, 

 for this was a conflict where the common soldier 

 perhaps stood a greater chance of survival than 

 his leader. 



Fortunate, then, the man who managed to 

 negotiate this minefield unscathed, and emerged 

 to die peacefully in his bed. Such an individual was 

 Sir Roger Tocotes of Bromham, near Devizes, whose 

 ancestors - a northern family - derived their name 

 from the township of Tockets in the parish of 

 Guisborough, North Yorkshire. Tocotes first appears 

 in Wiltshire at about the time when open war flared 

 up between the Lancastrian supporters of Henry 

 VI and his queen, Margaret, and the rival claimants 

 to the throne, the Yorkist/ Neville party. Near this 

 time Tocotes, a comparatively penniless suitor, in 

 time4ionoured fashion married a rich widow, the 

 Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Gerald Braybrooke, 

 who had become the heiress to the Barony of St 

 Amand as the widow of Sir William Beauchamp in 



'Whitnal', Post Office Lane, Broad Hinton, Swindon SN4 9PB 



