MOHUN (MONE), Reginald (1507/8-67), of Hall House and Bodinnick, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1553
Nov. 1554
1555
? 1559

Family and Education

b. 1507/8, yr. s. of John Mohun (d.1508) of Hall House by Anne, da. of Richard Coode of Morval. m. by 1546, Jane, da. of Sir William Trevanion of Carhayes, Devon, 4s. inc. William 4da. suc. bro. John 4 Jan. 1516; coh. of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon 18 Sept. 1556.2

Offices Held

J.p. Cornw. 1547, 1558/59; commr. relief 1550, piracy 1565; esquire of the body by Sept. 1552-3; sheriff, Cornw. 1552-3, 1559-60.3

Biography

Reginald Mohun, who came from a family seated in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey since the reign of Edward III, was a younger son who unexpectedly as a boy succeeded to his family’s estates. Nothing has been discovered about his life earlier than 1531 when, not long after attaining his majority, he testified against a servant of his kinsman, the Marquess of Exeter. Within a few years he brought an action in the Star Chamber against Sir John Arundell, the receiver-general for the duchy of Cornwall, for inciting his servants to trespass on and damage some of Mohun’s property. If in 1534 Mohun was more sinned against than sinning, he was not so ten years later when in a dispute over land he assembled some 80 men ‘in array in order to battle in such fashion that the like riot in these parts before this time hath not been seen’. This episode provoked a second action in the Star Chamber, with Mohun this time as defendant, and also a special inquiry at Liskeard in the autumn of 1546 when he was committed to the Fleet to await the outcome. He was brought before the bar of the Star Chamber on 15 Feb. 1547, fined £100 and sent back to prison. A further inquiry was ordered when he appealed against this sentence: his cousin (Sir) Richard Edgecombeserved on the commission and his neighbour Thomas Treffry (to whom he was later linked by marriage) supported his claims. Evidently the appeal was successful since Mohun was named to the bench for Cornwall in May, presumably having been released from prison and exonerated of all blame. Mohun was involved in several other protracted disputes over land, his wife’s marriage portion and his mother’s inheritance.4

In the autumn of 1547 Edgecombe procured his return as a knight for Cornwall, and doubtless he favoured Mohun’s candidature at Newport iuxta Launceston: Sir Hugh Trevanion, Mohun’s brother-in-law, had some authority in the borough as constable of Launceston castle, and John Trelawny, his kinsman, was the sheriff at the time of the elections. Nothing is known of his contribution to the first Edwardian Parliament, and he is not known to have sat in the second one summoned at Northumberland’s behest: he was then disqualified by his shrievalty from sitting for a Cornish constituency, but he entered the first Parliament of Mary’s reign as the senior Member for Plympton Erle, a Devon borough dominated by his kinsman, the Earl of Devon, and amenable to the influence of Edgecombe who was then sheriff of the county. Twelve months later Treffry was chosen as senior knight for Cornwall at a meeting of the county court attended by Mohun who was himself returned for Helston, where he owned some property and frequented the tin coinages: but despite these personal connexions his election there did not meet the Queen’s request for residents since his home was over 30 miles away. On the death of the 1st Earl of Bedford, the Queen’s favourite (Sir) Edward Hastings became lord warden of the stannaries, and presumably his efforts to assure the return by Cornish constituencies of Members well disposed to Mary in 1555 obliged Mohun to look for a seat elsewhere. It was doubtless through the 2nd Earl of Bedford working through his close friend, Sir Thomas Cheyne, the lord warden of the Cinque Ports, that Mohun obtained election for Rye. If Hastings had been doubtful about Mohun’s political feelings his suspicions were borne out when Mohun joined in the protest led by Sir Anthony Kingston against a government bill. As a result Hastings presumably ensured that no seat was available for him in the last Parliament of Mary’s reign. At the accession of Elizabeth, Hastings’ power waned, and Mohun served twice more in Parliament before his death on 22 Apr. 1567.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: J. J. Goring

Notes

  • 1. Hatfield 207.
  • 2. Date of birth estimated from age at bro.’s i.p.m., C142/78/116. Vis. Cornw. ed. Vivian, 324-5, 501; C1/658/19; Paroch. Hist. Cornw. iii. 377-8; CPR, 1557-8, pp. 6-7; CP, iv. 332.
  • 3. CPR, 1547-8, p. 82, p. 82; 1553, p. 351; APC, vii. 283; J. Maclean, Trigg Minor, iii. 139.
  • 4. Vis. Cornw. 324; LP Hen. VIII, xii, xiii; St.Ch.2/4/125-32, 141-51, 10/154, 26/364, 28-70, 128; 3/3/14; 5/91/25, C6/37; SP1/184, f. 101v; C1/824/41-43, 852/54-56, 1142/57-61; CPR, 1547-8, p. 82.
  • 5. C142/150/186; 219/23/19; E101/273/20, m. 14, 274/1, mm. 20, 22; Duchy Cornw. RO, 501 sub Helston; Guildford mus. Loseley 1331/2.