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CARDMAKER, Richard, of Devizes, Wilts.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
Offices Held
Mayor, Devizes 1376-7, 1379-81, 1391-2.1
Biography
Richard Cardmaker was described as a mercator when he paid 2s. towards the poll tax of 1379. During his first three recorded mayoralities he acted ex officio as overseer of repairs to the royal castle of Devizes and the enclosure of the park there. He stood surety for the attendance of John Boxe at the Parliament of 1381, and for that of John Bochard, another Devizes MP, at the second Parliament of 1382.2
In July 1392, during his fourth recorded mayoralty, Cardmaker was authorized to found a chantry in St. John’s church, Devizes, where prayers were to be said for the good estate of the royal family and of the mayor and commonalty, and for their souls, together with those of other benefactors of the town, after death. What became known as ‘Cardmaker’s chantry’ was to be financed by a grant to the parish church of 31 messuages and other property in the borough.3