Thomas Saundre: The Chief Social Evil In The 15th Century

By the late 1440s, national anger at the loss of the empire in France fused with growing discontent over internal abuses within the country. Ross [25] describes this scene, “For most Englishmen the chief social evil of the day was the ability of powerful men to defy the law, to bend or pervert the course of justice and to use violence in pursuit of their own interests or those of their followers. Records of the time abound with murders, beatings, destruction of manor houses, and the carrying away of livestock, performed by large gangs of men.” Numerous uprisings began to take place in many regions of the country, and Surrey was no exception. In 1449, Thomas Saundre and others in his family participated in an insurrection in Charlwood against
In that time, the Sanders had lived through vast changes in their own lives and fortunes and seen an entirely new England come to life. By the mid-fifteenth century, the restrictive feudal order was on the wane. Family members now owned their own land and built wealth and gained social prominence through fortuitous marriage. They had lived through famines and relentless outbreak of plague and seen times of good and bad monarchic rule. They lived to see the rise of effective parliamentary governance and simultaneous recognition of evolving political rights. Especially in the person of William, Thomas Saundre's son, heir to this epochal history, the family found rewarding involvement in a re-made England and took on roles that in the past were tightly reserved for the more highly
G. Eyre and A. Strahan, 1827-1832. Calendars of the Proceedings of Chancery in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, Volume 1.

14. John, whose wife Margaret died in 1477, had sons John and Richard. Sketchy records suggest this Richard may have had two sons, John Saundre, whose wife leased the property of Rowley, and Richard Saundre, who owned Le Fronge in 1502 and engaged a legal dispute over the property in 1512.

15. G. Eyre and A. Strahan, 1827-1832. Calendars of the Proceedings of Chancery in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, Volume 1. A suit of about 1455, a few years after Thomas's death, pitted Thomas's son John against John, Thomas's brother. John's son William married Johanna, Thomas's daughter, and received Odworth in marriage, but with the stipulation that the property could remain with them only upon producing an heir. But William died before Johann gave birth to their child, leaving open the question of the property's future ownership. It sems that Thomas's son John prevailed in this