Sir John Moleyns

John Molenys was a sort of the aristocratic thug who made his fortune by debt collecting, bounty hunting and as a general hard man for Edward III (r. 1327-1377).

Molenys seems to have started his career in 1325 in the service of the chancellor, and was perhaps a clerk in chancery. In 1330 he and William de Montacute, afterwards first earl of Salisbury, were employed to penetrate Nottingham Castle and arrest Roger Mortimer, first earl of March. During the arrest Moleyns killed one of Mortimer's attendants but was formally pardoned and for the next few years Moleyns received numerous grants from Edward III, chiefly of manors and seigniorial rights. In 1337 he was treasurer of the king's chamber, in which capacity, perhaps, he was commissioned to seize all the Lombard merchants in London and hand them over to Montacute, governor of the Tower. The way in which Molenys operated is best seen on the example of his acquisition of the manor of Stoke Pages. Molenys murdered his wife's uncle, coerced her grandfather into handing over the manor and suborned the judges sent to investigate.

Molenys was arrested in 1340, but was pardoned and taken back into royal service where he became a one-man crime wave, committing offences of kidnap, chicanery, theft of land, abuse of office and forest offences. He was arrested again in 1357, and was imprisoned for abuse of office and horse stealing and died in prison in 1361.

At his peak, Molenys was worth £15,000, about 0.55% of net national income of £2.7m. In 2010 that would be £6.1bn.