Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Somer, Henry
SOMER, HENRY (fl. 1440), chancellor of the exchequer, was probably a relative of John Somer [q. v.] Henry was a clerk of the exchequer in the early years of Henry IV (Devon, Issue Roll, pp. 274–86). He was keeper of the privy wardrobe 13 Feb. 1405. He was one of the clerks appointed by the House of Commons to superintend the engrossment of the rolls of Parliament in 1406 (Rot. Parl. iii. 585). He was made a baron of the exchequer on 8 Nov. 1407, and was chancellor of the exchequer on 20 June 1410 (Palgrave, Kalendars of the Exchequer, ii. 85). Hoccleve styles him under-treasurer in a poem addressed to him, probably in 1407, and he perhaps held this office in connection with the chancellorship of the exchequer. Somer had an annuity of 40l. by royal grant from the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, which he still held in 1444 when he was a member of a commission in relation to the foundation of King's College, Cambridge (Rot. Parl. v. 92–4).
Somer was a friend of Hoccleve and a member of the poet's court of Good Company, as appears in a ballad entitled ‘Cestes Balade ensuyante fust par la Court de Bone Compagnie envoiee a lonure Sire Henri Somer Chancellor de Leschequer et un de la dite Court;’ this poem probably dates from April 1410. Perhaps he was also a friend of Chaucer, whose pension Somer received for him on 5 June 1400.
[Hoccleve's Works, ed. Mason; Hoccleve's Minor Poems, ed. Furnivall (Early English Text Society); Foss's Judges of England; authorities quoted.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.254
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 218 | ii | 11 | Somer, Henry: after pp. 274-86). insert He was keeper of the privy wardrobe 13 Feb. 1405. |
| 16 | for chancellor read was chancellor | ||
| 17 | for 23 Jan. 1413 read 20 June 1410 (cf. Wylie, Henry IV, iv. 47) | ||
| 22 | after exchequer insert which he was still filling in 1420 (Rymer, Fœdera, ix. 915) |