Peter Atte Wode

Who was Peter Atte Wode?

Peter Atte Wode was a Justice in Eyre for England south of the Trent from 1360–1367.

Atte Wode was probably born in Coulsdon in Surrey according to Manning and Bray's History of Surrey. The precise date of his birth is not known, but it is presumed to have been sometime before 1325. His father was Geoffrey Atte Wode, a Serjeant-at-Arms to Edward III and his mother was Anisia. Peter and his wife, Laurencia, had at least one son who was also named Peter Atte Wode who was a Knight of the Shire and married Petronilla.

On 15 March 1351 Peter Atte Wode and John De Roulegh along with seven others were appointed as "keepers" to the "joint commission for the peace and for labourers" in Surrey. This commission was formed in several counties in England to provide an enforcement for new laws that had been enacted to regulate labour and provide for peace after the Black Death decimated the population in 1348–49. On 15 September 1351 de Roulegh and Peter Atte Wode were removed from their positions on the commission as a result of complaints of impropriety by fellow commissioners. They were both tried and Peter Atte Wode was found to be innocent of the charges.