18 Ed. 2. i. 425. Prior of Bridelyngton complains of the Constable of Knares- СНАР. borough Castle distraining him for rent of the said manor held in free alms. XII. "Assignentur fideles in Canc. ad inquirend. in præsentia Constabularii super contentis in petitione veritatem, et retornetur inquis. in Canc., quia retornata, si comperiatur quod petitio supponit, fiat ulterius justicia in Cancellar." 18 Ed. 2. i. 428. John de Shirdwell prays against people being continued in the office of Coroner who have been convicted of perjury. “Sequatur in Cancellar., et, ibi heat. quod justicia,” &c. 19 Ed. 2. i. 430.a Commons seek redress against the infringements of the Charters of Forests, and excesses of the officers. 66 "Il plest au Roi, qe les Justices de la Foreste, d'une part et d'autre, et lour 19 Ed. 2. i. 430. Commons complain that several persons have been im- 19 Ed. 2. i. 432. Archbishop of York. Burgesses of Hull trespass on his 66 "Veigne en Chancellerie et mestre sa Chartre; et le Chancellier, apele a luy conseile, face ceo qe face a faire." 19 Ed. 2. i. 433. Prior and Convent of Hatfield, Broad Oak, pray an inquest whether the Park is situated within the parish of Hatfield, and whether tithes of animals depastured therein used to be paid. "Assignentur fideles, &c. "Et retornata Inquis. in Canc. si quis concordet peticioni, fiat ulterius ibidem justicia.' 19 Ed. 2. i. 433.b Thomas Rente prays redress for the seizure of his ship Resp. "Videtur concilio, quod executio hujus petitionis spectat ad officium 19 Ed. 2. i. 435, 436. John de Vaux prays restitution of wardship of Kinfare "Veigne en Chauncelerie, et mustre illoges les Chartres q'il ad du Roi de les eschaunges fetes, &c., et ensement vewe illoges la manere de sa deliveraunce lui, soit fait droit." 19 Ed. 2. i. 437. Edmund de Grymesby, parson of Preston, complains of six acres of land free alms of the said church. "Soict mis en Chauncelerie, et illogees soit droit fait. 19 Ed. 2. i. 438.b Walter de Londres. "Veigne en Chauncellerie, et monstre ses chartres et ceo q'il a pur luy et droit seit feit." CHAPTER XIII. CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD III. TILL THE APPOINTMENT OF SIR RICHARD BOURCHIER, THE FIRST LAY LORD CHANCELLOR. CHAP. XIII. Jan. 25. 1327. John de Hotham again Chancellor. His death and character. HENRY DE BURG THE parliament which continued irregularly to sit under writs issued in the name of Edward II., commenced the new reign, by the appointment of a council of regency, consisting of twelve persons-five prelates and seven temporal peers— with the Earl of Lancaster as President or Protector;-and John de Hotham, Bishop of Ely, was called from his retreat to be made Chancellor. But he only consented to hold the office till a settlement of the kingdom should take place; and he finally resigned it on the 1st of March following. In this interval acts of parliament were passed indemnifying the Queen and her partisans for all they had done, and enabling them to carry on the government in the name of the young King. As yet all went smoothly, for he was not of competent age to understand the wrongs done to his father, his mother's shame, or the usurpation on his own rights; and for some time a good understanding continued between the Earl of Lancaster and the Queen and her favourite. Hotham joyfully returned to his diocese, where he occupied himself in repairing and ornamenting the cathedral, till he was struck with the palsy. After being bed-ridden two years, he died in 1336. He is said to have been pious, and naturally shrewd, though of little knowledge acquired from books. He is gratefully remembered by his successors in the see of Ely for the princely munificence with which he enriched it. Till the 12th of May the Great Seal remained in the keeping of Henry de Clyff, Master of the Rolls; and on that CHAP. XIII. HERSH, day it was delivered to HENRY DE BURGHERSH, or BURWASH, as Chancellor.* He was of noble birth, and nephew of Bartholemew de Badislimer, Baron of Leeds, a man of great power and fame in the reign of Edward II. Having Chancellor. been educated at Oxford,—in 1320, while yet a young man he obtained, through his uncle's interest, the rich bishopric of Lincoln. He soon after quarrelled with the King, and the temporalities of his see were sequestered. They were restored in 1324, and he was again taken into favour at court. But he subsequently took the Queen's part against her husband, and was active in bringing about the ruin of this unhappy prince. Along with the other chief conspirators, he was promoted at the commencement of the new reign, and enjoyed power till the young King discovered their plots and avenged the memory of his father. Seal. The Great Seal of Edward II., which had likewise been New Great that of Edward I., continued to be used till the 5th day of October, 1327, when a new Great Seal, with the effigies and style of Edward III., was put into the hands of the Chancellor. † The business of the parliament being finished, he accompanied the Queen mother to Berwick. During his absence the Seal was left with the Master of the Rolls, and it was restored to him on his return to court. He went abroad with the King on the 26th of May, 1329, and returned on the 11th of June following, still confident of continuing prosperity. of Mor But the termination of his official career was at hand. Temporary Mortimer, the paramour of Isabella, had quarrelled with the ascendency Earl of Lancaster and the Princes of the blood, and had timer. made a victim of the Earl of Kent, the King's uncle. For a short time Mortimer enjoyed a sort of dictatorship. He threw the Earl of Lancaster into prison, and prosecuted many of the prelates and nobility. The immense fortunes of the Spensers and their adherents were mostly converted to his own use. He affected a state and dignity not inferior to the royal. His power became formidable to every one, Rot. Cl. 2 Ed, 3. m. 26. † Rot. Cl. 1 Ed. 3. m. 11. CHAP. Edward the reins of government. and all parties forgetting past animosities conspired in a wish for his overthrow. Edward, now in his 18th year, feeling himself capable of III. seizes governing, repined at his insignificance, and resolved to free himself from the fetters of this insolent minister. By an extraordinary combination of courage and dexterity on the part of Mortimer's enemies, the minion was seized in the castle of Nottingham, in an apartment adjoining the Queen-dowager's, at a moment when he thought himself absolute and permanent master of the kingdom. Nov. 1320. ment. King's speech. Burghersh dismissed. His exile and death. JOHN DE A parliament was immediately summoned, before which he was accused of having procured the death of the late King, and of various other crimes, and upon the supposed notoriety of the facts, without trial or hearing his answer, or examining a witness, he was convicted and executed. Instead of the Chancellor, the young King himself is said to have made a speech at the opening of this parliament, complaining much of the conduct of the Queen and Mortimer, and intimating that, with the consent of his subjects, he designed to take the reins of government into his own hands.* Burghersh, being an ecclesiastic, was safe from corporal punishment, but he was deprived of the Great Seal †, and on the day before Mortimer's execution it was intrusted to JOHN DE STRATFORD, Bishop of Winchester, by whose advice the young King had acted in bringing about this revolution. The Ex-chancellor died in exile at Ghent about ten years after. It is said that "he was a covetous man, and easily abused his power to the oppressing of his neighbours." § The new Chancellor was a native of Stratford in Essex, STRAT- from which place he took his name according to the custom age. He and his brother Robert, of whom we shall FORD, Chancellor. of the 1 Parl. Hist. 83. † One of the charges against him was the abuse of his ecclesiastical patronage. It seems the livings in the Chancellor's gift were intended as a provision for the clerks of the different courts of justice who were then all in orders, and that Burghersh had been in the habit of selling them or giving them to favourites; whereupon an order was made by parliament, that "the Chancellor should give the livings in his gift rated at twenty marks and under, to the King's clerks in Chancery, the Exchequer and the two Benches, according to usage, and to none others."- Rolls, 4 Ed. 3., vol. ii. 136. Rot. Cl. 4 Ed 3. m. 20. § See L. C. 26. CHAP. XIII. tion. have to speak very soon, were instances then not uncommon of persons of talents, enterprise, and perseverance, raising themselves from obscurity to the highest offices in the state. He studied at Oxford, and there acquired great reputation His origin for his proficiency in the civil and canon law. It is curious and educato observe that the law in those times, not less than in the present, was the great avenue for new men to political advancement. In the struggle for power which was ever going on, those who were distinguished for their learning and their subtlety were found useful to the crown, to the barons and to the great ecclesiastics, were confidentially employed by them on occasions of difficulty, and were rewarded with ecclesiastical and temporal offices in which they had often more influence than the great hereditary nobles.* John de Stratford was early promoted to the deanery of Lincoln, and giving earnest of the talents which he afterwards displayed, he was promoted to the judicial office of Dean of the Arches, which has continued down to our own times, to be filled by men of the greatest learning and ability. Here he showed such knowledge of the laws, and such judgment and prudence in deciding causes, that he was made a Privy Councillor to Edward II., and was admitted to an important share in the government of the kingdom. sador to Pope. In 1323 he was sent ambassador to the Pope, then es- Ambastablished at Avignon, to settle various points of controversy of great delicacy, which had arisen between the Crown of England and his Holiness. It happened that at that time. the Bishop of Winchester died, and the Pope at the earnest request of the Archbishop of Canterbury, without the sanction of the King, somewhat irregularly consecrated his Excellency the English minister Bishop of the vacant see. Baldock, then Lord Chancellor, having intended this preferment for himself, was mortally offended, and took violent steps to prevent the new Bishop from deriving any benefit from the elevation. A very severe proclamation was issued against Stratford in the name of the King, "so that none The two Stratfords who successively held the office of Lord Chancellor in the 14th century, may aptly be compared to the two Scotts, Lord Eldon and Lord Stowell in the 19th. |