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A Fifteenth-Century Lawsuit: The Case of St Anthony's Hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

Extract

It is well known that the Council of Constance (1414–18) was concerned with reform, heresy and – above all – the ending of the Great Schism of the papacy. However, comparatively few realise how many personal and institutional suits were heard at tribunals there. Christopher Crowder has asserted with justifiable exaggeration that more ‘ecclesiastical carpetbaggers’ were in attendance than ‘ecclesiastical statesman’. This article, based on hitherto unused material, is a case study which presents the activities of certain ‘carpetbaggers’ and their agents in some detail. It is offered partly because it further documents Crowder's assertion, partly because it supports his conclusion that judicial procedures at the papal curia in the late Middle Ages operated with great continuity, and partly because it suggests how closely King Henry v could concern himself with the details of ecclesiastical business. It also throws unusual light on medieval English hospitals, especially on alien priory establishments. Furthermore, it exemplifies the inordinate amounts of time, documentation, money and gifts required in order to pursue cases at the papal curia; difficulties stemming from reliance on proctors there; the time lags and other problems related to international correspondence and financial transactions in the early fifteenth century; and connections between ‘carpetbaggers’ and ‘ecclesiastical statesmen’ that sometimes affected curia cases.

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

1 Crowder, C. M. D., ‘Four English cases determined in the Roman curia during the Council of Constance, 1414–1418’, Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum 12 (1980), 315411, esp. pp. 316, 366.Google Scholar

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3 The present writer has an article in progress for publication elsewhere under the title ‘St, Anthony's Hospital, London: a pardoner–supported alien priory, 1219–1461’.Google Scholar

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13 Selden, , fos 26r–32v, 62r. The chief business Swan transacted for Macclesfield related to procurement of an indulgence for a noble marriage, the obtaining of a papal ‘citation’ against the recalcitrant rector of a church appropriated to St, Anthony's, and confirmation of Macclesfieldés in commendam appointment as warden.Google Scholar

14 Ibid, fos 28v, 32r. He was then in Rome as a candidate for the archbishopric of York. For his career, see Emden, , Oxford, 2. 854–5;Google Scholar The Register of Robert Hallum, Bishop of Salisbury, 1407–1417, ed. Horn, J. M. (Canterbury and York Society 72, 1982), pp. 914.Google Scholar An illuminating sketch appears in Harvey, M., Solutions to the Schism: a study of some English attitudes 1378 to 1409 (Kirchengeschichtliche Quellen und Studien 12, 1983), 161–3.Google Scholar Like Macclesfield and Fitton he was from the north-west of England: Bennett, M. J., Community, Class and Careerism; Cheshire and Lancashire society in the age of ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, Cambridge 1983, 155–60.Google Scholar

15 CPL v–vi, passim; Selden, fo. 32r. Macclesfield called him ‘my proctor’. Scrivani played a part at the Councils of Pisa and Constance: Crowder, C. M. D., Unity, Heresy and Reform 1378–1460: the conciliar response to the Great Schism, London 1977, 61, 110. Under Martin v he achieved important promotion: CPL vii. 10, 17. He claimed to possess medical skills and offered such services to Macclesfield: Selden, fo. 28r. Variants on the name are spelled Scribani, Scrinanis, Scriminetis.Google Scholar

16 Selden, , fo. 28r–v.Google Scholar

17 Determination of a logical chronology, using internal and external evidence, was a time-consuming task initiated by MrsHorn, . See the Appendix for the resulting chronological order, and addressees.Google Scholar

18 CPL v. 18.

19 Ibid. iv. 419, 430; v. 549; Selden, , fo. g8v.Google Scholar

20 CPL v. 549.

21 Selden, , fo. 94r.Google Scholar

22 Macclesfield went to Rome in 1392 on a mission for Richard II, and served there in 1403 as proctor for Walter Cook, as well as handling St, Anthony's business there in those years:Perroy, E., L'Angleterre et le Grand Schisme d'Occident: étude sur lapolitique religieuse de I'Angleterre sous Richard II, Paris 1933, 330, n. 11; CCR, 1392–96, 545; CPL v. 558, 549; CPR 1401–5, 212; DKR 36 (1875), app. ii, 313. For Cook, see Emden, A. B., A Biographical Register of the University of Cambridge to 1500, Cambridge 1963, 157–8.Google Scholar

23 In October 1417 he not only wrote that he had had such infirmity for some twelve years, but also that he was some sixty-six years old: Selden, fo. 94V.

24 The Register of Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1414–1443, ed. E. F. Jacob, 4 vols (Canterbury and York Society xlii, xlv–xlvii, 1937–47), iv. 44–7.

26 C., Given-Wilson, The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages: the fourteenth-century political community, London 1987, 18.Google Scholar

26 Selden, , fos 9ir, 95r; CPR 1416–22, 340.Google Scholar Norton Priory had become an abbey in 1391: Greene, J. P., ‘The elevation of Norton Priory, Cheshire, to the status of mitred abbey’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 128 (1979 for 1978), 97112.Google Scholar

27 BL, MS Cotton Cleopatra, F iii, fo. 52(76). It is possible that Olton had sought Macclesfield's wardenship, but the record gives no details.

28 In 1417 Macclesfield wrote that (before 1414) Olton had been in his service, and ‘continually’ in his presence, for seven years: Selden, fo. 94.

29 In 1413 Olton was associated with Macclesfield in an important private land transaction: Macclesfield Cartulary, fo. I79r–v; DKR xxxvii (1876), app. ii. 64.

30 Rotuli Parliamentorum, iv. 22.

31 CPR 1399–1401, 4.

32 Selden, , fo. 96v.Google Scholar

33 Useful introductions to the conciliar age include: Ullmann, W., The Origins of the Great Schism: a study in fourteenth-century ecclesiastical history, London 1948;Google Scholar Tierney, B., Foundations of the Conciliar Theory: the contribution of the medieval canonists from Gratian to the Great Schism, Cambridge 1955;Google Scholar Jacob, E. F., Essays in the Conciliar Epoch, rev. edn, Manchester 1963; Crowder, Unity, esp. pp. 164;Google Scholar Harvey, Solutions; Allmand, C., Henry V, Berkeley, CA 1992, 233–79.Google Scholar

34 Basic documents related to this council are contained in Acta Concilii Constanciensis, ed. Finke, H., 4 vols, Miinster 1896–1928.Google Scholar Some are rendered into English in The Council of Constance: the unification of the Church, ed. Mundy, J. H. and Woody, K. M., trans. L. R. Loomis, New York 1961, and in Crowder, Unity, esp. pp. 65138,Google Scholar both of which provide useful discussion. Important commentary appears in Franzen, A. and Miiller, W., Das Konzil von Konstanz: Beitrdge zu seiner Geschichte und Theologie, Freiberg 1964,Google Scholar and in Brandmiiller, W., Das Konzil von Konstanz 1414–1818, vol. 1, Paderborn 1991.Google Scholar Two articles of special interest for the present essay are: du, A. Breck, P., ‘The leadership of the English delegation at Constance’, University of Colorado Studies, Ser. B, Studies in the Humanities. 1 (1939–41)289–99;Google Scholar and Crowder, C. M. D., ‘Henry V, Sigismund, and the Council of Constance, a re-examination’, Historical Studies IV: Papers Read Before the Fifth Irish Conference of Historians, ed. G. A. Hayes-McCoy, London 1963, 93110.Google Scholar

36 Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae, et Cujuscunque Generis Ada Publica Inter Reges Angliae el Alios Quosvis Imperatores, Reges, Pontifices, Principes, vel Communitates [etc.], ed. Rymer, T. and Sanderson, R., 20 vols, London 1704–35, ix. 138–9, 169–70, 342, 370–1; DKR 44 (1883), app. iii, 556, 558, 583; The Register of Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham, 1406–1437, ed. R. L. Storey, 6 vols (Surtees Society clxiv, clxvi, clxix, clxx, clxxvii, clxxxii, 1956–70), ii. 79, 114.Google Scholar

36 Selden, , fo. 9ir; CPL vii. 45; Emden, Oxford, 1. 294–6. Richard 11 had nominated Macclesfield to the provostship in 1389 (CPR 1389–92, 166); Boniface ix had provided him to the post in 1394 (CPL iv. 473), and Henry iv had ratified his estate in 1399 (CPR 1399–14O1, 4).Google Scholar

37 Emden, , Oxford, 1. 371–2;Google Scholar Le, Neve, Fasti, passim; Reg. Chicheh (Jacob), 2. 645. Also spelled Catrik. For Macclesfield's lands, see Macclesfield Cartulary.Google Scholar

38 Emden, , Oxford, 1. 440–2;Google Scholar Le, Neve, Fasti, passim; Reg. Chichele (Jacob), 2. 647.Google Scholar

39 Emden, , Oxford, 3. 1494–5;Google Scholar Le, Neve, Fasti, passim; Reg. Chichele (Jacob), 2. 671.Google Scholar

40 Le, Neve, Fasti, 1. 42; vi. 33; viii. 30.Google Scholar

41 Ibid, passim; Reg. Chichele (Jacob), ii. 681.

41 Wilkins, , Concilia, 3. 360–5.Google Scholar

43 CPL vii. 374.

44 Graham, , ‘Order’, 359; CPL 5. 311.Google Scholar

45 Statutes ofthe Realm, ed. Luders, A. and others, 11 vols, London 1810–28, 2. 175,Google Scholar Rotuli Parliamentorum, iv. 80–1. Evidence of the laxity and corruption rife in England's hospitals is found in Seymour, M. A., ‘The Organization, Personnel and Functions of the Hospital in the Middle Ages’, unpubl. MA thesis, London 1947.Google Scholar Macclesfield's improvements to St, Anthony's appear in Selden, fos g2r, 95r, g6r–v.Google Scholar

46 Parks, G. B., ‘The route of Chaucer's first journey to Italy’, ELH: A Journal of English Literary History 16 (1949), 174–87, at p. 180 concludes that it took the poet 30 to 40 days to reach Florence.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 Finke, , Ada Concilii Constanciensis, 2. 199;Google Scholar Loomis, Council of Constance, 473. His retinue presumably included FrFrassengiis, James de, also called Frassagis (Selden, fo. 1 18r)Google Scholar and FrPenilheys, John de (Ponilheyo or Ponilheys), his cellarer (Selden, fos 99V, 10 iv).Google Scholar

48 Loomis, , Council of Constance, 102.Google Scholar

49 Vatican archives quoted in Jacob, E.F., ‘The fifteenth century: some recent interpretations’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 16 (1930), 386409 at p. 407, n. 5. See also CPR 1416–22, 340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

50 Macclesfield's, Tyrell family certainly waited until 1423 for their altar: CPL 7. 317.Google Scholar

51 Crowder, Four English Cases, 349, 359; Loomis, Council of Constance, 51–65.

52 Vatican archives quoted in Jacob, ‘The fifteenth century; some recent interpretations’, 407, n. 5.

53 Maxfield, , ‘Pardoners and property’, 89.Google Scholar

54 Reg. Chichele (Jacob), iv. 44–7. For other examples of such conservators, see Sayers, J. E., Papal Judges Delegate in the Province of Canterbury, 1108–1254, Oxford 1971, 108–9.Google Scholar

55 Selden, , fo. 97r.Google Scholar

56 Reg. Chichele (Jacob), iv. 44–7. Chichele and Hallum, along with Thomas Langley, bishop of Durham, had been the original commissioners for John xxm's bull of conservancy.

57 Fitton's, involvement with the affairs of the English ‘nation’ was intense. In fact in April 1415 he served with three bishops as one of the four different ‘nation’ representatives who jointly directed the troops of the emperor who brought John xxin back to Constance after he had absconded (Finke, Acta Concilia Constanciensis, 2. 244, 249–50;Google Scholar Loomis, , Council of Constance, 495). Swan too was very busy. Macclesfield once wrote to him ‘And although you have many affairs to conduct at the curia, nevertheless do not forget my business’: Selden, fo. 90r.Google Scholar See also Jacob, E.F., ‘One of Swan's cases: the disputed election at Fountains Abbey, 1410–16’, in idem. Essays in Later Medieval History, Manchester 1968, 7997.Google Scholar

58 Selden, , fos 91r, 94V.Google Scholar

59 Ibid. fo. 97r.

60 Foedera, ix. 363; PRO, Chancery, French Rolls, C 76/100/22; brief note in DKR xliv (1883), app. iii, 591.

61 Selden, , fos 94V, g7r. Swan was quite in line with normal contemporary practice in attempting compromise: Sayers, Papal Judges Delegate, 239–42.Google Scholar

62 Tebbot was rector ofSt, Benet Fynk, London 1417: Selden, fo. g6v. Later he was rector of Aldham (Essex), and Pelton (London); prebendary of London, Lichfield, andGoogle Scholar St, Johns (Chester); warden of Denwall Hospital (Cheshire). He died before 16 May 1445.Google Scholar See Jones, D., The Church in Chester 1300–1540 (Chetham Society Remains, 3 ser. 7, 1957), 150;Google Scholar Hennessy, G. L., Novum Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense, London 1898, 24. 37;Google Scholar The Register of John Catterick, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield 1415–1419, ed. Swanson, R. N. (Canterbury and York Society 77, 1990), 23.Google Scholar

63 Selden, , fos gor–v, 95r, g7r.Google Scholar

64 Ibid, fos gov, giv.

65 Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arli, 36 vols, Rome 1929–39, xxxv. 857–8; Ullmann, Origins, 191–231; Tierney, Foundations, 220–47.

66 Emden, , Oxford, 1. 528. His name was also spelled Ocuyrk. He had died by January 1420.Google Scholar

67 Selden, , fos 93r, 95r, 96V. His Oxford training in theology had not yet prepared him for complex legal activity at the curia. It seems likely that he was one of the stubborn reformers ordered home by Henry, v for insisting that reform precede the election of a pope: Foedera, 6. 466.Google Scholar

68 Barraclough, G., ‘Audientia litterarum contradictarum’, Dictionnaire de droit canonique, 1 vols, Paris 1935–65, 1. 1387–99;Google Scholar Sayers, , Papal Government, 15–49;Google Scholar Schneider, F. E., Die rb'mische Rota: nach geltenden Recht auf geschichtlichen Grundlage, vol. 1-, Paderborn 1914-;Google Scholar Herde, P., Audientia litterarum contradictarum (Bibliothek des deutschen historischen Institute in Rom, xxxi–xxxii, 1970).Google Scholar Interesting light on the work of proctors in medieval church courts appears in Helmholz, R. H., ‘Ethical standards for advocates and proctors in theory and practice’, in idem. Canon Law and the Law of England, London 1987, 4157.Google Scholar For proctors at the curia, see Sayers, , Papal Government, 33–5.Google Scholar

69 Selden, , fos 94V–5V, 96V. Jordan was perpetual vicar of Steynton, St, David's: CPL vi. 217; 7. 202.Google Scholar

70 Selden, , fo. 94V. Beginning with his 1414 agreement with Olton, Macclesfield used the financial services of the rising Medici instead of the Albertini, whom he had used in 1406, but whose fortunes were on the wane. For the Medici, see de Roover, R., The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank 1397–1494, Cambridge, Mass. 1963, esp. pp. 3552.Google Scholar The warden's discussions of financial matters are confusing. Sometimes he quotes in Venetian ducats or Italian florins instead of English marks or pounds. Inasmuch as he mentions many transactions more than once using different currencies, however, it is possible to assume that one mark equalled four ducats equalled four florins, more or less. All transactions are therefore quoted in marks or pounds. (A mark equalled two-thirds of a pound.) Cf. Spufford, P., Handbook of Medieval Exchange, London 1986, passim.Google Scholar

71 Selden, , fos 94V, g6r–v.Google Scholar

72 Ibid. fo. gor. Wynchcombe was delegate at Constance for the Benedictine Order in England: Documents Illustrating the Activities of the General and Provincial Chapters of the English Black Monks, 1215–1540, ed. Pantin, W. A., 3 vols, (Camden, 3rd ser. xlv, xlvii, lix, 1931–7), 3. 177.Google Scholar

73 Selden, , fos 93V, g6r.Google Scholar

74 Ibid, fos giv–2v. This letter is the only one in which Macclesfield considered separation of St, Anthony's, London from Vienne. From the whole file of this letters it appears that he favoured stressing the king's right at the curia, and the abbot's right in the king's courts. Cf.Jacob, , ‘The fifteenth century: some recent interpretations’, 408–9.Google Scholar

75 Selden, fo. 92V.

76 Ibid. fo. gov. The letter of proxy was particularly critical, for it had to define Swan's (and/or Curke's) status in the case very exactly.

77 Ibid, fos 93V, 96v–7r.

78 Ibid, fos 9iv,92V–3V, 96r; Emden, Oxford, ii. 1034.

79 Also known as David ap Rees and David Pryce:Emden, ,Oxford, i. 549–50.Google Scholar

80 Selden, fos gir, 94r. Outlawry had long been a penalty for failure to appear in civil cases. Such civil outlawry did not carry a death sentence, merely loss of civil rights:Potter, H., An Historical Introduction to English Law and Its Institutions, 2nd edn, London 1943,278, 306.Google Scholar

81 Selden, fos 96r–v. Hulles had apparently avoided the licence problem by obtaining a safe conduct to the Holy Land, and then stopping at Constance ‘on the way’: CPL vii.59;DKR xliv (1883), app. iii, 595, 612. For his hospital see:VCH Middlesex, i. 193–200.Like St Anthony's it was a pardoner–supported hospital:Reg. Chichele(Jacob), iv. 256–7.

82 Selden, fo. 93V.

83 CPL vii. 41. On 25 June he was further enabled to take steps against all seculars and religious in his diocese who had benefited from ‘exaggerated grants and privileges’ since the beginning of the schism: idem. 85.

84 Vatican Archives, Reg. Lat. 187, fos 160r–ir. A brief abstract appears in CPL vii. 45.

85 The Register of Nicholas Bubwith, Bishop of Bath and Wells,1407–1424, ed. Holmes, T.S.,2 vols (Somerset Record Society xxix–xxx, 1914), i. 414. Beginning in December 1418 (Selden, fo. 89v) various of Macclesfield's letters refer to an unexplained 'second‘ papal sentence against him. In the absence of evidence that there was a second unfavourable decision relating to St Anthony's, it has been assumed that the warden referred to the pope's action concerning Wells.Google Scholar

86 Storey, R.L., Thomas Langley and the Bishopric of Durham 1406–1437, London 1961. He had been one of the commissioners to carry out John xxiii's bull of 1410 that safeguarded the rights of St Anthony's, and of its warden John Macclesfield:Reg.Chichele (Jacob), iv.44–7.Google Scholar

87 He had been another of the commissioners to carry out John xxiii's bull of 1410:ibid. iv. 44–7.

88 Harriss, G.L.,Cardinal Beaufort: a study of Lancastrian ascendancy and decline, Oxford 1988, esp. pp. 68–114. Macclesfield said that he ‘always’ had been ‘favourable’ and ‘gracious’ to him: Selden, fo. 9ir.Google Scholar

89 Selden, fo. 93r–v;CCR 1413–19, 461.

90 Selden, fos 90r–iv, g6v–7r.

91 Ibid, fos 92V–4.V. Schriggley was a brother of the order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem (CPL vii. 181–2), who had acted as attorney in some of Macclesfield's private land transactions: Macclesfield Cartulary, fos 179V, i8ir, 184^. His name was also spelled Shrigley.

92 Selden, fos 97v–8r.

93 One recent writer has disputed this commonly accepted opinion:Stump, P.H., ‘The reform of papal taxation at the Council of Constance (1414–1418)’,Speculum lxiv (1989),69105.Google Scholar

94 The curia was at Geneva from at least 29 July (Selden, fo. u8r), at Pavia on 13 October (ibid.), and at Florence on 22 February 1419 (ibid. fo. 47V). The cities on the pope's route from Constance to Rome between 17 May 1418 and 28 October 1420 mentioned in CPL and P. Partner, The Papal State under Martin V, London 1958, 42–68, in sequence, are: Bern, Freiburg, Geneva, Annecy, Milan, Brescia, Susa, Turin, Mantua,Ferrara, and Florence.

95 Selden, fos 89v–90r.

96 DKR lxiv (1883), app. iii, 606. Jordan, however, seems to have had certain problems of his own at the curia: Selden, fos ii8v–i9r.

97 Ibid. fo. ii8r.

98 DKR, xli (1880), app. i, no. 2, 696. For Kynwolmarsh, see Reg.Chichele (Jacob), ii.235–7, 660; Le Neve,Fasti, passim.

99 Selden, fos 89v, 98v; PRO, Special Collections, SC 8/184/9189.

100 He had held extensive quarters and grounds within the precinct of this hospital ever since 1394: PRO, Augm Office, Ancient Deeds, E 329/7. His rights in these were confirmed 5 December 1420: CPR 1416–22, 310–11.

l01 Selden, fo. 98v.

102 Not counting Wells, his remaining clerical income included £16 13s. 4d from a prebend at Darlington: CPR 1399–14014, 4; Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae Auctoritate P.Nicholas IV, c.1291, London 1802, 315–16; £20 from Dale Abbey in Derbyshire:Macclesfield Cartulary, fos 7Ir–2r; £6 13s. 4d. from the hospital of Burton Lazars, Leics:CPR 1416–22, 310–11: some £43 in all. This was far from poverty, but – even if the £45 from Wells (Taxatio, 199–200) were added–it was not generous enough to maintain a comfortable lifestyle in addition to on–going suits in two major courts at once.

103 Selden, fos 90r,, 98v, 99r–v, ioiv–2r.

104 CCR 1413–19, 514; DKR xliv (1883), app. iii, 608.

105 Selden, fos 46V–7V, 62r–v gor;Lunt, W.E., Financial Relations of the Papacy with England 1327–1534, Cambridge, Mass. 1962, 695.Google Scholar

106 Selden, fos 89v–90r, 62r–v, 98v.

107 Ibid, fos 99v, ioir.

108 Ibid, fos 89v, IOIV.

109 Ibid, fos 89v–90r, 98v, 99r, ioiv–2r.

110 Also called Llywellyn and Ludovic; bishop of Bangor, 1404–7; John xxin declared him still bishop in 1414, but without effect: Le Neve, Fasti, xi. 4.

111 Selden, fo. 99v. He was also called Ardicus de Navaria. Nothing in Macclesfield's letters indicates what Bifort, Scrivani, and Ardessinus specifically did with, or for, Swan.

112 Enciclopedia Italiana, ix. 367;The Vespasiano Memoirs: lives of illustrious men of the XVth century, trans. Waters, W. G. and Waters, E., New York 1926, 119–21. Branda first became an auditor in 1392:Google Scholar Cerchiari, E., Capellani Papae et Apostolicae Sedis Auditores Causarum Sacri Palatii Apostolici seu Sacra Romana Rota ab Origine ad Diem usque 20 Septembris 1870, Rome 1919–21, ii. 38. In 1410 Branda had served as proctor at the curia for Bishop Langley: Reg.Langley (Storey), i. 133. In August 1419 Henry v granted him the temporalities of the bishopric of Lisieux in Normandy with which Martin v had provided him: DKR xlii (1881), app. ii, 379. Swan's letterbook calls him ‘cardinal of Plesantinus’.Google Scholar

113 Clarke, M. V., Fourteenth–Century Studies, Oxford 1937, 117 calls such beds ‘the most valuable secular articles in a great man's house’.Google Scholar

114 Selden, fo. 99r–v; PRO, Chancery, French Rolls, C 76/101/2. A brief note appears in DKR xliv (1883), app. iii, 609, which makes the date seem 1418.

115 Ormerod, G.,The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, 2nd edn, rev. and enl.by T. Helsby, 3 vols, London 1882, iii. 749. He was said to have been knighted at Agincourt:Google Scholar ibid. i. 713. He benefited greatly from ransoms of French prisoners, and his company of 250 garrisoned Calais in 1418: Bennett, Community, 172, 179.

116 CCR 1419–22, 38–9, 44; Selden, fo. 99r–v.

117 PRO, Chancery Warrants C 81/1365/6; abstract in Calendar of Signet Letters of Henry IV and Henry V (1399–1422), ed. J. L. Kirby, London 1978, 176–7 (Kynwolmarsh is misnamed ‘John’).

118 CPR 1416–22, 218; CCR 1419–22, 48.

119 Selden, fo. ioir–v.

120 Ibid. fo. ioir. This letter is duplicated (fo. 69r–v). With his plain lifestyle, Branda had no use for such animals himself. From fo. 10 ir, however, it appears that he wished to please the duke of Milan, Martin v's ally in his effort to regain the states of the Church.Such splendid dogs were almost without price, and generally unavailable because only noblemen owned them. See Cagnola, G. P. of Lodi to another duke of Milan, 31 July 1461: Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Existing in the Archives and Collections of Milan, ed. A. B. Hinds, London 1912, 1. 100.Google Scholar

121 Selden, fo. Io2r.

122 Emden, Oxford, ii. 1276–7: Knowles, D. and Hadcock, R. N.,Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales, rev. edn, London 1971, 338, 409.Google Scholar

123 Selden, fos 98v, I02r–v.

124 Partner, Papal State, 66–7.

125 DKR xliv (1883), app. iii, 621;Foedera, x. 26.

126 Selden, fos 98r–v, IO3r.

127 Ibid, fos iO2v–3r. On Swan's return journey in 1418–19 his companion,Medford, Walter, had been robbed by just such a servant:Google Scholar ibid, fos 46V–7V.

128 Ibid, fos 99V–100V.

129 Ibid, fos I00v–ir.

130 For this event, which took place on 23 March 1421, seeWylie, J. H., The Reign of Henry the Fifth,3 vols, Cambridge 1914–29, iii. 268–70.Google Scholar

131 This was the Privy Seal Office described by the contemporary poet and career Privy Seal clerk Thomas Hoccleve in some of his poetry:Bennett, H. S., ‘Thomas Hoccleve’, in idem. Six Medieval Men and Women, Cambridge 1955, 6999; Tout,Chapters, 5. 54–110.Olton would have served as dogsbody to one or more of the regular clerks.Google Scholar

132 PRO, Special Collections, SC 8/184/9189. This manuscript is damaged, and lacks its date, but it refers to the death of the king's brother Thomas, duke of Clarence, which occurred on 21 March 1421 (Dictionary of National Biography, ed.Stephen, L. and Lee, S.reprint edn, 24 vols, London 1921–2, xix. 638–40).Nothing was said about St Anthony's, London again becoming a ‘limb’ of Vienne.Google Scholar

133 Handbook of British Chronology, ed.Powicke, F.M.and others, 3rd edn, London 1986,106; CPR 1416–22, 317.Google Scholar

134 Maxfield, D.K., ‘The will of John MacClesfield, 1351–1422’, Cheshire History xxii (1988), 1114. This includes a complete English version (from the Latin) of PRO, PROB n/2B, P. C. C. 53 Marche.Google Scholar

135 CPR 1416–22, 340. The pardon calls Olton both ‘canon regular’ of St Anthony, Vienne and ‘late canon’ of Norton Abbey.

136 Reg. Bubwith (Holmes), i. 414; PRO, CHES, Inquisitions Post Mortem 3/37/10 inquisition at Macclesfield.

137 CPR 1422–9, 108; CPL vii. 2 1; Reg. Chichele Jacob), iv. 256–62; Knowles,Medieval Religious Houses, 372–4.

138 Vatican Archives, Reg. Lat. 247, fos 2iov–nr. Brief abstract in CPL vii. 374.

139 PRO, Special Collections, SC 8/184/9189. Certainly, Kynwolmarsh's representatives had spent significant sums at the curia.

140 Various writers have judged Macclesfield harshly for more than one reason, but it is likely that he deserves the benefit of a doubt:Maxfield, D. K., ‘Was John Macclesfield a scoundrel?’ Cheshire History xxviii (1991),1920.Google Scholar

141 Selden, fo. 96V; CPR 1422–29, 517.

142 CPR 1429–36, 100, 103.

143 One should not assume that these gifts were bribes to purchase favourable judgements. Such presents often simply were lubricants to facilitate priority and expedition in the handling of cases at various of their procedural stages through the curia. See Rodes, R. E., Jr, Ecclesiastical Administration in Medieval England, London 1977, 260,Google Scholar