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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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References
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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.
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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
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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, 79–97.Google Scholar
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59 Ibid. fo. 97r.
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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
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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
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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. 35–52.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
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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.
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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),69–105.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, 69–99; 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), 11–14. 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),19–20.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