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Sir Robert Malory, Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England (1432–1439/40)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
Extract
Whatever his personal failings and those of his Order, the prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, more than any other man in England in the late Middle Ages, stood for the political standards that were most respected, if not most often acted upon, by his fellow-countrymen. He was also one of die great magnates of the kingdom, given power, money, and access to the king by his rich priory based at Clerkenwell, the five preceptories his office entitled him to, and his places in the upper house of parliament and die royal council. What use the priors made of their office and how they lived up to the ideals they were supposed to embody were, therefore, matters of consequence at the time. The surviving records, though not abundant, seem sufficient to provide partial answers to these questions for at least some priors; but no such attempt has yet been published.
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page 249 note 1 See Ferguson, A. B., The Indian Summer of English Chivalry, Durham, N. C. 1960Google Scholar. This essay has benefited from the advice of Dr. Lionel Butler, Mrs. Eileen Gooder, Dr. Caterina Maddalena, Miss Pamela Willis, and above all of Rev. Fr. Joseph Mizzi, who, among much other generous assistance, found all my references to the records of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
page 249 note 2 See Hellwald, F. de, Bibliographic méthodique de l'Ordre Souverain de St. Jean de Jérusalem, Rome 1885Google Scholar; Rossi, E., Aggiunta alia Bibliographic méthodique…di F. de Hellwald, Rome 1924Google Scholar; and Mizzi, J., A Bibliography of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (1925–69), Malta 1970Google Scholar.
page 250 note 1 For Sir Thomas, see my ‘SirMalory, Thomas, M.P., ’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 47 (1974), 24–35Google Scholar and references therein; for his criminal rating, op. cit., 32, n.2.
page 250 note 2 ‘Rob. Malorie Cler.’ in the episcopal register: Lichfield Joint Record Office, B/A/1/7, fols. 19r, 21r; ‘Robartus de Kyrkeby, Rector Ecclesie de Withibroke’ in the guild register: Reg. of the Guild of Holy Trinity, Coventry, ed. Harris, M. D., Dugdale Soc, 1935, 58Google Scholar. Miss Harris identified the two, but inferred from ‘Kyrkeby’ that the man was a Malory of Kirkby Mallory in Leicestershire. The absence of any other record of such a man is no conclusive objection to this, even though the records of the Malorys of Kirkby Mallory are unusually full for the generation in question (e.g. Early Lincoln Wills, ed. Gibbons, A., Lincoln 1888, 57Google Scholar, 110–111); however, ‘Kyrkeby’ is plainly Monks’ Kirby in Warwickshire (see The Place-Names of Warwickshire, ed. Gover, J. E. B. et al. , English Place-Name Soc, xiii, Cambridge 1936, 112Google Scholar). The monks of Monks’ Kirby, in the name of their mother house, Axholme, were patrons of Withybrook (Dugdale, W., The Antiquities of Warwickshire, 2nd ed. London 1730, 215Google Scholar); and the parish of Monks’ Kirby included Newbold Revel—their neighbour, Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel, was described on his tombstone as ‘de parochia de monkenkyrkby’: Brit. Library, MS. Cotton Vuellius F. xii, fol. 284r; printed with minor errors in Collectanea Topographica, ed. Nichols, J. G., v, 1838, 287Google Scholar. I am grateful to Miss Jane Isaac of the Lichfield Joint Record Office for verifying the entries in the episcopal register.
page 250 note 3 I am grateful to Fr. Mizzi for confirming that this could happen.
page 251 note 1 Valletta, Royal Malta Library, Arch. 340, fols. 116v–117, 117V–118; Mifsud, A., Knights Hospitallers of the Ven. Tongue of England in Malta, Malta 1914, 153Google Scholar. It is conventional to distinguish Hospitaller commanderies from Templar preceptories, but both English and Rhodian documents of this time use preceptor etc. so consistently that I have felt obliged to follow suit.
page 251 note 2 King, E. J., The Knights of St. John in the British Empire, London 1934, 68–9Google Scholar.
page 252 note 1 Chelmsford, Essex Record Office, D/DP T1/1623.
page 252 note 2 Clode, C., Memorials of the Guild of Merchant Taylors, London 1875, 619, 49–50Google Scholar.
page 252 note 3 Stafford, John, Register, Somerset Record Soc, 31–2 (1915–16), 129Google Scholar, 136.
page 252 note 4 Arch. 350, fol. 221.
page 252 note 5 Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. Dugdale, W., London 1817–30, vi(2), 831Google Scholar; B.L. MS. Cotton Nero E. vi, fols. 5v, 6v.
page 252 note 6 Arch. 350, fols. 221–222; King, The Grand Priory of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, London 1924, 61Google Scholar; Mifsud, 43–4.
page 252 note 7 Arch. 350, fol. 221v; Porter, Whitworth, A History of the Knights of Malta, London 1858, ii. 283Google Scholar.
page 252 note 7 Cartulaire Général de l'Ordre des Hospitalliers, ed. Roulx, J. Delaville le, Paris 1894–1906, i. clxv–clxviGoogle Scholar; ii. no. 1394; Porter, , The English or Sixth Langue of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, London 1880, 5Google Scholar; Seward, D., The Monks of War, London 1972, 198Google Scholar.
page 253 note 1 C. Cl. R. (1429–35), 244; Rot. Pad., iv. 460–461; C. P. R. (1429–36), 296.
page 253 note 2 Rot. Pad., iv. 422; C. F. R. (1430–37), 188, 195.
page 253 note 3 Arch. 350, fols. 224, 226, 258, 278v MS. Cotton Nero E. vi, fol. 114v.
page 253 note 4 Chichele, Henry, Register, Cant. & York Soc, 45 (1943), 283Google Scholar.
page 253 note 5 Proc. & Ord. P. C, iv. 212 (cf. 304).
page 253 note 6 C. P. R. (1429–36), 408.
page 253 note 7 Arch. 351, fol. 10v; Bosio, Iacomo, Dell'Istoria della Sacra Religione et Illustrissima Militia di San Giovanni Gierosolimitano, 2nd ed., Rome 1621–84, ii. 206Google Scholar; Vertot, R.-A. de, Histoire des Chevaliers Hospitalliers, Paris 1726, ii–. 577–578Google Scholar.
page 253 note 8 Foedera, ed. T. Rymer, The Hague 1 739–44, v(i), 8.
page 253 note 9 MS. Cotton Nero E. vi, fols. 5v–6v.
page 254 note 1 Monasticon, vi (2), 831–839. Stillingfleet, for instance, makes Sandford part of Cressing, whereas it is a separate preceptory in Malory's bull of appointment (supra), and the 1438 grant and his successor's bull of appointment (infra).
page 254 note 2 ‘Registers of the Archdeaconry of Richmond.’ Yorks. Archaeol. & Topog. Jnl., 25 (1918–20), 220Google Scholar.
page 254 note 3 First issue in the Patent Rolls (C. P. R. (1429–36], 452). superseded by a second of the same date in the French Rolls (48th Rpt of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, 301).
page 254 note 4 Chichele, 286.
page 254 note 5 48th Rpt of D. K. R., 302.
page 254 note 6 C. Cl. R. (1429–35), 366; Stafford, 187; Cal. Docs. Scotland, ed. Bain, J., Edinburgh 1881–88, iv. 223Google Scholar.
page 254 note 7 Rot. Part., iv. 484.
page 254 note 8 48th Rpt of D. K. R., 312; Arch. 352, fol. 1.
page 254 note 9 C. Cl. R. (1435–41), 103, 105; Arch. 352, fols. 128v–129.
page 255 note 1 Stafford, 202; ‘Reg. of Richmond’. 224.
page 255 note 2 Arch. 352, fob. 132v–133.
page 255 note 3 Loc. cit.
page 255 note 4 Arch. 353, fol. 139.
page 255 note 4 Ibid, fols. 139, 168, 140. Cf. Bosio, ii. 211.
page 255 note 6 Proc. & Ord. P. C, v. 93.
page 255 note 7 Arch. 353. fols. i4Ov-i4i. The same form of address is used when Malory is known to be in Rhodes, e.g. Arch. 352, fols. 128v–129.
page 255 note 8 Cal. Pap. Reg., ix, 3.
page 256 note 1 All the manners except perhaps Berwick, and all the churches except perhaps Wilbraham, belonged to the preceptory of Clerkenwell: Monasticon, vi (2), 800n. The papal grant only gives a county in one case, and some of the properties are difficult to identify. The Order held Berwick in 1434: Mon., vi (2), 834. My only grounds for assuming ‘Sumpton’ to be the Sutton near Millbrook are phonology and physical proximity. Little Sutton is near to and was once part of the liberty of Stanton Lacy; it, Cardington, Preen, and Keele followed similar routes from the Templars to the prior of St. John: The Knights Hospitallers in England, ed. Larking, L. B. and Kemble, J. M., Camden Soc, 65, London 1855 199–200Google Scholar; Mon., vi (2), 822, 834; V. C. H., Staffs, iii. 268; ibid., Salop, ii. 85–6. Mrs. Gooder has suggested that ‘Colpyt’ might be Chilvers Cotton, a property near Nuneaton that belonged to the preceptory of Balsall, and in which coal was mined in die Middle Ages.
At an unknown date (but perhaps early) during his term of office, Sir Robert tried to consolidate his prioral rights over the manor of Newington Barrow (now Highbury) in Middlesex by expelling from lands in ‘Strode’ (now Stroud Green) belonging to that manor a tenant whom his predecessor had installed there in 1422: P. R. O. C1/39/155. He pursued these rights even when he was in Rhodes, when his deputies successfully disputed eightpence-worth of Essex rents against the king in Chancery: MS. Cotton Nero E. vi. fols. 456v–457v.
page 256 note 2 Lacy, Edmund, Register, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, F. C., London 1909, i. 235Google Scholar.
page 256 note 3 C. Cl.RA 1447–54). 173.
page 256 note 4 Fædera, v (i), 56.
page 256 note 6 Proc. & Ord. P. C, v. 108.
page 256 note 5 C. Cl. R. (1435–411,238.
page 256 note 7 C. Cl. R. (1435–41), 214–215.
page 257 note 1 Lacy, i. 252: MS. Cotton Nero E. vi, fols. 111–v; C. P. R. (1436–41), 290.
page 257 note 2 C. Cl.R. (1435–41). 337.
page 257 note 3 Rot. Pad., v. 23.
page 257 note 4 Cat. Docs. Scotland, iv. 233; MS. Cotton Nero E. vi, fol. 53r.
page 257 note 5 Thomas Bekynton, Official Correspondence (R. S.), i. 78–9.
page 257 note 6 Arch. 354, fols. 206v–207.
page 257 note 7 There is no history of the Malory family, and it is impracticable to document in full some of the statements later in the text, let alone display the way in which the four hundred or so Malorys (with the exception of two or three very early ones) fall into a pattern converging backwards in time and place; but this much may be added in support of my assumption of relationship. Malory, meaning ‘unlucky’, is one of a class of derogatory Norman surnames only coined when French was a living language in England. Whereas possessors of unflattering English surnames generally managed to lose them in a generation or two, many of the French surnames endured, perhaps because they soon ceased to be understood (see Reaney, P. H., The Origin of English Surnames, London 1967, 256–260Google Scholar). The two or three early out-of-pattern Malorys presumably left no descendants or succeeded in changing their names. A few significant instances of de Malory suggest that the main family soon forgot the meaning of die name it bore; and since no Malory ever achieved die sort of eminence that would make people wish to pretend kinship with him, once coining French names was no longer natural, inheritance was the only reason for anyone to be called Malory. It may also be noticed that few other medieval names can be confused with Malory, even when both are misspelt.
page 258 note 1 Knights Hospitallers, ed. Larking, 46.
page 258 note 2 E.g., King, Knights of St. John, 68–9; Gayre, G. R., The Heraldry of the Knights of St. John, Allahabad 1956, 62Google Scholar; Fincham, H. W., The Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, London 1933, 74Google Scholar.
page 258 note 3 Papworth, J. W., An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms, London 1874, 84Google Scholar.
page 258 note 4 Birch, W., A Catalogue of the Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Musuem, London 1887–1900, s. v.Google Scholar; Palgrave, F., Parliamentary Writs, London 1827–34, i. 417Google Scholar; Nichols, J., The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester, London 1795–1807, iv. 361, 368Google Scholar; Martin, A. T., ‘The Identify of the Author of the “Morte Darthur”‘, Archaeologia, 56 (1898), 173–174Google Scholar; and cf. Papworth, 505.
page 258 note 5 King, , The Seals of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, London 1932, 99–100Google Scholar; Fincham, 79–83; Dugdale, 969.
page 258 note 6 Slightly discrepant accounts in Dugdale, 81–3; Nichols, iv. 361–369; and Bridges, J. and Whalley, P., The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, Oxford 1791, i. 603–604Google Scholar. Cf. Warwickshire Feet of Fines, Dugdale Soc, iii. no. 23
page 259 note 1 Sir Peter Malory of Winwick, the judge who tried Wallace (D. N. B.), bore, according to the Parliamentary Roll of Arms, or 3 leopards passant sable: Palgrave, as above, 257 n. 3. However, the antiquary Sir Edward Dering, compiling from the best information available to him in the seventeenth century, a roll of arms for lords and judges who attended the parliament of 1297, wrongly attributed the forked-tailed lion rampant to Sir Peter: ‘The “First Nobility” Roll of Arms’, ed. Greenstreet, J., Notes and Queries, 5th series, v (1876), 103–105Google Scholar; and cf. Wagner, A., A Catalogue of English Mediaeval Rolls of Arms, Oxford 1950, 157Google Scholar.
page 259 note 2 Martin, as above, 258 n. 4; Dugdale, 1105.
page 259 note 3 C. P.R. (1429–36), 626; C. Cl. R. (1429–35), 314.
page 259 note 4 C. Cl. R. (1409–13), 236; Ancient Deeds, iv. 264; ibid., v. 94; Warwicks., Feet of Fines, iii. no. 2548; C. Cl. R. (1435–41), 333; P. R. O., C1/6/110. The first of these records shows Simon and John at law with Robert Malory of Widiybrook's successor.
page 259 note 5 Stow, John, A Survey of London, ed. Kingsford, C. L., Oxford 1908, ii. 85Google Scholar; P. R. O. Prob. 11/1, fol. 117v.
page 259 note 6 I owe this information to Miss Willis.
page 260 note 1 C. F.R. (1430–37), 254; C. Cl.R. (1435–41), 185.
page 260 note 2 Stow, loc. cit. The persons and places named in these four records distinguish the William Malory in them from another man of the same name, who was in London on legal business in 1437, died late in 1438, and was buried in St.-Katherine's-by-the- Tower: C. Cl. R. (1435–41), 164; London, Guildhall Library, MS. 9171/4, fols. 3v–4.
page 260 note 3 Bridges and Whalley, ii. 145.
page 260 note 4 Arch. 377, fol. 143v.
page 260 note 5 I owe this information to Dr. Butler.
page 260 note 6 C. Cl. R. (1468–76), 380.
page 260 note 7 Stow, loc. cit.
page 260 note 8 Dr. Butler informs me that there was a Malory in Rhodes during the Mameluke siege of 1444. He might be this Sir John, perhaps late in his noviciate.
page 262 note 1 For notions of kinship and the ‘good lord’ in Sir Thomas's life and book, see my art. cit., above, 250 n. 1; my ‘Four Functions of Malory's Minor Characters’. Medium AEvum, 37 (1968), 37–45Google Scholar; and Kennedy, Edward D., ‘Malory's King Mark and King Arthur’, Mediaeval Studies, 37 (1975), 190–234CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 209–210 and 223–224.
page 262 note 2 SirMalory, Thomas, The Works, ed. Vinaver, E., and ed., Oxford 1973Google Scholar, passim; Tucker, P. E., ‘Malory's Conception of Chivalry as it Appears in His Story of Sir Lancelot’, B. Litt. thesis, Oxford 1954Google Scholar. The gist of this is in Tucker, P. E., ‘Chivalry in die “Morte”‘, in Essays on Malory, ed. Bennett, J. A. W., Oxford 1963, 64–103Google Scholar; it has not been superseded by more recent work, for which see Kennedy, art. cit., n. 1 above, and references therein.
page 262 note 3 A. B. Ferguson, The Indian Summer of English Chivalry, 116, 141; Barber, R., The Knight and Chivalry, London 1970, chaps. 14–17, 21–22Google Scholar.
page 263 note 1 Malory, Works, 1242.3, cf. 1260.8.
page 263 note 2 Ibid., 37.9, 40–15.
page 263 note 3 Ibid., 224.1–3; not in Monte Arthure, ed. Brock, E., E. E. T. S., , o.s. 8* (1871)Google Scholar, lines 2263–64. Cf. Works, 997. 1–27, esp. 24–5.
page 263 note 4 Works, 225.10 and apparatus criticus lines 5–8; and see William Matthews, “Who Revised the Roman War Episode in Malory's “Morte Darthur”?’, a paper delivered at the Eleventh International Arthurian Congress at Exeter, 14 August 1975, and Sally Shaw, in Essays on Malory, 114–145, esp. 137.
page 264 note 1 Works, 677–678 and n.; cf. Kennedy, 206.
page 264 note 2 Works, 1242.3–33 and n.; cf. Morte Arthure, lines 3214–17.
page 264 note 3 Works, 1260.5–15 and n.; cf. La Mart le Roi Artu, ed. Frappier, J., Paris 1936, section 204Google Scholar; Le Morte Arthur, ed. Bruce, J. D., E.E.T.S., , o.s. 88 (1903), 121Google Scholar.