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The representation of the English lower clergy in parliament during the later fourteenth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

A. K. McHardy
A. K. McHardy*
Affiliation:
university of London
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Extract

The service of God in Church and State’: in medieval England these two usually separate activities were combined in the parliamentary attendance of the clergy. Two methods were employed in summoning the clergy: parliamentary abbots and the bishops were called by individual writs of summons; the lower clergy were called indirectly.

The writ of summons to each bishop of England and Wales included a mandate, called, from its opening word, the premunientes clause, ordering the bishop to cause to appear in parliament the head of his cathedral chapter, one proctor for the cathedral clergy, all the archdeacons, and two proctors for the diocesan clergy. After 1340, obedience to the premunientes clause was not enforced by the crown, so technically the command to the lower clergy to be present in parliament was episcopal, not royal. It is not the intention to discuss here the theoretical and constitutional issues involved but to describe the execution of the premunientes clause between 1340 and 1400 as far as the limitations of the sources allow.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 10: Sanctity and Secularity: The Church and the World , 1973 , pp. 97 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1973

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References

1 The premunientes clause was first used in 1295. R[eports front the Lords Committees touching the] D[ignity of a] P[eer of the Realm] (London 1820) 111 p 67 Google Scholar.

2 The provincial writs enjoining the attendance of the lower clergy were issued for the last time for the parliament of March 1340, the second of the three parliaments held in that year. Ibid IV p 518.

3 See, for example, Guildhall Library, London, MS 9531 no 3 (Register Braybrooke) fols 441V, 443, 443V, 444v.

4 Roskell, J. S., ‘The Problem of the Attendance of the Lords in Medieval Parliaments’, BIHR 29 (1956) pp 153–204 Google Scholar.

5 Ibid p 173.

6 Pollard, A. F., The Evolution of Parliament (2 ed London 1924) pp 74, 122Google Scholar.

7 ‘The Financial Organisation of the Manor’, Ec.HR 1 (1927) p 70 Google Scholar.

8 Lowry, [E. C.], [‘Clerical Proctors in Parliament and Knights of the Shire, 1280-1374’.] EHR 48 (1933) pp 443-55CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 The Estates of Crowland Abbey (Cambridge 1934) p 63.

10 (Oxford 1946) p 58 n 5.

11 Clarke, [M. V.], [Medieval Representation and Consent] (London 1936) pp 140, 150 Google Scholar; Reich, A. M., The Parliamentary Abbots to 1470(Berkeley, California, 1941) p 361 Google Scholar; but see also Miller, Edward, Historical Studies of the English Parliament (Cambridge 1970) 1, p 17 Google Scholar for the view that the proctors of the lower clergy had withdrawn from parliament.

12 The numbers of appointments are: March 1332 4; Feb 1334 12; Sept 1334 0; 1335 12; 1336 8; 1337 4; 1338 1; Feb 1339 2; Oct 1339 6; Jan 1340 2; March 1340 6. The lower clergy were not summoned to the parliaments of Sept and Dec 1332. The list of parliaments used is that given in Handbook of British Chronology, edd Powicke, F. M. and Fryde, E. B. (2 ed London 1961) pp 519-28Google Scholar.

13 For the fifty-one parliaments from July 1340 to 1399 the numbers of appointments extant are: 0; 1; 0; 7; 0; 5; 1; 1; 9; 5; 4; 7; 5; 1;0;9; 6;0;0; 0; 0; 8; 5; 6; 2; 6; 1; 1; 6; 1; 4; 3; 0; 1; 1; 0; 0; 4; 3; 5; 5; 0; 0; 0; 5; 7; 7; 2; 4; 1; 1.

14 Carlisle: Carlisle Castle Register Appleby pp 147, 293-4, 305-6; Durham: The Prior’s Kitchen Register Hatfield fols 168, 171v.

15 Borthwick Institute York Register 10 (Zouche) fol 246, Register 11 (Thoresby) fol 45; Worcester Record Office Register Barnet (Worc) p 23, Register Brian p 230.

16 Writing from Stow Park (Lines) on 30 Aug 1382 Buckingham ordered the return to be made to Sleaford (Lines) before 22 Sept. L[incolnshire] A[rchives] O[ffice] Lincoln Register 12B (Buckingham, Royal Writs) fol 35; on 7 Sept 1383 a mandate issued from Nettleham (Lincs) asked for the certificate to be sent to Sleaford by 29 Sept. Ibid fol 38v.

17 Both the York chapter’s letters of appointment of proctors for the parliament of 1344, PRO MS SC 10/23 nos 1146 (letter patent), 1147 (letter close addressed to the Crown); the prior of Durham’s appointments for 1393, PRO MS SC 10/38 nos 1859 (letter patent), 1896 (letter close addressed to the Crown).

18 PRO MS SC 10/25-40 passim.

19 The Prior’s Kitchen Durham Prior and Chapter Register II fols 114, 195, 332v.

20 ‘Bro. John de Horncastle O.Can.S.A.’, occurs as prior on 10 Jan 1353, and resigned on 10 Nov 1376. Neve, [J.] Le, [Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae,] (3 ed London, 1962-7) VI, p 100 Google Scholar.

21 These were 1354, PRO MS SC 10/26 nos 1269 (prior), 1272 (chapter); 1357, SC 10/27 nos 1321 (chapter), 1339 (prior).

22 PRO MS SC 10/28 no 1400; SC 10/30 no 1485.

23 In nine instances the evidence is drawn from the chapter accounts. LAO Bj/2/7 fols 29, 48v, 71, 118-118V, 138, I59v; Bj/2/8 fols 10v 97; Bj/2/10 fol 11.

24 In addition, in 1379 an appointment was made on behalf of the dean, to which reference will be made below.

25 The earliest in 1344, the latest in 1357. PRO MS SC 10/24 nos 1169, 1191, SC 10/25 no 1237, SC 10/26 no 1296, SC 10/27 no 1323.

26 London, chapter, PRO MS SC 10/29 no 1438; dean and chapter, SC 10/34 no 1651, SC 10/38 nos 1854, 1874. Chichester, SC 10/31 no 1538, SC 10/32 no 1556, SC 10/33 no 1602.

27 Lichfield, PRO MS SC 10/29 no 1409; Wells, SC 10/36 nos 1797, 1800.

28 For example, 1363, PRO MS SC 10/29 no 1403; 1373, SC 10/30 no 1494; Jan 1397, SC 10/40 no 1962.

29 RDP IV, p 641; he was chancellor of Guyenne, 1362-c Sept 1364, Emden, [A. B.], [A Biographical Register of the University of] Oxford (Oxford 1957-9) 111, p 1804 Google Scholar.

30 He was dean 1361-9, Le Neve I, p 4 (from the corrected copy in the LAO).

31 PRO MS SC 10/33 no 1614.

32 The official of the archdeacon of Worcester, in answer to a mandate of bishop Barnet dated 14 Sept 1362, replied that his archdeacon was overseas so could not be warned to attend the forthcoming parliament, Register Barnet (Worc) p 23.

33 Carlisle: Register Appleby pp 147, 293-4, 305-6; Durham: Register Hatfield fols 168, 171v; York: Register 10 (Zouche) fol 246, Register 11 (Thoresby) fol 44v, Register 12 (Alexander Nevville) fol 102v.

34 PRO MS SC 10/25 no 1249, SC 10/28 no 1359 (see Le Neve, VI, p 102 where the earliest occurrence of Rothbury as archdeacon of Carlisle is given as 11 June 1355).

35 Register Appleby pp 170, 194; PRO MS SC 10/32 no 1552; Emden, Oxford 1, p 41.

36 PRO MS SC 10/28 no 1387, SC 10/29 nos 1402, 1412, SC 10/30 no 1456.

37 1371, PRO MS SC 10/29 no 1425; 1372, SC 10/30 no 1467; 1373 SC 10/31 no 1508; Jan. 1377, ibid no 1550.

38 Nicholas Newton, 1371, PRO MS SC 10/29 no 1429; William Gynewell, 1376(?), SC 10/31 no 1513; John Carlton, 1393, SC 10/38 no 1873.

39 PRO MS SC 10/24 nos 1160, 1176, SC 10/39 nos 1911, 1912, SC 10/28 no 1380

40 PRO MS SC 10/23 no 1113, SC 10/25 no 1235; SC 10/37 nos 1808, 1815, SC 10/39 no 1930

41 In Nov 1384, PRO MS SC 10/35 no 1735; 1385, SC 10/36 no 1767; 1393, SC 10/38 no 1894.

42 Clarke pp 327-8.

43 Ibid p 328; see LAO Lincoln Register 12 (Buckingham, Memoranda) fol 136 for a diocesan meeting, held in St Mary’s, Stamford, to discuss the tax grant of £50,000 in 1371.

44 Compare the elections of proctors for convocation during Buckingham’s episcopate, of which ten out of thirteen were held at Northampton.

45 He was usually joined by a secular clerk who was ako a magister and engaged in diocesan administration. Examples are master John Banbury, official of the archdeacon of Northampton, Lincoln Register 12B fol 42, Register 12 fol 292; or master James Brigg, sequestrator in the same archdeaconry, Register 12B fol 52v.

46 Commission were not entered in the registers. The execution after the writ of 18 July 1397 is particularly full, ibid fol 72.

47 Lincoln Register 12 fols 186v, 422v.

48 1344, 1348, 1352, 1355, 1357, 1358, 1362, 1377, PRO MS SC 10/24 nos 1154, 1200; SC 10/26 nos 1261, 1295; SC 10/27 no 1319; SC 10/28 nos 1356, 1390; SC 10/32 no 1557.

49 The other occasions were 1352 and Feb 1388. PRO MS SC 10/23 no 1113, SC 10/25 no 1235, SC 10/37 nos 1808,1815, SC 10/39 no 1930.

50 Durham: 1344, 1362, 1394, PRO MS SC 10/24 nos 1160, 1176, SC 10/28 no 1380,SC 10/39 nos 1911, 1912. Ely: 1366, 1371, 1373, Lowry p 453.

51 PRO MS SC 10/35 no 1735, SC 10/36 no 1767, SC 10/38 no 1894.

52 1352, PRO MS SC 10/25 no 1240; 1379, SC 10/32 no 1594.

53 PRO MS SC 10/29 no 1408.

54 Ibid nos 1427, 1430.

55 Register Barnet (Worc) p 23.

56 During the period under review only one clerical proctor, Thomas Haxey, seems to have played any significant role: in 1397 when proctor for the abbot of Selby, as indeed he had been on four previous occasions, he achieved notoriety by presenting a petition condemning extravagance in the royal household, PRO MS SC 10/37 no 1847 (1391); SC 10/38 no 1872 (1392); SC 10/39 no 1916 (1394); SC 10/40 nos 1952 (1395). 1964 (1397).

57 PRO MS SC 10/29 nos 1408, 1409.

58 Ibid nos 1427, 1430.

59 PRO MS CS 10/30 nos 1483, 1486, 1491, 1497.

60 Richardson, H. G. and Sayles, George, ‘The King’s Ministers in Parliament, 1272-1377, III, The Parliaments of Edward III’, EHR 47 (1932) p 379 Google Scholar.

61 The chapters of both Durham and Worcester often commissioned fellow-monks to represent them.

62 For example, Wikeford, master Robert, already mentioned, Emden, Oxford III pp 2045–6 Google Scholar; or Richard Piriton, exchequer clerk and archdeacon of Colchester, proctor for the clergy of his archdeaconry, PRO MS SC 10/36 no 1767.

63 Such as master Thomas Rippeley, compiler of the canon law formulary, Gonville and Caius MS 588/737; and master Richard Coningston official of the court of Canterbury, proctor for the clergy of the archdeaconries of Cleveland and York, PRO MS SC 10/37 nos 1808, 1815.

64 The official of the archdeacon of Merioneth was a proctor for the clergy of Bangor diocese, appointed 3 April 1379, PRO MS SC 10/32 no 1594.

65 PRO MS SC 10/32 no 1557, SC 10/39 nos 1911, 1912.

66 William Courtenay, PRO MS SC 10/35 no 1735.

67 Some of the material for these dioceses has almost certainly been lost. Thus though there is considerable evidence in bishop Buckingham’s registers that proctors for the diocesan clergy of Lincoln were appointed, none of these commissions survive in SC 10. The five notices of execution in the register of bishop Appleby of Carlisle correspond to only one notice of the appointment of proctors by his diocesan clergy, and to none by the prior and chapter of Carlisle cathedral.

68 The numbers of appointments of proctors for the first five parliaments after 1400 are: 5; 7; 7; 12; 3. PRO MS SC 10/40-42. Evidence of the execution of the premunientes clause is also to be found at Lincoln, in the registers of Philip Repingdon, The Register of Bishop Repingdon 1405-1419, ed Archer, Margaret, Lincoln Record Society 58, II (Lincoln 1963) pp 378-9Google Scholar, LAO Lincoln Register 15B (Repingdon, Royal Writs) fols 11v-12; and at Durham in Durham Priory Register III fols 15, 32, 68.

69 There is evidence for the sending of proctors in the sixteenth century by the chapter of Wells, Kemp, Eric, ‘The Origins of the Canterbury Convocation’, JEH 3 (1952) p 142 Google Scholar; and for the parliamentary attendance of the dean of Lincoln in 1536, LAO Lincoln Dean and Chapter Wills II, fol 44.