County or diocese: London. Grant: Clerical tenth from Canterbury province, 1463 July...

County or diocese: London.

Grant: Clerical tenth from Canterbury province, 1463 July 23; Clerical tenth on unassessed benefices, Canterbury province, 1463 July 23.

Document type: Appointment of collectors.

Folios or pages: 2.

This file of two membranes (that is, one large membrane and the stub of a second membrane, now mostly lost) comprises a letter from Thomas, bishop of London, to the abbot and convent of Westminster. After reciting a writ which he had received from Edward IV, ordering him to appoint collectors in his diocese, of the tenth on assessed and unassessed benefices granted to him by the clergy of the province of Canterbury meeting in convocation on 23 July 1463, he appoints them collectors of this tax in the archdeaconries of London and Middlesex, with powers to sequester the fruits of any clergy who refuse to pay, with the exception of the possessions of various religious houses in his diocese to whom he has granted an exemption from payment of the tax, on grounds of poverty, as well as the goods, benefices and possessions of the abbey of Walden in the towns of Enfield, Mimms and Edmonton (in the deanery of Middlesex), which have been similarly excused because of the sterility of the lands, due to a ruinous fire. He does not mention any annexed schedules, but a small piece of an attached schedule remains. The day on which this letter was written cannot now be read, because of a tear in the lower right hand corner of m. 1, but the month and year (January 1464) are clearly legible.