Piece
Transferred to SC 5/8/6 and subsequently to C 47/8/1
Catalogue reference: SC 5/8/7
Transferred to SC 5/8/6 and subsequently to C 47/8/1
Item
Burgesses of the town of Bedford. King and council. The burgesses show that they...
Catalogue reference: SC 8/12/582
What’s it about?
This record is about the Burgesses of the town of Bedford. King and council. The burgesses show that they... dating from [1337-1338] in the series Special Collections: Ancient Petitions. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- SC 8/12/582
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Date (When the record was created)
- [1337-1338]
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Description (What the record is about)
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- Petitioners
- Burgesses of the town of Bedford.
- Addressees
- King and council.
- Nature of request
- The burgesses show that they hold from the king the town of Bedford at fee farm. The abbess of Elstow now comes and by her petition in parliament held at Westminster 10 Edw. III mentioned that she had the third penny of the rent of the town by gift of Malcolm, late king of Scotland. The king has accepted this to be the truth and ordered the treasurer and barons of the Exchequer to summon the mayor and bailiffs of the town, and do justice. The burgesses claim that the abbess has not shown any of the confirmations or anything been found in the Exchequer, and if she recovers the rent it will be against common law, and lead to the decrease of the farm paid to the king's estate. The mayor, bailiffs and the community of the town request that the king order a writ to his treasurer and barons that they surcease in this plea, and that the abbess sue at common law if she wishes, since the suit is maintainable by law since this demand is properly in decrease of the estate of the king without allowance being made for this rent by record found in the Exchequer.
- Nature of endorsement
- The council are not advised to give a surcease in this plea because the knowledge of this plea was given to the treasurer and barons of the Exchequer by a petition of parliament. But let the treasurer and barons be ordered by a writ to do justice to them in the process which is now begun.
- Places mentioned
- Bedford, [Bedfordshire]
- Elstow, [Befordshire]
- Westminster.
- People mentioned
- Abbess of Elstow
- Malcolm IV, King of Scotland.
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Note (Additional information about the record)
- The Ryley transcript in Rot. Parl. makes this part of a section of petitions in parliament for 11 Edw. III (1337). The petition makes mention of an earlier petition from a parliament at Westminster in 10 Edw. III. There were 3 parliaments at Westminster in 1337, so this petition has to date to 1337 onwards, though not long after as the legal process is noted as being ongoing (Rot. Parl., vol II, p.96).
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Former department reference (Former identifier given by the originating creator)
- Parliamentary Petition 1082
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- French
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Publication note(s) (A note of publications related to the record)
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- Calendar of Close Rolls, Edw III, vol. III, 1333-1337, (Public Record Office, 1898), p.726 (the inquiry into the petition of the abbess of Elstow made in parliament 10 Edward III)
- Rotuli Parliamentorum; ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento, vol. II, Edw III, (Record Commission, 1783), p.96a (no.1) (full edition of a later copy of original petition)
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C9060721/
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Series information
SC 8
Special Collections: Ancient Petitions
See the series level description for more information about this record.
Catalogue hierarchy
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This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
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Within the series: SC 8
Special Collections: Ancient Petitions
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Within the piece: SC 8/12
551-600. Individual petitions are described , dated, and are available at item level.
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Burgesses of the town of Bedford. King and council. The burgesses show that they...
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