Abbot and Convent of Thornton. King and council. The abbot and convent of Thornton...

Petitioners

Abbot and Convent of Thornton.

Addressees

King and council.

Nature of request

The abbot and convent of Thornton state that Thomas, predecessor of the present abbot, recovered against Gervase Avenel and Joan his wife various tenements in Carlton near Bassingham in Lincolnshire, by writ of right before William de Bereford and his companions, justices of the Common Bench, as of right of the church of Our Lady of Thornton, and he was put in seisin by a writ of judgment and remained seised until, by procurement of Hugh le Despenser the son, John de Walwayn, then escheator south of the Trent, disseised him. The abbot then sued for a remedy in parliament, in the twelfth year of the present king, to which it was answered that the record and process of the plea concerning that recovery was to be brought into parliament, so that justice could be done. Now the record and process are brought here, under the seal of Henry Lescrop, justice of the King's Bench in the said twelfth year, before whom the record and process were pending. They request that the record and process be examined, that their arguments be heard, and that justice be done.

Nature of endorsement

The record and process are to be examined.Certain people are to be appointed in Chancery to inquire into whether Gervase and Joan were in the king's faith on 28 February in the ninth year of the present king - that is, at the time of the making of the writ of right mentioned in the petition - and on the morrow of the Purification of the Blessed Mary in the tenth year of the present king, when judgment was given on the same writ, and likewise concerning the seisin of the aforesaid abbot, if he had any by virtue of that judgment, and if so, then how; in the presence of William Trussebut, who sues for the king, who is to be informed of this. And when the inquisition has been returned in Chancery, justice is further to be done according to the tenor of the inquisition.

Places mentioned

Thornton Abbey, [Lincolnshire]

Carleton (Carlton le Moorland), [Lincolnshire]

Bassingham, [Lincolnshire].

People mentioned

Thomas, formerly Abbot of Thornton

Gervase Avenel

Joan [Avenel], wife of Gervase Avenel

William de Bereford, justice

Hugh le Despenser the son

John de Walwayn (Walewayn), escheator south of the Trent

Henry Lescrop (Scrope), justice

William Trussebut.

For a writ resulting from that petition see SC 8/18/868J

For instructions to the escheator resulting from that petition see SC 8/18/869B

For a letter from Edward II to Henry le Scrope produced in support of this petition see SC 8/18/868A

For the inquisition held as a result of SC 8/18/868F see SC 8/18/868G

For letters patent resulting from this petition see SC 8/18/868F

For a transcript of related legal proceedings produced in support of this petition see SC 8/18/868D

For a related petition see SC 8/165/8201

For a letter resulting from that inquisition see SC 8/18/868H

For a writ from Edward II to the sheriff of Lincolnshire produced in support of this petition see SC 8/18/868C

For a related petition, see SC 8/175/8743

For a letter from Edward II to William de Bereford produced in support of this petition see SC 8/18/868B

For a later related petition see SC 8/18/869A

• Calendar of Close Rolls, Edw II, vol. III, 1318-1323, (Public Record Office, 1895), p.619 (order to the escheator not to intermeddle further with the custody of the gate or guests' hall of Thornton abbey, as the king has taken the fealty of brother William de Gresseby, elected abbot after the cession of Thomas, the previous abbot)
• Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edw II, vol. IV, 1321-1324, (Public Record Office, 1904), p.221 (signification to the bishop of Lincoln of the royal assent to this election)
• Rotuli Parliamentorum Anglie Hactenus Inediti, Ed. H.G. Richardson and G.O. Sayles, (Camden Society, 3rd Series, vol. LI, 1935), pp.283-4 (full edition of petition) & p.147 (full edition of transcription of petition on parliament roll)
• Rotuli Parliamentorum; ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento, vol. II, Edw III, (Record Commission, 1783), p.431b, no.26 (later copy of Latin summary of petition)