John Ripon, Abbot of Fountains. Ripon John The commons of the present parliament....

Petitioners

John Ripon, Abbot of Fountains.

Name(s)

Ripon, John

Addressees

The commons of the present parliament.

Occupation

Abbot of Fountains

Nature of request

John, Abbot of Fountains, accuses one Roger Frank, monk, who had intruded himself into the office of abbot, of making various indentures and bonds for large sums of money to various people, sealed with the common seal of the abbey, after John had been elected abbot, but before he had been put in possession, and (with accomplices) of stealing various chalices and precious objects, and also the common seal of the abbey, which they still withhold. He accuses Henry Hertlyngton and others of driving off various animals belonging to the abbey. He also says that to prevent him suing for a remedy Robert Frank, Oliver Frank, Roger's brother, with forty others, lay in wait for him at Welbeck to murder him, assaulting him and wounding several of his servants; and that through conspiracy, and because some of the malefactors have fled from one country to another, he cannot have remedy at common law. He asks the commons to ask the king that these deeds or bonds might not be binding on him or his successors, and that all the people he has named might be summoned before the justices of King's Bench at the octave of St John the Baptist, to receive what the law demands and to answer to him for the aforesaid trespasses and grievances; that they, and each of them, should find sufficient security to make restitution for the lost goods and the damages he has sustained, if they are convicted, and that due punishment should be ordained, on the advice of the lords spiritual and temporal, for all those who have aided and abetted them.

Nature of endorsement

[On face:] Soit baille au roy (It is to be delivered to the king).[On dorse:] It seems to the king that the petitioner has sufficient remedy at common law.

Places mentioned

Fountains, [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Holme, [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Otterburn, [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Mitton, [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Escheton (Eshton), [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Garsyngton (Grassington), [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Skipton, [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Claghton (Claughton), [Lancashire]

Wyndescale (Winscales), [Cumberland]

Harewood, [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Roundehawe (Roundhay), [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Craven, [West Riding of Yorkshire]

Welbek (Welbeck Park), [Nottinghamshire]

Yorkshire

Westmorland

Nottinghamshire.

People mentioned

Roger Frank, monk of Fountains

John Rothom, monk of Fountains

William Tunstall, monk of Fountains

William See, monk of Fountains

Henry Hertlyngton

Christopher de Moresby

John de Preston of Holme

William de Preston of Otterburn

Richard de Feelden of Mitton

Henry de Preston of [illegible]

John de Preston of Eshton

John Addyson of Grassington

William Benetson of Skipton

Edmund Jonson de Croft of Claghton

Thomas Forster of Winscales

William Frank

Thomas Marsshall (Marshal), servant of Robert Mauleverer

Richard Barbour of Harewood

Robert Frank

John Marsshall (Marshal) of Roundhay

Thomas Marsshall (Marshal) of Roundhay

Robert Preston

Thomas Preston, son of John de Preston of Craven

Robert Frank

Oliver Frank, brother of Roger Frank.

For a related petition from Roger Frank against John Ripon is SC 8/23/1124

A petition mentioned by this one, complaining about the attack in greater detail, is SC 8/23/1125

• Calendar of Close Rolls, Hen V, vol. I, 1413-1419, (Public Record Office, 1929), pp.112-113 (memorandum concerning information laid in Chancery concerning the dispute between John de Ripon and Roger Frank)
• Calendar of Patent Rolls, Hen V, vol. I, 1413-1416, (Public Record Office, 1910), pp.145, 147 (two enrolments of the commission of Fountains abbey and its possessions to the archbishop of York and bishop of Durham, as a result of the dispute between Roger Frank and John de Ripon over the abbacy) & p.180 (appointment of John de Ripon as abbot of Fountains)
• Rotuli Parliamentorum; ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento, vol. IV, Hen V and Hen VI, (Record Commission, 1783), p.28a (no.3) (full edition of original petition)