Prior of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in England. King. Prior of the Hospital...

Petitioners

Prior of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in England.

Addressees

King.

Occupation

Prior of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in England

Nature of request

The Prior of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in England states that he previously sued a petition to the king to be discharged of a farm of 15 s., for which he is distrained in the Exchequer, which his predecessors paid annually for two forges built by the Templars in the middle of the high road of Fleet Street, which were lately destroyed by the rebels at the time of the uprising (of 1381), so that the prior cannot have any profit from them, nor will he be able to have such profit, because they cannot be rebuilt. This petition was endorsed that he was to sue for permission to rebuild the sites, and that when they were rebuilt he would be obliged to pay the rent, and he has since then sued to the Mayor and commons of London for permission, and the commons have completely refused to have these sites rebuilt: he requests to be discharged from the rent forever, as he and his successors will never be able to have any profit from the sites.

Nature of endorsement

A writ of scire facias is to be sent to the Sheriffs of London, to instruct the Mayor and community of the city to be in Chancery on a certain day to be specified in the writ, to show any reason they have why the two forges mentioned in this petition should not be rebuilt, and the king paid his rent for them; and the supplicant is to have a writ of supersedeas to the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer to cease levying and demanding the rent during the writ of scire facias.

Places mentioned

London.

People mentioned

Knights Templar

Mayor and commons of London.

An earlier petition from the petitioner on the same subject is SC 8/20/986

For transcript, see no.59 of PRO 31/7/109

• Calendar of Close Rolls, Ric II, vol. II, 1381-1385, (Public Record Office, 1920), p.390 (writ of supersedeas to Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer, to cease their demand for the farm until the quinzaine of Michaelmas) & pp.593-4 (writ of supersedeas to Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer, to cease their demand for the farm until the quinzaine of Easter)
• Rotuli Parliamentorum; ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento, vol. III, Ric II and Hen IV, (Record Commission, 1783), p.179a-b (no.16) (full edition of original petition)