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People of Bamburgh King and council The people of Bamburgh state that they hold the...

Catalogue reference: SC 8/32/1564

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This record is about the People of Bamburgh King and council The people of Bamburgh state that they hold the... dating from [c. 1332] in the series Special Collections: Ancient Petitions. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.

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Full description and record details

Reference
SC 8/32/1564
Date
[c. 1332]
Description
Petitioners
People of Bamburgh
Addressees
King and council
Nature of request
The people of Bamburgh state that they hold the demesne land of the castle at farm, but that at every change of Constable of the castle they have been expelled from their term, and had to pay a heavy fine to have it again: to the profit of the Constable only, not the king. They petitioned in the last parliament at Westminster about this, asking for letters patent for their term, and a commission was granted to inquire into the harm to the king from this; but the petition is now in the Chancery memoranda in the Tower of London, and nothing has been done. They ask for another inquiry, and that, when it has been returned, they might have their letters patent.
Nature of endorsement
Let certain men be appointed to inquire about whether it is to the king's loss or to his profit if he should grant the said lands to the said people for a certain term and about the number of acres and about the value, in the presence of the Constable, and let the inquisition be returned in Chancery, and if it be found from the inquisition that it would not be to the king's loss, then let them have letters patent under the great seal for some specific term, paying the value of the land.
Places mentioned
Bamburgh, [Northumberland]
Westminster
London
People mentioned
The Constable of Bamburgh castle
Note
Sayles, Functions p.418 (no. i) assigns this petition to the parliament held at Westminster on 19 September 1334, although this cannot be the case if the inquisition in C 143/229/19 is dated 25 May 1334, as Northumberland Petitions pp.119-21 (no. 97) says. A note on the guard dates this petition to 1334, on the basis of C 143/229/19, and CFR 1327-37 pp.449-450, dated at Newcastle upon Tyne, 1 July 1335: presumably it assumes that it was presented to the parliament held at York in February 1334. Northumberland Petitions pp.119-21 (no. 97) dates this petition to 1332/3, seeing SC 8/15512 as the previous petition mentioned here, probably presented to parliament at Westminster in 1332, and C 143/229/19 as being the result of a later petition presented to the York parliament of February 1334. This petition would then represent an intermediate stage in the proceedings, presented, presumably, at one of the later parliaments of 1332: Northumberland Petitions pp.119-21 (no. 97) states that it resulted in an inquiry at Bamburgh, after which no action was taken, but gives no references. The phrase 'suerent par petition au parlement dreyn tenuz a Westmoustier' is at the heart of the question: this would seem to suggest that the last parliament was a Westminster one, so that this petition would have to be presented in 1332: perhaps at the March or September parliaments held at Westminster, or at the December one held at York: if it was presented at the next parliament, the York one of February 1334, the phrase would have to mean 'the last Westminster parliament', ie. that of September 1332, discounting the York one held in December that year. This would seem a less likely reading.
Related material

An earlier related petition is SC 8/311/15512

For an inquisition into whether this would be to the king's harm or not, see C 143/229/19

Held by
The National Archives, Kew
Former department reference
Parliamentary Petition 1227
Legal status
Public Record(s)
Language
French
Closure status
Open Document, Open Description
Publication note(s)
  • Ancient Petitions Relating to Northumberland, Ed. C.M. Fraser, (Surtees Society, vol. CLXXI, 1961), pp.119-21 (no.97) (full edition and English summary of petition, with references)
  • Calendar of Fine Rolls, vol. IV, Edw III, 1327-1337, (Public Record Office, 1913), pp.449-450 (grant to the people of Bamburgh of certain lands to hold for 20 years, by the hands of the Constable of the castle; vacated)
  • The Functions of the Medieval Parliament of England, G.O. Sayles, (Hambledon Press, 1988), p.418 (no. i) (translation of petition)
Record URL
https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C9061761/

Series information

SC 8

Special Collections: Ancient Petitions

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