William de Couton, Prior of Durham de Couton William King and council Prior of Durham...

Petitioners

William de Couton, Prior of Durham

Name(s)

de Couton, William

Addressees

King and council

Occupation

Prior of Durham

Nature of request

The Prior of Durham makes three requests:1) He states that in the time when Roxburgh castle was in the hand of Edward II, William de Fellyng, formerly constable, bought the tithes of [missing due to damage] for £13 6s. 8d from his predecessor, for the provisioning of the castle. This sum is still due, and he asks that he might have an allowance for it in the debts he owes the king for provisions bought in time of trouble.2) He states that £220 is in arrears of an annual rent of £40 granted by Edward I to his predecessor in the Berwick Exchequer, to perform certain alms, and asks that he might have part of this allowed against the debts he owes the king for provisions, and payment or an assignment for the rest; and that the king might ordain for some means of maintaining these alms, or discharge him of them.3) He states that it was ordained in parliament that no writ of cessavit should run for arrears incurred in time of war in Northumberland, because of the destruction there, and that he owes the Prior of Kirkham an annuity of 4 marks for tithes in the parish of Edlingham in Northumberland, which is much in arrears because he has not been able to collect the tithes in time of war. The Prior of Kirkham is now suing him by a writ of annuity, and he requests a writ to the justices of the Bench that he might not be charged with these arrears.

Nature of endorsement

With regard to the first point and also with regard to the second, in the right of the bills that he has, as he says, the Treasurer, Barons and Chamberlains of the Exchequer are to be ordered that, when they have seen the bills, if they find that the debt is still due, they are to let him have an allowance in the debts which he owes the king, receiving etc.With regard to the second point, in right of the compensation which he demands for the chantry, he is to advise where he can have a benefice of Holy Church to the value of £40 and he is to inform the king.With regard to the third point, nothing.

Places mentioned

Roxburgh, [Roxburghshire, Scotland]

Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland

Kirkham, [East Riding of Yorkshire]

Edlingham, [Northumberland]

People mentioned

William de Fellyng, constable of Roxburgh castle

Edward [II], King of England

[William de Tanfield], Prior of Durham

Edward [I], King of England

[John de Yarm], Prior of Kirkham

For a related petition see SC 8/44/2161

The letters patent for the grant mentioned in the Prior's second request are SC 8/43/2150B

• Calendar of Close Rolls, Edw III, vol. II, 1330-1333, (Public Record Office, 1898), p.375 (instructions to the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer to examine the Prior's bills for his debts, and, if they find them to be still due, to allow them against the debts he owes the king)
• Northern Petitions Illustrative of Life in Berwick, Cumbria and Durham in the Fourteenth Century, Ed. C.M. Fraser, (Surtees Society, vol. CXCIV, 1981), pp.214-17 (no.158) (full edition)