Piece
Transferred to SC 5/8/6 and subsequently to C 47/8/1
Catalogue reference: SC 5/8/7
Transferred to SC 5/8/6 and subsequently to C 47/8/1
Item
Robert Littestere, citizen of Durham. Littestere Robert King and council. The petitioner...
Catalogue reference: SC 8/58/2893
What’s it about?
This record is about the Robert Littestere, citizen of Durham. Littestere Robert King and council. The petitioner... dating from [? 1370-? 1380] in the series Special Collections: Ancient Petitions. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
Is it available online?
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Can I see it in person?
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- SC 8/58/2893
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Date (When the record was created)
- [? 1370-? 1380]
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Description (What the record is about)
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- Petitioners
- Robert Littestere, citizen of Durham.
- Name(s)
- Littestere, Robert
- Addressees
- King and council.
- Nature of request
- The petitioner seeks redress for himself and his neighbours concerning extortions committed in the diocese of Durham. He shows that Newton was an official of the bishop for more than eight years causing great damage and extortion throughout the whole of the diocese, where without regard he took money for proving wills, with movables from a dead person worth 40s and from every other will 40s, and not 2s 7d. Newton has taken for some wills 40d and from others he has taken great sums, and 3s 4d, and from others more than 1s with the agreement of the bishop to the great impoverishment of the people and the great hurt and ruin of their income.
- Nature of endorsement
- Let him have a writ of execution to the bishop to make restitution of these things that have been wrongly taken, and in case he should fail to make right then resort to the king's common law.
- Places mentioned
- Durham, [County Durham].
- People mentioned
- Simon de Newton, who was an officer of the Bishop of Durham
- [Thomas Hatfield], Bishop of Durham.
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Note (Additional information about the record)
- Suggested on the guard as dating from the reign of Edward III or Richard II. The hand looks more of the third than of the fourth quarters of the fourteenth century, and internal evidence might suggest that the petition probably dates from the 1370s when there seem to have been many complaints against Bishop Hatfield for his alleged financial harshness.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Former department reference (Former identifier given by the originating creator)
- Parliamentary Petition 4759
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- French
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C9063113/
How to order it
- View this record page in our current catalogue
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Series information
SC 8
Special Collections: Ancient Petitions
See the series level description for more information about this record.
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
74,884 records
Within the department: SC
Records of various departments, arranged artificially according to type, and formerly...
18,283 records
Within the series: SC 8
Special Collections: Ancient Petitions
51 records
Within the piece: SC 8/58
2851-2900. Individual petitions are described , dated, and are available at item...
You are currently looking at the item: SC 8/58/2893
Robert Littestere, citizen of Durham. Littestere Robert King and council. The petitioner...
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