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Abbot and convent of Westminster. King and council. The Abbot and convent of Westminster...

Catalogue reference: SC 8/149/7411

What’s it about?

This record is about the Abbot and convent of Westminster. King and council. The Abbot and convent of Westminster... dating from [1307-1324] 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 8/149/7411
Date
[1307-1324]
Description
Petitioners
Abbot and convent of Westminster.
Addressees
King and council.
Nature of request
The Abbot and convent of Westminster state that in the time of Richard de Ware, formerly Abbot of Westminster and Treasurer of England, the abbey used to provide bread and ale for the clerks in the Exchequer and the Receipt as a courtesy, and that they have since claimed this as a right, to the great harm of the abbey. They request a good inquisition into this, as they claim that it never happened before Richard de Ware's time, and was only a courtesy in his day.
Nature of endorsement
[On face - possibly part of the petition rather than of the endorsement] William de Bereford, John de Benestede and John de Foxle.The Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer are to be ordered that, calling to them the Justices of the Bench, they are to inquire into the contents of the petition, and whether the aforementioned bread and ale was first granted out of the pure liberality of the aforesaid Abbot, for a certain period of his will, or whether the aforesaid bread and ale should be given out of duty or not; and if from duty then by whose grant, and from what time, and how and in what way; and if from grace, then by whom was this grace given and when and how and in what way. And they are to inform the King of what they find.
Places mentioned
Westminster.
People mentioned
Richard de Ware, formerly Abbot of Westminster and Treasurer of England
[Edward I], King of England
William de Bereford
John de Benestede (Benstead)
John de Foxle (Foxley).
Note
Datable by content to the reign of Edward II and to before the deaths of John de Foxley in 1324 and of John de Benstead in c. 1323. Probably datable to after the appointments of Foxley as Baron of the Exchequer, of Benstead as Justice of Common Pleas, and of Bereford as Chief Justice of Common Pleas in 1309.
Related material

For a duplicate of this petition differently endorsed see SC 8/78/3881

For transcript, see no.101 of PRO 31/7/95

Held by
The National Archives, Kew
Legal status
Public Record(s)
Language
French
Closure status
Open Document, Open Description
Record URL
https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C9209596/

Series information

SC 8

Special Collections: Ancient Petitions

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Special Collections: Ancient Petitions

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Abbot and convent of Westminster. King and council. The Abbot and convent of Westminster...

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