Geoffrey Middelton (Middleton), John Gerard, John Broghton (Broughton) and Robert...

Petitioners

Geoffrey Middelton (Middleton), John Gerard, John Broghton (Broughton) and Robert Bakster (Baxter).

Name(s)

Middelton (Middleton); Gerard; Broghton (Broughton); Bakster (Baxter), Geoffrey; John; John; Robert

Addressees

Chancellor.

Nature of request

Geoffrey Middelton, John Gerard, John Broghton and Robert Bakster make two complaints against Thomas Ikworth:1) They state that a commission was granted to Thomas and others, on the complaint of the poor people of Bury St Edmunds, to assess each person fairly according to his means for a fine of 2000 marks, and to make restitution to the poor people of what had been levied excessively by Roger Rose and his companions as the result of an earlier commission. Thomas and his companions found that the earlier commissioners had overcharged the poor people by 500 marks and more, and he and John de Overton received 50 marks of this to sue the previous commissioners for the remainder; but Thomas has come to an agreement with his adversaries, for his own profit. They ask that this money might be restored to them and paid to the King to make restitution to them as the commission demands, and that Thomas might be examined.2) They state that Thomas received two rolls containing information about lands and tenements in Bury St Edmunds purchased without permission by the Abbot and convent of Bury St Edmunds, and that he sued a writ to the escheator to inquire into this, and also into chattels which had been forfeited, and by John de Overton, which the Abbot and convent had wrongly seized as forfeit; and that again Thomas came to an agreement with the Abbot and convent, and other people of religion, to keep the writ and not to put it into execution. They ask that Thomas might be examined, and that he might deliver the verdict, the rolls and the writ to the King.

Nature of endorsement

[None]

Places mentioned

Bury St Edmunds, [Suffolk].

People mentioned

Thomas Ikworth

Roger Rose

John de Overton

Abbot and convent of Bury St Edmunds.

For a related petition, see SC 8/20/972

• Calendar of Close Rolls, Ric II, vol. II, 1381-1385, (Public Record Office, 1920), p.631 (writ of supersedeas omnino in a plea pending against John de Overton, as it is claimed that this has been brought to prevent him carrying out this commission)
• Calendar of Patent Rolls, Ric II, vol. II, 1381-1385, (Public Record Office, 1898), p.592 (commission to Thomas Ikworth, John de Overton and others to re-assess the people of Bury St Edmunds for the fine of 2000 marks)