ECR 39 05 A
Reference code
ECR 39 05 A
Title
Royal Patents: Public Instrument announcing foundation of the College
Level
Item
Date
20 October 1440
Content description
Public instrument declaring that William, bishop of Salisbury, Thomas Bekynton and Richard Andrew, doctors of laws, commissaries of the bishop of Lincoln, on 13 October 1440 in the parish church of Eton sitting judicially in the presence of master Robert Kent, notary public, there appeared before them William Lynde, the King's proctor, who produced his proxy sealed with the Great Seal, and delivered to them certain commissary letters of the bishop of Lincoln sealed with red wax directed to them and to master William Lyndewode, doctor of both laws, and asked them instantly and many times required them that they would see to the execution of the said letters; which execution they assumed and took upon themselves. The letters commissary, dated at the manor of Nettelham, 29 September 1440, are then recited. After reciting letters patent of 12 September 1440, appointing master Robert Kent, William Lynde and William Waryn to declare to the bishop and the chapter of Lincoln the King's design to found a college in the parish church of Eton, to obtain consent and to carry out the business of the foundation, they contain the appointment of the above-mentioned commissaries. Then William Lynde produced the King's letters patent for the foundation of the college, sealed with the Great Seal, to which, after they had been read aloud by the notary, the commissaries gave their consent and authority. The foundation charter is then recited. Then master Henry Sever, the Provost, and the priests, fellows, clerks, poor scholars and one infirm and poor man, John Burden, named in the said charter, appeared before them and the commissaries erected the parish church into a collegiate church and decreed that it should be known as the collegiate church of the Blessed Mary of Eton. On 20 October the church was appropriated to the Provost, Fellows and College. Before the commissaries sitting as a tribunal, William Lynde personally appeared and exhibited a certificate of citation made by William Hasten, chaplain mandatory, on the instruction of the commissaries. The document, dated 13 October, is recited. It instructed him to summon the archdeacon and the incumbent and other interested parties to appear in the church on 20 October. Accordingly on 15 October, during the solemnization of mass, they had been summoned. Only the archdeacon and the incumbent appeared. All other parties were declared contumacious and precluded from objection to the appropriation. Bekynton then, as archdeacon of Buckingham, gave his consent to the appropriation and John Kette, rector and incumbent of the church, of his own free will resigned. His resignation is recited. The commissaries accepted the same and the archdeacon then inducted the Provost. Witnesses: sir John Trevenant, rector of the parish church of Brampton, in the diocese of Lincoln, and William Waryn, notary public, of the diocese of Worcester. Eton, 20 October 1440.
Notarial certificate and mark of Robert Kent, who notes certain corrections he has made in the text.
Confirmation by the bishop of Lincoln of the actions of his commissaries. The manor of Lidyngton, 6 December 1440.
Confirmation of the same by John Macworth, dean, and the chapter of Lincoln. The Chapter House, Lincoln, 9 December 1440.
The initial is decorated with some elaborate penwork. The uprights contain on the left three lions and on the right three fleurs de lys. In the centre an angel with wings outspread holds a shield of the royal arms. Above is a royal crown.
Five Seals, pointed oval, red wax, on green silk cords.
(1) The bishop of Salisbury. Beneath a triple canopy the Virgin and Christ enthroned and crowned, she on the left with hands in prayer, he with right hand raised in blessing, in his left hand a cross on an orb. Between their heads the Holy Ghost. On either side a saint in thin niches. Above, God the father, with a figure on either side. In the base, the bishop kneeling in prayer in an arch between two shields of arms, on the left, the royal arms, on the right, a fesse between three asses passant (Ascough).
SIGILLUM: WILLELMI: DEI GRACIA: SARISBURIEN: EPI
(2) Thomas Bekynton. 58 x 38 mm. The Virgin and Child in a Gothic niche with carved canopy and tabernacle work at aides; below, a shield of arms, on a fesse between three bucks' heads cabossed in chief and in base as many pheons, an annulet
SIGILLUM THOME BEKYNTON ARCHIDIACONI BUCKYNGHAMIE
(3) Richard Andrew. 55 x 35 mm. An archbishop, half length, mitred, lifting up the right hand in benediction, in the left hand a crozier, within a Gothic niche with carved canopy and tabernacle work at sides. In the base, under a trefoiled arch, an ecclesiastic kneeling in prayer between two open books placed on lecterns.
SIGILLU : OFFICIALITATIS : CURIE : CANTUARIENSIS.
(4) The bishop of Lincoln. As on no.2.
(5) The chapter of Lincoln. 75 x 48 mm. Originally 85 mm. in length, this seal being a little chipped at the base. In two trefoiled arches, beneath an architectural canopy with roof and pinnacle or spire, on left an angel addressing on right the Virgin, her right hand raised, in her left hand the model of a church, above her head the Holy Ghost. Over the canopy a crescent and star. The corbel at the base decorated with foliage.
S' CAPITULI: ECCESIE: LINCOLN: AD:[CAUSAS: E]T: NEGOCIA: SET: NON: AD: ALIENANDU
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