Yorke was upon New-yeares day in Anno dom 1555 being the third yeare of the raigne of Queene Mary advanced to the honorable dignity of Chancellorship But Queene Mary deceasing on the 17 day of November in Anno dom 1558 and the sixt yeare of her governement this Heath upon the placing of Queene Elizabeth upon the throne of the English governement was remooved from his Office and Master Bacon advanced Nicholas Bacon Esquire Atturney of the Court of Wardes was made Knight and Lord Keeper of the great seale the 22 of December in Anno dom 1558 being the first yeare of Queene Elizabeth Which name of Lord Keeper he still kept during his life and the time of his Office In whose time there was an Act of Parliament established to make the power of the Keeper of the great seale equall with the authority of the Chancellor This man continued in this office and worthily executed the same being a man of rare wit and deepe experience during the time of his life which continued untill the 20 of February in Anno dom 1578. after the Accompt of England being the one and twentith yeare of Queene Elizabeth which place this man kept eighteene yeares Thomas Bromlie the generall Sollicitor of Queene Elizabeth a Councellor of the Law and one of the Inner Temple was advanced to the dignity of Lord Chancellor on the 25 day of Aprill in Anno dom 1579 being in Anno 21 Elizabeth Sir Christopher Hatton being Vice-chamberlaine to Queene Elizabeth was constituted Lord Chancellor of England and Keeper of the graat seale upon Sunday the 29. day of Aprill in the 29 yeare of the said Queenes raigne Anno dom 1587. John Puckring Serjant at law was made Knight and sworne of the privy Councell at Greenewich upon Sunday the 28. day of May in the 34. yeare of Queene Elizabeth and at the same time was made Lord Keeper of the great seale of England Sir Thomas Egerton Knight being Master of the Rolles had the great seale of England delivered unto him at Greenewich and sworne of the Privy Councell upon the 6 of May 1596 being in the 38. of Queene Elizabeth and so continued in both those places till the first yeare of King James who created him Baron of Elsmere at Hampton Court 21 Iuly 1603 and made him Lord Chancellor and lastly created him into the dignity of Vicount Brackley the 7. day of November 1616 but severed the place of Master of the Rolles which was given to Edward Bruce Lord Kinlosse Sr. Francis Bacon Knight Atturney generall to King Iames and at the same time of the Privy Councell second sonne of Sr. Nicholas Bacon sometime Lord Keeper of the great seale upon the 7 of March 1616 in the 14 yeare of King James a few dayes before the death of the former Lord Chancellor had the great seale committed to him and being created a Baron by the title of Lord Verulam at Wansted the 12 of July 1617 was made Lord Chancellor the 4 of January following and made Vicount of St. Alban the 20 of Ianuary 1620. Vpon the removall of the Lord Chancellor Bacon who was displaced by the Parliament in Lent the 18 yeare of King Iames. The keeping of the great Seale was committed to Henry vicount Mandevile Lord President of the Councell Lodowicke Duke of Richmond and Lenox Lord Steward of the Kings house William Earle of Pembroke Lord Chamberlaine of the Kings house and Sir Iulius Caesar Knight Master of the Rols who continued the custody thereof till July following John Williams Doctor of Divinity Deane of Westminster and one of the Privy Counsell and after that consecrated Bishop of Lincolne was made Lord keeper of the great seale of England the 10 day of Iuly in the 19 yeare of King James Sir Thomas Coventry Knight eldest sonne to Sr. Thomas Coventry Knight one of the Iustices of the Common pleas being the Kings Atturney Generall was made Lord keeper of the great seale of England the first day of November in the first yeare of King Charles and Created Baron Coventry of Allesborough in the County of Worcester the 10 of Aprill in the 4 yeare of King Charles whose exempler vertues in the execution of this great office to the honour of his Majestie and the generall good of the Kingdome I cannot mention without due Attributes and fearing as I justly may that I shall rather shew mine owne defects than be able to set them forth in due characters I shall with much security discharge my selfe in this kinde by reciting the preamble of his Majesties Letters Patents for Creating his Lordship into the dignity of a Baron and Peere of this Realme Rex c. Archiepiscopis Ducibus c. ad quos praesentes literae provenerint Salutem Officio curae Regali nihil magis arbitramur convenire quam virtutum praemia viris illustribus â—itè disponere ac illos Honoribus attollere qui de Rege Republicâ optimè meruerunt Perspicimus enim Coronam nostram Regiam quam plurimum honorari locupletari cum viros cordatos Consilio prudentiâ virtutibus illustres ac praesertim in administrandâ Justicia strenuos insignes ad Honoris dignitatis gradus vocamus erigimus Nos igitur in personâ praedilecti per quam fidelis Consiliarij nostri Thomae Coventry Militis Custodis Magni Sigilli nostri Angliae gratissima dignissima servitia quae idem Consiliarius noster tam praecharissimo Patri nostro Jacobo Regi beatae memoriae per multos annos quam nobis ab ipsis Regni nostri primis auspicijs fidelissimè prudentissimè praestitit impendit indiesque impendere non desistit Nec non circumspèctionem prudentiam strenuitatem dexteritatem integritatem industriam constantiam fidelitatem ipsius Thomae Coventry Militis erga nos Coronam nostraÌ„ Animo benigno Regali intimè râ—colentes pro gratiae nostrae erga praefatum Consiliarium pignore Nec non virtutum benemeritorum ejusdem encomio posteris suis relinquendum ipsum in Procerum hujus Regni nostri Angliae numerum ascribendum decrevimus Sciatis itaque quod nos de gratia nostrâ speciali ac ex certâ scientia mero motu nostris praefatum Thomam Coventry Militem ad statum gradum dignitatem Honorem Baronis Coventry de Alesborough in Comitatu nostro Wigorniensi ereximus perficimus creavimus Jpsumque Thomam Coventry Militem Baronem Coventry de Alesborough praedicta tenore praesentium erigimus perficimus creamus Jn cujus rei c. T. R. apud Westm decimo die Aprilis Anno Regni Regis Caroli quarto per ipsum Regem FINIS Custodes Rotulorum 23. Ed. 1. ADAM de Osgodby Clerke 10. Ed. 2. William Ayremyne after Keeper of the great Seale 17. Ed. 2. Richard de Ayremyne 20. Ed. 2. Henry de Clyffe Clerke after keeper of the great Seale died the 7 of King Edward the third 7. Ed. 3.
Richard Earle of Arundell being returned out of exile with Henry of Bullingbruke Duke of Hereford and Lancaster and after King of England by the name of Henry the fourth was againe Chancellor and continued therein about two yeares being removed from that place about September in Anno 11 of Henry the fourth being in Anno dom 1410. Thomas Beauford Knight the sonne of John of Gaunt sonne to King Edward the third and brother to King Henry the fourth was made Lord Chancellor in Anno 11 of the said King being in Anno dom 1410 in which office hee remained not full three yeares but left the same office and was created Earle of Dorcet and lastly Duke of Exceter John Wakering Clerke Master of the Rolles was made keeper of the great Seale when Thomas Beauford left the office of Chancellor which Seale hee kept about the space of a Moneth for in January after that he had received the Seale there was a Chancellor created Thomas Fitzallen or Arundell Archbishop of Canterbury was the fourth time invested with the Chancellorship in Anno dom 1412. being in Anno 13. of Henry the fourth in which office he continued during the life of the said King who dyed in the fourteenth yeare of his Raigne and in Anno dom 1413. Henry Beauford Bishop of Winchester and after Cardinall in the time of Henry the sixt being Vnckle to King Henry the fift then reigning was the second time made Chancellor in Anno dom 1413. being in Anno 5 of Henry the fift in which place he remained untill the fift yeare of the reigne of the said King being in the yeare of our Lord 1417. Thomas Langley Bishop of Durham was the second time made Lord Chancellor of England in the said yeare of our Lord 1417 being the 5 yeare of that worthy Conqueror King Henry the 5 Which office hee received at Southwicke and continued in that honor as farre as I can learne by the space of six yeares or more whereof five yeares were fully ended in the life and death of the said Henry the 5 and the sixt yeare ended in the last of the first or beginning of the second yeare of King Henry the 6. Henry Beauford Bishop of Winchester before named was the third time made Lord Chancellor of England in the second yeare of the raigne of King Henry the sixt being about Anno dom 1423 or 1424 for the second yeare of that King fell partly in the one and partly in the other of the said yeares of our Lord. In which office he continued about the space of foure yeares untill he was made Cardinall in Anno dom 1426. John Kemp Bishop of London was made Lord Chancellor of England in the fourth yeare of that King Henry who in his youngest yeares was crowned first King of England and then King of France in Paris in which office he remained as I suppose about six yeares John Stafford Deane of Saint Martin and of Wels Prebend of Milton in Lincolne Church Bishop of Bath and Wells Lord Chancellor and Treasurer of England and Bishop of Canterbury was made Lord Treasurer of England in the moneth of February in Anno dom 1431 falling in the tenth yeare of King Henry the sixt he remained in that office untill John Kempe was againe made Lord Chancellor which was about Anno 6 of Henry the sixt And here I thinke it not unmeet to remember that some have noted William Wanfleet that was Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of Oxford to be Chancellor of England when he built Magdalen Colledge in Oxford in Anno 25 Henry the sixt which possibly cannot be sith this Iohn Stafford held that office from the tenth of Henry the sixt untill the eight and twentieth of the same King which was eighteene yeares during which time they place this Wanfleet to be Chancellor of England which error I suppose they have committed in that they finding him Chancellor at the time of the building of his Colledge in the said 25 yeare of King Henry the sixt have taken him to be Chancellor of England when he was then but Chancellor of Oxford although indeed afterward he was Chancellor of England in Anno 35 of the said King as after shall appeare John Kempe Bishop of Yorke and Cardinall was the second time made Lord Chancellor in the 28 yeare of King Henry the sixt being in Anno dom 1450 in which office he dyed being Bishop of Canterbury in Anno do as saith Matthew Parker 1453 being the 32 yeare of the raigne of King Henry the sixt This man was first Bishop of Rochester next of Chichester thirdly of London then of Yorke where he sate sate 28 yeares and lastly he was Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinall by the title of Saint Rufind which preferments are breifly expressed in this verse Bis primas ter praeses bis Cardine Functus Richard Nevill Earle of Salisbury the son to Raphe Nevill Earle of Westmerland and father to the valiant Richard Nevill Earle of Warwicke was after the death of Iohn Kempe by Parliament made Lord Chancellor in the 32 yeare of King Henry the sixt though others make it to be in the 33 yeare of the same King In which place hee continued not long for in the yeare following another was substituted and he remooved Thomas Bourchier brother to Henry Bourchier Earle of Essex Bishop of Elie and Bishop of Canterbury was made Chancellor in Anno 33 Henry 6 in which he remained much about 2 yeares in whose time as saith Matthew Parker about Anno dom 1461 was the Art of Printing invented at the Citty of Argentorat in Germany About which matter and especially for the exact and certaine time thereof many writers although their count about one time doe disagree yet at the inventing of that worthy thing were these verses composed in commendation of the same most excellent Art O faelix nostris memoranda impressio tectis Inventore nitet utraque lingua tuo Desierat quasi totum quod fundis in orbe Nunc parvo doctus quilibet esse potest Omnes Nunc homines igitur te laudibus ornent Te duce quando ars haec mira reperta fuit William Patan or Paten borne of a Gentlemanly Family being commonly called William Wanfleet of the place of his birth and being provost of Eaton and Bishop of Winchester was Lord Chancellor in Annis 35 36 37 of the unfortunate King Henry the sixt as have the Records of the Exchequor By which appeareth the error of those as I have before noted that mistaking the 25. of King Henry the sixt in which time hee was but Chancellor of Oxford for the 35. of the said King in which hee was Chancellor of England George Nevill the sonne of Richard Nevill Earle of Salisbury and brother to Richard Nevill Earle of Warwicke being made Bishop of Excester came to that See in Anno dom 1455. in which See he continued tenne yeares and was removed to Yorke in Anno dom 1465 hee was
his raigne by his Letters Patents to confirme the said house to the said William and his successors Masters of the Rolles And whereas by the Patent of Edward the third the Master of the Rolles was appointed and installed in that house by the Chancellor it is to be noted that the same manner of induction and instalment continued as long as the Master of the Rolles was of the Clergy as I have seene set downe by others and as the Presidents of those instalments and the Writts themselves extant of record doe well prove Sir Richard Scroope Knight Lord of Bolton having beene Lord Treasurer in the time of the deceased King Edward the third was now in October about the latter end of the yeare 1378 or the beginning of the yeare 1379. being the second yeare of the after deposed King Richard the second made Lord Chancellor and had the great Seale delivered unto him who in the third yeare of the said King at a Parliament did surrender up his office Of this man is more set downe in the discourse of the Treasurers Simon Sudbury so surnamed of the place of his birth but by descent called Tibold the sonne of Nicholas Tibold descended of a gentleman like race dwelling at Sudbury in Suffolke This Simon was Archbishop of Canterbury and made Chancellor about the yeare of Christ 1380. in the third yeare of Richard the second and was by the Rebells beheaded in the Tower of London in the fourth yeare of the disquieted government of that unfortunate but valiant King Richard the second After whom in the fifth yeare of the said King was R. Bishop of London whereof I have seene and taken a note which Bishop was as I conjecture and have some authority to prove Robert Braybrooke which followeth and was made Chancellor againe after Sir Richard Scroope R. Bishop of London Chancellor the fifth yeare of King Richard the second at which time Robert Braybrooke was Bishop of London Sir Richard Scroope Knight Lord of Bolton made Chancellor againe about the latter end of November by the Lords of the Parliament as I take it in the fifth yeare of the raigne of King Richard last mentioned and was the yeare following being about Anno dom 1383 againe deposed from his office and the King receiving the seale kept it a certaine time and therewith sealed such grants and writings as pleased him and in the end delivered the same to Robert Braybrooke Of this man see more in the Treasurers Robert Braybrooke Bishop of London made Lord Chancellor in September following the moneth of July when Sir Richard Scroope was deposed was advanced to that dignity on S. Matthews Eeve in the sixt yeare of the raigne of the said King Richard the second in which he continued not longer then the March following as hath Anonymus M.S. he was consecrated Bishop of London the fifth of January Anno dom 1381 he dyed the 17. of August in Anno dom 1404 being the fifth yeare of King Henry the fourth Michael de la Poole or at Poole as hath Thomas Walsingham was made Chancellor in the moneth of March in Anno 6. of the said King Richard the second and was made Earle of Suffolke in the ninth yeare of the said King being after deposed from his office of Chancellorship at his owne and earnest request in the tenth yeare of the said King This man having fled the Realme for that he was pursued by the Nobility dyed at Paris in Ann. 13. of Richard the second being in Anno dom 1389 of whom that worthy Poet Sir John Gower living at that time in his Booke intituled Vox Clamantis composed these verses Est comes elatus fallax cupidus sceleratus Fraudes per mille stat Cancellarius ille Hic proceres odit eorum nomina rodit Morsibus a tergo fit tandem profugus ergo Sic Deus in caelis mala de puteo Michaelis Acriter expurgat ne plus comes ille resurgat Thomas Arundell of the noble house of the Earles of Arundell was first Bishop of Elie and then of Yorke and lastly of Canterbury he was made Lord Chancellor of England in Anno 10 of the raigne of the unfortunate King Richard 2 which was about Anno dom 1386 in which office he remayned about two yeares William Wickham was againe made Lord Chancellor of England in Anno 12 Richard 2 but was in the end remooved from thence in September in the 15 yeare of the troublesome governement of the said King Richard Thomas Arundell aforesaid was the second time created Lord Chancellor of England in the saide 15 yeare of Richard 2 in place of William Wickham in which office he remained about five yeares and was deposed and banished the Realme in the 20 yeare of the said King Richard John Scarle Scirlee or Serle Master of the Rolles of the Chancery and Keeper of the great Seale hee was Chancellor or in the place of Chancellor in the first yeare of the raigne of King Henry the fourth being in Anno dom 1399. Edmund Stafford Keeper of the Privie Seale Bishop of Excester and sometime Bishop of Rochester and lastly Bishop of Yorke and borne of the noble house of the Staffords was made Lord Chancellor of England about the moneth of March in Anno dom 1400 being about the second yeare of the usurping King Henry the fourth in which Office hee continued untill Anno dom 1403 being in Anno 4 of the said King Henry the fourth he being Keeper of the Privy Seale was made Bishop of Excester the 20 of June in Anno dom 1395 being the 21 yeare of Richard 2. Hee was consecrated at Lambeth and kept the See of Excester three and twenty yeares Hee increased two fellowship in Stapletons Inne in Oxford reformed the Statutes of the house and called it Excester Colledge Hee died the fourth of September in the seaventh yeare of King Henry the fift being in Anno dom 1419. Henry Beuford the son of John of Gaunt by Katherine Swineford made Bishop of Lincolne in Anno dom 1398 as hath Ypodigma was advanced to the dignity of Chancellor in Anno dom 1403 being the fourth yeare of King Henry the fourth his elder Brother by the daughter of the Earle of Hereford in which office he was in the fift yeare of King Henry the fourth and sixt of the same King as our Chonicles doe remember he was made Bishop of Winchester in Anno dom 1404 being the fift yeare of King Henry the fourth Thomas Langley Priest and Bishop of Durham was at Westminster made Chancellor in Anno dom 1405 being in Anno 6. of Henry the fourth in which office he continued as far as I know untill he was made Bishop of Durham which was on the 7. of May in Anno 7. of King Henry the fourth being in Anno dom 1406 he was Bishop one and thirty yeares and dyed in Anno dom 1437 being the 16. yeare of King Henry the sixt See more following Thomas Fitzalen brother to