Abbot William of Colchester -1420

Westminster Chronicle. When these things had duly been carried out and Parliament had been dissolved, each man returned to his own affairs. Also, on the twenty-ninth day of November, Brother Nicholas Litlyngton, abbot of Westminster, died, and on the seventeenth day of December he was buried. Meanwhile the lord king sent three times to the prior and convent through Brother John Lakyngheth, urging that, out of regard for him, they should have his person deservedly commended to them. Therefore, on the twenty-first day of December, when an election had been held, Brother William of Colchester, archdeacon of the said monastery, was elected abbot by way of compromise. When the king heard this, he was indignant, and for some time delayed admitting him. But through the mediation of friends he was afterwards reconciled to him, and wrote quite graciously on his behalf to the Roman Curia. At that time Lord Hugh, earl of Stafford [deceased], died in parts overseas, far distant from England, while on pilgrimage. The staple of wool remained at Middelburg in that year and in the following year. The king kept his Christmas at Windsor, where he allowed Lord Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, to enjoy his liberty, and kept him with him. To whatever place the king happened to turn aside thereafter, Suffolk was with him.

Istis rite peractis et soluto parliamento unusquisque ad propria repedavit. Item xxix die Novembris obiit frater Nicholaus Litlyngton abbas Westmonasterii et xviio, die Decembris fuit sepultus. Interim dominus rex misit ter priori et conventui per fratrem Johannem Lakyngheth ut ejus personam sui contemplatione haberent merito commendatam. Igitur xxi die Decembris celebrata electione electus est per viam compromissi frater Willelmus Colchestre archidiaconus dicti monasterii in abbatem. Quo audito rex indignatus quasi per aliquot tempus distulit illum admittere sed mediantibus amicis fuit sibi postea reconciliatus et satis gratiose scripsit pro eo curiæ Romanæ. Quo in tempore obiit dominus Hugo comes Staffordiæ in partibus transmarinis ab Anglia longe distantibus peregrinis. Stapula vero lanarum mansit apud Middelborgh isto anno ac anno sequenti. Rex autem tenuit suum Natale apud Wyndesore ubi permisit dominum Michaelem de Poole comitem Southfolchiæ libertate gaudere et penes eum retinuit et ad quemeunque locum se divertere contingebat, deinceps fuit ipse cum eo.

Westminster Chronicle. Also in that year Pope Urban, having left Lucca, came to Perugia, where he deposed Cardinal Pileo, archbishop of Ravenna, because he had abandoned him and adhered to the antipope Robert of Geneva. He therefore deprived him of all his benefices, and among other things conferred the archbishopric of Ravenna upon Cosmas Gentilis, a foreigner and his collector in England, a man indeed worthy of reverence and skilled in much learning. Without delay, when the election of the elect of Westminster [William of Colchester] had been confirmed, the said Cosmas Gentilis entered the curia and immediately advised the pope that henceforth he should not confirm in the curia the elections of exempt abbots while the elect themselves were absent. Rather, without any hope of mercy, such elects should present themselves personally before the apostolic presence, there to receive, after suitable examination, as is customary, the sacred gift of blessing from a bishop specially appointed for this purpose. And although the monks of Saint Augustine’s, Canterbury, had remained in the curia for more than a year, at lavish expense, for the confirmation of their elect, nevertheless, notwithstanding the letters of the king or of other great lords, they could obtain no other answer than that they should present their elect personally to the lord pope in the aforesaid form.

Quo etiam anno Urbanus papa Luca relicta venit Perusiam ubi deposuit cardinalem Pileum archiepiscopum Ravennensem quia reliquerat eum et antipapæ Roberto Gebenensi adhæsit privavitque propterea omnibus beneficiis suis et inter cætera contulit archiepiscopatum Ravennensem Cosmati gentili alienigenæ collectori suo in Anglia, viro utique reverendo et multæ litteraturæ perito. Nec mora confirmata electione Westmonasterii electi intravit curiam dictus Cosmas gentilis, confestim papam consuluit ne electiones abbatum exemptorum ipsis absentibus deinceps in curia confirmaret sed absque ulla spe misericordiæ hujusmodi electi se personaliter apostolico conspectui præsentarent, recepturi ibidem post congruam examinationem, prout moris est, munus sacrum benedictionis ab episcopo ad hoc specialiter deputato. Et quamvis monachi sancti Augustini Cantuariensis profusis expensis amplius quam per unum annum in curia pro confirmatione sui electi stetissent non obstantibus litteris regis aut aliorum magnorum dominorum aliud responsum habere nequirent quam ut eorum electum sub forma prædicta domino papæ personaliter præsentarent.