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Robert Purfote and the boundaries of sanctuary

Here is one of my old favourites: a London grocer named Robert Purfote who took sanctuary at St Martin le Grand around 1480 for debt. By twists and turns his house came to straddle the boundary of the sanctuary precinct, so that one side was within the refuge, one side out. In a 1530s royalContinue reading “Robert Purfote and the boundaries of sanctuary”

A London mercer in sanctuary: John Baron

In 1476, with his wife Alice, mercer of London John Baron fled to sanctuary at Westminster to escape imprisonment for debt. (Kit French has written about the Barons in an article in Medieval Prosopography). John Baron is a good example of the advantage that merchants could take of sanctuary protection. On going into Westminster, heContinue reading “A London mercer in sanctuary: John Baron”

Sanctuary at St Katherine by the Tower

Around 1480, William White complained to the Chancellor that one John Fraunceis, a sanctuary man at the hospital of St Katherine by the Tower, had sued him in a court at St Katherine’s. Fraunceis was in sanctuary for debt and perhaps his strategy for getting out of his money troubles was to use the jurisdictionalContinue reading “Sanctuary at St Katherine by the Tower”

Ordinary life in political chaos

In the midst of political chaos, ordinary and unconnected crises in people’s lives continued. On 12 June 1483, a sawyer from London named John Stokes took sanctuary at the parish church of St. Mary in Reading. Mid-June 1483 was a time of high drama in England: Stokes sought sanctuary just as Richard, duke of Gloucester,Continue reading “Ordinary life in political chaos”

The queen, the prince, and the evil usurping uncle: Sanctuary and the coup of 1483

On 9 April 1483 Edward IV died, leaving as heir and spare two preteen princes. Edward IV’s brother, Richard of Gloucester, was named protector; by late April Richard was making moves to consolidate his protectorate. Or seize the throne. You pick. When Richard arrested members of her family in late April, the dowager Queen ElizabethContinue reading “The queen, the prince, and the evil usurping uncle: Sanctuary and the coup of 1483”

Murderer of the princes in the Tower flees to sanctuary

In an earlier post, we saw the drama of the dowager queen Elizabeth seeking sanctuary at Westminster and the disappearance and likely murder of her two sons in 1483. Thomas More in his later account claimed one of the princes’ killers fled to sanctuary. In his History of King Richard the Thirde, More said RichardContinue reading “Murderer of the princes in the Tower flees to sanctuary”

Seeking sanctuary during Richard III’s regime: Sir William Brandon

During Richard III’s short-lived regime, many took refuge in sanctuaries to escape arrest and execution for treason. One such was Sir William Brandon, marshal of the Marshalsea Prison. As with many office-holders, Brandon had remained in place when Richard III seized the throne, but in 1484 Richard became more and more suspicious of plots toContinue reading “Seeking sanctuary during Richard III’s regime: Sir William Brandon”

Murder and horse theft, 1483

William Savage, a skinner of Sandwich, Kent, took refuge at St Botolph without Aldgate in London on 23 September 1484. Savage confessed to the coroner that on 12 April 1483 at Winchester, he killed chapman John Brande and stole his horse. This is maybe irrelevant, but he committed this crime only three days after EdwardContinue reading “Murder and horse theft, 1483”

Taking “the privilege of St John’s at Paris Garden”

In 1484, Agnes Curteys submitted two petitions to the Chancellor complaining that she had been so harassed by lawsuits for debt that she’d been forced to “take the privilege of St John’s at Paris Garden” in Surrey across the Thames from London. Paris Garden was a somewhat odd sanctuary – it was a manor ofContinue reading “Taking “the privilege of St John’s at Paris Garden””

Piers Curtes, Keeper of the King’s Wardrobe

Amongst the political refugees from Richard III’s regime who took sanctuary in the waning months of Richard’s rule was Piers Curtes, a royal functionary and aspiring aristocrat who served as MP for decades and as keeper of the King’s Great Wardrobe from 1472 to 1485. Appointed originally by Edward IV (in whose household he hadContinue reading “Piers Curtes, Keeper of the King’s Wardrobe”