Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/330

 254 THE ALIEN PRIORY OF ANUWELL. This interesting letter has no direction or address upon it ; but there is great reason to beheve it was written to Sir Walter Clopton, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. From the lano-uage of it, the action appears to have been brought in that court ; for, though the mention of the Marshalsea may at first suggest the Court of the Marshalsea, that was the Marshalsea of the king's household ; whereas " the marshalsea of our lord the king " was within the jurisdiction of the Court of King's Bench ; ^ besides which, the Court of the Marshalsea could not hold pleas of the kind mentioned in the letter, except when both parties were of the king's household, and the claim originated within the verge of the court — a circuit of twelve miles about the court, where it mio-ht then be^ — which there is no reason to suppose was the case in the present instance. The letter was evidently written between the 15th Richard II. (1391-2), and his deposition in 1399 ; and seeing the style of it, and the favour asked, it was, in all probability, addressed to the head of the court ; and, whoever he was, he must have been on terms of friendship with the writer. Now, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench at that period was Sir Walter Clopton, who was appointed on 31st January, 1388, and continued in the office till 1400. For upw^ards of two years of that time, and prior to the writing of the letter, viz. : from 4th May, 1389, to 27th September, 1391, Wykeham was Chancellor, and therefore, no doubt, they were well known to each other ; and, from the character of Clopton, he seems to have been a man w^hom Wykeham was likely to esteem.^ The letter, inclusive of the subscription, " L'Evesque de Wyncestre," is, apparently, all in the same handwriting — a firm, bold hand, — and, probably, that of Wykeham himself, bearing a great resemblance to some other writing at Winchester College supposed to be his. It is on paper, with a water-mark, in the form of a small circle cut by a straight line, which is prolonged both wa3'^s, and terminates at each end in a sort of star of five points ; and was sealed with his privy seal, and further secured by a narrow band of ribbon, passed through the folds ; and on this the seal was placed. I proceed now to speak of the family of de Port, the ' 2 Inst. 548. have been known to Wykeham. ^ Foss's Judges, iv. pp. 157, 158.
 * These limits had been fixed by Parliament in the 13th Richard II., and must