Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/338

 garton, Norfolk, 1327-8, and was prebend of Exeter, dying in 1370 ; the last named at least was, from the similarity of his preferments, most likely a relative of the historian. Murimuth was educated at Oxford, where he had graduated as doctor of civil law before 14 June 1312. At that date he was appointed one of the proctors of the university at the court of Rome in a complaint against the Black Friars (Chron. Edw. land II, pp. lxi, n. 1, lxviii). About the same time he was appointed by Archbishop Winchelsey to represent him at Avignon in his cause against Walter Langton [q. v.] (Continuatio Chronicarum, p. 18). Next year he was apparently acting at Avignon, as agent for the chapter of Canterbury, to secure the confirmation of Thomas Cobham in the archbishopric. In 1314 he was employed by the king to secure the preferment of John Sandale to the deanery of St. Paul's (Fœdera, ii. 243), and on 22 Nov. was appointed to the rectory of Hayes, Middlesex. In 1315 he received the rectory of Lyminge, Kent, and on 15 March of that year had letters dimissory from ArchbishopWalter Reynolds permitting him to receive deacon's or priest's orders. On 20 Oct. 1318 Reynolds presented him, being now a priest, to the living of Cliflfe at Hoo. Murimuth was still acting at Avignon for the king (Fcedera, ii. 305, 339), for the chapter of Canterbury, and perhaps for the university of Oxford in 1316 and 1317. In August of the former year he received a pension of 60s. from the chapter for his faithful counsel (cf. Litt. Cant. ii. 59-70). Murimuth must have returned home in 1318, and in May 1319 was proctor for the chapter of Canterbury in the parliament held at York (Parl. Writs, II. i. 199). In a letter dated 28 May 1 319 William de Melton [q. v.] alludes to information with which Murimuth had furnished him (Letters from the Northern Registers, p. 288, Rolls Ser.) In 1319 Murimuth was sent on another mission by the king to obtain the pope's assent to a grant from the clergy (Cont. Chron. p. 30). From 1 April 1320 to February 1321 he held the prebend of Bullinghope, Hereford (, Fasti, i. 496), and during 1321 and 1322 was official and vicar-general for Stephen de Gravesend, bishop of London. In August 1323, when he is still styled canon of Hereford, he was sent on a mission to King Robert of Sicily concerning Edward's claims to lands in Provence (Fœdera, ii. 531). This same year he was also employed in the king's behalf against the Scots at Avignon and to represent Edward's complaints against his late envoy, John Stratford [q. v.] (ib. ii. 531-2 ; Cont. Chron. p. 41). On 16 May 1325 he received the prebend of Ealdstreet St. Paul's, which he exchanged for that of Neasden on 2 Feb. 1328 ; the Adam Murimuth who at a later date held the prebend of Harleston was prol>ably not the historian. In 1325 he was vicar-general for Archbishop Reynolds, and on 21 Aug. had letters of protection as intending to go with the king to France (Fœdera, ii. 604). In 1328 Murimuth appears as precentor of Exeter, a post which he may have received as early as 1319 ; he was certainly connected with that cathedral in 1327, when he was one of the deputation from the chapter to the king on the death of Bishop Berkeley. On 21 March 1330 his precentorship was confirmed to him for life (Cal. Pat. Rolls Edward III, 1327-30, pp. 378, 380), but he exchanged it for the rectory of Wyradisbury or Wraysbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1331. In 1334 he had a dispute with the chapter of Canterbury as to his pension (Litt. Cant. ii. 59, 70), and in 1335 appears as commissary for the archbishop. He is mentioned on 5 June 1338 as receiving a lease of the manor of Barnes from the chapter of St. Paul's ; references to him occur in the 'Literæ Cantuarienses' under date 27 Oct. 1338 and 2 Feb. 1340 (ii. 196, 219). From 1338 onwards Murimuth records his age in his chronicle year by year ; the last entry is in 1347, when he was seventy-two. He probably died before 26 June 1347, when his successor at Wyradisbury was instituted.

Murimuth was the author of a work which he styles 'Continuatio Chronicarum,' and which covers the period from 1303 to 1347. According to his own account in his preface, he found that the chronicles at Exeter did not proceed beyond 1302, nor those at Westminster beyond 1305. Down to the latter date he uses the Westminster chronicles, and after this, when he was of an age to judge for himself, and write in his own manner 'ex libro dierum meorum,' his history is based on what he had himself heard and seen. Since Murimuth describes himself as canon of St. Paul's, he clearly wrote after 1 325. In its first form the history was brought down to 1337, a second edition carries it on to 1341, and in its final form the work ends with the year of the author's death, 1347. An anonymous continuation extends to 1380. The earlier portion of the history is very meagre, and was 'probably made up from scanty notes and from personal recollections.' While, however, the notices of English history are slight, the record of ecclesiastical affairs and the relations of England with the court of Rome have a peculiar value. But for the last nine years 'the chronicle is much fuller, and is of particular value for the history of the cam-