Page:The History of the Church & Manor of Wigan part 1.djvu/30

 him and the Scottish King, on the one side, and the rebels of the Scottish King on the other.

It was in this year that he gave his princely entertainment in London. Among his many and various preferments he held the prebend of Totenhall (now Tottenham or Tottenham Court), in the Diocese of London, and here, at his house in Tothill Field, he entertained the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland, Prince Edward, and most of the prelates and nobles of the kingdom. His guests were so numerous on this occasion that he was obliged to erect tents for their accommodation, and Stowe says that seven hundred dishes were scarcely sufficient for the first course.

Fabyan gives an account of certain complaints against the mayor and aldermen of London, being heard in January, 1257, 41 Hen. III., before John Maunsell and Henry Baa, meaning Henry de Bathonia, justices, Sir Henry Wengham, the Chancellor and others of the King's Council. And he goes on to say that soon after John Maunsell was "made knyte and chefe justyce of England;" and that under that name, in the June following, he was one of the twelve peers appointed by the parliament of Oxford to correct the enormities that had crept into the government. He adds that he was thereupon discharged of his office, and Sir Hugh Bygot admitted in his place. Foss, however, doubts the fact of his ever having been appointed chief justice, and says that the title is never added to his signature, or his description at this period, which he holds to be conclusive.

It was in the year 1257 that Maunsell obtained from the King a charter for himself and his successors, the Parsons of Wigan, for ever, to hold a weekly market at their town of Wigan, and two fairs annually, of six days' duration.

On the 20th of June in that year, his name occurs with those