Memoir of the Life and Times of John Carpenter (Volume 2); Town Clerk of London in the Reigns of Henry V and Henry VI and Founder of the City of London School with an Appendix of Documents and Particulars of Benefactions to the School (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1856. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... The important position which Carpenter occupied at this time is also evident by a curious and interesting fact connected with the corporate history of the city of Norwich. In the year 1437, in consequence of various contests between the citizens of Norwich and the authorities of several ecclesiastical establishments there and in the neighbourhood, in which the citizens rendered themselves bable to the displeasure of the crown, their liberties were seized into the king's hands, who, displacing the mayor and other functionaries, appointed as custos or warden of the city, John Welles, an alderman of London, who had been lord mayor in 1431. Welles, although armed with arbitrary power, seems to have used his authority with great discretion, and in a conciliatory spirit; and, after holding the office about a year, he promoted an application to the crown for a restoration of the liberties. Amongst the means employed for this purpose was the obtaining the counsel and aid of John Carpenter, to whom a joint application was made by Welles and the citizens of Norwich, to request his intercession with the king's council. The pressing necessities of the king occasioned by the continued war in France, and the offers of voluntary aid on the part of the citizens, operated in furtherance of the desired object; and when, through the interference of Carpenter, the matter was brought under the notice of the privy council (although a disposition was shown by the king's advisers to take advantage of so favourable an opportunity of making heavy exactions from the citizens), it was agreed that the terms of submission should be prescribed and settled by the archbishop of York* and Carpenter; and the result was that, in 1439, the citizens of Norwich had their liberties and franchises full...