WILLIAM WETHENS (WITHENS, WITHINS, WYTHENS), fl. 1552

Qualifications: None known

Career: acting as proctor in the Chester Consistory Court by 1552

Notes: possibly a relative, perhaps father, of William Withens who was admitted as a proctor in the Chester Consistory Court in 1574.

CAUSES:

TRISTRAM SWADAILL (SWADALE), fl. 1552

Qualifications: None known

Career: acting as proctor in the Chester Consistory Court by 1552

He was appointed ‘Custodian of the Abbey Gate’ in 1549 and ‘Chief Janitor to the Dean and Chapter’ of Chester Cathedral in 1563. In 1551 he leased the tithes of Wervin from the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral, at which time he was described as a yeoman of Chester. He was also described elsewhere as being a servant of William Cliff, dean of Chester. He registered a lease made by the Dean and Chapter in 1553 when he was described as ‘Deputy Registrar’ although it is not clear to what this office relates.

He acted as Robert Bower’s substitute as proctor for the plaintiff in EDC 5/13/4.

Sources:

Cheshire Sheaf, 1st series, ii, pp. 191-192; 1st series, iii, pp. 39-40

CAUSES:

ROBERT BOWER (BOWES/ BOWYER/ BOYER), b. c. 1508

Qualifications: None known

CCEd person ID 35736

Career: acting as proctor in the Chester Consistory Court by 1552

He is referred to as ‘dominus’ or ‘sir’ and as ‘clericus’. He had been a vicar choral of the college of St John’s in Chester and was retained as the first vicar there after the dissolution of the college in 1547/8. He was born about 1508 as he was said to be aged 40 in the commissioners’ certificate. He seems to have been of humble birth as his only known kinsman was a shoemaker who stood surety for him in September 1541 when he was bound over to keep the peace.

In 1549 he held the anchorite’s chapel in the precinct of the former college and by 1559-1560 he had resigned as vicar and was living in the chapel.

Some time between 1547 and 1551, while Richard Rich was Lord Chancellor, a case was brought against Robert Bower in Chancery in which it was claimed that some 14 years previously ‘neglecting his duetie profession office of presthod & vocacon’ he had had an illegitimate daughter and had entrusted her to a friend to bring up, offering to pay her for the child’s keep. However, it was claimed that ‘the said Sir Robert nowe being a welthy and Ryche prest havyng greate livynges Frendes and prefermentes’ refused to pay what he had agreed. He did not deny having fathered the child but did deny owing anything to the petitioner (TNA C 1/1275/52-53, 54-56).

Occurs as witness to the sentence in EDC 5/12/3,  was possibly attending court as a proctor.

Tristram Swadaill was his substitute as proctor for the plaintiff in EDC 5/13/4.
William Withins was his substitute as proctor for defendant in EDC 5/13/6.

See also his entry in the Directory under People.

Sources:

Douglas Jones, The Church in Chester 1300-1540 (Chetham Society 3rd series, 7, 1957), pp. 26, 162

George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, London, 1882), vol. i, p. 314

J S Barrow, J D Herson, A H Lawes, P J Riden, M V J Seaborne, ‘Churches and religious bodies: The collegiate church of St John’, in A History of the County of Chester: Volume 5 Part 2, the City of Chester: Culture, Buildings, Institutions, ed. A T Thacker, C P Lewis( London, 2005), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol5/pt2/pp125-133 [accessed 23 January 2025]

CAUSES:

EDC 5/13/4 -Nicholas Hardware, vicar of Weaverham, contra Edward Walker.  Tristram Swadaill was acting as his substitute when the sentence was passed.
EDC 5/13/6 – John Segar contra Margaret Palen, wife of Thomas Palen. William Withens was acting as his substitute when the sentence was passed.

WILLIAM PYLLYN (PYLLEN/ PILLYN), fl. 1526-1533

Qualifications: Notary Public

Occurs as witness to the sentence EDC 5/1/2, probably proctor for the plaintiff

CAUSES:

JAMES BANESTER (BANISTER)

Qualifications: Notary Public

Signature of James (Jacobus) Banester from CALS EDC 1/20, f. 464

CAUSES:

WILLIAM WITHENS (WITHINS, WYTHENS)

Qualifications: admitted to act as a proctor in the Chester Consistory Court on 6 May 1574, at which time he was described as literatus (literate or learned man). He was a Notary Public, but there is no reference to his having had a degree (CALS EDC 1/20, f. 312).

Notes: possibly a relative, perhaps son, of William Wethins or Withins who had been active as a proctor in Chester in the 1540s and 1550s.

CAUSES:

WILLIAM COWPER

Qualifications:

Career: acting as proctor in the Chester Consistory Court by 1566

CAUSES:

ROLAND WRIGHT

Qualifications: Notary Public, no other known qualifications

Career: acting as proctor in the Chester Consistory Court by ?

CAUSES:

ROBERT PARKINSON

Qualifications: probably of Oxford; Bachelor of Arts 5 November 1561.

Sources:

‘Pace-Payton’, in Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, ed. Joseph Foster (Oxford, 1891), pp. 1104-1131. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp1104-1131

CAUSES:

WILLIAM MAN, d. 1585

Qualifications: probably of Christ Church, Oxford, 1551; Bachelor of Arts 26 January 1555, Master of Arts 20 October 1558. Proctor at Chester from late 1561. If this is the same man, he was at Christ Church at the same time as Robert Leche, Chancellor of the diocese of Chester.

CCEd person ID 32107

Career: possibly vicar of Rickmansworth in 1559; rural dean of Warrington from about 1573; rural dean of Wirral 1582.

Further notes: It seems likely that he was the man of that name who was summoned to appear before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners on 30 April 1565 accused of fornication and was ordered to carry out the humiliating penance of appearing in St Peter’s church in Chester on a Saturday with bare feet and legs and without a hat and with a paper pinned to his shirt saying ‘Fornicator apon Easter daie at night’ and to go from the church through the Corn Market and then to stand on a ‘scaffold’ in the market place and publicly declare his offence. From there he was to go into the cathedral and offer 12d for the poor. It was often possible in offences like this arising from visitation presentments to commute such humiliating public penance for a cash payment to a charitable cause but this was not offered to Man. He refused to carry out the penance and also arranged for his co-accused, Jane Ruttor, to be illicitly released from prison. He was committed to gaol in Chester Castle but unfortunately no further record survives to show how he gained his liberty. Two of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who imposed this penalty were William Downham, bishop of Chester, and Robert Leche. (CALS EDA 12/2 ff. 97, 98, 99v.) Man probably subsequently married Jane Ruttor as a cause from 1575/1576 was brought by Jane Man, wife of William Man, Master of Arts; she died as his widow in 1592.

The signature of William Man from CALS EDC 1/10, f. 433

Sources:

CALS EDA 12/2 ff. 97, 98, 98v.

‘Mab-Marygold’, in Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, ed. Joseph Foster (Oxford, 1891), pp. 956-982. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp956-982

CAUSES: