By Ellie Jones, Cathedral Archivist
This letter addressed to Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter and to Thomas, Earl of Devon asks for help in petitioning the King (Henry VI). In it, the ‘poore prustes’ [poor priests] of the church of Exeter beg their ‘gracieux goodnys’ [gracious goodness] for relief from taxes, on the grounds of poverty. Their own people had not paid their debts due to the church ‘in these days of trouble…pestilence wastying and povertee’ [wasting and poverty] and the priests were being further burdened by excessive demands of hospitality and ministry. Despite this solemn appeal, they remain the king’s ‘trew liegmen’ [true liegemen].
Edmund Lacy was in his eighties when he died in 1455, and during his long life had served three kings: Henry IV (reigned 1399-1413), Henry V (1413-1422) and Henry VI (1422-1461, 1470-1471). In 1401 Henry IV appointed him as a canon at St George’s Chapel, Windsor and under Henry V – as Dean of the Chapel Royal – he went on the French campaign of 1415 and was present at the battle of Agincourt. Lacy was Bishop of Exeter from 1420-1455, and it was at the Bishop’s Palace that Henry VI stayed when he visited the city in July 1452. This was part of an extensive tour aimed at asserting control and gaining public support during a period of great discontent that would, eventually, lead to the series of civil wars that we now know as the Wars of the Roses. The visit did not go particularly well. The king held a trial at the Bishop’s Palace at which the judges sentenced two men to death for treason. The Bishop and the Chapter Canons protested that this judgement went against the rights of sanctuary afforded to the Cathedral, and the king was forced to pardon the condemned men.