The Chancellor’s Secret

Historical Note

During excavations by Craig Cessford of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit in 2010, a pit containing four skeletons was discovered. The pit was one of four wood-lined structures, located on the edge of the area used as a cemetery by the medieval Hospital of St John. The precise purpose of these pits has been obscured by time.

The skeletons were those of an adult male, an older woman, a youth of eleven to thirteen years, and a child of six to eight. Carbon-14 dating suggests a burial date of between 1300 and 1415. The woman’s teeth were in poor condition – decayed, some missing, worn and with abscesses. She was buried face-down, as if she had been thrown in. All four individuals show signs of a hasty burial, although it is impossible to be sure why. Details of this incredible and fascinating excavation can be found in Craig’s freely downloadable report on the Archaeology Data Service website:

https://tinyurl.com/4muutjjn.

Most of the people in The Chancellor’s Secret were real. John Stasy and John Hawick – although they were scholars of Oxford, not Cambridge – were accused of dealing in the dark arts. Hawick lived in the 1380s, and seems to have been acquitted, but Stasy, who lived a century later, was not so fortunate and was executed in 1477, despite his protestations of innocence. Two other Oxford scholars were Richard Gille, who murdered John Martyn in 1389, and John Elsham, who killed William Huntyngdon in 1369, apparently in self-defence. In Cambridge at the same time, there was a Huntyngdon who was an illegitimate son of Guichard d’Angle, the Earl of Huntingdon.

Michaelhouse deeds record that funds were left to the College by one Edith Chaumbre, a widow. College Fellows in the 1360s included Michael (de Causton), William (Gotham) and John Clippesby. Later members were William Zoone, John Aungel, John Islaye and Thomas Mallett. The collegiate church was St Michael’s, which still stands on Trinity Street (once called the High Street) and was united with the parish of Great St Mary’s in 1908. It was refurbished a century later, and is now the Michaelhouse Centre. It serves as a community hub and art gallery and has a lovely cafe – well worth a visit.

A Peterhouse scholar named Richard Narboro was betrothed to Lucy Brampton in the 1400s, but he spent ten years abroad before returning to Cambridge and deciding he did not want her. The fact that the hapless Lucy had been out of the marriage market for a decade, and was likely now too old to win another suitor, was not the main cause of concern to her kin. What mattered more was that Narboro had left them with the bill for housing her all the time he was away. The case went to court and Narboro was compelled to cough up. There is no record of what became of Lucy. There was a King’s Hall Fellow named Thomas Brampton in 1388, but he was probably no relation.

Gerard de Hoo was an early, if not the first, Master of Peterhouse. Other Peterhouse Fellows in the 1360s were William Stantone and John Gayton. King’s Hall had a scholar named Geoffrey Dodenho, and its Warden in 1361 was John de Shropham.

Clare Hall, originally known as University Hall, was the fourth College to be founded in Cambridge. It is now known as Clare College, and a new Clare Hall was founded in 1966. Three of University Hall’s early Fellows were John Donwich, Peter March and John Pulham.

The Moryses were a powerful Cambridge family in the fourteenth century, and Stephen Morys was Mayor of the town in 1360. There is some suggestion that he was corrupt, although that was probably true of most officials at this time. The Tulyets were another well-known local clan, several of whom were named Richard. Edmund Lister, Hugh FitzAbsolon and John Baldok were fourteenth-century burgesses. John Godenave was a convicted felon who lived in the 1340s. Robert de Blaston was a Cambridge carpenter in the mid-1300s.

Unlike Oxford, Cambridge has very few written records from the fourteenth century and earlier, as they were destroyed during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. One story is that they were tossed on a great bonfire in the Market Square by a woman named Margery Starre.

By 1360, Thomas de Lisle, the Bishop of Ely, had fled his diocese and was living with the Pope in Avignon. Five years earlier, he had been involved in a very public dispute with one of Edward III’s kinswomen, which culminated in charges of murder, assault, kidnapping and theft. He was almost certainly complicit in the crimes, most of which were committed by his steward, but he never answered for them in a court of law, and died, still in self-imposed exile, in 1361.

The Great Bridge (now called Magdalene Bridge) was always a bone of contention in the town. It was used by everyone, but the burgesses were expected to pay for its upkeep. In 1362, the King appointed three commissioners to oversee repairs. These were Thomas de Shardelowe, Gilbert Bernarde and John de Lyonnes. There is no suggestion that their improvements lasted, because the cost of maintaining the bridge continued to cause friction for years to come.

As contemporary and later documents contradict each other, there is some confusion as to who was Chancellor of the University in 1360. Some sources say Michael Aynton (or Haynton) held the post until 1362. Others record that it was Michael de Causton. Michael’s election was contested by John Donwich of Clare Hall, who then set himself up as the Anti-Chancellor.

Indignant, two senior and well-connected Regent Masters – John Ufford and William Rawby – appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent three vicars-general to sort the matter out. Their names were William Teofle, John Tinmouth and Thomas Ely. They found in favour of Michael, leaving Donwich to lick his wounds until the 1370s, when he put himself forward for the post again, and was lawfully elected.

Bartholomew and Matilde are entirely fictional, but, as a scholar, he would have had to resign from the University if he had wanted to marry her.