Canterbury

Anno xxiii. regni Regis Edwardi III. obiit Johannes de Stratford Archiepiscopus Cant. apud Maghfeld, dux Regis & ejus Consiliarius principalis in vitâ suâ; & ideo post mortem ipsius pro mercede suâ omnia ejus bona confiscantur, possessiones & praedia destruuntur.

In the twenty-third year of the reign of King Edward III, John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, died at Maghfeld. In his lifetime he had been the king's guide and his chief counselor. And so, after his death, this was his reward: all his goods were seized, and his property and estates were laid waste.

Post mortem Archiepiscopi Papa ad preces Domini Regis M. Johanni de Offord ejus Cancellario Archiepiscopatum dedit, viro debili & paralitico; qui pecuniam magnam undique mutuans ad magnam summam, inutiliter Papam eam exeniavit & presentavit, & totam perdidit; quia non multùm pòst vixit, sed die Ascensionis Domini obiit, & in Ecclesiâ Cant. est occultè sepultus, electus non consecratus; & sic multos creditores depauperando destruxit.

After the archbishop's death, the pope, at the king's request, gave the archbishopric to Master John de Offord, the king's chancellor, a weak and paralyzed man. He borrowed large sums of money from everyone and spent it uselessly on gifts and payments to the pope, and lost it all. For he did not live long afterward. He died on Ascension Day and was buried secretly in Canterbury Cathedral, elected but never consecrated. And so he ruined many creditors and left them poor.

Per idem tempus Capitulum Cant. M. Thomam Bradewardyn de Condennâ Roffensis Dioceseos oriundum, quem mox post mortem Archiepiscopi elegerant, secundò nunc elegerunt; & priusquam electio ad Papam pervenit, Papa M. Thomae more solito dedit Archiepiscopatum Cant. malens grates habere ipsemet quàm eligentes. Sed post collationem suam Dominus Rex pro Electo scripsit, qui aliàs eum impedivit.

Around the same time the monks of Canterbury Cathedral elected Master Thomas Bradewardyn of Condenna, a native of the diocese of Rochester, for the second time. They had first elected him soon after the archbishop's death. Before the election even reached the pope, the pope gave Master Thomas the archbishopric himself, as usual. He preferred to have the thanks rather than let the electors have it. After the pope's grant, the king, who had blocked him before, wrote in support of the man elected.