Exchequer Bill concerning Bishop Barnes complaint of goods found on a suspected pirate vessel.

Crown dispute with the Bishop of Durham re. Ship seized, dated 1583. Exchequer bill of Hilary Term 26 Elizabeth (early 1584), concerning the complaint of Bishop Richard Barnes of Durham, through his attorney Arthur Salway, against four royal officials - Robert Dudley, Henry Anderson, Henry Mitford and William Frankelin- who had seized a vessel anchored in the River Tees off Stranton, late in 1583 for the Queen's benefit. The Bishop claims that Durham 'as an ancient County Palatine where no writ of our Lady the Queen runs' and that Bishops have so long as anyone remembers received 'all the fortified goods and chattels of felons and pirates and wreckers and also wreckage of the sea within the county palatine'.
The document is written in Latin and is incomplete. It is signed 'Ja: Savile'. Also contained is a contemporary note about the document.

Object Details

ID: ADL/A/18
Type: Manuscript
Display location: Not on display
Date made: 1583-1584
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: 1 folder
Parts: Documents relating to the Board of Admiralty (Manuscript)