Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession July 6, 1303

Summary: The confessor's and the mason's executions ensued from William Palmer's second confession July 6, 1303, to the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid.

screenshot of William Palmer's July 6, 1303, confession, as presented in Sir Francis Palgrave's The Antient Kalendars (1836): Public Domain via Internet Archive

William Palmer assumed the role of confessor June 17, 1303, and July 6, 1303, to London officials and royal appointees for addressing the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid April 30-May 3, 1303.

William Palmer bore 14 names in June for the 16 "consenting to the burglary" and, in July, seven names with five names borne the previous month. He correlated July's names with April's and May's crimes for five officials, of whom three considered his confession the previous month at the Guildhall in London. He described the doers of the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid as daring a forced entry and diverting royal treasures to the Church and to London.

Palmer explained exposing Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid evil-doers in his first confession despite a sacristan's bribe and in his second despite a sub-prior's death threats.

Palmer fit into London as Keeper of the Fleet Prison and into Westminster as lieutenant to John Shenche, absentee Keeper of the Palace alongside Westminster Abbey.

King Edward I (June 17, 1239-July 7, 1307) gathered Chancery, Court of Common Pleas, Exchequer, Kings Bench, Kings Hall and Palace officials, including Shenche, at York. He rarely headed south to London and Westminster because he had York as capital city, government seat and military base in order to harry the Scots. His letter June 6, 1303, initiated John Bakewell's, Ralph de Sandwich's, Roger de Southcote's and Walter of Gloucester's inquiries about the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid.

Sandwich judged Palmer's first Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid confession with John Clicot, London Mayor; John le Blund, London Coroner; and Simon de Paris, London Sheriff.

Sandwich kept Palmer's second Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid confession, in Latin, not in Norman French, to Bakewell, Clicot, le Blund and Southcote at the Guildhall.

Palmer's second confession listed, first through fifth, sacristan Adam de Warfield, subprior Alexander de Pershore, treasurer Thomas de Dene and brothers Robert and Roger de Bures. Palmer mentioned their "often" moving back and forth "on the evening and the morning after the burglary of the Treasury, carrying many things towards the church." He noted "Roger de Wenlok and Hamo, the Sacristan's valet, would often accompany the said monks" and John of St. Albans was "organizer of the tools."

Palmer observed that Pershore "threatened him that he would have him killed if he revealed their plans [about the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid] to anyone."

Palmer placed Robert and Roger de Bures, Walter de Erksdale/Erskdale, Simon de Henley, Dene and Pershore "around Pentecost" with barge "boatman Godde, at King's bridge Westminster."

The sextet queued up "two great baskets bound by black corn" and "of a great weight" for London dispersal before return landing near the Abbey Mill. He revealed, "John de Uggele was a shelterer of those thieves who committed the burglary" through St. Albans' tools used for breaking into the Royal Treasury. Both confessions sent suspects to Newgate, Tower and Westminster prisons even though only John of St. Albans shared his confessor's sentence of hanging March 15, 1304.

What turned the coroner, justices, mayor and sheriff against the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid confessor and mason, but not 18 others that the confession tendered?

William Palmer's confession places six co-conspirators at King's Bridge (bottom right of sketch) with boatman Godde around Pentecost; plan of Westminster Abbey and Palace drawn in 1303; Hubert Hall's The Antiquities and Curiosities of the Exchequer (1891): Public Domain, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

screenshot of William Palmer's July 6, 1303, confession, as presented in Sir Francis Palgrave's The Antient Kalendars (1836), vol. I: 268: Public Domain via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/antientkalendars01grea_0#page/268/mode/1up

William Palmer's confession places six co-conspirators (de Bures brothers, Thomas de Dene, Walter de Erksdale/Erskdale, Simon de Henley, Alexander de Pershore) at King's Bridge (bottom right of sketch) with boatman Godde around Pentecost; plan of Westminster Abbey and Palace drawn in 1303, the 31st year of the reign of King Edward I (June 17/18, 1239-July 7, 1307); Hubert Hall's The Antiquities and Curiosities of the Exchequer (1891), page 31: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/cu31924032413340#page/n52/mode/1up

For further information:

Doherty, Paul. 2005. The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303. New York NY: Carroll & Graf Publisher.

Hall, Hubert. 1891. The Antiquities and Curiosities of the Exchequer. With Illustrations by Ralph Nevill. The Camden Library. New York NY: A.C. Armstrong & Son; London, England: Elliot Stock.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015035120412
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cu31924032413340

Keay, Anna. 2011. The Crown Jewels. London UK: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 April 2018. "Richard Puddlicott and the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/04/richard-puddlicott-and-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 May 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid in April and May 1303 in England." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 May 2018. "Mysteries of the April-May 1303 Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/mysteries-of-april-may-1303-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 June 2018. "King Edward I's Letter on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/king-edward-is-letter-on-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Royal Proclamation June 16, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_8.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession June 17, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Arrests June 18-19, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_22.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Indenture June 22, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_29.html

Palgrave, Sir Francis, ed. 1836. "Appendix: Records Relating to the Robbery at the Treasury, 31 Edw. I." The Antient Kalendars and Inventories of His Majesty's Exchequer Together with Other Documents Illustrating the History of That Repository. Vol. I: 251-299. London England: Commissioners of the Public Records of The Kingdom.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/antientkalendars01grea_0#page/251/mode/1up