Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Rippinghale Confession Dec. 3, 1303

Summary: The Rippinghale confession Dec. 3, 1303, to the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid took its author closer to, not father from, Smithfield's gallows.

John de Rippinghale was removed June 20, 1303, from Westminster Abbey's St. Peter's Sanctuary, before the expiration of his right of sanctuary; St. Peter's Sanctuary, Walter Besant's Westminster (1902), page 143: Public Domain via Internet Archive

The Rippinghale confession Dec. 3, 1303, to the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid April 30-May 3, 1303, appeared not to achieve its apparent aim of avoiding the death penalty for the author.

John de Rippinghale bore the nicknames John the Chaplain and John the Priest and the self-description of "formerly a monk of the Abbey of St. Peterborough." Appointees commissioned by King Edward I (June 17, 1239-July 7, 1307) captured John de Rippinghale "le jour du cherch fet" ("the day the search was made"). John Bakewell, John de Drokensford, Ralph de Sandwich, Roger de Southcote and Walter of Gloucester detained Rippinghale in the Abbey gatehouse's second-floor prison on Thieving Lane.

The appointed quintet extracted Rippinghale before his 40-day sanctuary expired on Abbey grounds northwest of the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid of the Chapter House Crypt.

Rippinghale furnished his confession as one of a few Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid suspects found in Westminster, not Newgate or the Tower of London, prison.

Rippinghale gave his confession as an approver (un appelour) whose King's evidence granted him exile instead of execution if it got his accomplices to the gallows. And yet he had an iron chisel and a hammer, as a "church-breaker," most recently into the Church of St. Mary de Woolnoth, during Abbey sanctuary. Paul Doherty, in The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303, for Carroll & Graf Publishers, Sept. 26, 2005, identifies Rippinghale as from Lincolnshire instead of Peterborough.

The "former secular priest" joined "others" as excommunicated and outlawed in 1296 for refusing to pay a royal tax" despite the Bishop of Lincolnshire's 40-day extension.

National Archives in Kew keep the original confession in Norman French to the Coroner's Clerk, Coroner of Westminster Henry Cherring and Royal Commissioner Hugh de Veer.

Eighteen led breaking-in April 30 and looting coffers May 2-3, 1303, for "silver and other precious goods and jewels to the amount of four hundred pounds." Rippinghale mentioned Ralph de Morton, Ralph de Cannes, Simon of Somerset, John Peche, John of Spain, Robert Chaddre, John of Soonborne, John Malmain and Robert Romain. He named William de Val, Richard Puddlicott, Ralph de Bures, Ralph of St. Peterborough, John of St. Albans, William of Westminster and Richard de La Mare.

Morton, for changing jewels to £200 for Sir John de Ashewardeby "to save himself," and Nicholas the Jeweler of London occurred in the confession's second part.

Nicholas participated in the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid break-in, carryout and dispersal because he "brought goods from" Rippinghale and "separately paid each of their company."

Rippinghale queued £400 in jewels to Nicholas and, to Peterborough Abbey, £31 July 2, 1303, and £51 in coins and £20 in jewels Aug. 15-23, 1303. Bailiffs Robert of Ashebridge, Walter de la More and Henry de la Chambre retained £40 in metals and Nicholas de Langton released him for 40 shillings. Doherty suggests that Rippinghale sent commissioners after non-existent suspects, apart from Ralph de Morton, Richard de Puddlicott, John of St. Albans and William Palmer of Westminster.

Rippinghale likeliest turned up among four unnamed hangings with Palmer's March 25, 1304, for tendering misinformation that turned justices against him during the January 1304 indictments.

King Street Gate, demolished in 1723, was located at the northwest corner of the Abbey precinct and gave access to St. Peter's Sanctuary and the sanctuary close; Walter Besant's Westminster (1902), page 137: 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:

John de Rippinghale was removed June 20, 1303, from Westminster Abbey's St. Peter's Sanctuary, before the expiration of his right of sanctuary; St. Peter's Sanctuary, Walter Besant's Westminster (1902), page 143: Public Domain via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/westminster00besauoft#page/143/mode/1up

King Street Gate, demolished in 1723, was located at the northwest corner of the Abbey precinct and gave access to St. Peter's Sanctuary and the sanctuary close; Walter Besant's Westminster (1902), page 137: Public Domain via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/westminster00besauoft#page/136/mode/1up

For further information:

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