43 Cf. Sheehan 1963, pp. 241–8; Woolgar 2011, pp. xxii–xxiv. 44 Beam et al. 2019, documents 2/154/13 (2 December 1289), 2/154/36 (31 July 1291), 1/54/ 724 (25 July 1368 × 22 February 1371) (accessed 22 Jan. 2024). See also Woolgar 2011, p. xxiv, n. 39. 45 Rymer et al. 1816–69, I. ii, p. 654. Although officials of the Black Prince, in his capacity as Prince of Wales, seized the goods of Bishop John Trefor I of St Asaph upon his death in 1357, claiming that no Welsh bishop could make a will without the prince’s consent, John’s successor successfully petitioned Pope InnocentVIto exhort the prince to return the goods: Bliss 1896, p. 328. 46 Woolgar 2011, pp. 1–2, 179–82. See also the discussion and edition of Ryngstede’s will in Zutshi and Ombres 1990, pp. 337–38, 350–55; I am grateful to Patrick Zutshi for drawing this article to my attention. 47 Woolgar 2011, p. 1. huwpryce the thirteenth century, as from HenryIII’s reign onwards English bishops were able to obtain royal licences to make wills – although tensions persisted, with complaints that the Crown impeded the execution of bishops’ wills.43 The situation in north Wales was closer to that in the kingdom of Scotland, where the Crown prohibited bishops from making wills; indeed, it was only in about 1370 that King DavidII formally abolished the custom whereby the moveables of Scottish bishops were seized at their deaths for the king’s use.44 While Prince Llywelyn had promised in his charter of liberties to St Asaph not to seize the church’s moveable goods on the death of the bishop in order to respect the bishop’s intentions, the bishops of north Wales only began to make wills regularly after, and as a result of, the Edwardian conquest. Bishop AnianIof Bangor obtained a licence from King Edward I in 1285 allowing him and his successors to make a will and appoint executors, despite, as the grant noted, the ancient custom preventing Welsh bishops from making wills.45 It is unknown whether the bishop subsequently made a will, and the earliest surviving will by a bishop of Bangor, namely the Cambridge Dominican scholar Thomas de Ryngstede, dates from 1365.46 The right to make a will seems to have remained uncertain despite Edward I’s licence of 1285, as two of Anian I’s successors still felt it necessary to obtain royal licences for this purpose.47 Asimilar picture emerges for the neighbouring diocese of St Asaph. Bishop Anian II, who had clashed with Prince Llywelyn over testamentary matters, made in 1289 what is now the earliest surviving Welsh will, which is pre437
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