BENET, William

The earlier biography failed to note that in July 1420 Benet and his fellow bailiff, William Ickham†, earned the high praise of the monks of Christ Church for their efforts in providing beds and food for the thousands of pilgrims from both England and the continent who flocked to Canterbury for the jubilee of St. Thomas Becket.2 The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 185-7; R. Foreville, Le Jubilee de St. Thomas, 180; Canterbury Cath. Archs., Canterbury city recs., burghmote reg. 1298-1503, CCA-CC-O/A/1, f. 34v.

As a member of Canterbury’s governing elite, Benet was involved heavily in the city’s various jurisdictional disputes with the abbot of St. Augustine’s. In 1436-7 he had visited Cardinal Beaufort in relation to the arbitration the latter had engineered between the parties.3 Canterbury chamberlains’ accts. 1393-1445, CCA-CC-F/A/1, f. 243. In Trinity term the following year, as former bailiff of Canterbury, he appeared in King’s bench to answer charges relating to the collection of fines in the abbot’s disputed manor of Langport by William Mason and Thomas Lane†, bailiffs in 1412-13. In his defence, the city’s attorney, William Osbourne*, argued that the hamlet was actually parcel of the liberties of Canterbury. Although Benet was eventually acquitted because he himself was not bailiff at the time of the alleged offences, the Crown reserved the right to command the bailiffs to appear again to answer this charge in the future.4 KB27/709, rex rot. 2. Benet’s very appearance in court on this matter, and the fact that his fine and Osbourne’s expenses were met by the city, demonstrate the importance of the Langport dispute to Canterbury and the definition of its liberties.5 CCA-CC-F/A/1, ff. 243v, 250, 268v.