Richard Airmyn

Richard Airmyn (also de Airmyn , de Ayreminne , Ayermin or Ayermine ) (* around 1290, † between April 3 and May 9, 1340 ) was an English clergyman and official.

Origin and advancement as a civil servant

Richard Airmyn came from a family named after the village of Airmyn on the River Aire in Yorkshire . He was probably a younger son of Adam and Matilda Airmyn and thus a younger brother of William Airmyn , who served as a royal official from 1300 at the latest. Another brother was believed to be Adam Airmyn . The three brothers all became educated clerks, with Richard and Adam being promoted by William after he rose further. Richard served with other officials from 1315 to 1323 as an official of the Privy Seal , where he was believed to be promoted to senior officials and paid a higher salary than his colleagues. He received several benefices for his services. In 1316 he received a benefice at York Minster , later he received other benefices at the cathedrals of Chichester and Lincoln and at Wimborne Minster . At the request of King Edward II , the Canterbury Cathedral Priory granted him an annual pension of £ 5 in March 1320, and he was given the lucrative office of Rector of Kirk Ella in Yorkshire before 1324 . Richard and his brother William took part in Parliament in York in October 1318 , during which reform laws were passed under the Leake Treaty . It is believed that he and William were captured by the Scots at the Battle of Myton in Yorkshire in September 1319 and were only released after paying a large ransom. From 1323 to 1324 he was one of the administrators of the temporals of the Diocese of Winchester, which were withheld by King Bishop John Stratford . As his brother's successor, Richard became Keeper of the Rolls on May 26, 1324 . He enjoyed the trust of Chancellor Robert Baldock and carried the great seal in November and December 1324 during his absence .

Further rise under Eduard III. and later years

After Pope John XXII. William Airmyn had appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Norwich in 1325 , William, who was still negotiating in France, appointed Richard Vicar General of the Diocese on September 20 . A little later, William instructed Adam and Richard to accept promises of obedience from the clergy of the diocese in his place . However, the king was angry about the appointment of William as bishop, since his chancellor Baldock had again been passed over by the Pope in the appointment. Richard was replaced as Keeper of the Rolls in 1325, and in March 1326 the king ordered him and his brother Adam to be arrested. Presumably they were both able to flee to the Netherlands or France, where William fled from the king's persecution. When the rebel Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabelle landed with an army in England in September 1326 and the reign of Edward II overturned, the Airmyn brothers also returned. William now took over the administration of his diocese and appointed Adam vicar general on October 14, 1326. Richard received instead on March 1, 1327 the office of Keeper of the Privy Seal of the new King Edward III. To this end, he was appointed lifelong administrator of the archives of the royal chancellery in the House of Converts in 1327 . In gratitude for his services, he was given a position as canon at Lichfield Cathedral in 1328 , which he was allowed to keep when he became Chancellor of the Cathedral Chapter of Salisbury a little later . Apparently, however, the government was dissatisfied with his work as Keeper of the Privy Seal, because on February 18, 1328 he was replaced in this office. After that he received no other important offices in government. Until his resignation in 1339, however, he remained administrator of the archives and until his death Chancellor in Salisbury.

Web links

• Roy Martin Haines: Airmyn [Ayreminne], Richard (c. 1290-1340). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
William Airmyn	Keeper of the Rolls 1324-1325	Henry Cliffe
Robert Wyvell	Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal 1327-1328	Adam Lymbergh