Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ravenser, Richard de
RAVENSER, RICHARD de (d. 1386), clerk in chancery and archdeacon of Lincoln, was the elder son of William Bakester of Ravenser-Odd, Yorkshire; he was born at Ravenser, whence he took his name. He probably owed preferment to Sir William de la Pole (d. 1366) [q. v.], a native of the neighbouring Kingston-on-Hull. In 1357 Ravenser was made keeper of the hanaper, and in 1358 was appointed to administer the goods of the deceased Queen Isabella. In the same year he received the prebend of Welton Brinkhall in Lincoln Cathedral, and on 20 June 1359 was made archdeacon of Norfolk. In 1361 the king presented him to the prebends of Wellington in Hereford Cathedral and Hoxton in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and in the following year he was made one of the twelve superior clerks in chancery. On 29 Oct. 1363 he received the prebend of Empingham, Lincoln Cathedral, and in 1365 was made master of St. Leonard's Hospital, York. Before 1367 he became provost of Beverley (Chron. de Melsa, iii. 142). In 1368 he was made archdeacon of Lincoln, and in 1369 he was rich enough to lend the king 200l., which was repaid in the following year. On 25 Sept. 1371 he was presented to the prebend of Knaresborough in York Cathedral; in the same year he was one of the receivers of petitions in parliament, an office he held in successive parliaments until his death. Ravenser had temporary charge of the great seal in May–June 1377, and again in February–March 1386, during the absence of the chancellor, William de la Pole. He was frequently employed in business connected with the inquisitions post mortem. In 1384 he became prebendary of Castor in Lincoln Cathedral. He died in May 1386, and was buried in Lincoln Cathedral. His will is printed in the ‘History and Antiquities of Lincoln,’ published by the Archæological Institute in 1848. A younger brother, John, was also keeper of the hanaper, and died in 1393; and another, Stephen, held a prebend in Lincoln Cathedral.
[Foss's Lives of the Judges, iv. 78–9; Testamenta Eboracensia, vol. iii. (Surtees Soc.) passim; Rolls of Parl. vols. ii. and iii. and Cal. Inq. post mortem, passim; Cal. Doc. relating to Scotland, iv. 104, 244; Rymer's Fœdera; Brantingham's Issue Rolls, p. 190; Cal. Patent Rolls, 1377–81, passim; Le Neve's Fasti, ed. Hardy, i. 531, ii. 44, 126, 146, 328, 398, 483, iii. 196; Oliver's Beverley.]