Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sandale, John de
SANDALE, JOHN de (d. 1319), bishop of Winchester and chancellor, was probably a native of Yorkshire. He first occurs as one of the king's clerks on 17 Oct. 1294 (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward I, 1293–1301, p. 98). In May 1297 he was appointed controller of receipts in Gascony, whither he accompanied Edmund of Lancaster (ib. pp. 247, 571, 586; Cal. Close Rolls, Edward II, ii. 62, 173). On 6 April 1299 he was appointed treasurer of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and a few years later became chancellor of that church (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward I, ii. 404). In September 1299 he was sent on a fresh mission to Gascony (ib. p. 440). From 1300 to 1303 he was keeper of exchanges in England (ib. pp. 504–5; Sweetman, Cal. of Documents relating to Ireland, v. 122, 272). In 1304 he was employed to levy a tallage in London (Chron. Edward I and Edward II, i. 132). Previously to 2 Nov. 1304 he was chamberlain of Scotland, and retained this post till the end of the reign, being also employed in negotiation with the Scots (Cal. of Documents relating to Scotland, vol. ii. passim). In February 1306 he was one of the deputy-guardians of Scotland. After the accession of Edward II, Sandale was, on 7 Aug. 1307, appointed chancellor of the exchequer (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward II, p. 6). In May 1308 he resigned this post (ib. p. 72), and from this time acted as lieutenant for the treasurer till 6 July 1310, when he succeeded Walter Reynolds [q. v.] in that post (ib. p. 234). He had resigned his office before 12 Nov. 1311 (Cal. Close Rolls, Edward II, i. 443), probably through illness, for in the following March he was falsely reported to be dead, and an order was made for the sequestration of his goods on account of his debts to the exchequer (ib. i. 412; Reg. Pal. Dunelm. i. 172, iv. 102–3). As a royal clerk, Sandale received numerous ecclesiastical benefices, although in 1307 he was still only subdeacon. He is mentioned as holding sixteen parochial benefices in England, besides Dunbar in Scotland (Cal. Pap. Reg. ii. 9, 27, 88, 120; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward II, pp. 111, 232, 480). On 16 May 1309 he was appointed prebendary of Dunden, and on 11 Sept. 1310 provost and prebendary of Wyveliscombe, Wells; at Lichfield he held the treasurership, to which he was admitted on 12 Jan. 1310–11; at York he held successively the prebends of Fenton, Gevendale, and Riccall; at Lincoln that of Croperdy, at St. Paul's that of Newington; he also held canonries at Howden, Beverley, and Glasgow (ib. pp. 115, 277, 480–1; Le Neve, i. 581, ii. 140, 417, iii. 184, 189, 209; Cal. Pap. Reg. ii. 150). In May 1309 Edward II collated Sandale to the archdeaconry of Richmond, but this was contested by the pope, who claimed it for the cardinal Francis Gaetani, and Edward eventually gave way (ib. ii. 53; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward II, i. 111, 176–7; Cal. Close Rolls, i. 173, 252). Sandale was likewise master of the hospital of Katherine without the Tower (ib. i. 285). In 1311 he was elected dean of St. Paul's, but was not confirmed in the office (Le Neve, ii. 311). He received a prebend in the collegiate church of Crantock, Cornwall, on 22 Feb. 1315. Murimuth mentions Sandale as one of the English clerks whose good benefices and fat prebends had excited papal cupidity to make a special reservation (Chron. p. 175).
On 4 Oct. 1312 Sandale was reappointed treasurer, and on 28 Oct. was joined with Walter de Norwich and the bishop of Worcester to take fines for respite of knighthood (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward II, i. 501, 505). A little later he was sent to St. Alban's to receive delivery of the goods of Piers Gaveston (ib. i. 525, 553; Trokelowe, p. 79). On 26 Sept. 1314 he was appointed chancellor (Madox, Hist. Exch. i. 75, ii. 88). On 26 July 1316 he was elected bishop of Winchester; the royal assent was given on 5 Aug., and the temporalities restored on 23 Sept. (Le Neve, iii. 12). After his consecration by Archbishop Reynolds at Canterbury on 31 Oct. (Stubbs, Reg. Sacr. Angl. p. 51), Sandale went abroad, but on 6 Dec. the seal was restored to him at Southwark (Cal. Close Rolls, Edward II, ii. 439, 443). Except for some brief intervals when he was employed in his diocese and during a pilgrimage to Canterbury in February 1318, Sandale retained the seal till 9 June 1318 (ib. ii. 576, 592, 619). During the same year he was collector of the tenth from the clergy, and on 16 Nov. 1318 was reappointed treasurer. Sandale was present in the parliament at Leicester in April 1318, when he swore to observe the ordinances. On 24 Sept. he took part at St. Paul's on the process against Robert Bruce. In March 1319, as treasurer, he sat to hear a dispute between the mayor and aldermen of London (Chron. Edward I and Edward II, i. 283, 285, ii. 54). He died on 2 Nov. 1319 at Southwark, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Overy.
In the ‘Flores Historiarum’ (iii. 174), Sandale is described as ‘vir cunctis affabilis et necessarius communitati.’ He had property at Wheatley, near Doncaster, and in 1311 had license to crenellate his house there (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edward II, i. 340; Cal. Inq. post mortem, i. 292). Edward I gave him the manor of Berghby, Lincolncolnshire, and Edward II a house in the suburbs of Lincoln (Abbrev. Rot. Orig. i. 165, 195, 197). He had also houses at Boston (Cal. Close Rolls, Edward II, ii. 321). Several members of the family who are mentioned—viz. Robert Sandale, John Sandale the younger, William Sandale, and Gilbert Sandale—were probably the bishop's nephews. Gilbert Sandale was prebendary of Auckland and lieutenant of John Sandale as treasurer (Reg. Pal. Dunelm. vol. ii. passim).
[Chronicles of Edward I and Edward II, Flores Historiarum, Murimuth's Chronicle, Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense, Letters from Northern Registers (all in Rolls Ser.); Cassan's Lives of Bishops of Winchester; Foss's Judges of England; Wharton, De Episcopis et Decanis Londinensibus, pp. 215–17; Le Neve's Fasti, ed. Hardy, passim; other authorities quoted.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.241
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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