land the decision of king and council as to the defences of the realm (ib. p. 503). On 10 March 1338 he was succeeded by Robert de Wodehouse [q. v.] as treasurer of the exchequer (ib. 1338–40, p. 195), but on 16 Dec. he was appointed treasurer of England (ib. p. 195). In July 1339 he was sent beyond Trent to bear news to the north of the dangers besetting the realm, and then or a little later he was summoned to follow the king to Brabant, so that he had to discharge the office of treasurer by deputy (ib. pp. 271, 387). On 19 Jan. 1340 he was back in England and a commissioner for opening parliament (ib. p. 347). In April, however, a deputy treasurer was again appointed, and on 2 May 1340 he was definitely relieved of his office.
Ecclesiastical preferments had been pouring thickly on William. On 6 Jan. 1328 he was presented by the king to the rectory of Titchmarsh, near Thrapston, Northamptonshire (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327–30, p. 343), and 29 Aug. in the same year also received from the crown the living of Chesterton, near Warwick (ib. p. 318). Before this he was also rector of Clipsham, Rutland (Cal. Papal Letters, ii. 276). On 4 July 1328 John XXII, at the king's request, appointed him by provision to a canonry at Exeter on condition of his resigning Clipsham (ib. ii. 276). In Exeter he was also collated to the archdeaconry of Barnstaple on 10 Dec. 1329 (Le Neve, Fasti Eccl. Angl. ed. Hardy, i. 406), which he resigned before 17 Dec. 1330. Between 12 July 1330 and 10 June 1331 he was archdeacon of Exeter (ib. i. 393). Before 1333 he was also rector of Yaxley, Huntingdonshire (Cal. Papal Letters, ii. 376). In that year Benedict XII, at the king's request, gave him a canonry of Southwell by provision, renewed on 31 May 1335 (ib. pp. 375, 520). On 30 Nov. of the same year Benedict provided him to the prebend of Laughton en le Morthen in York Cathedral. On 12 Nov. 1336 he was admitted dean of York (Le Neve, iii. 123). On 9 April 1340 he was collated to the prebend of Ufton in Lichfield Cathedral (ib. i. 633). He also held a canonry at Ripon (Cal. Papal Petitions, i. 2).
On 2 May 1340, the day on which he resigned the treasury, Zouche was elected by twelve votes to five archbishop of York in succession to William de Melton [q. v.] His rival, William de Kildesby, was a royal chaplain, and was now king's secretary and keeper of the privy seal. Edward wished for Kildesby's election, though ecclesiastical opinion was unfavourable to him (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1338–40, pp. 463, 519). A fierce contest broke out between the two competitors. Zouche got himself installed on the day of election, and both parties appealed to Avignon. Efforts were made to prevent Zouche from going to the pope to urge his claims in person, but on 13 Aug. Benedict XII ordered the archbishop of Canterbury to excommunicate all who sought to detain him in England (Cal. Papal Letters, ii. 549). At last Zouche started. He seems to have travelled to Avignon by way of the Low Countries and Germany, avoiding French territory because of the war. He got safely as far as Geneva, and had just crossed the bridge over the Arve beyond the town, when he was set upon by a band of brigands headed by three Vaudois knights and two citizens of Geneva. He and his followers were overpowered, their possessions were seized, and they themselves were dragged to a lonely place in the diocese of Lausanne, north of the lake of Geneva. They were kept in confinement for some time. At last they were released on payment of two hundred florins ransom and on taking an oath not to reveal the names of the brigands. It seems to have been another organised attempt to prevent Zouch getting to Avignon to lay his claims before the pope (ib. ii. 547, 579, cf. p. 549). However, Benedict showed vigour in defending Zouche against the marauders. On 25 Nov. he released him from his involuntary oath, and ordered the bishop of Geneva to seek out and punish the offenders. Early in March 1341 the brigands were compelled by excommunication to submit and undergo a humiliating penance at the scene of their crime (ib. p. 550).
A long delay ensued after Zouche's arrival at the curia. Edward III wrote urgently in March 1341 urging Kildesby's claims (Fœdera, ii. 1118). Benedict XII hesitated to decide between the nominee of the chapter and the favourite of the king, and kept the rival claimants waiting in suspense at Avignon (Murimuth, p. 121). He died on 25 April 1342, nearly two years after the election, leaving everything undecided. The new pope, Clement VI, was elected on 7 May, and crowned on 19 May. Zouche now prudently resigned all right by election, though Kildesby was less complacent. However, the cardinal of Santa Prisca pronounced his election invalid, whereupon on 26 June Clement appointed Zouche archbishop by papal provision (Cal. Papal Letters, iii. 52; Murimuth, p. 124, whose dates here are unusually exact). On 7 July he was consecrated bishop by Clement VI at Avignon (T. Stubbs in Raine, Historians of Church of York, ii. 417; cf., however, Cal. Papal
