heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

THE HOTHAMS. 187
his uncle, as well as of the well known Peter de Gaveston, in whose service
he was. In 1306 he held a stall at Dublin, and in 1309 was presented to
the living of Rowley, Yorks ; and, three years after, to that of Cottingham
in the same county, with Ashfield, Notts, in commendam, and the prebend
of Stillington in the Minster. In 1310, and Edw. II., he went to Ireland as
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the same year was " Escheator ultra et
infra Trentam." In 1313 he was sent to Ireland by the King as special envoy
to treat with the rebels, and again the following year to counteract the
intended invasion of the Scots. In gth Edward II. he was made Chancellor
of the English Exchequer, and the same year was consecrated Bishop of
Ely. In 1316 he went as ambassador to the Pope; the following year he
was made Treasurer of the English Exchequer; and, in 1319, Lord High
Chancellor of England. In the autumn of that year he assisted Archbishop
Melton in raising and leading the "posse comitatus"of Yorkshire to resist
the Scots at Myton, and only escaped from that disastrous field by the
swiftness of his horse. On Nov. 8th, 1324, he was made an ambassador
to
treat with Robert de Brus.*
In January, 1327, on the death of Edward II., a council of regency,
consisting of twelve persons (five prelates and seven temporal peers), was
appointed to hold office during the minority of Edward III., and Hotham
was again made Lord Chancellor ;
but he only consented to hold the office
till
a settlement of the kingdom should take place, and he finally resigned
it on the ist of March following.!
In 1328 he assisted Archbishop Melton to marry Philippa of Hainault
to the young King Edward in York Minster. The King had kept his
Christmas here with great state and hospitality, and before the solemnity
of the festival was ended, Lord John of Hainault arrived with his beautiful
niece and a very numerous attendance. On January 2 2nd, being Sunday,
the eve of St. Paul's conversion, the ceremony took place.J The magnificence
of the espousals was heightened by the grand entry of a hundred ot
the principal nobility of Scotland, who had arrived in order to conclude a
lasting peace with England, cemented by the marriage of the King's little
sister Joanna. The Parliament and Royal Council were likewise convened
at York ;
and the flower of the nobility then in arms were assembled round
the young King and his bride.
One would fain idealize what the Minster was at that time, and what
a brilliant cortege thronged
its aisles very different, indeed, from what we
see it now. The old Norman choir of Archbishop Roger was then standing
but the new transepts of Walter de Gray and John le Romaine, the
;
glory of our Minster, were in all the freshness of their recent completion.
The present nave was probably only partially finished, and perhaps the
chapter-house but rising from the ground. The great central tower then
* Raine MS. t Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chanctllors. % Drake.