John de Echingham S.T.D. (fl. 1348, died 1371)N. Saul, Scenes from Provincial Life. Knightly Families in Sussex 1280–1400 (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1986), pp. 2, 5. was an English medieval Chancellor of the University of Oxford, who held that dignity for three consecutive years.'Appendix 5: Chancellors of the University', in C. Hibbert (ed.), The Encyclopœdia of Oxford (Macmillan, London 1988), pp. 521-22. .
Family The Echyngham family, seated at Etchingham in Sussex, traced an unbroken descent in the male line from Drew of Pevensey, heir of Reinbert (Steward to the Count of Eu during the reign of Henry I), and were the hereditary Stewards of the Rape of Hastings and from time to time sheriffs of Sussex.E. Searle, Lordship and Community: Battle Abbey and its Banlieu, 1066–1538 (Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto 1974), pp. 45-53, 201-02, 209-11. Of this stem Sir William de Echyngham, a patron of (and sometimes disputant with) Robertsbridge Abbey, died possessed of extensive estates in 1294, leaving as his heir his eldest son Sir William, then aged 28'191. William de Echyngham', in J.E.E.S. Sharp and A.E. Stamp (eds), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents, III (HMSO 1912), p. 113 (Internet Archive). and recently married to Eva, daughter of Ralph de Stopham.Calendar of the Fine Rolls, Edward I, 1272–1307, pp. 297, 299 (Internet Archive).
After a distinguished military and parliamentary careerS. Hall, 'Echyngham of Echyngham' (London 1850), pp. 7-10; F. Palgrave, The Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons, Vol I (Commissioners, 1827), p. 578 (Google). this younger William died in 1326, and, having no male issue, was succeeded by his brother Robert.'725. William de Echyngham', in J.E.E.S. Sharp and A.E. Stamp (eds), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and other Analogous Documents VI: Edward II, 1316–1327 (HMSO 1910), p. 460 (Internet Archive). Robert was with Edmund of Woodstock in Aquitaine in 1324, and was sent to England to warn King Edward of the threatened invasion of the Duchy.Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward III, AD 1330–1333 pp. 100-01 (Internet Archive). Robert in turn died without issue in 1329, and the inheritance passed to his brother Simon de Echyngham,'175. Robert de Echyngham', in J.E.E.S. Sharp and A.E. Stamp (eds), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents VII: Edward III: 1327–1336 (HMSO 1909), p. 142 (Internet Archive). rector of Herstmonceux, who, being a cleric, also had no known issue. Here, perhaps, the name of Echyngham might have been extinguished, save that the fourth brother, Richard, who did not live to inherit the lordship, left by his wife Matilda three sons, James, Robert and John, and a daughter Petronilla.Saul, Scenes from Provincial Life, pp. 2-5, with sources there cited. William had settled an estate in Kent upon Richard and his heirs at Michaelmas 1314, for the annual rent of one pair of gilded spurs. View original (CP 25(1)/100/96 no 390) at AALT, Image 0501.
The later Lords of Echyngham were the posterity of Sir James who, so early as 1324, had received a grant of land in Benenden, Kent witnessed by his three uncles, the Lords William, Simon and Robert.Canterbury Cathedral Archives, ref. CCA-DCc-ChAnt/B/354, Record at Discovery. He married Joan (perhaps de Akeni), by whom he had a son and heir William, and by 1342 took up the reins of the Echyngham inheritance through the 1340s, dying in August 1349 when William was 16 years old.'601. James de Echyngham, Kt.', in Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents, IX: Edward III, 1347–1352 (HMSO 1916), p. 418 (Internet Archive). It was Sir James's younger brother John de Echyngham son of Richard and Matilda de Echyngham, who became Chancellor of the University of Oxford.
Career In 1348 John de Echyngham graduated M.A. from the University of Oxford, and in June 1349 he was presented by John de Ore, of a gentry family neighbouring the Echynghams, to their benefice of Wodeton (Wotton), Sussex.J.B. Sheppard, 'Documents from Canterbury Cathedral (9 March 1871)', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2nd Series Vol. V (1871–1873), pp. 101-09, at p. 104 (Internet Archive). In November of the same year Master John de Echyngham, clerk, acknowledged that he owed £80 to Bartholomew de Burghersh the elder.Calendar of the Close Rolls, Edward III, AD 1349–1354 (HMSO 1906), p. 140 (Internet Archive). His nephew Sir William, meanwhile, took up his heredity as Lord of Echyngham, and, a few years later, embarked on his reconstruction of the church at Etchingham with its informative heraldic glazing, where the Echyngham monuments have for 600 years remained.S. Hall, 'Sepulchral Memorials at Etchingham, Sussex, and Notice of the Church at that Place', Archaeological Journal VII (1850), pp. 265-73 (read in pdf at archaeology data service); W. Slater, 'On Echingham Church', Sussex Archaeological Collections IX (1857), pp. 343-360 (Internet Archive).
In 1357, when Echyngham had further attained a Bachelor's degree in Theology, the Archbishop of Canterbury Simon Islip collated him to the Deanery of the Collegiate church of South Malling (near Lewes, and in the Diocese of Canterbury),'Collegiate churches: South Malling', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Sussex, Vol. 2, (London 1973), pp. 117-119 (British History Online). when that office became void by the death of John de Aylesbury. The appointment, which had the value of 60 marks (£40), received Papal confirmation in May.W.H. Bliss, 'Petitions Volume XXVII', Calendar of Entries in the Papal Register Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Petitions to the Pope, AD 1342–1419 (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1896), p. 296 (HathiTrust). Five years later, in 1362, he received from Pope Urban V the grant of a canonry, with the expectation of a prebend, of St Paul's in London, to be held together with his deanery of Malling.Entries in the Papal Register, p. 391 (HathiTrust).
Sir William de Echyngham was associated with his uncle John, "clericus", in February 1362/63 in a fine to enfeoff Robert de Ore with the principal manors and advowson of the Echyngham lordship, together with more than a thousand acres of woodland and various rents. Robert thereby returned the whole premises to the said William and John, the entailed fine stating how the estate was to pass to William's male descendants, or (if he had none) to those of one of his brothers, John, Robert or Richard.'Sussex Fines: 36 Edward III', in L.F. Salzmann (ed.), An Abstract of Feet of Fines For the County of Sussex, Vol. 3, 1308–1509, (Lewes, 1916), no. 2269 (British History Online). View original, ref CP 25(1)/238/67 no. 39 at AALT, Image 0078. In the event William died in 1388 leaving male descendants of his own.
Chancellor In June 1363, when he is described as "doctor sacrae theologie",Anthony à Wood renders this as Doctor of Divinity. Echyngham began his term as Chancellor of the University of Oxford.H.E. Salter (ed.), Snappe's Formulary and Other Records, Oxford Historical Society Vol. LXXX (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1924), pp. 83-84, 329. In this first year his Proctors were Richard Sutton of Merton College and Walter Wandesford of Oriel College: and in the second year Wandesford continued but Sutton was succeeded by Walter Remmesbury (who later became Cantor of Hereford Cathedral). Wood notes that there are two letters by Echyngham to King Edward III concerning the arrest of an excommunicated person,A. à Wood, ed. J. Gutch, Fasti Oxonienses (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1790), p. 27 (Internet Archive), citing vols A fol. 31 and D fol. 74 b. and that his letters are referred to in Anthony Fitzherbert's La Novelle Natura Brevium concerning the privileges of the university.The passage indicated (fol. 64 in first printed edition) is under the 'Writ de Cautione admittenda', Section C: see The New Natura Brevium, with a commentary by Lord Chief Justice Hale, 8th Edition (Henry Lintot, Savoy, London 1755), p. 147 (Internet Archive).'Excommunications by the Chancellor, May 11, 1364-Nov. 17, 1366', Snappe's Formulary and Other Records, p. 33. See Letters Patents of 3 October 1353 and 18 October 1353, Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, IX: AD 1350–1354 (HMSO 1907), p. 517 and p. 497 (Internet Archive). He was again Chancellor for the third consecutive year in 1365.Fasti Oxonienses, p. 27.
Last years Sir Andrew de Sakeville (Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex, 1367–1368) in 1365 had licence to enfeoff Master John de Echyngham and three other clerics with an estate of 301 acres held in chief in Pevensey, so that they should regrant it to him with a specified entail.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, AD 1364–1367 (HMSO 1912), p. 113 (HathiTrust). In 1366, here described as Doctor of Theology, Echingham had already surrendered the Chancellorship when he made petition for the enlargement of his grant of a canonry with expectation of a prebend, so as to include an elective dignity or office with cure of souls. Noticing that he still held the Deanery of South Malling, he declared himself willing to resign it. This petition was granted.Entries in the Papal Register, Petitions, vol. XLII, p. 514 and p. 520 (HathiTrust). The register of Archbishop William Whittlesey records that Dr Echyngham died in 1371, the same folio recording the appointment of his successor John Pateney at South Malling.'Collegiate churches: South Malling', citing Archbishop's Register Whittlesey, fol. 84.
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